Monday, February 12, 2018
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Monday, February 12, 2018 A speed coaching and networking event powered by bizwomen. Mentors 1 | Melissa Aguillon | President/CEO, Aguillon & Associates LLC Melissa Aguillon has been entrenched in public relations, community outreach, government relations and marketing for more than 20 years. Her past employers and current clients include public agencies and private organizations at the local, state and national levels. She has developed a reputation for making connections and increasing brand awareness. In January of 2015, Melissa ran for State Representative, District 123. From this positive experience, she garnered much support and is very involved in issues impacting San Antonio and the state of Texas. In addition, she is an active member of National Association of Women Business Owners, Geekdom and Tech Bloc, supporting San Antonio’s tech ecosystem. In 2013, Melissa received the Marketing Award at the La Prensa Foundation Diamond Awards Gala for her out- standing efforts in marketing and for her commitment to developing San Antonio’s small business and non-profit community. The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce also recognized Melissa with the Rising Star award in 2014. She has bach- elor’s and master’s degrees in Public Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. 2 | Dana Bashara | Assistant Superintendent, Alamo Heights ISD Dr. Dana Bashara currently serves as Assistant Superintendent of Alamo Heights Independent School District. She serves in leadership roles for a variety of education organizations including Texas Association of School Administrators, Alamo Area As- sociation for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Texas Elementary Princi- pals and Supervisors Association. Dana is passionate about leadership development and supports teachers in her district through an innovative Teacher Leader Academy. Additionally, she is passionate about bilingual education and works to provide quality language learning opportunities to students through dual language and Spanish Im- mersion programming. Most recently, her leadership contributions in AHISD resulted in the district being named the best small school district in Texas, the elementary campuses as being ranked as the top schools in San Antonio through niche.com, and the district’s engaged classroom pilot is taking off with amazing success. Dana serves the community most directly through her involvement in the National Charity League, but she is also involved with Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas, and Destination Imagination where she partners in service alongside her daughters. As a mother of four children between the ages of 16 and 5, Dana works to balance the privilege of motherhood with the call to leadership through educational administration. 3 | Celia Belt | Co-Founder/Executive Director, Moonlight Fund, Inc. Celia Belt is the cofounder of the Moonlight Fund Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides financial, emotional and in-kind assistance to burn survivors and their families. A burn survivor herself, Celia noticed the need for care and support in San Antonio, a city with the largest population of burn survivors in the U.S. Along with Henry Coffeen III, executives at Ernst & Young and burn unit medical personnel, she started the charity in 1998. Since then, the organization has helped nearly 6,000 people across the state of Texas. Celia oversees grant writing, program development, event planning and fundraising for The Moonlight Fund. Additionally, she works hand-in-hand with staff members, attends board meetings, hosts retreats & support groups. Celia provides her full time & efforts pro bono to the fund. Celia has served as a public speaker for the Moonlight Fund and other organizations. In 2012, she was invited to speak at the Pentagon on behalf of the Moonlight Fund, when the charity was named the top non-profit in the country and given the Fisher House/Newman’s Own Award. Celia also serves on the American Burn Associations, Aftercare / Reinte- gration Council. Mentors 4 | Rebecca Bompiedi | Chief Technology Officer, General LED Rebecca Bompiedi is the chief technology officer for General LED Opto company, a provider of specialty LED products for the signage and general lighting markets. Prior to joining General LED, she was a lighting industry consultant advising primarily private equity and investment groups involved in various strategic activities in the industry. She’s also worked in a variety of senior executive positions with major multi-national companies. She was the senior vice president for business transfor- mation for Philips Lighting, and she spent 23 years with General Electric leading and driving growth in a variety of positions in senior management. She was the Lighting Business’s transformation and restructuring leader, held VP positions in technology and engineering for two separate businesses, and was the president and CEO of a service company within GE’s Aviation division. Rebecca received her master’s degree in industrial engineering and her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Cleveland State University, as well as senior executive management certifications from GE and Case Western Reserve University. She served on the board of Cleve- land State University Foundation, was a member of Leadership Cleveland class of 2003, and is a founding member of northeast Ohio’s In Counsel with Women. 5 | Chandra K. Bricker | Manager of Communications, H-E-B Chandra K. Bricker is the communications manager at H-E-B. She is a logophile – or lover of words – who spent her youth overseas studying human behavior and moti- vators across many different cultures on six continents. She likes bringing a vision to life - even if it isn’t clearly defined before we start – She’s ok building wings on the way down. Chandra also has served on the board of directors for Trinity University’s San Antonio Alumni chapter. She’s also worked for Medtronic and UTSA. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. 6 | Jennifer Cantu | Senior Vice President, San Antonio Market Manager, Bank of America Jennifer Cantu is the San Antonio market manager and senior vice president in enter- prise business and community engagement for Bank of America. Jennifer executes and champions Bank of America’s efforts in the community through local sponsor- ships and partnerships. In addition, she manages the Bank of America Charitable Foundation in San Antonio, which contributed more than $750,000 in 2017 to 35 local non-profit organizations. She serves as chair of the San Antonio Chamber of Com- merce Education & Workforce Development Council and is a member of the Executive Committee. Jennifer previously served on the Texas Special Education Continuing Advisory Committee as the first student and youngest board member to ever be appointed to a Governor’s Committee for the State of Texas. Jennifer joined the bank in 2010 as a communications specialist. She graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a bachelor’s degree in corporate communication and a minor in business. She lives in San Antonio with her husband, David. 7 | Tracey Cifone | Director of Marketing, Sol Schwartz & Associates, P.C. Tracey Cifone moved to San Antonio from New York in 2009. She studied business administration and accounting at Perth Technical College in Perth, Western Austra- lia. She is the director of marketing for Sol Schwartz & Associates, P.C. and has been marketing professional service firms for more than 18 years. Prior to that she was a flight attendant for Command Airways based out of New York before returning to the corporate world. Tracey is a member of the Association for Accounting Marketing where she just won an award for a print ad campaign that appeared in local and na- tional publications. She is also a member of the North Chamber of Commerce, where she serves on several committees, a participating member of NAWBO, the American Marketing Association San Antonio chapter, where she served as chair of the finance committee and is an active member in The Health Cell, an organization which brings together San Antonio’s health care leaders. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time at the beach, long walks with her two boxer dogs, Wilma and Cheswick, and volunteering her time with The SA Food Bank and donating to the Humane Society. Mentors 8 | Linda Elliott | President, Elliot Connection LLC Linda facilitates targeted introductions to accelerate growth and generate revenue for her clients. She has been very involved in both business and the community, having served on more than 20 professional, civic and charitable boards. Currently, she serves on the University Health System Foundation Board. She’s also active in the National Asso- ciation of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) where she has served in multiple capacities including president. Linda has been recognized numerous times as the quintessential business matchmaker/connector and has been honored with several awards. She’s also created a unique members-only organization called Healthcare Think Tank. Membership consists of professionals who do business in the health care industry, but are not provid- ers. There are now four chapters: San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas. 9 | Mae Escobar | CEO, aMAEzing Marketing Group Mae Escobar has 30 years of strategic marketing, media buying and placement, public relations, hospitality, sales, social media and special events experience. She is the CEO of aMAEzing Marketing Group, which she founded in 2004 after an inten- sive training period with Arcos Communications in New York City. Mae has been recognized with numerous awards including winning the National Clarion Award in 2017 from the American Women in Communications, and also was named the 2016 Marketer of the Year-Hispanic Organization for Public Employees at the 12th Annual Tribute to Hispanic Heritage. A native of San Antonio, Mae graduated from Our Lady of the Lake University with a bachelors degree in media communications. She serves on numerous boards including the Paseo del Rio Association, the San Antonio Fiesta Commission-Elected Commissioner, the San Antonio area Hospitality Advisory Board and Rey Feo Scholarship Inc.