Our Souls at Work Contributors
Max Anderson
Max Anderson graduated with masters’ degrees from the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School in 2009. He has worked as a consultant at McKinsey, and has worked and studied theology at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. He now works in investment management and lives with his wife and daughter in New York City.
Mo Anderson
Vice Chairman Mo Anderson is the driving force behind Keller Williams Realty’s culture of family. She established her first real estate office, a Century 21 franchise, in Edmond, Oklahoma in 1975; soon after, it was the third top-producing office out of 7,500 Century 21 locations in North America. In 1986 Mo sold her company to Merrill Lynch Realty, where she served as a district vice president until December 1989.
In 1991, Anderson became the first Keller Williams Realty franchisee outside of the state of Texas when she persuaded Gary to expand his profit-share concept for real estate offices. In 1992, she landed the regional director role for Oklahoma and became the co-owner of two Keller Williams Realty market centers in that state.
In January 1995, Anderson became president and CEO of Keller Williams Realty. Since 2005, Anderson has served as the vice chairman for the company. Her focus is on cultivating the unique culture of Keller Williams Realty.
Anderson founded KW Cares (501(c)(3) non-profit organization) in 2003 to assist company associates and their families in need and raised millions for Hurricane Katrina relief. She has been named twice as Oklahoma’s Women in Business Advocate of the Year by the US Small Business Administration. In December 2006, Anderson was named one of America’s Top Twenty-five Influential Thought Leaders by REALTOR® magazine. In January 2007, the Women’s Council of REALTORS® featured her as one of Real Estate’s Most Influential People in an article published in Connections. And, in 2008, Anderson was inducted into the prestigious Hall of Leaders by the CRB Council.
Dennis Bakke
Dennis Bakke co-founded AES Corporation, a global electric company, in 1981 and was president and CEO from 1994 to 2002, during which time he built the international energy company into a multi-billion dollar enterprise with 40,000 employees in thirty-one countries. Currently, he is president and CEO of Imagine Schools, operating seventy elementary and secondary charter schools in ten states.
His innovative and often provocative bestselling book, Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job, tells the story of the transformation he watched in businesses, plants, and people as he put into practice the purpose of making AES the most fun place to work on the planet. One plant’s experience, in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, was documented in the film Power Trip.
Corey Bell
Corey Bell is the CEO and Co-founder of TriFusion. Before helping found TriFusion in October 2003, Corey was a supply chain manager for Dell Computer Corporation. He specializes in creating effective strategies that maximize channel effectiveness, asset management, personnel performance, and productivity.
His experience with Centurion Holdings Group, a private equity venture investment group, National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), Chrysler Corporation, and Dell Computer Corporation has allowed him to work with some of the country’s most distinguished and innovative brands. He finished his legal studies at the University of Texas School of Law, and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee.
Spencer Brand
Spencer Brand is the Founder and President of The Endowment for Community Leadership, a non-profit organization committed to developing ethnic Christian leadership in the major metropolitan areas of the United States. Spencer worked in the early 1970s as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for the US Department of Labor and the Department of the Interior. He joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in 1976 and has served as Director of Here’s Life Washington and Associate National Director for Here’s Life America. He currently serves as Director of Special Projects.
Teal Carlock
Teal Carlock works at Genentech in the San Francisco Bay Area. Previously he worked for ABF Freight System where he was lead pricing analyst. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He is an avid cyclist and runner and loves to spend time with his outstanding wife, Laren.
Ben Chatraw
Ben Chatraw is the Co-founder of Vision Research Capital Management, LP, and Vision Research Organization, LLC, a Dallas based investment manager for accredited and institutional investors. In his current role, Ben oversees all operational activities involved in the day-to-day management of the firm.
Prior to founding Vision Research, Ben was a General Manager at Lucent Technologies where he was responsible for all supply chain activity supporting one of the company’s largest customers. In this role he was accountable for complete supply cycle management and the delivery of over $150 million in equipment each quarter. Through his tenure at Lucent, Ben served as the youngest member of Lucent’s strategic SCN Advisory Council. During his operating career, Ben also led the launch of a major marketplace initiative for a national nonprofit technology organization. He has held a diverse range of engineering, operating, and financial positions that have contributed to an expertise in developing and maintaining efficient and repeatable processes.
Ben is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology where he was a President’s Scholar and received a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering with highest honors. Ben holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School where he graduated with distinction.
The Chatraw Family actively attends Brookhaven Church in Dallas, Texas where Ben serves as a small group leader and as a member of the church’s missions committee. He also serves as chairman of Videre Microfinance Institute, a Dallas-based ministry that has issued micro-loans to the working poor in Southern Sudan, and is an advisor to Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries.
Howard Dahl
Howard Dahl is the co-founder, President, and CEO of Amity Technology, a Fargo, North Dakota-based manufacturer of farm machinery. Its main product is sugar beet harvesting equipment, which dominates a majority of the US market and is the primary leader in the Russian market. In 2007, Amity entered the air seeder market, which was the primary business of Concord, Incorporated, the company Howard led from 1977-1996. Amity is also the world’s leading manufacturer of ag soil sampling equipment. Amity sells products in more than twenty-five different countries of the world. A sister company, Wil-Rich LLC, is a leading tillage manufacturer.
Howard is a Director of the Federal Reserve Board of Minneapolis and is a member of numerous other boards. Howard and his companies have been featured in national publications (like Inc. magazine) and are the recipients of a variety of awards such as North Dakota Exporter of the Year, 1994; North Dakota Innovator of the Year, 1997 (UND Center for Innovation); North Dakota Agricultural Person of the Year, 2004; Fargo-Moorhead Business of the Year, 2005; and First North Dakota company to be the SBA Region VII Exporter of the Year, 2006. Howard has a BS in Business Administration from the University of North Dakota and a MA in Philosophy of Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Howard and his wife, Ann, have three children.
Ken Eldred
Ken Eldred founded many successful companies including Ariba Technologies, Incorporated, the leader in the Internet business-to-business industry which has reached a market valuation of $40 billion; Inmac, which grew to $400 million in yearly revenues as the first business to sell computer products, supplies, and accessories by direct mail; Mysoftware Corporation, now called ClickAction; and Norm Thompson Outfitters, Incorporated, a direct mail, consumer specialty retailer of high-quality merchandise. In 1988, the Institute of American Entrepreneurs named Eldred “Retail Entrepreneur of the Year for the San Francisco Bay Area.”
Eldred’s book God Is At Work: Transforming People and Nations Through Business is a leading work in the movement to integrate faith and work. Eldred and his wife, Roberta, founded Living Stones Foundation, a public support organization created to support Christian work and charity around the world. He also serves as chairman of Parakletos@Ventures, a top-rated venture capital firm in the Silicon Valley, California.
Eldred, and his wife Roberta have three sons and currently reside in Silicon Valley.
Katherine Foo
Born and raised in Maryland, Katherine Foo received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Columbia University, a Master of Public Health degree in Community Health Sciences from UCLA, and (as of December 2009) is a second year Master of Business Administration student in Wharton’s Health Care Management program. Katherine’s professional experiences center around public health education and communications—she has worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the areas of violence prevention and tuberculosis, as well as an HIV/AIDS community research organization, and a public health consulting firm. She aspires to be involved in global health initiatives to increase access to medicines in developing countries.
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is a Xealot and Founding Partner of The Awaken Group (http://theawakengroup.com), a global leadership development/consulting firm with expertise in global culture, strategy, innovation, and creativity. He has a passion to see organizations and leaders have a double bottom line: to make a profit and make a difference. He also founded a non-profit global leadership development and ideation group called XEALOT (http://xealot.net) connecting resources to marginalized leaders.
Dave Gibbons is the founding pastor of Newsong Church, an international multi-site church located in such places as Thailand, India, London, Los Angeles, Irvine, Dallas, Mexico City, and Beijing. Newsong is considered one of the most innovative churches in America by Outreach Magazine. Dave also serves on the Board of World Vision US. The author of The Monkey and the Fish, Gibbons is a vision-oriented leader known for his insightful thinking on the future of organizations.
Bonita Grubbs
Bonita Grubbs has been Executive Director of Christian Community Action since December 1988. Prior to that, she was employed as Assistant Regional Administrator within the State of Connecticut for the Department of Mental Health.
Rev. Grubbs currently serves in a leadership capacity on numerous boards and councils including the Fighting Back Project; Mercy Center in Madison, Connecticut; Connecticut Center for School Change and Dwight Hall at Yale University; the Connecticut Voices for Children; the Connecticut Housing Coalition; the Community Economic Development Fund; and the Hospital of St. Raphael, where she serves as Chairperson of its Mission Effectiveness Committee. She has also served as a lecturer in Homiletics at Yale Divinity School.
Rev. Grubbs holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology and Afro-American Studies from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She received two degrees from Yale University—a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Public Health. She received an honorary degree from Albertus Magnus College in 2001. In 1987, she was ordained through the American Baptist Church.
Scott Harrison
In 2004, Scott Harrison left the streets of New York City for the shores of West Africa. For ten years, Harrison had made his living in the Big Apple promoting top nightclubs and fashion events, and for the most part living selfishly and arrogantly. He returned to his faith and chose to turn his life around by working with Mercy Ships as a photographer. After serving on the Mercy Ships, primarily in Liberia, Scott returned to New York and founded charity: water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
As of January 2009, charity: water had completed 1,247 water projects serving more than 650,000 people.
Henry Kaestner
Kaestner joined Morken as Co-Founder in 2001 when he merged Bandwidth International into Bandwidth.com and served as CEO until early 2008. In his position as Executive Chairman, Henry Kaestner works with partner David Morken on the firm’s strategy, financing, and marketing functions. Kaestner also oversees the partnership’s not-for-profit activities.
Previously, Kaestner was the CEO of Bandwidth International, an international wholesale telecommunications broker based in London, England. He also founded Chapel Hill Broadband. Kaestner was a founder and former President and CEO of Chapel Hill Brokers, an energy broker which achieved more than $50 million in daily trade volume on more than 150 transactions, for clients including Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.
Together with business and ministry partner, David Morken, Henry has founded DurhamCares.org, an organization that seeks to engage residents of Durham and encourage them to immerse themselves in service to their city; and MinistrySpotlight.org, which seeks to identify best of breed, independent Christ-centered word and deed ministries around the globe.
Kaestner lives in Durham with his wife Kimberley and their three sons.
George F. Kettle
George F. Kettle, a native Washingtonian, was well known in the Washington, DC area as a successful businessman and philanthropist. He was honored as Washingtonian of the Year and Entrepreneur of the Year.
Mr. Kettle started his real estate brokerage office in 1965. In February 1973, he purchased the Century 21 master franchise for Virginia, Maryland; Washington, DC; Delaware; and Eastern Pennsylvania. In 1996 when he sold the franchises to HFS, Incorporated, he had over 430 offices and 6,000 sales associates.
Mr. Kettle brought the I Have a Dream program to Washington. He helped more than ninety students from the inner city with their college education and recruited more than a dozen other sponsors in cities across America. He devoted many hours to the Youth for Tomorrow Home for troubled teenagers, Calvin Woodland’s work with the inner city children of Washington, DC, and with Campus Crusade for Christ, Prison Fellowship Ministries, and The Endowment for Community Leadership. As well as his many contributions on a national level, Mr. Kettle was also deeply involved in meeting needs in Russia and Africa.
Mr. Kettle passed away April 15, 2009.
Blake Lingle
Blake Lingle is the CEO of the Boise Fry Company. After spending many moons slaving for Uncle Sam, Blake left civil service to flip burgers at Boise Fry Company. Some call his fry and burger making skills ninja-like, others call his skills overrated—depends on whom you ask. When Blake isn’t making delicious fries and burgers, he’s questioning why squirrels can’t be pets, listening to Christmas music, playing Tetris, and/or chilling with his beautiful wife, Andrea. Blake’s belief in God and miracles was confirmed when Andrea agreed to marry him. Blake and Andrea live in Boise, Idaho with their golden retriever aptly named Chase.
Brian Lewis
Brian J. Lewis is Managing Partner of Cereus Partners, an advisory firm to corporations and philanthropic organizations in the areas of strategy, marketing focus, and message. A graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary, Mr. Lewis also serves on the board of HOPE International, a global microfinance organization.
A frequent public speaker, he lives with his wife Barbara on Orcas Island, Washington.
Steve Lynn
Steve Lynn is majority owner and Chairman of Cummings Incorporated and CEO of Back Yard Burgers, Inc. He served as CEO of Shoney’s Incorporated from 1995-1998, and Sonic Corporation from 1983-1995. Lynn is known for transforming Sonic from a declining fast-food chain to the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants, with almost $2 billion in annual sales. His steadfast belief in putting value first has allowed him to develop positive work environments wherever he has held a leadership position.
Lynn has served on numerous boards including the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce (past chairman), The Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Young Presidents’ Organization (past chairman), Oklahoma Baptist Medical Center, the University of Louisville, The National Cowboy Hall of Fame, and the International Franchise Association. He and his wife, Milah, have been married for over thirty years.
Matthew McCreight
Matthew McCreight is a managing partner at Robert H. Shaffer & Associates, LLC (RHS&A). He has been with the firm since the late 1980s, consulting with a wide variety of organizations across all sectors, including health care and manufacturing companies, financial service firms, governmental agencies, and non-profits. For the past fifty years, RHS&A has been at the forefront of helping organizations carry out major strategic and operational changes in ways that generate significant improvements in business results. Recently the firm launched the non-profit Rapid Results Institute, to apply this approach to transform the impact of large-scale development efforts in Africa.
Before joining RHS&A, Matthew earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Wesleyan University, and his Master of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management. Matthew also serves on the Board of the Overseas Ministry Study Center.
Matthew’s wife, the Reverend Dr. Kathryn Greene-McCreight, is an Episcopal Priest and noted author. Matthew and Kathryn have two almost-grown children, Noah and Grace.
Edwin Meese III
Edwin Meese III, the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States of America, is a prominent leader, thinker, and elder statesman in the conservative movement. Mr. Meese holds the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation and is the Chairman of Heritage’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
Mr. Meese spent most of his adult life working with Governor and then President Ronald Reagan. He served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States from February 1985 to August 1988. In 1985, he received the Government Executive magazine’s annual award for excellence in management.
From 1977 to 1981, he was a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego, where he also was Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management. Mr. Meese also served as Vice President for administration of Rohr Industries, Inc. in Chula Vista, California.
Mr. Meese graduated from Yale University in 1953 and holds a law degree from the University of California-Berkeley. He is a retired Colonel in the Army Reserve and remains active in numerous civic and educational organizations. He is the author or co-author of three books: Leadership, Ethics and Policing; Making America Safer; and With Reagan: The Inside Story. Mr. Meese and his wife, Ursula, have two grown children. They live in McLean, Virginia.
Jeffrey Metzner
Jeff works in brand management at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jeff earned his Master of Business Administration in 2008 from the Yale School of Management. While at Yale, he had the privilege of planning the 2008 Believers in Business Conference. Prior to matriculating at Yale, Jeff worked in residential construction as a project manager at Ryan Homes in Delaware. Jeff graduated from Cornell University with majors in Economics and Philosophy.
Jeff and his wife, Katy, are blessed to live with their two-year-old daughter, Abby, in Maineville, Ohio.
David W. Miller
David W. Miller, PhD serves as the Director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative (http://faithandwork.princeton.edu) and as an Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer. He is also co-founder and President of The Avodah Institute. Prior to this, he spent five years at Yale University, where he was the Executive Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture and taught business ethics at Yale’s Divinity School and School of Management. Miller’s first book, God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement challenges business academics and executives, as well as theologians and clergy to think differently about the role of faith at work.
Prior to academia, Miller spent sixteen years in international business and finance, the latter eight of which as a senior executive based in London. With this background, he brings a unique “bilingual” perspective to his teaching, research, and corporate advisory work.
David Morken
David Morken is president and CEO of Bandwidth.com. In 2008, Morken was named one of the Triangle Business Journals 40 Under 40 top business leaders. In the same year, Bandwidth made the Inc. Magazine 500 list for the third consecutive year as the fourth fastest growing privately held company and the fastest growing telecommunications company from 2002 to 2007.
In 1994, Morken co-founded the Internet’s first online tax filing service, efiling.com. He was called to active duty by the Marine Corps in 1995 and served four years as a Judge Advocate, criminal prosecutor, and headquarters company commander. Morken is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School and a member of the Virginia Bar Association. He received his undergraduate degree from Oral Roberts University where he also served as president of the student body.
Morken suffers from an addiction to endurance athletics, finishing twenty-second in the 2008 Wasatch 100-mile Ultra-marathon in under twney-seven hours. In 2009, he was named the Healthiest CEO In The Triangle (Raleigh-Durham) by Business Leader Magazine. He was the first finisher from North Carolina in the 2005 Ironman World Championships held in Kona, Hawaii, finishing in nine hours and forty-three minutes. Morken was a two-time member of the Marine Corps Triathlon team in 1997-98.
Morken resides in Chapel Hill with his wife Chrishelle and their six children.
Wendy Murphy
Wendy Murphy is Managing Partner of Heidrick & Struggles’ Chief Human Resources Officers Practice. Her experience in human resources both domestically and internationally, brings depth and insight into her work with her global client base. Her clients include: ABN-AMRO, Cisco, Coca Cola, Freddie Mac, Lincoln Financial Corporation, Maersk, Incorporated, Merck, BNY Mellon, National Grid, Philips Medical Systems, PricewaterhouseCoopers, UBS, and United Airlines.
Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Wendy worked in both management consulting and executive search, holding consulting positions with Organizational Dynamics, Incorporated (ODI), a global consulting and training company; Winter Wyman & Company in Boston; The Solomon-Page Group, Ltd in New York, where she served as a Group Vice President; and TMP Worldwide Executive Search, where she served as a Partner in the Global Human Resources Practice.
Wendy also serves on the Advisory Board for the USC’s Marshall School CEO Group and The Princeton Faith and Work Initiative.
Blake Mycoskie
Blake is an entrepreneur and has created five businesses since college. His first was a successful national campus laundry service; his second start-up, Mycoskie Media, was purchased by Clear Channel Media. Between business ventures, Blake competed in the CBS’ primetime series, The Amazing Race. With his sister, Paige, Blake traveled the world and came within minutes of winning the $1 million dollar grand prize.
After The Amazing Race, Blake attempted to create the first TV cable channel dedicated entirely to reality programming. His fourth start-up was an online driver’s education school that featured hybrid cars and SUVs. After returning from a holiday in Argentina, Blake decided to sell this business to focus full-time on his latest idea, the creation of TOMS Shoes. TOMS Shoes focuses on the simple promise to give a pair of new shoes to children in need around the world with every pair sold.
Blake is an avid reader and traveler. He lives on a sailboat in Los Angeles.
Dennis Pemberton
As the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Global Asset Alternatives, LLC, Dennis is responsible for crafting and implementing the vision of the company, identifying and executing investment strategies, and creating and maintaining client relationships.
Prior to forming Global Asset Alternatives, Dennis served as Managing Director-Capital Markets of Shoptaw & Garrard, LLC, a boutique investment management firm, where he oversaw research, portfolio management, fund formation, and capital raising activities. Prior to joining Shoptaw & Garrard, Dennis was affiliated with Security Capital Group, Inc. (SCG), a global real estate investment management, and research organization. Dennis has also worked for CIGNA Investment Management as an asset manager, responsible for a $300-million portfolio. Additionally, he has held positions at Lehman Brothers and the Prudential Realty Group.
Dennis has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Morehouse College, having graduated with honors, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Dennis is active in a number of community and civic organizations including the Woodruff Arts Center and the United Way and serves on the Board of the Sanders/Buckhead Family YMCA, the Emory University Center for Ethics, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, and The Buckhead Club.
Steve Reinemund
Steve Reinemund is the Dean of Business at Wake Forest University, and Professor of Leadership and Strategy. Steve retired as Chairman of the Board of PepsiCo, Inc. in May 2007 and as Chief Executive Officer in October 2006. He is a twenty-three-year PepsiCo veteran who led the corporation as Chairman and Chief Executive from 2001 to 2006. During that period, PepsiCo’s revenues increased by more than $9 billion, net income increased by seventy percent, earnings per share increased by eighty percent, its annual dividend doubled, and the company’s market capitalization surpassed $100 billion. In addition to the growth of the company, Steve’s legacy includes a commitment to health and wellness, diversity and inclusion, and values-based leadership.
Steve is currently a member of the board of directors of American Express, Exxon, and Marriott. Reinemund also serves as a trustee on the United States Naval Academy Foundation. From 2005 to 2007, Steve was chairman of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. He served on the National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army from 1990 to 1999, and he was chairman of this board from 1996 to 1999. Steve also served on the board of The National Council of La Raza from 1992 to 2001 and was chairman of its Corporate Board of Advisors from 1992 to 1996. Steve has honorary doctorates from Bryant University and Johnson and Wales University. He did his MBA at the University of Virginia and his Bachelor of Science at the United States Naval Academy.
Jeffrey A. Russell
Jeff is currently the CEO of Easy Office, a social venture providing affordable finance services to non-profits in the US. He has served as the Executive Director for an international development non-profit, The Momentum Group. He lived in Bangkok, Thailand for 3+ years as the Director of Supply Chain Planning for a $350-million supply chain services company. While there, he designed and implemented a back-office shared service center that handled over $250 million worth of transactions each year.
Jeff is a Georgia Tech Industrial Engineer and holds an MBA from Yale University. He and his wife, Tara, live with their two children in Boise, Idaho.
Mark L. Russell
Mark L. Russell is the Founder and CEO of Russell Media. Russell is a frequent public speaker and has worked as a consultant to a wide array of organizations. He is the editor of Our Souls at Work as well the author of The Missional Entrepreneur: Principles and Practices for Business as Mission and a co-author of Routes and Radishes: And Other Things to Talk about at the Evangelical Crossroads.
Russell has a PhD in intercultural studies from Asbury Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business from Auburn University. His doctoral research focused on business as mission (BAM). Mark has lived and worked in Russia, Chile, and Germany and traveled to more than seventy countries to carry out a variety of business, educational, humanitarian, and religious projects. Mark has been published in more than sixty academic and popular publications.
Mark lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife, Laurie and their children, Noah and Anastasia.
Rick Schneider
Rick graduated from Harvard in 1982. He worked in political campaigns, as a campus minister, and in several high-tech sales positions in the US and in Russia. In 1993 the Schneiders moved to Moscow where Rick was Vice President of TRI and Director of the Christian Embassy, Russia.
In 2002, Rick completed his PhD in Russian political sociology before returning with his family to Yale where he is a Senior Fellow at the Rivendell Institute. Rick travels regularly to Russia where he continues to teach on Civil Society (including the role of free market economic institutions) as an Adjunct Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Rick is married to Soozie Reynolds Schneider and has three delightful and talented teenagers.
Tyler Self
Tyler Self is the Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Vision Research Capital Management, LP, a Dallas-based investment manager for accredited and institutional investors. In this role, Tyler oversees all investment activity of the firm and serves as Portfolio Manager of Vision Research Capital Fund, LP where he has built a track record of generating profitable returns that have significantly outperformed US indices.
Prior to launching Vision Research Capital Fund in 2006, Tyler founded and served as CEO and Director of Research of Vision Research Organization, LLC, where he oversaw an independent consulting service targeting large institutional investors and hedge funds. Under Tyler’s leadership, Vision Research was selected as the top overall Forensic Accounting, Quality of Earnings, and Short Idea research firm in the country.
Tyler graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. In the year of his graduation, Tyler was the only undergraduate student in the United States to receive direct admission to the Harvard Business School Master of Business Administration program. Tyler continues to support undergraduate education, serving on Southern Methodist University’s Alternative Asset Management Center Advisory Board and frequently appearing at Baylor University as a guest lecturer.
Tyler is also active in the community, serving as a volunteer at West Dallas Community School, a director at Videre Microfinance Institution, and a teacher at his local church. Tyler and his wife Lauren have two daughters, Ava and Abigail.
Harri Sundvik
Harri is Managing Director and regional Head of a London-based Investment Banking team for one of the leading global investment banking firms. He covers leading international corporations, financial institutions, and government agencies. Harri has extensive corporate finance advisory and transaction execution experience in cross-border and trans-Atlantic mergers and acquisitions, shareholder value defense and strategy work, and capital raising transactions.
Harri and his wife, Heidi, have led courses and seminars on marriage-related themes both in the UK and Finland. Harri is a proud father of three sons: Henrik, Sebastian, and Daniel. As of October 2008 Harri has completed fifty-three full marathons in his running career.
Fonny Surya
Fonny was born and raised in Bandung, a town approximately two hours from Jakarta, Indonesia. She moved to the United States when she was seventeen to pursue her college degree at Indiana University, Bloomington. After working for about six years both in the US and in Indonesia, she decided to pursue her Master of Business Administration at the Wharton School, and is now working at a major international investment bank in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her mother was a Christian, but it wasn’t until college that she started to learn more about what it means to be a Christian.
John Tyson
The grandson of the company’s founder, Tyson Foods, Chairman John Tyson has worked in the company since he was a teenager in virtually every department, from operations to sales and marketing to governmental relations. He also served as President and CEO. Tyson was the architect of the acquisition of IBP, Incorporated in 2001, which precipitated a major change in the size and scope of the company’s operations. He then structured the “new” Tyson Foods based on core values that defined goals and standards for personal and professional success.
A key part of these core values is that Tyson Foods strives to be a company of diverse people working together to produce food, which has been and continues to be a cornerstone that has supported the growth of the company throughout the years. John Tyson also created the company’s first Executive Diversity Business Council to provide guidance on and support of inclusion and diversity. In recent years, Tyson has also been a leader in the concept and practice of providing company chaplains and the establishment of faith-friendly workplaces. A devoted father of two, Tyson is also engaged in supporting the well being and education of youth. As such, he is actively involved in Tyson Foods’ philanthropic efforts with a focus on education and hunger relief.
Bonnie Wurzbacher
As Senior Vice President of Global Customer Leadership, Bonnie Wurzbacher leads the growth of the company’s largest global customers and develops business strategies for key channels around the world. Previously, she was responsible for customer strategy and led the development of their global customer approach.
During her twenty-five-year tenure at The Coca-Cola Company, Wurzbacher has held various senior sales, marketing, strategy, and management positions including: vice president, business development; vice president, southeast area; vice president, McDonald’s; and assistant vice president, education market in Coca-Cola North America. She serves on the company’s global advisory councils for customer and commercial leadership, women’s leadership, and corporate responsibility.
Wurzbacher graduated from Wheaton College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education in 1977 and received her Master of Business Administration in general management from Emory University in 1990. She has served on the boards of Gordon Food Service, Inc., The March of Dimes, Theatrical Outfit, The Network of Executive Women, among others, and is currently the chairperson of The Georgia Foundation of Independent Colleges.
Steve Wurzbacher
Steve Wurzbacher is a Principal with Tenacity, Incorporated, the nation’s leading client retention firm. He joined Tenacity in 1994 after twenty years of successful senior management, marketing, and business development experience at Aramark and Procter & Gamble.
Along with direct client engagements for Tenacity, he serves as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer and manages key planning and brand development functions. In addition, he is a well-known speaker on the subject of client relationship management.
Steve serves on the Governing Board of The Capital City Club in Atlanta and serves as lay leader for the WorkLife ministry at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.
Kim Yerino
Kimberly Hayden Yerino is an alumna of the Yale School of Management, graduating in May of 2009 with a Master of Business Administration. She now works as a Senior Analyst for a Fortune 500 diversified financial services company with major operations in Connecticut. She is also currently the InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries volunteer at the Yale School of Management. Kim lives in New Haven with her husband and best friend, Christopher, who is working on a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Yale. Her favorite color is purple and one of her favorite women in the Bible is Lydia (see Acts 16:11-15).
