Session Speakers

Mohammad F. Anwar

President & CEO, Softway and Culture+
Co-author of the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Book "Love as a Business Strategy"

Mohammad is the youngest of five children and was born and raised in Saudi Arabia by Indian parents from Bengaluru. He graduated from the University of Houston (Go, Coogs) with a BS in Computer Science and started Softway at age 20, where he still serves as president and CEO.

Mohammad lives in Sugar Land, Texas, with his amazing wife, Yulia, a Russian diver and five-time Olympic medalist, and his beautiful children, Sufia and Mohsin. In his spare time, he enjoys fitness, watching college sports, and butchering American idioms.

Frank E. Danna

Director, Softway and Culture+
Co-author of the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Book "Love as a Business Strategy"

Frank, the oldest of six children, can often be found perfecting the art of brewing, drinking, and sharing coffee with friends and family. Frank is an entrepreneur at heart, having successfully sold his first startup at age 25.

Frank is a pop culture connoisseur, world traveler, and citizen of Disneyland. In his spare time, he bakes award-winning cookies, makes silly videos, and enjoys fitness (to offset the cookies). Frank lives in Houston, Texas, with his gorgeous wife, Megan, and awesome children, Emma and Levi.

Jeffrey F. Ma

Director, Softway and Culture+
Co-author of the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Book "Love as a Business Strategy"

Jeff spent the first decade of his career working in the video game industry, from game testing to project management. He continues to bring his love for games into everything he does, from playing with his kids to training and coaching leaders.

Jeff has a burning passion for board games, magic tricks, Agile, and growth mindsets. He was born and raised in Texas, where he and his beautiful wife, Maggie, dote on their wonderful children, Cody and Penelope.

Christopher J. Pitre

Vice President, Softway and Culture+
Co-author of the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Book "Love as a Business Strategy"

Chris is a student of the world and enjoys anthropology, history, travel, and culinary experiences. His interests in global cultures naturally led him to travel around the world,

cofacilitating Culture Rise, a leadership development training program, and managing client relationships globally.

Chris is a native Houstonian who loves everything Beyoncé. He has a BA in Business Administration from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Dolly Brenneman

President and Founder, Soar to Greatness

Dolly is a servant leader, executive coach, strategic leadership consulting for organization transformation in healthcare delivery system, energy, banking, investment, education, fundraising for non- profit and faith-based organizations. She brings fresh creative approaches and unique perspectives. Through her coaching program, clients gain new insights, learn techniques to minimize stress, find calmness, new directions, achieve goals and strive to live the best life that they have been given.

Deborah Buford Wilkins

Manager DEI and Equal Opportunity, Shell USA

David W. Leebron

President and CEO of Texas 2036

Texas 2036 is a nonprofit, nonpartisan state policy organization working to ensure Texas remains the best place to live and work through the state’s bicentennial in 2036 and beyond.

Prior to joining Texas 2036 in 2024, Leebron served for 18 years as president of Rice University where he is now President Emeritus and remains on the faculty as University Professor. Under Leebron’s guidance, Rice underwent a period of growth and transformation increasing its undergraduate and graduate student populations, enhancing the campus with over $1.8 billion in new construction and ongoing capital improvements, extending its research endeavors and international presence, deepening its relationship with its home city of Houston, and earning greater visibility locally, nationally and internationally.

Prior to taking the helm at Rice, Leebron was dean of Columbia Law School. Originally from Philadelphia, he is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was elected president of the Law Review in his second year. After graduating in 1979, he served as a law clerk for Judge Shirley Hufstedler on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. He began teaching at the UCLA School of Law in 1980 and at the NYU School of Law in 1983. In 1989, Leebron joined the Columbia Law School faculty. David lives in Houston with his wife Ping Sun who is active with several nonprofit organizations in Houston and serves as counsel to the law firm of Yetter & Coleman LLP. Leebron and Sun have two adult children.

Eduardo R. Nunez

Co-Founder and Co-President

Blue Wave

Blue Wave is a certified minority-owned corporation that helps diverse suppliers understand the international standards required by major corporations and government entities using the Blue Wave Supplier Development Program which is a suite of proprietary methodologies, technologies, training curriculum, and document library. Blue Wave’s mantra is very inspirational, and it reflects the company’s purpose: Changing the World, One Supplier at a Time!

The Blue Wave Supplier Development Program helps diverse suppliers perform a self-assessment against international standards and business requirements used by major corporations and governmental organizations in their supplier selection process. The Blue Wave platform provides diverse suppliers with the training, processes, tools, and KPI’s required to close their gaps, reach compliance, and be ready for prime time. The standards and business requirements are cross-industry, apply to all diverse suppliers (classes I to IV), and are organized across seven pillars, including HSSE (Health, Safety, Security, and Environmental), Cyber Security, Quality, Corporate Policies, Financials, Technical Capabilities and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance). The international standards are complex and very comprehensive, making it almost impossible for small and medium size suppliers to understand all the complex requirements. For example, the HSSE international standard includes thousands of expectations, or best practices. Blue Wave has selected those expectations or best practices that are applicable to small and medium size businesses and consolidated them in the Blue Wave engine that runs in the Amazon cloud. In this manner, in less than 2 hours, small and medium size businesses complete their initial self-assessment by responding to the 650 questions of the Blue Wave questionnaire across the seven pillars. The Blue Wave system automatically produces gap reports by supplier and pillar in priority order, as well as the mitigation plans recommended to close gaps.

Efforts to Increase Coverage of Diverse Businesses across the USA and Internationally. Since Blue Wave was launched in 2019, the Blue Wave Supplier Development Program has been deployed to more than 600 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by major corporations, governments, and non-profit organizations across the USA, Mexico, South America and Africa

Christine Schwyn Harrison, Ph.D.

As a racially conditioned whited woman, Christie is a seasoned anti-racism and equity researcher, consultant, executive coach. She is also an advisor, and facilitator at the Center for the Healing of Racism (CFHR) in Houston, TX.

While dedicated in her research to youth and adult development, through the CFHR, Christie supports whited individuals, educators, and executive leadership teams in their journeys to understand systemic and individual forms of racism; its impact on their lives, communities, business success, and educational outcomes. She is also a Fellow at the Institute for Social Justice at Fielding Graduate University and an advisor for anti-racism leadership programs. Developing stamina and courage among whited folks for individual and systemic corrective action against racism is where Christie’s passion lies.

Jim Lee

Founder and Coach

B-SPOKE

Jim Lee is dedicated to transforming leadership through inclusivity, empowerment, and influence. With over 25 years experience in Fortune 500 companies he demonstrated that great results come from teams led with empathy and humility, not just authority. For the past 10 years,through his platform at B-SPOKE, Jim guides clients in tech, nonprofits, and small businesses to break barriers by amplifying diverse voices. His work inspires everyone to “Be Heard, Be Seen, and Be Known.” Outside of work, Jim volunteers with nonprofits, travels with his wife, Jane, and spends quality time with their daughter, Charlotte, building his own community.

Austin Davis Ruiz (he/him/his)

President, Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus

Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus is the oldest, non-partisan, LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the South. Austin is one of the youngest presidents in the organization's history, and the first Latino male to serve as president. Outside of his advocacy work, he serves as Community Engagement Manager for Harris County Precinct 4, managing the precinct's team of community engagement coordinators to community build, meet constituent needs, and execute the vision of Commissioner Lesley Briones.

A native Houstonian, Austin graduated from Duke in 2017 with a double major in Theater Studies and Public Policy Studies. He's previously worked at Young Audiences of Houston and, most recently, the Montrose Center.

Pranika Uppal Sinha

Managing Director, DEI and Organizational Development
Greystone

Pranika Uppal Sinha leads Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Greystone. In this role, she is responsible for DEI strategy and initiatives, including education, resources, and programming. She ensures Greystone’s DEI efforts are sustainable and progressing forward to build belonging. Greystone’s DEI committee and overall DEI program are award-winning and recognized nationally. Pranika also oversees organizational development, including performance management, training, leadership programs - creating impactful content for employees and leaders at all levels.

Pranika previously worked at Oxy in Houston, Texas, where she spent over nine years in various talent and development roles overseeing development programs, culture, and diversity/inclusion efforts. Prior to Occidental, Pranika held talent development, training, and diversity-focused roles at Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston and 21st Century Consulting, Inc. in Chicago, IL.

Pranika earned a B.S. in environmental engineering at Northwestern University and an MBA at Rice University. She is a graduate of Leadership Houston, Class XXXIV. She has been involved with the Texas Diversity Council and the Diversity Summit in Houston for many years. Pranika serves as a DEI lecturer at Rice University’s Business School. She is also involved with Boys and Girls Clubs both locally and nationally. Pranika is based in Houston, TX where she resides with her husband, Samir, two daughters, and a rescue dogs.