Jenny Krengel, Founder & CEO

• Career in: Enterprise sales and management selling technology solutions including client-server and web-based software, hardware, and services. Successful track record in start-up environments and taking new products into new markets with profitable results.

• Longest career tenure: Eight years with privately held small business – key sales leader contributing to average CAGR of 30% during tenure. Experienced employee growth from four employees to over 100, with revenue growth of  less than a half million dollars in annual sales, to over $12 million in annual sales through organic growth. 

• Best attributes in business: Visionary, planning, distilling problems into solutions, customer focus, communicating, motivating, executing and getting the job done with resourcefulness and creativity.

• Career achievement: Selling enterprise security software to Wal-Mart corporate at list price.

• Education: BA in Psychology with honors, University of Texas at Dallas, coursework in Ph.D. program: Organizations and Strategy - School of Management, UTD

• Advice to the next generation: “Have a great attitude while doing your best work with integrity; what you produce today is only preparation for the next best thing.”

Sara Gates

• Career in: Strategy and marketing, spanning from Wall Street to high tech, from the smallest companies to the largest.

• Longest career tenure: Six years in identity management. This tenure started as one of the first employees of start-up Waveset Technologies; after Waveset was acquired by Sun Microsystems, ended as VP at Sun running a $200M fast-growth business.

• Best attributes in business: Visionary, leading, motivating. I love to help people figure out their areas of passion in their work and then unleash them to achieve greatness.

• Career achievement: Led team and business from niche player status in a hot new market to an undisputed market leader position recognized for both vision and market share. (And had fun doing it.)

• Education: BBA University of Texas Austin; MBA Vanderbilt

• Advice to the next generation: “Find your passion and follow it (this takes courage). Money follows passion but passion never follows money.”

Linda Glass

• Career in: Talent management and executive coaching; key focus on high-growth, global strategies.

• Longest career tenure: Eleven years with Starbucks Coffee Company; From launching the Starbucks Brand in the UK to establishing the first recruiting department, Linda has been drawn to start-up opportunities.

• Best attributes in business: Strategic, innovative thinker who places high value on leveraging the best of talent within organizations.

• Career achievement: Launching innovative assessment platform for retail hiring with a proven return in the millions.

• Education: BA in Economics from DePauw University

• Advice to the next generation: “Take the time early to really understand what your strengths and talents are. Establish a path that will take every advantage of those and you’ll love what you do.”

Roark Pollock

• Career in: Marketing and product management with a track record of delivering significant product revenue growth and bringing successful new products to market.

• Longest career tenure: Six years with a privately held national managed service provider. - led all product development efforts and go-to-market strategies including the successful development and launch of 20+ products, and product integration efforts as the company went through two major acquisitions within a three year period.  During his tenure the company grew from approximately $6M to $125M in annual revenues.

• Best attributes in business: Building, motivating and leading effective cross functional teams.

• Career achievement: Putting the right resources, skill sets and processes in place to drive and support significant company revenue growth (66% over 2 years in one instance, and 29% over 2 years in another).

• Education: BS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station, Tex.  MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

• Advice to the next generation: “Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life.”

Pat Abrams

• Career in: Organization development, management and leadership development, talent management and human resources business partnering.

• Longest career tenure: Fourteen years at AMD with progressively more responsible positions across HR functions; managed global teams and projects in North America, Europe and Asia.

• Best attributes in business: Strategic and organizational agility, systems thinking, business acumen, process design and management, dealing with ambiguity.

• Career achievement: Member of the leadership team of a $2B wafer fab start-up in Dresden, Germany; responsible for designing and implementing world-class organization, management and talent strategies in a multi-cultural, bi-lingual environment.

• Education: BA in Anthropology & Sociology, Lafayette College and M.Ed. in Organization Behavior, Temple University

• Advice to the next generation: “Don’t postpone joy. If you have joy in the work that you do you will always be successful.”

Hilda Perez Cox

• Career in: Software engineering with a focus on Enterprise Software systems spanning all phases of the software development cycle.

• Longest career tenure: Four years with Waveset Technologies turned into an acquisition by Sun Microsystems.

• Best attributes in business: Bridging the gap between business solutions and technology, communications, leadership, and strong team building.

• Career achievement: Building a world class software product that has been the leading Enterprise Software Identity Management solution for the last 5 years.

• Education: BS in Mathematics, University of Texas at Pan American

• Advice to the next generation: “Always do the right thing and you will guarantee success.”

Sally Pedley

• Career in: Technology executive recruiting with a focus on semiconductor, emerging technologies and technology product companies.

• Longest career tenure: Fourteen years as CEO of Pedley-Richard and Associates with over 20 years leading technology search practices, and four years as Recruiting Manager for Tandem Computers.

• Best attributes in business:  Customer centric, high integrity, passion for connecting opportunities with the right person.

• Career achievement: Building Pedley-Richard into a well-respected, successful organization with a culture that supports work-life balance.

• Education:  Bachelor of Arts in Economics, University of North Carolina-Asheville

• Advice to the next generation: “Do things that you have passion for and continue to learn. Success will follow.”

Kathleen Kenney Lucente

• Career in: Corporate marketing and communications positioning companies for success by building and protecting worldwide brands and reputations that are well known in the marketplace – including JPMorgan Chase, IBM, Motorola, American Management Systems and more. Her 18 years of agency and corporate public relations and marketing experience covers emerging technologies, financial services, women's consumer products and services as well as Austin’s entertainment and music industry.

• Longest career tenure: Five years with JPMorgan Chase as Vice President and Regional Head of Corporate Marketing and Communications for Asia Pacific and for LabMorgan, the firm’s financial technology investment and incubator arm. Took JPMorgan from being a third rate player in Asia to being recognized worldwide as a top-tier choice for US and Asian clients by using PR to demonstrate the power of the firm’s platform via weekly client results and thought-leadership programs.

• Best attributes in business: Creative communications strategist, a proven trusted advisor, an expert in reputation management, a swift ability to distill complicated technology or financial deals and make them tangible for reporters and the public to understand, broad vertical market experience, outstanding international experience, an ability to see the forest and the trees, impeccable execution, a team leader with natural people skills, the highest standards of ethics and propriety as well as hunger to win.

• Career achievement:  Managing PR and internal communications around 9-11, SARS and an anthrax scare all the while successfully raising JPMorganChase’s reputation with clients.  Bringing Creative PR to new heights by position IBM Research as a star in the crown of IBM with breakthrough technology announcements that changed the way PR is done in the industry.

• Education: BA in English, St. Michael’s College, and MA in English Literature with Honors, Boston College,

• Advice to the next generation: “Get your hands dirty on the way – you’ll have a much better sense of your abilities, what makes you tick and how no one can define your life’s ambitions but you.”