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Kim Evans - Founder Kim Evans is the Chief Executive Officer of Secure Vantage Technologies (SVT) responsible for formulating and implementing the investment and growth plan to enable SVT to achieve increased sales, operational efficiency and a profitable business. She joined SVT as the Chief Operations Officer in December 2007. Kim served as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Alliances at Tidal Software. She was responsible for Tidal Software's business development activities, strategic partnerships, OEM and licensing opportunities. She managed the company's relationships with strategic partners including Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard. Previously, Kim served as the Director of Business Planning and Strategic Investments for the Windows and Enterprise Management Division (WEMD) at Microsoft, Kim was responsible for formulating and executing the WEMD growth strategy in conjunction with the corporate development, integration and WEMD product and marketing teams. Kim Served as the CEO and co-founder of blom wireless, Kim recruited key talent and built a team that was strong in industry knowledge and experience. Kim signed marquee beta customers and a strategic partnership prior to prototype development and executed a successful exit event. As the Vice President of Corporate Alliances and Co-founder at Covasoft, Inc., she developed strategic business relationships and Covasoft's operational blueprint putting key infrastructure in place to enable the quick delivery of product to the market. She successfully established strategic relationships with Vignette, and Broadvision, and secured Series A and B funding. Previously Kim served as the Director of Corporate Strategy at BMC Software where she developed and implemented effective strategies for BMC business units enabling BMC to move into new markets increasing revenues by 20% and eliminating unprofitable product lines decreasing cost by 6%. She completed the formulation and execution of BMC’s billion-dollar acquisition plan to expand its core technologies and successfully integrate companies into BMC enabling a quick return on BMC’s investment. As a senior R&D manager, she grew three product lines into profitable lines of business generating revenues of more than $60M and making these products one and two in their markets. Based on her achievements, Kim was named one of the "Top twenty women in Technology" in Houston, TX and one of the ten brightest rising technology stars in Austin, TX. She is currently an Advisory board member of the Texas Entrepreneurial Exchange, Austin chapter. Kim was a Co-founder of Houston Executive Women in Technology and chaired the Mayor's Women in Technology 2000 conference, in Houston, TX. Kim is committed to serving her community. She served as the Chair for the Houston area League of Women Voters for childcare and as a Texas Scholars member, where she promoted technology careers to HISD students. Kim was also a volunteer to the Houston Manna program, which provides groceries to the elderly. She has a BA in Product Design from Wayne State University. Tracy Rummel - Founder
Many of these campaigns spanned advertising, publicity, events, internal sales incentive programs and merchandising and resulted in measurable sales increases often exceeding goals. Tracy has a bachelor's degree in advertising and public relations with an emphasis in Speech Communications from Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, Texas. Patricia Gras She has covered a full spectrum of topics for HoustonPBS including producing features for the weekly public affairs newsmagazine “the connection” and hosting many local specials including: “Living With the Lion” - a look into the world of childhood cancer - and the Houston-area specials “Hope and Help for Alzheimer’s” and “Mental Healthcare for Kids”. Her national producing credits include “Weight Loss Surgery: The Last Resort”, an in-depth primer for anyone considering bariatric surgery; “Taiwan: An Emerging Democracy”, an exclusive interview with Taiwanese Vice President Anette Lu; and “Supersized America”, a national documentary series on the American obesity epidemic. http://www.houstonpbs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=PR_living_smart_patti Featured Panelists: Joyce Agu Alexandra Pruner Laura Lopez |
Tracy Rummel, President of The Brandsoup Agency, has dedicated her career to driving revenue with the application of both traditional and non-traditional marketing. Tracy's experience spans over 17 years of marketing with company’s such as Nokia, Siemens, and Sprint as well as two of her own companies - Marketing by Design and The Brandsoup Agency where she supported organizations such as Citrix, HP, Microsoft and NASA Johnson Space Center. While she specializes in brand strategy and creative, other career highlights include development of marketing and public relations strategy in a variety of industries including healthcare, high tech, retail, energy services, consumer packaged goods and e-commerce.
Patricia Gras is an ardent storyteller, whether it is using the medium of television or music. She has a background of life experiences as diverse as the city she covers. Patricia speaks five languages and holds three - count 'em - three master’s degrees including a master’s in journalism from Columbia University in New York. She came to HoustonPBS (KUHT-TV) in 1990 to host the respected public affairs program “Almanac”. Today she hosts the award winning local series "Living Smart with Patricia Gras" to get the most out of life.
Uchenna and Joyce are one of the most beloved teams from any season of Race. The winners of Season 7, Uchenna and Joyce were relentless and stopped at nothing to win the $1 million prize… including shaving their heads. They have known each other for 16 years and have been married for seven of those. Both have admitted that the continued inability to start a family has caused a strain on their marriage, but are looking to the Race to get their relationship back on track. This thrill seeking duo will stop at nothing to win the Race as they proved in Season 7, when without hesitation, they shaved their heads for good luck after partaking in the "Fast Forward" task. A decision that moved these tough competitors to the front of the pack and no doubt granted them a stroke of luck for the rest of the Race. Uchenna describes himself as competitive, fair and charismatic, while Joyce claims to be caring, determined and sensitive. Will their competitive nature and luck be enough to propel them to another victory this time around?
Alexandra Pruner serves as Chief Financial Officer of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., LLC and is a Partner in the energy investment bank. She joined Tudor Capital in February 2007 following a career in the energy industry, specializing in spearheading high-growth companies and divisions. Most recently, she served as publisher of World Oil magazine focusing in the oilfield services sector. Pruner’s energy experience also includes nearly 10 years with an E&P company and a midstream company (Houston Exploration and NUI Corporation), in financing and investor relations positions. Her initial Wall Street experience includes six years with Shearson Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., where she served as a vice president in New York. She holds an AB in Economics from Brown University. She serves on the Board of Trustees of The Awty International School and is President-Elect of The Association for Corporate Growth, Houston.
Laura Lopez likes to cut through the clutter. Business today is competitive and ever changing. Differentiation is necessary for staying in the game. Being connected to your consumers, your customers and your employees is an essential part of the equation and can actually set you apart in this frenetic world. Having a leadership and branding mindset is a must for business today in order to cut through the clutter to get noticed and achieve the results you need personally and professionally. Laura is a Leadership Specialist and a Branding Expert to help you do just that. During her 20-year corporate career, Laura held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in Marketing and General Business Management where she applied her leadership and branding skills.