TODAY | 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
American Airlines Center
Today is the second annual ERG Symposium! Tickets are available until 9:00 AM.
TODAY | 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
American Airlines Center
Today is the second annual ERG Symposium! Tickets are available until 9:00 AM.
TODAY | 10:30 AM – 2:00 PM
American Airlines Center
Shop from local Mavs Business Assist entrepreneurs and support nonprofits at this FREE public event! First 100 in attendance will receive a Mavs canvas tote.
TODAY | 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
American Airlines Center
Today is the second annual ERG Symposium! Tickets are available until 9:00 AM.
TODAY | 10:30 AM – 2:00 PM
American Airlines Center
Shop from local Mavs Business Assist entrepreneurs and support nonprofits at this FREE public event! First 100 in attendance will receive a Mavs canvas tote.
We’re excited to see you, see below for today’s event schedule!
Chris Arnold
Since 1996, Chris has been an integral part of the NBA’s 2011 World Champion Dallas Mavericks broadcast team. First serving for eight years as their courtside analyst for Fox Sports Southwest and currently since 2005, serving as the Mavs game night Emcee. He was also selected to emcee the 2010 NBA All Star Game in AT&T Stadium in front of a crowd of 108,000 people. The largest crowd to view a basketball game in U.S.history.
In addition to his Mavericks correspondence, his television experience included five years working as a sports reporter at ABC affiliate WFAA TV in Dallas. Chris’ work garnered an Emmy. Before going to WFAA, Chris worked on a tv show he wrote, produced, and hosted. “On The Beam” a syndicated African American entertainment television show that was seen by more than 20 million households in 46 cities across the US, Japan, the Caribbean, and in 17 countries in Africa. That show won an Ace award for Cable Television excellence in 1991.
Chris’s radio career is legendary in itself, starting his career at age 14 in Memphis Tennessee. He has worked nonstop in radio ever since.
In 2020 He was inducted to the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. In 2019 Chris became the only journalist inducted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame.
Broadcasting for over 45yrs, including 30 consecutive yrs at K104 fm in Dallas serving as sports director and broadcasting the morning show with legends Tom Joyner and the award winning Skip Murphy & Company. That show was the number 1 morning show in DFW for 8 consecutive years. He has also hosted his own #1 sports talk show on 1310 the Ticket and at 105.3. the Fan, as part of the Gbag Nation, & as one of their stable of solid sports talk show hosts.
Chris has covered every major sporting event the world has to offer: 28 Super Bowls, 21 NBA Finals, 2 Olympics, 15 Final Fours, 8 World Series, 26 Championship Boxing Title Fights, 25 NBA All Star Games, 8 Baseball All Star Games, 5 Pro Bowls, 15 College Football Bowl Games and even the World Cup.
Chris is also a very popular speaker, host and emcee. He’s spoken at major corporate seminars, civic groups, schools, charities, churches, sports banquets, golf tournaments, and more.
From hosting events to providing career guidance to our youth, he truly enjoys reaching out and changing lives. Thus it was a natural fit to expand his Dallas Mavericks role by being an Inclusion Ambassador.
McKenzie Watts
Latosha Herron Bruff
Nate Bennett
Nate Bennett III is responsible for leading the company’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion office. This office has been established to drive key diversity initiatives throughout the bank.
Mr. Bennett joined Comerica in 2009 as the Vice President, Texas Market Staffing Manager. He was named Senior Vice President, Talent Acquisition Director in 2010. In mid-2016, he was named the Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President, Head of Talent Acquisition. In 2022 Nate began to focus solely on leading Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategies throughout the bank.
Before joining Comerica, he worked for several Fortune 500 companies in various roles in Talent Acquisition all in two major industries; Consumer Retail and Financial Services. Prior to joining Comerica Bank, he led Talent Acquisition Services for a 17,000-employee division at Bank of America. His 20+ years of experience in Human Resources Talent Acquisition covers the areas from executive recruitment through global recruitment where he spent time in Seoul, Korea leading various recruitment efforts for Walmart Stores.
Mr. Bennett holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Rice University.
Among his professional and community affiliations, he serves as a member of the National Diversity Council Board of Directors, board member of Mi Escuelita Pre-Schools.
At Rice University, Mr. Bennett was a four-year varsity letterman in football where he went on to earn All Southwest Conference 1st Team Honors. Additionally, he also serves as the founder and President of the Junior Broncos Organization which is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to young student athletes.
Gerry Altamirano
Gerry Altamirano is the Senior Manager for Workplace Diversity at AMN Healthcare where he leads organizational DEI strategic efforts and oversees the company’s 10 Employee Resource Groups. Prior to joining AMN, Gerry served as a DEI Strategist with Tangible Development, a DEI consulting firm in NY. In this role, Gerry worked with a variety of clients assessing current state DEI performance and developing strategic plans to enhance organizational DEI maturity.
Prior to his consulting role, Gerry served as the Assistant Dean & Director of the Disability Resource Center at the University of Florida. In this capacity he served as the disability inclusion and accessibility authority for the campus and oversaw the university’s accommodation programs and services. Gerry has also led accessibility accommodations and disability advocacy efforts at Texas State University and UT Southwestern Medical Center. In addition to his professional experiences, Gerry has served in several community roles and currently serves as the Vice President on the Board of Directors for REACH: Resource Centers for Independent Living serving people with disabilities in the DFW metroplex.
Gerry has a BA in Psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington, a Master of Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling from UT Southwestern Medical Center and is completing a doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction: Critical Studies in Race, Ethnicity, and Culture at the University of Florida.
Gail O’Bannon
Kit Sawers
Kit Sawers is President and CEO of Klyde Warren Park, Dallas’s favorite green space, welcoming more than one million visitors per year and serving as part of the leadership team for the $120 million expansion of this internationally renowned deck park. A native Dallasite, Sawers has spent her entire professional career working with nonprofits. She graduated from The Hockaday School and received a BA in English from the University of Virginia in 1989 and JD from SMU’s Dedman School of Law in 1993. Sawers spent the next 10 years working at SMU, where she led the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series, SMU Athletic Forum, and Doak Walker National Running Back Award. After several years serving as Executive Director for the Bickel & Brewer Foundation, Sawers took on the role as Vice President of Special Events for Super Bowl XLV (45), producing more than 40 regional events in a two-year period. Sawers also served as Executive Director for Pat and Emmitt Smith Charities and Chief Development Officer for United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, while, along the way, co-founding a company that organized the 2014 NCAAMen’s Basketball Final Four and produced the Grand Opening of Klyde Warren Park, Emmitt Smith Celebrity Invitational, and many other large-scale events for organizations such as the College Football Hall of Fame, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Friends of the Katy Trail and Vogel Alcove. Sawers currently serves as Vice-Chair for the Episcopal School of Dallas and Dallas Arts District Boards of Directors; on the boards of Downtown Dallas, Inc., and Park House PHoundation; on the advisory council for Dallas Afterschool; and on the executive board for SMU’s Dedman School of Law. She is a member of Charter 100, has been a D CEO Dallas 500 honoree for the past five years and received the Dallas Business Journal’s 2020 Women in Business Award. In 2020, she was also recipient of the Dedman School of Law Distinguished Alumni Award for Public Service and Phi Beta Dallas Alumnae Club Carolyn Helman Lichtenberg Crest Award. In 2022, Sawers was recognized by D CEO with the Nonprofit Leadership Excellence Award. Sawers and her husband Kemp are the parents of two daughters: Annie, a recent graduate of Duke University, and Elizabeth, a freshman at NYU
Cynt Marshall
Taylor Toynes
Taylor Toynes is a remarkable individual who has made a significant impact in the South Oak Cliff community in Dallas, Texas. In 2014, Taylor Toynes, along with his W.W. Bushman fourth grade class, initiated For Oak Cliff out of necessity. He began teaching at Bushman Elementary in his hometown neighborhood of South Oak Cliff through Teach for America. While in the classroom, Taylor observed that many of his students lacked essential school supplies due to extreme poverty within the community.
In the summer of 2015, he took action by organizing the inaugural Back To School Festival, a community-driven event aimed at equipping students and families with necessary supplies, resources, and services for a successful school year. Over the past seven years, the festival has grown significantly, serving over 4,000 students and parents each summer.
From an office building in the black-owned Glendale Shopping Center to purchasing a 20,000 sq. ft. building atop 10 acres of land, For Oak Cliff offers a range of services, including free GED classes, after-school tutoring, computer lab/wi-fi access,weekly food distribution, and an event space for rentals.
As a community leader, Taylor Toynes has been relentless in his mission to overturn systemic oppression in South Oak Cliff and he continues to make a profound impact,
Kathy Jack
Kathy moved to Dallas at the age of 4 and has called this city home for over 5 decades. Kathy has been a leader in the LGBTQ community for 30 years. Her life has been dedicated to inclusivity and equality. She feels passionately about inviting everyone to the conversation. In her spare time, she loves to go to or watch the Mavs games. Kathy has always been a big fan and an MFFL. She is proud to have been names the first Inclusion Ambassador to the LGBTQ community for the Mavericks and is proud to be with you today.
Michelle Thomas
Michelle Thomas is a region executive in the Office of Corporate Responsibility Global Philanthropy and head of the southwest region. She manages the firm’s investments across North Texas to address key drivers of economic opportunity from creating and preserving affordable housing to boosting minority-owned small businesses and supporting job training. Michelle is responsible for executing a $20 million portfolio, which includes grant-making strategies and impact investing and community engagement across seven states. Michelle also serves on the Dallas Market Leadership Team. Michelle has spent the last three decades advancing economic equity solutions for communities of color and breaking down the barriers that underpin the disparities in wealth and financial security by race and gender. A Dallas native, Michelle has an MBA in Finance from Dallas Baptist University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Education from the University of Oklahoma. In addition, she received a teaching certification from Texas and Oklahoma. Michelle is personally committed to the community through her many volunteer roles. She currently serves on the following boards: Methodist Health Systems Foundation, UT Southwestern Medical Foundation Advisory board, Austin Street Center, and the Dallas Mavericks Advisory Council. Michelle was appointed by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to serve on the Workforce Solutions of Greater Dallas board was she served as Vice Chair. In addition, Michelle was appointed by Councilman Casey Thomas to chair the Economic Recovery Committee as a member of the Black COVID Task Force. She is a graduate of Leadership Dallas and President of the Dallas Summit and member of the Dallas Assembly. Michelle is the proud recipient of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Income Award, presented to individuals who are passionate about providing North Texans pathways out of poverty. She was also recognized by the Dallas Business Journal as a minority business leader and by the Dallas Black Dance Theater as a civic and business leader. Under her leadership, JPMorgan Chase received the 2023 Outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility Award by D CEO. Michelle’s favorite quote is by Martin L. King, Jr.: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” She is committed to driving more inclusive economic growth across the region and has dedicated her career to helping individuals have equitable access to the financial resources they need to thrive.
Jesse Acosta
Jesse Acosta was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in the neighborhood of Oak Cliff. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2017 with a double major in Radio-Television-Film BS and History BA with a minor in Government. His passion for education led him to join Teach For America in 2018 and to serve as Deputy Director for Youth for North Texas LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) District 3 from 2020-2021. He served as a teacher at his alma mater, Justin F. Kimball High School, from 2018 – 2023. Currently, he serves as Executive Director of Pasos for Oak Cliff, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit fighting educational inequities, which he co-founded in August of 2020. Pasos has been featured in The Drew Barrymore Show (2020), Live with Kelly and Ryan (2021), The Heirloom Jordan Campaign (2022), and Netflix (2023). Under his leadership, Pasos won D-CEO Magazine Micro Nonprofit of the Year in 2022 and Cosign Magazine Nonprofit of the Year 2023.
Iris Diaz
Anne Chow
Anne Chow is a transformative business leader whose trailblazing corporate career spans over three decades in the technology and business sectors. She is currently Lead Director on the Board of Directors of FranklinCovey, a company dedicated to organizational transformation through leadership, individual effectiveness, execution, and culture. Anne has also recently been appointed as a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Executive Education at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. In her prior role, as the first woman of color CEO in AT&T’s 140+ year history Anne led AT&T Business, a $35B global operating unit comprised of more than 30,000 people. Appointed to this role in 2019, Anne guided this team, through the pandemic amid unprecedented market upheaval around the world, serving customers with communications solutions across all sectors including small and medium sized businesses, global multinational enterprises, the public sector as well as nearly all of the Fortune 1000. Her leadership experiences span product management, marketing, sales, strategy, customer service, operations, network engineering and more. Widely recognized for her role model inclusive leadership and her impact in driving success at the intersection of people, culture, and technology, she was named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business twice, Forbes inaugural CEO Next List of Leaders set to revolutionize American business, Most Inspiring Woman in Communications by Light Reading, and was recently the first Asian executive to ever be inducted into the Dallas Business Hall of Fame. Anne is also one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Gender Equity. As a lifelong learner committed to inspiration and impact, Anne engages with audiences through keynotes, panel discussions, and as a best-selling co-author of The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams. She also shares thoughts through her publications and blogs which have been featured in Fortune, Chief Executive Magazine, The Huffington Post, MarketWatch, and USA Today. She holds B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering as well as an MBA with Distinction from Cornell University and is a graduate of the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School of Music.
Access is FREE to the public and there will be free parking in the Lexus Garage.
Shop local entrepreneurs who are part of the Mavs Business Assist program
and support nonprofits in the community!
First 100 in attendance will receive a Mavs canvas tote bag.
Meet NBA Legend and Four-time NBA all-Star Rolando Blackman at our Market Fair!
Make sure to arrive early, as the autograph session is limited to one hour only 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Rolando Blackman
 |
 |
|---|---|
| Williams Chicken | 1 |
| UTA | 2 |
| CHIME | 3 |
| March to the Polls | 4 |
| Blacklit | 5 |
| Fon Candles | 6 |
| A Hundred XOXO | 7 |
| Zafiro Jewellers | 8 |
| 2 Inspire Peace | 9 |
| Doo Guard | 10 |
| TBD | 11 |
| Scent and Fire | 12 |
| Slay Magazine | 13 |
| Que Rico T-Shirt Co | 14 |
| Kirstin’s Care | 15 |
| OMG Cakes | 16 |
| Elemental Yoga + Meditation Studio | 17 |
| “Hey Girl, Heal “ | 18 |
| Henry’s Daughter Home Decor | 19 |
| Triple D Gear | 20 |
| Cicely’s Jazzy Art | 21 |
| Foreign Closet | 22 |
| Eye Do Eye Wear | 23 |
| Rolando Blackman | 24 |
| Puzzles of Color | 25 |
| Rufescent | 26 |
| Stacked with Purpose | 27 |
| Dummyfresh | 28 |
| Artesanías Claudia | 29 |
| Face Painting/Ballon Artist | 30 |
| Allotrope Wellness, Inc. | 31 |
| TBD | 32 |
| The Plant Project | 33 |
| Yangu Beauty | 34 |
| Pathfinder Talent | 35 |
| Crafty Ninaa | 36 |
| American Jewish Committee | 37 |
| Vendors | Booth# |
|---|---|
| 2 Inspire Peace | 1 |
| A Hundred XOXO | 2 |
| Allotrope Wellness, Inc. | 3 |
| AllStar Apparel | 4 |
| American Jewish Committee | 5 |
| Artesanías Claudia | 6 |
| Blacklit | 7 |
| Cheryl Polote Williamson, LLC | 8 |
| CHIME | 9 |
| Cicely’s Jazzy Art | 10 |
| Crafty Ninaa | 11 |
| Doo Guard | 12 |
| Dummyfresh | 13 |
| Elemental Yoga + Meditation Studio | 14 |
| Eye Do Eye Wear | 15 |
| Fon Candles | 16 |
| Foreign Closet | 17 |
| Henry’s Daughter Home Decor | 18 |
| “Hey Girl, Heal “ | 19 |
| Kirstin’s Care | 20 |
| March to the Polls | 21 |
| Pathfinder Talent | 22 |
| Puzzles of Color | 23 |
| Que Rico T-Shirt Co | 24 |
| Rufescent | 25 |
| Scent and Fire | 26 |
| Slay Magazine | 27 |
| Stacked with Purpose | 28 |
| The Plant Project | 29 |
| Triple D Gea | 30 |
| UTA | 31 |
| Williams Chicken | 32 |
| Yangu Beauty | 33 |
| Zafiro Jewellers | 34 |
Speakers, vendors, and time are subject to change.
