Speakers

Vikram Agrawal is a mission-driven, operationally-focused investment and management professional who believes that everyone deserves an opportunity to be successful, however they define success.

Vikram is currently collaborating with Texan businessman, environmentalist, and philanthropist Trammell S. Crow with a dual mandate focused on leading investments and catalyzing impact in mission-critical infrastructure, resilience & security, and environmental sustainability. He is a Managing Director in the Personal Family Office of Trammell S. Crow focused on private investments & strategic advisory and working with Mr. Crow on several initiatives.

Vikram is the CEO and Co-Founder of American Resilience Partners which is a Texas-based, mission-driven entrepreneurial private investment firm with an operationally-focused investment strategy targeting strategically-viable, established, and profitable American businesses that have a significant Strategic Value Proposition and are at the forefront of providing critical solutions to our country's and world’s most pressing infrastructure, resilience and security, and sustainability challenges. In addition, he separately helps support the international environmental non-profit EarthX as the Senior Director of EarthxCapital, EarthX's team that has a mission to help catalyze impact related to sustainability investment and business innovation. Through his role with EarthX, he helps host and curate the annual invitation-only E-Capital Summit (an industry-leading sustainability-focused innovation and investment conference) and the annual EarthX Family Office Summit (convening of leading global families exploring environmental-related investment, business and philanthropic opportunities).

Vikram has more than 15 years of investment and management experience across several industry sectors in the United States and the emerging markets (Latin America & the Caribbean and Europe, Middle East, & Africa) through his prior roles with Citigroup (a global investment bank), International Finance Corporation (private sector arm of the World Bank Group focused on sustainable development), Patriarch Partners (a multi-billion dollar turnaround-focused private investment firm dedicated to saving American jobs by saving iconic American companies), and Prophet Equity (a middle-market private equity firm that makes control investments in strategically viable & underperforming companies).

Vikram received his MBA from Yale School of Management, where he was a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Ethics and Leadership. He received his Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he studied International Political Economy and is a recipient of the Baratta Center for Global Business’ Global Impact Award. Vikram is currently a member of the Board of Governors for the Georgetown University Alumni Association.

Dr. William D. Allen is a Grammy Award-winning artist, Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, and visionary Founder & CEO of The Texas Supremacy of Music & Arts Conservatory (TSMAC), a transformative arts and youth development organization serving more than 1,500 students annually across the Dallas–Fort Worth region. A nationally recognized architect of cultural education, Dr. Allen has pioneered a modern model for community arts leadership—where marching band, dance, cheer, and performance are not just extracurricular activities, but pipelines of scholarship, mentorship, and economic mobility for young people.

A musician, educator, and strategist, Dr. Allen has spent his career creating opportunities that bridge talent to trajectory. Under his leadership, students have earned millions of dollars in music and performing arts scholarships, gained workforce-aligned skills in media, production, and leadership, and gained exposure to world-class stages. His mission is rooted in the belief that arts education is a vehicle for identity, discipline, resilience, and generational change.

Through TSMAC, Dr. Allen has built a one-stop arts ecosystem—offering instruction, performance experiences, industry mentorship, and professional development for both students and educators. His programs are delivered in partnership with schools, municipalities, philanthropic foundations, and corporate partners, advancing equity in arts access and strengthening cultural capital in underserved communities.

Beyond his nonprofit work, Dr. Allen is an entrepreneur, consultant, and highly sought-after speaker on arts leadership, youth development, culture-based education, and nonprofit innovation. He is leading the development of The Will Tour—a two-day gospel, leadership, and empowerment experience designed to merge artistry, faith, and social impact on a national stage.

Dr. Allen is completing his Doctoral degree in Christian Leadership Philosophies and holds a Master’s in Educational Leadership. He continues to use his gifts as both a performer and builder of systems to influence culture, cultivate confidence in young people, and elevate the role of performing arts as a serious pathway to college, career, and community transformation.

At the intersection of vision and impact, Dr. Allen stands as a cultural engineer—raising not just the sound of the band, but the future of the next generation.

A proven nonprofit leader with more than 24 years of senior management and fundraising experience, Stephanie Bohan's decades of service reflect her commitment to the transformative power of community in areas of healthcare, social services, and social justice. Stephanie serves as the CEO of Hope Cottage, one of North Texas' most established family services agencies. In her time at Hope Cottage, Stephanie has: spearheaded CeCe's Place, Hope Cottage's Maternal Medical Clinic that integrates social services and healthcare for underserved women in North Texas; exponentially expanded Hope Cottage's Parenting Support Program, including weekly Flourishing Fridays prenatal education classes; and successfully fundraised six-figure surpluses. In 2024, Ms. Bohan was honored with DCEO’s Leadership Excellence Award for Midsized Nonprofits, a testament to her legacy in establishing Hope Cottage as a hub of strategic partnership for community organizations across DFW.
Stephanie's belief in faithful service is inspired, in part, through her membership of the Park Cities Rotary Club in Dallas, from which she received the Club’s Cleve Clinton Community Collaborator Award in 2018, as well as her Master's in Ministry from Perkins School of Theology. Stephanie lives Hope Cottage's tagline that "loving families grow here" at home and at work, and she lives with her husband, Michael McGinnis, and their four cats and one dog.

Froswa' Booker, Ph.D. has an extensive background in nonprofit management, partnership development, training, and education. She is the Founder of Power in Action, Dallas, and Co-Founder of HERitage Giving Circle, the first African American Women’s Giving Circle in Texas. She owns Soulstice Consultancy LLC, an agency that provides strategic planning, leadership and partnership development, board training, and consultations/coaching for small businesses and non-profit agencies. The client roster has included several individuals, faith, community-based organizations, and businesses throughout the United States. As the former Vice President of Community Affairs/Strategic Alliances of the State Fair of Texas, the largest fair in the United States, she managed all community initiatives, educational programming, partnership development, and philanthropy on behalf of the organization.

Dr. Booker is a board member of Amegy Bank-Dallas, Buckner International, Soul Rep Theater Company, Mayor’s Star Council, For Oak Cliff, and the Real Estate Council Community Board. She has also served as a Board Member of APAA (Association of Persons Affected by Addiction), the Texas Christian Community Development Network and the Texas Nonprofit Council, the Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations, and Girls Inc—Tarrant County as a member of the Director’s Circle.

Froswa’ received her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Arlington, is a graduate of Oklahoma City University with a Master of Liberal Arts in Humanities, and received her Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University.

Salah Boukadoum is a social entrepreneur and a leader in the field of sustainable social impact.

He is CEO of Good Returns Group, a social enterprise incubator, and Chief Impact Officer at Dallas' Sapphire Foundation, where he directs its Sustainable Philanthropy initiative.

Salah helped launch Elevate Capital, a platform for collaborative impact investing; Impact City, a nonprofit working to make Dallas a national social impact center; and the SUSTAIN Initiative, which supports nonprofits in developing self-funding business models.

Salah teaches Social Impact Investing as an adjunct professor at SMU. He also serves as Vice-Chairman of Miles of Freedom, focused on addressing the impacts of incarceration, and he is the incoming Chair of the Dallas Rotary Club Foundation.

Trey Bowles is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Bowles Investment Group (BIG)
and Founder of the Park Cities Angel Network, where he invests in seed- and Series A-stage
companies as well as acquires or invests in established businesses generating $1–$5M in
EBITDA that are poised for strategic growth, modernization, and sales expansion.
A proven entrepreneur, investor, and ecosystem builder, Trey recently co-founded and launched
1845 Venture Studio, partnering with high-conviction founders to co-create
companies—bringing capital, strategic insight, and world-class teams to launch quickly and
scale smart. Bowles also serves as the Fund Manager for the SMU Impact Lab at Southern Methodist University.
Previously, Trey served as Managing Director for both Techstars Anywhere and Techstars
Physical Health Fort Worth, part of the global Techstars investment platform. He is also
Co-Founder and President of InnoCity Partners LLC, a boutique consultancy helping cities,
corporations, and innovators design impactful solutions that make communities the best places
to live, work, and play.
In addition to his investment work, Trey has co-founded and led several nationally recognized
initiatives:
● The Dallas Entrepreneur Center (The DEC Network) – Co-Founder and Executive
Chairman
● North Texas Angel Network – Co-Chair
● Dallas Innovation Alliance – Co-Founder, spearheading the city’s first Smart Cities
initiative
● Mayor’s Star Council – Co-Founder and Chairman, launched with Dallas Mayor Mike
Rawlings to engage diverse young leaders in civic impact
Trey also launched the entrepreneurship department at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts,
where he continues to serve as an adjunct professor. Nationally, he helped relaunch the Startup
America Partnership into the Startup Champions Network, a national coalition of
professional ecosystem builders. His public policy work includes appointments to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, and to the
Board of the Center for American Entrepreneurship, a nonpartisan research, policy, and advocacy organization working with policymakers nationwide to foster new business creation and growth. A serial entrepreneur with multiple exits and focused on ventures spanning for-profit and non-profit sectors, Trey lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and their three children.

Jonathan Brereton is the Chief Executive Officer of Scale Link, a CDFI industry financial solutions organization. Jonathan has more than two and a half decades of leadership experience in the CDFI small business lending sector. Jonathan was the first Executive Director of Thread Capital, an organization he led to greater than $50M in small business assets under management over its first five years. Jonathan was also President of Small Business Capital for the NC Rural Center, overseeing approximately $400M in small business financial programs. Prior to these North Carolina based roles Jonathan led Accion
Chicago (now Allies for Community Business) for 14 years. In this role he was a key force behind the creation of The Hatchery Chicago, a large food production incubator on the west side of Chicago. Jonathan holds a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from Wheaton College (IL).

Lori Choi is a Partner, Senior Advisor, and CFA® Charterholder at Veris Wealth Partners. Lori has over 18 years of experience in wealth management and financial services, and is passionate about helping individuals, families, and foundations have a positive social and environmental impact with their wealth. Lori also serves on the Veris Board of Managers.

Prior to joining Veris, Lori was Vice President of Account Management at Markit, a global financial information services company, and Assistant Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Bank of Hawaii Private Client Services.

Lori graduated from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics. Lori is a co-founder of Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy (WISE), a community for people who identify as women to connect, grow, and share, with the purpose of advancing sustainable investing and women’s leadership.

Cece Cox is CEO of Resource Center, one of the nation’s largest LGBTQIA+ service organizations, where she has led transformative initiatives to expand health services, advocacy, and housing. Resource Center reaches more than 60,000 people annually with the support of nearly 100 employees and 1,200 volunteers. Under her leadership, Resource Center opened Oak Lawn Place, 84 units of affordable housing for individuals age 55+. Looking ahead, Cox is overseeing the development of Resource Center Health, a comprehensive health center that brings primary care, pharmacy, and affirming care under one roof.
Cox has been a leading advocate for LGBTQIA+ communities for nearly four decades, shaping nondiscrimination protections for Dallas public employees and students and advancing civil rights at the local and state levels. She joined Resource Center in 2007 and became CEO in 2010 after careers in photography and commercial law.
Her leadership extends nationally as a former co-chair of CenterLink, and locally, including Visiting Nurse Association of Texas, Dallas Mavericks, Texas Women’s Foundation, and Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. Cox has been recognized as one of D Magazine’s 500 Most Powerful Business Leaders, Dallas Historical Society’s Jubilee History Maker, and Dallas Voice’s LGBTQ Texan of the Year.
Cox is also a published photographer and co-author of One Million Strong, documenting the 1993 March on Washington for LGBTQ rights. A proud alumna of Northwestern University and SMU’s Dedman School of Law, she lives in Dallas with her wife, Shelly Skeen, and has one son.

Janal Cruz is an experienced operations professional with a lifelong commitment to sustainability and regenerative supply chains. Currently the Head of Operations at Patagonia Provisions, she is a Board Member at Naturally Norcal and was previously the Vice President of Operations at Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products.

Carlos Granados has served at Light of Hope Immigration Law Center for over 12 years, advancing from volunteer to Fully Accredited Representative by the U.S. Department of Justice. He currently leads the Dallas Office as Program Director. Carlos specializes in community outreach, DACA and naturalization workshops, and project management. A graduate of McKinney Boyd High School, he studied Business Administration at Collin College.

Gloria Granados is the Founder and Executive Director of Light of Hope Immigration Law Center, a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable and pro bono legal services for immigrant families. As a DOJ Full Accredited Representative, she is authorized to practice immigration and nationality law before the Department of Homeland Security, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Immigration Courts.

With more than 20 years of experience, Gloria has helped thousands of families in North Texas, across the United States, and abroad secure legal status, reunite with loved ones, and find stability through compassionate and professional advocacy.

Her own journey as an immigrant shaped her calling to serve. Guided by her faith in Jesus Christ, she sees immigration law not only as a profession but also as a ministry—walking alongside families in times of fear and uncertainty, and offering both legal counsel and hope.

Through Light of Hope, Gloria and her team are committed to breaking down barriers, empowering immigrant families, and building stronger communities where every family can thrive.

Jeffrey Hollender has over 40 years of experience in creating and growing sustainable businesses and is a recognized authority and advocate for changing the rules of business to benefit people and the planet. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Seventh Generation, the leading brand of natural household and personal care products that sold to Unilever in 2016. He has co-authored seven books and has served as a Board member and consultant for several organizations including Greenpeace, Health Care Without Harm, and American Sustainable Business Network.

Jason Hernandez is the Founder and Executive Director of La Tiendita (“The Little Store”), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing healthy, affordable food options in East McKinney’s food desert while offering job training and empowering Latino high school students to graduate and become leaders in their schools and community.
Jason is also a nationally recognized advocate for Criminal Justice Reform, using his voice to fight against mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipeline, and sentencing disparities that have disproportionately affected African American and Latino communities.
His passion for reform and youth empowerment is deeply personal. In 1998, at age 21, Jason was sentenced to life without parole plus 320 years for a nonviolent drug offense. After writing a heartfelt letter to President Barack Obama, his sentence was commuted in 2013.
Jason was released in 2015 after nearly 18 years in prison and returned home to McKinney, Texas—the city where he was born and raised.
In recognition of his work and dedication to uplifting others, Jason has received numerous honors, including Good Morning America’s Local Hero, the National Lawyers Association Champion of Justice Award, the Key to the City of McKinney, the Collin County Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major Award, and an invitation to the White House, where he received a full Executive Pardon from former President Joe Biden.

Mabrie Jackson joined H-E-B/Central Market in March 2016 and currently serves as managing director for Public Affairs. Jackson came to the Texas-based retail grocer from the North Texas Commission, where she served as its President and CEO 2010-2016 and the 45-year-old organization’s first female leader. Jackson brings to H-E-B a varied background that includes public service through a seat on the Plano City Council, roles with Fortune 500 companies (Microsoft and EDS) and serving as the interim President and CEO of the Plano Chamber of Commerce. An advocate for global trade, Jackson currently serves as the Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Dallas.

Jackson currently serves as Vice Chair of HCA Medical Centers of Plano and Frisco Board of Trustees, on the North Texas Food Bank Board, Collin College Education Foundation Board, SMU Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development Executive Board, Collin College Education Foundation. She is a member of the Dallas Assembly, the DFW Consular Corps, and a member and former Chairman of the Advisory Council for the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Jackson has a graduate degree from SMU and is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and Plano Senior High School. While attending UT, she served as a legislative assistant in the Texas House of Representatives. She is also a graduate of the Georgetown University Global Leadership Program. Mabrie is married to Marshall Jackson, and they have two adult sons, two fabulous daughters-in-law and a spoiled bernedoodle named Archie.

In May of 2017, Wes Keyes was called to serve as the CEO of Brother Bill's Helping Hand. After two decades of working in Dallas and Oak Cliff, Wes is more passionate than ever about sharing the love of Christ and equipping our neighbors with the resources they need to fight poverty in their community. Wes is honored to lead the incredible team at Brother Bill’s Helping Hand.
Under his leadership, BBHH’s work has expanded dramatically. The medical charity clinic now serves more than 1,100 patients annually and has grown into a vital hub for community health, built through partnerships with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) and many other hospital systems across Dallas. These collaborations provide neighbors with access not only to primary care, but also specialty care, preventative programs, and chronic disease management—ensuring families receive whole-person care close to home.
Beyond healthcare, BBHH operates four client-choice food pantries, providing healthy groceries to thousands of families each year. Together with these pantries, the organization now manages a network of eight total service sites, which also include two community gardens, an after-school program, and an eye clinic. Wrap-around support extends further through adult education programs such as ESL and job training, mental health counseling, and youth enrichment camps and classes that strengthen families across Dallas. This holistic approach addresses physical, emotional, spiritual, and economic well-being.
Wes’ nonprofit experiences have led him to work with impoverished communities in Waco, Dallas, Rural Mississippi, Haiti, Turkey, Guatemala, and various other countries and cities for over 20 years. He received his BA in Religion and Spanish from William Carey University in Mississippi and his Master’s Degree from Baylor’s George W. Truett Seminary.
Wes also currently serves as the District 1 Homelessness Commissioner as well as on the Advisory Board for the Diana Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University. He formerly served as Board President of the Well Community and has chaired several committees through his church and other civic organizations.
In his spare time, he enjoys all Baylor athletics, the outdoors, and spending time with his Winnetka Heights and Oak Cliff neighbors. Wes and his wife Beth live in North Oak Cliff along with their two children, Sarah and Liam, all of whom love being involved with Brother Bill’s Helping Hand.

Kate is a social sector leader who leads impact investing field building work for Phillips Foundation and serves as the Director of the Impact Investing Think Tank. She holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Non-Profit Management from the University of Texas at Austin.

Kate is happiest building something at the corner of business and social good. She believes that innovation is a tool to help us develop smarter ways to improve the world around us, but that empathy is the key to finding the best solutions we weren’t even looking for.

As the founding director of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ Social Innovation Accelerator and then within her own consulting practice, Kate has spent over a decade leading and coaching social innovation startups in North Texas. She has counseled hundreds of innovators, coaching them on business models, social impact, fundraising, and operations - two of which she led to win the DCEO Social Enterprise of the Year award.

Kate lives in Dallas with her husband, her kids Annabel & Owen, and two crazy rescue pups. When not shopping her favorite social impact brands, you can probably find her trying a new ‘healthy’ recipe or listening to an audiobook while chauffeuring her kids between activities.

Andrea Levere is the founder and CEO of Capitalize Good: Transforming the Social Sector through Enterprise Capital and a Social Enterprise Fellow at the Yale School of Management. In this role, Andrea has drafted the Blueprint for Enterprise Capital to scale the delivery of “philanthropic equity” for nonprofits and social ventures to build financial strength and resilience and reduce the racial wealth gap in the nonprofit sector. She is President Emerita of Prosperity Now, an organization that designs and operates major national initiatives to integrate financial capability services into systems serving low-income people, build assets and savings, close the racial wealth divide and advance research and policies that expands economy mobility for all. She is a founding investor and Chair of ROC USA, a national social venture that converts manufactured home parks into resident owned cooperatives. She is Vice Chair of the Scale Link, a CDFI that manages loan sales while creating a secondary market for the nation’s largest microlenders and Chair of Rochdale Capital, an emerging CDFI financing coops and community-based businesses.
Ms. Levere was a member of the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for three years, serving as Vice Chair in 2018 and Chair in 2019. She was a member of the FDIC’s Committee on Economic Inclusion, Morgan Stanley’s Community Development Advisory Board, Capital One’s Community Advisory Council as well as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Ms. Foundation for Women.
She holds a BA from Brown University and an MBA from Yale University.

Sonny S. Patel is an award-winning researcher, author, and Presidential Fellow at Georgia State University’s Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative. He specializes in community resilience, strategic communication, and public health. Patel earned degrees from UC Berkeley, University of Southern California (Public Health and Global Health Leadership), and King’s College London (Psychological Medicine). His work bridges research, policy, and programs to build healthier, more equitable communities worldwide. Author of Community Resilience When Disaster Strikes, Patel has served in roles with Harvard, NIH, USAID, and more, and received the university’s George M. Sparks Award for leadership and service. He serves as a Public Health Executive on advisory committees and boards for organizations advancing social and community impact, including Millennium Campus Network and The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center.

Nader Pouratian is Professor and Chair of Neurological Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He earned his MD and PhD degrees at the UCLA before completing neurosurgical and subspecialty training at the University of Virginia. In his clinical practice, he uses advanced neurotechnologies to improve brain and spine function for neurological and psychiatric disease, including Parkinson’s, tremor, pain, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and blindness. His research aims to understand brain diseases and to develop targeted biological therapies. He take advantage of unparalleled opportunities presented by neurosurgery to study human brain function and design novel neurotechnologies. His work is supported by several NIH grants, including the BRAIN and HEAL initiatives.

Shuaib A. Siddiqui serves as the Executive Vice Chair of Founders First Capital Partners, where he provides strategic guidance on investment strategy, governance, and capital formation. Founders First is a leading provider of growth-stage capital for service-based businesses owned by diverse and impact-driven entrepreneurs.
Previously, Shuaib spent four years with a family office in Abu Dhabi, where he helped establish the office’s foundation and develop a long-term, values-based investment strategy.
Earlier in his career, he served as the Director of Impact Investing at the Surdna Foundation, where he led efforts to align the foundation's endowment with mission-driven goals and oversaw investments that generated both social and financial returns.
He also spent nearly a decade at Acumen, an impact investing pioneer, where he managed global investment processes, oversaw a $100 million portfolio, and served on multiple company boards. Shuaib began his career in finance at Citadel Investment Group and Merrill Lynch, where he worked on quantitative and thematic research.
He holds a B.A. in Economics from New York University.

Josh Taylor leads the William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the SMU Cox School of Business. He has 20 years of experience in leadership roles at BCG, Kraft Foods, Keurig Dr Pepper, and PepsiCo, and was most recently the Chief Strategy Officer at Guayaki Yerba Mate, a venture-backed consumer products start-up. He has led large strategy & transformational change efforts and been at the forefront of consumer and technology start-up trends as an operator, advisor and investor for the past decade. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of New South Wales and earned his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2010.

Yutaka Tamura is the founding Executive Director of nXu, a non-profit initiative that has
developed a comprehensive SEL & College & Career Readiness curriculum—along with an
associated assessment system—that places purpose development at the nexus of SEL skill development and career exploration. nXu supports schools and youth organizations across 20+ states to implement its curriculum through its educator training and curriculum implementation support model.

Yutaka is also the Founder of Excel Academy Charter Schools in Boston. In addition, Yutaka served as the Chief Operating Officer for Relay Graduate School of Education. Yutaka is also a Co-Founder of UP Education Network, an organization focused on school transformation. Yutaka spent the first several years of his career as a management consultant at The Parthenon Group, a strategy consulting firm. Yutaka earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Amherst College, and earned his MAT with distinction from Relay Graduate School of Education.

Rev. Neil is a sought-after speaker and contributor to local, national and international conversations around the intersectionality of faith, color, gender, gender-identity and sexual orientation. He is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations and, in 2025 was selected as the “Best Local Community Role Model”, but the Dallas Voice Readers.

Rev. Neil has been a leader with Faith Forward Dallas, which is a diverse coalition of Dallas’ faith leaders dedicated to service, hope and a shared vision of peace and justice and serves as a moral compass for the North Texas Community.

Rev. Neil recently co-authored a book, “7 Principles for Living Bravely” about faith struggles during a pandemic. He is highly regarded in the LGBTQIA community not only locally but also throughout the country.

The Reverend Dr. Neil G. Thomas was Ordained to the Christian ministry in 1989 and elected as the Senior Pastor of Cathedral of Hope of Dallas, a congregation of the United Church of Christ with a primary outreach to the LGBTQ+ community, on April 12, 2015, following a year-long search. He began his tenure on June 3, 2015.
In 2015 he has been granted Privilege of Call in the United Church of Christ.

Prior to his arrival at Cathedral of Hope, Rev. Neil served as Senior Pastor of two Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC); MCC Bournemouth, England (1989-2002) and Founders Metropolitan Community Church, Los Angeles (2002-2015), the founding church of Metropolitan Community Churches, an international movement of churches reaching in and beyond the gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, and inter-sex community.

A member of Metropolitan Community Churches since 1981, Rev. Neil has served in numerous denominational positions including Chair, Board of Ordained Ministries (European District); Member, Elder’s Task Force on Education; Member, European District Committee; Member, Board of Samaritan College in Europe; Supervising Pastor, and Ecumenical Officer. He has served on the Moderator’s Advising Team and consultant to the Office of Formation and Leadership Development.

As a native of Bournemouth, England, Rev. Neil was born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His family left the Mormon Church in his early years. In his 20’s, he served as Chaplain to those dying from HIV/AIDS in the Bournemouth area, which led to being an advocate which continues to this day.

On a personal note, Rev. Neil is the father of a young daughter whom he adores.

Texas Women’s Foundation President & CEO Karen Hughes White has spent the last 25 years leading non-profit organizations dedicated to improving (and saving!) the lives of women and children. She began her nonprofit career with Susan G. Komen, before joining St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as SVP, Strategic Partnerships, and then Tri Delta Women’s Fraternity where she served as the organization’s CEO for 10 years. During her tenure, Karen drove significant growth for Tri Delta’s Foundation (2x) and real estate (4x) portfolios and increased
engagement and cultural competency among the organization’s 300,000 members by championing its diversity, equity, inclusion, access and belong initiatives. When she’s not advocating for Texas women and girls, Karen enjoys spending time with her three adult children, practicing Pilates, playing pickleball, and cheering for the Georgia Bulldogs.

Akilah S. Wallace is a powerhouse in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, widely respected for her ability to turn vision into action and strategy into healing infrastructure. With over two decades of experience, she’s led efforts that sustain movements, grow institutions, and build power across communities most impacted by injustice.

As founder and principal of Taylor Wallace, her consulting firm, Akilah partners with nonprofits, philanthropists, and executive leaders to strengthen systems, expand revenue capacity, and co-create bold, lasting solutions.

A practitioner of clarity and care, Akilah has guided grassroots and multi-million-dollar organizations alike through moments of crisis, transition, and transformation. Whether facilitating a strategy session, training a board, or speaking on a mainstage, she leads with candor, cultural intelligence, and conviction.

She’s been honored by the Dallas Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, named to the Black Women Give Back List, and recognized as Philanthropist of the Year by the Young Black and Giving Back Institute — all reflections of her lived commitment to collective thriving.

Akilah is also a proud mother of two dynamic young adults and lives by the mantra: “There is no royal flower-strewn path to success.” Her leadership is not just strategic — it’s spiritual, grounded, and shaped by a relentless hope for what’s possible when we build together.