Priya Taneja is the CEO of DHR Global, a leading talent advisory firm operating in more than 22 countries. A first-generation American, she credits her immigrant upbringing with shaping her resilience, work ethic, and belief in the power of opportunity.

As a leader, Priya focuses on creating cultures where people feel seen, valued, and inspired to do their best work. Under her leadership, DHR has achieved record performance, exceptional employee engagement, and national recognition as a top workplace. She has also earned notable accolades, including a recent Stevie Award for Women in Business.

Priya is deeply committed to giving back in Austin, believing leadership is defined not only by organizational success but by the impact you have beyond it. She invests her time, energy, and resources in hands-on efforts that expand opportunity and strengthen the city’s future, and she is intentional about modeling service, generosity, and purpose for her two young sons.

Angel Leverett is VP of Marketing & Communications at Austin Habitat for Humanity, where she leads brand strategy, media relations, digital communications, and public engagement efforts for one of the top Habitat affiliates in the country. She played a key role in bringing the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project to Austin, helping elevate the organization’s national visibility and community impact. Before entering the nonprofit sector, she worked for Fortune 500 and Global 500 companies, including Nestlé

Her leadership has been recognized through honors, including Women Communicators of Austin’s Gladys Whitley Hearst Outstanding Member Award, Ad2Austin’s 32 Under 32, El Paso in Austin’s Trailblazer Award, and being named a two-time Change Maker by Austin Woman Magazine. A graduate of Texas State University and Leadership Austin, Angel currently serves as President of Women Communicators of Austin, where she founded the Communicators of Color Affinity Group to expand mentorship, representation, and professional growth opportunities within the communications industry. She strives to lead with purpose by opening doors for others just as others once opened doors for her.

Ashley Wainscott is the Founder and CEO of Simply Home, an Austin-based renovation company redefining what it feels like to remodel. For nearly 14 years, she has grown Simply Home into an award-winning, woman-led firm that has impacted more than 2,000 homes across Central Texas by bringing homeowners relief, clarity, and confidence during one of life’s most disruptive seasons.

A St. Edward’s University graduate and female founder in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Ashley’s leadership has earned national, regional, and local recognition, including Austin Under 40 Award Winner, LUNA A/E/C Firm of the Year and A/E/C Woman of the Year honors, Pro Remodeler’s Forty Under 40, St. Edward’s University Entrepreneur of the Year, Austin Woman Magazine’s “Woman to Watch,” and multi-year NARI Remodeler of the Year recognition.

As a born-and-raised Austinite, Ashley is deeply committed to the community that shaped her. She has served for more than a decade with the Junior League of Austin and is a past chair of the Austin Young Chamber. Through Simply Home, she also partners with nonprofits that support housing needs for individuals and families in Austin, reflecting her belief that everyone deserves a safe, supportive space to live in and call their own.

Cassandra Shankman, aka DJ Cassandra, is an award-winning DJ, composer, and classically trained pianist known for creating transformative musical experiences. Raised between Austin and London, she blends global influences with her open-format style. A UT music composition graduate with training from the Royal Academy of Music, she has performed for clients including Formula 1, Gucci, Google, Apple TV+, Hulu, SXSW, and ACL Music Festival (where she is a 2024 and 2025 official artist). She has opened for artists like Willie Nelson, Passion Pit, and Trixie Mattel and her playlists have supported brands such as Tito's, Lululemon, and Hulu.

Beyond the stage, she is a pioneer in Biomedical Music™, creating therapeutic compositions used by over 3 million patients worldwide. A Governor and Secretary of The Recording Academy Texas Chapter, she leads education, advocacy, and community initiatives while championing music’s power to connect and heal.

Bart Davis is the Founder and CEO of 512Financial, a fractional services firm providing senior-level financial and organizational leadership to investor-backed companies. Since its founding in 2022, he has grown the firm to 50 employees and supported over $325M in raises and liquidity events.

Bart is deeply connected to the Austin community. In addition to his role, at The First Tee, he also mentors early-career finance leaders and first-time founders, sharing guidance shaped by both startup and finance experience.

Robert “Smiley” McCray is a Lieutenant with the Austin Fire Department and a 17-year veteran of the fire service. He entered his first fire academy at age 20 and later became the first African American full-time firefighter hired by ESD # 1 North Lake Travis Fire Rescue, as well as the first Black firefighter on the Travis County ESD 1 Rescue Boat Team. He is officially trained and cleared to respond to aviation incidents at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport under TSA and FAA emergency response standards.

Beyond emergency operations, Robert has led inclusive policy reform within AFD, supported hundreds of patients as a mental health technician, and contributed to youth mentorship, scholarship, and civic engagement initiatives. He serves in leadership roles with the Austin African American Firefighters Association and the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters, and is the founder of Team 5Twelve Day, an Austin-based civic engagement initiative launching in 2026.

Matt is the Co-Founder and CEO of Aalo Atomics - a company building factory mass-manufactured nuclear power plants, purpose built for AI data centers. With Aalo, Matt is excited to help usher in a Second Atomic Age, unlocking a future of abundance for humanity while minimizing our impact on Earth. Aalo was founded 2 years ago and has raised $136M to-date, with plans to start construction on its first nuclear reactor in under 12 months. Prior to Aalo, Matt studied Engineering and Physics, and started a B2B SaaS company which grew to over 150 employees and achieved a 9-figure exit.

Jhonatan is the founder of Kesos Tacos, an Austin-based restaurant brand built on bold Mexican flavors, queso-forward tacos, and hospitality-first values. Since launching in 2014, he's focused on building a business rooted in strong values, meaningful career growth, and community connection.

Alongside Kesos Tacos, Jhonatan also leads a financial advisory firm supporting restaurant owners and entrepreneurs through growth and complexity. Today, as a business owner and new father, he's driven by building organizations that create opportunity, bring people together, and leave a positive, lasting impact on Austin.

John-Carlos Estrada is a first-generation Mexican American journalist, filmmaker, & author. He's a CBS Austin anchor and previously worked as a network producer in NYC & DC. His work includes the award-winning documentary Barbette + Fontaine, This Is Texas, and a forthcoming book with UT Press. He's a graduate of GW & Columbia Journalism School.

His work is driven by gratitude for those who lifted him up and a promise to make that path wider for the next generation.

Sarah is a first generation attorney who has spent the past decade giving back to the Austin community she so dearly loves. She is the Secretary of the Austin Bar Association, Communications Chair of the Texas Young Lawyers, Past President of the Austin Young Lawyers, and on the Texas Bar Foundation district nominating committee.

Kevin is a pediatric neurosurgeon scientist at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. He leads a translational research program developing novel therapies for pediatric brain tumors and provides advanced neurosurgical care at Dell Children’s Medical Center.

His focus is on building programs that translate rigorous science into meaningful clinical impact while expanding opportunity for the next generation of physicians and scientists.

Eboni is a licensed clinical social worker, healthcare leader, and community board chair committed to mentorship, equity, and systems-level impact. She is an Assistant Professor at Dell Medical School at UT Austin, where she serves as Director of Social Work. She is a nonprofit board chair, founder of Elixir Austin, and a committed mentor advancing equity in the behavioral health workforce.

Whether through supervision, teaching, or board leadership, she believes strong communities are built through intentional mentorship, ethical leadership, and collective responsibility. She is deeply invested in Austin’s future and the people who make its institutions stronger.

As the club's founding Vice President of Community Impact, Kaitlin built an award-winning CSR platform that defined Austin’s "Soccer City" identity through a lens of social equity. Today, Kaitlin serves as Executive Director of 4ATX Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Austin FC.

Kaitlin is trained in Restorative Practices and is the recipient of Austin Woman's Rising Star award, the Harvard Leadership in Education and the Harvard Faculty Tribute awards.

Megan Etz is a native Austinite and COO of Industry ATX, a real estate development firm focused on creating high-quality, attainable housing in neighborhoods where affordability is increasingly out of reach. Her work centers on innovative housing models that promote long-term community stability.

Through affordable homeownership projects like Industry SOMA and Willows Crossing, Megan is committed to building a more inclusive future for the city she calls home.

Sammy is the founder of Wanderlust Wine Co. and aspiring Master of Wine, scaling an experimental wine-on-tap concept into a multi-channel CPG brand serving hospitality, wholesale, and sports venues. Wanderlust has been recognized as one of Austin’s Fastest Growing Companies, a Top Family Business, and a Platinum Green Business Leader, and is now the official wine partner of the San Antonio Spurs and Austin FC.

Sammy serves on the board of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association and is pursuing the Master of Wine program to bring global perspective to Texas.

Tyler Parsons is a husband, father of three, and co-founder of Vital Society. In 2020 he bet on himself, founding Invictus Marketing, later merging it into Brotherdale, now recognized as one of the top creative agencies in the U.S.

In 2025, he and his wife of nearly 11 years, Cara—his business partner and greatest supporter—founded Vital Society, a modern wellness clinic serving over 2,000 Central Texas patients. Today, Tyler is committed to redefining healthcare through personalized wellness, community impact, and service, helping Central Texas families live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

Mr. Yasir Arafat is the President and Chief Technology Officer of Aalo Atomics, where he leads the company’s overall technical direction and oversees integration across Product Design, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Fuels, and Regulatory Affairs.


Prior to Aalo Atomics, Mr. Arafat served as the national Technical Area Lead for the Department of Energy’s Microreactor Program, where he led the DOE MARVEL program. He brings over 16 years of experience in nuclear development and deployment, with a primary focus on advanced reactor technologies. A recognized pioneer in microreactors, he previously served as Technical Lead of the Westinghouse eVinci™ Microreactor Program, where he directed the overall product design.


Mr. Arafat specializes in executive leadership within the nuclear sector, with deep expertise in product design, factory-scale manufacturing, and innovation strategy. His reactor design experience spans gigawatt-scale reactors, small modular reactors (SMRs), microreactors, and advanced microreactor systems (XMRs).


He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University.


Mr. Arafat is the inventor on 14 patents and, in 2023, became the youngest recipient of the American Nuclear Society’s highest honor, the Walter Zinn Medal, in recognition of his contributions to advancing microreactor technology in the United States.

Troy is the Founder & CEO of Evergen Equity, which runs the real estate allocation for some of the country’s largest family offices, whose operating businesses range from automotive and energy, to consumer packaged goods and technology. He has operated in varying capacities in the real estate industry over the last 19 years, investing in excess of $1 Billion in real estate from coast-to-coast.

He began his career out of his freshman year dorm room at The University of Texas at Austin, where he went on to graduate at the top of his class from the McCombs School of Business.

Outside of work, Troy has led a life focused on providing access to education, healthcare, and safety for those that have been deprived of these basic needs, and has done so through deep engagement across a myriad of local non-profits. His favorite titles are "husband" and "father."

Owner of Dr. Ashley Glover’s Wellness Therapy, Dr. Glover has over 15 years of experience in the Social Work Profession. Dr. Glover is credentialed through over 20 Employee Assistance Programs throughout Texas. Her purpose is to assist employers who are stressed, dealing with grief and loss, feeling stuck, anxiety, and depression.

She is a board Licensed Clinical Supervisor and supervises License Masters Social Workers in hope to obtain their Clinical License. Dr. Glover was named Social Worker of the year from National Association of Social Worker, Capital Area, Texas. She was named of “Ole miss Thomas Crowe, Outstanding Alumni, and Ole Miss 40 under 40. Dr. Glover is published in Ole Miss Alumni magazine article entitled, “Passion with Purpose.” Dr. Glover truly enjoys helping people live a healthier quality of life. She is a graduate of Leadership Austin. Dr. Glover is currently in African American Leadership Institute Program. She enjoys mentoring through Seedling Mentoring.