2023 North Texas Women in Leadership Symposium
March 30, 2023
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM (CT)
Theme
Rising in Resilience: Achieving Empowerment through Advancement & Adaptability
Sponsored By
The focus of this annual event is to bring together a diverse mix of successful women leaders who, through the discussion of topics relevant to today’s issues will educate, inspire and encourage women to reflect on their own goals and status as they strive to advance within their organizations.
Panelists
Chick
Katie is an HR and non-profit leader. Serving as the Vice President for NorthStar Anesthesia, Katie is passionate about identifying and developing leaders. Across her 16 years of experience in human resources, Katie has worked in health care, higher education, and the events industries. She is attracted to teams that put people first and see HR’s role as one of realizing amazing culture in every corner of their organization. Katie is also passionate about developing young leaders and has spent the past 16 years in national volunteer roles with Mortar Board, a national college senior honor society whose members excel in the areas of scholarship, leadership, and service. She is in her second year as national president of Mortar Board and has proudly seen the organization through several major transitions as they work to adapt to the needs of college students today. In December 2022, Katie completed a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Servant-Leadership from Gonzaga University.
Freemon
Dr. Iris A. Freemon serves as a passionately committed leader with more than 20 years of higher education experience, encompassing various roles devoted to student and community success, leadership, academics, and diversity. With an extensive background in leadership, strategic planning, advancement & development, and workforce development, her experience spans across Dallas College. As a community college leader, she authentically uses a lens of equity to design, deliver, and evaluate all aspects of the Dallas College structure to fulfill its mission externally and internally. Iris is a native Missourian, born in Kansas City, who now resides in DeSoto, Texas, with her husband, William. They enjoy movies, family adventures, traveling, and spending time with their wonderful son and daughter, Will, and Dara.
Jordan
Michelle Jordan currently serves as Chief Diversity Officer at AT&T.; As the head of all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I;) efforts across the company, Michelle is responsible for strengthening and accelerating the company’s efforts to foster an
inclusive culture, while integrating diversity practices into all aspects of the business. Previously she served as Vice President, Talent and Leadership Development heading up talent strategy and AT&T;’s leadership development and executive experiences. Prior to that as Vice President, Talent Acquisition she led domestic and international talent attraction, recruitment, and staffing efforts for AT&T.; Her talents have made an impact on a variety of teams within AT&T; including product management, corporate strategy, service management, executive communications, call centers sales and college recruitment.
Michelle started her career as an Environmental Engineer and previously ran a chemical pilot plant operation where she launched a new line of chemicals. She also has a passion for entrepreneurship, which led to several of her own start-ups and a stint as an adjunct for Atlanta Technical College teaching small business owners. A native of Saginaw, MI, Michelle is a graduate of Florida A&M; University, a Historically Black College & University (HBCU), where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, and Kennesaw State University, where she completed her Master of Business Administration. She resides in Dallas, TX, with her husband and their two sons.
Medina-Cristobal
With more than 25 years of Public Administration experience, Rosa Medina-Cristobal has significantly impacted the public sector and public transportation. Rosa began her career as an intern in the human resources department at the City of Grand Prairie and has progressed through the same channels in various positions from Human Resources Generalist to Vice President of Human Resources at Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Rosa has professionally stamped numerous cities and transportation authorities such as the Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority, VIA Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio, and Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Mass Transit Magazine selected Rosa as one of their Top 40 Transit Professionals under 40 in 2013. She has participated in the ENO Mid-Level Manager Seminar, the National Transit Institute (NTI) Transit Academy, and the Texas Transit Institute Leadership Class. She is currently a member of the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Leadership class of 2023. Rosa earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Texas at Arlington and her master’s degree in Public Administration from Texas A&M; University at Corpus Christi. Rosa is married to her husband, Alfredo, and has three grown children and three beautiful grandchildren.
Montana
Meghan Montana is Vice President and Treasurer of American Airlines. In this role she is responsible for the airline’s treasury activities, including corporate finance, global banking and cash management, as well as fleet transactions, asset management, insurance and fuel procurement. Meghan joined American Airlines in 2018 from Standard Chartered Bank where she was responsible for the North and South American Transportation and Aviation sector coverage efforts, advising the bank’s corporate clients across their capital structure and treasury needs. Meghan has more than a decade of experience leading and advising large corporate relationships from a corporate and investment banking perspective at complex global institutions including Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Meghan serves as an Ambassador for Airlink, a rapid-response humanitarian relief organization that works with aviation and logistics partners to help non-governmental organizations responding to communities in crisis around the globe. She also serves as a committee member on the Budget & Finance Committee for the Dallas Museum of Art. She holds an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Miami University of Ohio.
Nwaubani
