Our Experts List

Sofia Adrogué

Featured in Chapter 4: Power

Sofia Adrogué, P.C., sadrogue@lrmlaw.com, is a Member (Partner) of the Firm of Looper, Reed & McGraw, www.lrmlaw.com.  Texas Monthly Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine as well as the Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition have  recognized her as a “Texas Super Lawyer,” and  Texas Lawyer has profiled her as one of Texas’ Lawyers Top “40 Under 40.” 
 
A native of Argentina, Sofia is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Owner/President Management (OPM) Program and an Alumna of the Harvard Business School.  She was elected as the U.S. Keynote Graduation Speaker for HBS OPM 37, ostensibly the first woman in the history of OPM, as well as the U.S. Class Representative.  She received her undergraduate degree from Rice University, magna cum laude, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center, magna cum laude, both while on full academic scholarships. 
 
AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and a member of Who’s Who in American Law and Who’s Who of American Women, she is a frequent CLE Speaker and/or Chair (over 110 to date) on topics such as business torts, managing complex litigation, experts, and joint ventures in litigation.  Her  legal publications (over 70 to date) include articles with the ABA Business Torts Journal, The Houston Lawyer, Texas Lawyer, The Trial Lawyer  and The Houston Law Review on experts, an article with The Review of Litigation on mass torts class actions and ethics, articles with The Fifth Circuit Reporter (quarterly since 1997) and with the Texas Tech Law Review (annually since 2002) on business torts as well as a series of articles with the Trial Diplomacy Journal on the management of complex litigation. She has taught Mass Torts as an Adjunct Professor at the UH Law Center and has been recently appointed to the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee.
 
In the civic arena, she has been recognized as a National Diversity Council “Most Powerful and Influential Woman of Texas”;  a Greater Houston Women’s  Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame Inductee; a  “Tboy Blazing Star,” Texas Women’s Chamber of Commerce; an  Executive Woman of  the Year,  Talento Bilingüe de Houston;  a Texas Executive Women “Woman on the Move”; one of  Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women, Houston Women Magazine; a Houston Chronicle Channel 11 “Texas Legend”; an ABC Channel 13 “Woman of Distinction”; a  Hispanic Business Magazine “Elite Woman”; a Latino Leaders Magazine “Justice Professional”;  a Houston Jaycees “Outstanding Houstonian”; a Texas Jaycees “Outstanding Texan”; a U.S. Jaycees “Outstanding Young American”; as well as a recipient of an Inaugural “Barbara Jordan Legacy Award” from the National Council of Negro Women, Barbara Jordan Houston Section.
 
Sofia is a Co-Host & Co-Producer of LATINA VOICES: SMART TALK—an innovative, English language, half-hour TV and Internet streamed Talk Show with a Latina perspective on PBS Houston, HTV Comcast Cable Channel 16, and KHOU Channel 11 addressing universal topics such as politics, business, pop culture, health trends, entertainment, women’s issues and other topics of value to professional Latinos and the mainstream audience.

The mother of Sloane (16), Schuyler (12) and Stefan (8), married to fellow Rice graduate, Sten Gustafson,  Sofia has been recognized for her public service by the City of Houston with a proclamation of July 10, 2004 as “Sofia Adrogué Day.”
 
Sofia Adrogué, P.C.: http://lrmlaw.com/

A few of Sofia’s favorite Charities: Girls Inc. of Houston, Girls Inc., Aids to Victims of Dosmestic Abuse-Texas, Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS), Boys & Girls Country of Houston, and  SEARCH Homeless Services
 

Miri Ben-Ari

Featured in Chapter Four: Power

Miri Ben-Ari is an Israeli violinist who currently resides in the United States.

Ben-Ari grew up playing classical music; she started training at age 5 and at age 12, she was presented with a violin by Isaac Stern. During her mandatory military service, she was chosen to play for the Israeli Army String Quartet. During her stint in the Israeli military, she heard an album by Charlie Parker. Following her service, she moved from Israel to New York in 1993 in hopes of using her classical training on stage and attended Mannes College of Music but was expelled after two semesters due to poor attendance caused by Ben-Ari playing gigs to pay the rent.

She released her first solo CD Sahara in 1999.

Her persistence earned her an appearance on BET's 106 & Park; the viewer response netted her a return visit a few weeks later. Her performances caught the eye of Jay-Z,  who invited her to play as one of the headliners of New York radio station Hot 97's annual Summer Jam concert in 2001, where she netted a standing ovation. Around the same time, a mutual friend introduced Ben-Ari to Wyclef Jean,  who invited her to perform with him at his Carnegie Hall show, the first by a hip-hop artist at the venue.

In 2003, she released her second CD Temple of Beautiful, and followed that up with a live CD the following year entitled Live at the Blue Note.

She won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song in 2005 as one of the co-writers of Kanye West's Jesus Walks. In 2005, she released her fourth CD and first to focus on hip-hop style, entitled The Hip-Hop Violinst.. As part of the promotion for it, she was part of Reebok's "I Am What I Am" global advertising campaign; Reebok was also part of the video for the first single from the CD, "We Gonna Win".

In 2009, she release Symphony of Brotherhood, an instrumental track featuring Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. It became the first instrumental single ever to hit Billboard R&B/hip-hop charts, where it reached number 2.

Ben-Ari was invited to the White House by Michelle Obama in March 2011 as part of a Women's History Month celebration, and she has been invited to perform at the 2011 Miss Universe China pageant.

In 2006, she co-founded Gedenk (Yiddish for "remember"), an organization dedicated to promoting education about the Holocaust in the U.S.

In 2011, she was named by Ynet as one of the 10 most influential Israelis in America.

Rita Cosby

Featured in Chapter Four: Develop Brand of One
 
Rita Cosby is a renowned Emmy® winning TV host, veteran correspondent and best selling author who anchored highly rated prime-time shows on Fox News Channel and MSNBC. She is currently a special correspondent for the top-rated CBS syndicated newsmagazine Inside Edition and hosts WOR’s nationally syndicated radio program, The Rita Cosby Show.  She has been interviewed or profiled by hundreds of media outlets across America and overseas.
 
Throughout her illustrious TV career, Rita has secured some of the biggest interviews, including exclusives with more than twenty world leaders, conducting historic back-to-back interviews with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Rita also was granted a rare meeting with Pope John Paul II to discuss death penalty issues after receiving an exclusive letter from Timothy McVeigh explaining why he carried out the Oklahoma City Bombing.
 
The first reporter to see prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and witness an actual interrogation, she also interviewed Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic who called her from his prison cell at the Hague where he stood trial for war crimes. While broadcasting live from Belgrade during the NATO bombing, she broke the news that three American POWs were going to be released.  During Hurricane Katrina, she provided extensive, live coverage, hosting shows from New Orleans, revealing the widespread devastation, and soon after reported live from the war zone in Afghanistan and then along the U.S.-Mexico border.
 
Her first book, Blonde Ambition, was a New York Times bestseller and called “The most talked about book in America” by Extra. Her second book, Quiet Hero: Secrets From My Father’s Past, is enjoying tremendous success, already hitting several bestseller lists which include: The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today. It details her recent discovery about her Polish father, a Nazi prisoner of war, saved by American troops.
 
Honors for the three-time Emmy® winner include the Matrix Award, Headliner Award and Jack Anderson Award for journalism excellence. She was also selected by Cosmopolitan Magazine as a “Fun and Fearless Female.” A recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Lech Walesa Freedom Award, she hosts the National Memorial Day Parade broadcast to all US military installations around the world. Because of Rita’s “extraordinary journalism and exemplary service on behalf of her community,” October 11th, 2010 was officially named “Rita Cosby Day” in the State of New York. In 2011, she was recognized by the US Congress for her professional and charitable achievements.
 
Professional Website: www.RitaCosby.com
Favorite Charities: Dare.org, uso.org & woundedwarriorproject.org

 

Melinda F. Emerson

Featured in  Chapter Four: Power
 
Melinda F. Emerson, SmallBizLady, is America’s #1 small business expert. She is an author, speaker and small business coach whose areas of expertise include small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda develops audio, video and written content to help her Fortune 500 clients engage small business customers.  She publishes a resource blog, www.succeedasyourownboss.com and hosts a weekly talk show on Twitter called #SmallBizChat for today’s entrepreneurs.  She reaches 1.5 million small business owners each week on the internet. Forbes Magazine named Melinda Emerson #1 Woman for Entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. Melinda has been featured on MSNBC, Fox News, NBC Nightly News and in The Washington Post, New York Times, Fortune, Essence and Black Enterprise. She is also the author of the bestselling book “Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.”. Melinda is a graduate of Virginia Tech.
 
Professional Website: www.succeedasyourownboss.com

Moira Forbes

Featured in Chapter Four: Power
 
 Moira Forbes hosts the video series "Success with Moira Forbes" and "Women to Watch." She is publisher of ForbesWoman, a multi-media platform serving successful women in business and leadership. Representing four generations of publishers, Moira joined Forbes in 2001 in its London office. She graduated from Princeton University.

Becki Klein & Martina Gordon

Featured in Chapter Four: Power
 
Beckie Klein's Bio
Beckie was born and raised in a small Florida town surrounded by three generations of family and a close-knit community. At the age of 18 she was discovered by Ford models and invited to live and work in New York City as a fashion model. Soon after, she joined Elite Models and moved to Paris and worked throughout Europe for magazines such as Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire. While the world of modeling exposed her to the business of fashion, living in Paris is where she says her real education in style began, from working with fashion industry icons to studying the effortless style of average French women in the streets. After ten years of modeling and commercial work, Beckie settled in NYC and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a journalism degree from Columbia University. She combined her passions and began writing for American Photo, Surface and Blackbook Photography among other international art and photography magazines. Today, Beckie is a wife, mother of two and co-founder of “beckiemartina, re-stylists,” which she founded in 2009 with former model and long time friend Martina Gordon. Together they change the lives of women everyday with their fashion experience and insights. Beckie continues to live in NYC in Tribeca with her husband Keith and their sons Ry and Caleb.

Martina Gordon's Bio
Martina was born in a small town in Slovakia where her only exposure to fashion was through the German pattern books she carefully studied to select the clothes her mother made. All that changed in 1991 when she was discovered by Elite models and offered a contract to live and work in Milan, Vienna and, her favorite city, Paris where she had the privilege of working with the greatest designers and fashion houses such as Chanel, Chloe, YSL, Dior, Ferre, Rochas and cutting edge fashion magazines, which she says shaped the tastes and points of view she has today. She moved to New York City in 1994 and continued working with fashion publications, department stores and became the face of Max factor cosmetics and Pantene. She later collaborated with Bruuns Bazaar in Copenhagen on the styling of their 2003-08 fashion shows. Martina’s other passion is jewelry design and in 2010, together with her sister Ivona Bruun, established “i’m jewel” - a feminine, modern, sophisticated line of jewelry sold in New York, Paris and Copenhagen. She currently lives in New York with her husband Anthony and their two boys Venice and Reef.

beckiemartina, re-stylists, Business Bio
Beckie & Martina met while modeling in Paris in 1992. Sixteen years later, they started beckiemartina, re-stylists to share their years of experience working with some of the most influential image makers of our time. Their unique insight and understanding, combine with a razor sharp eye for what works best on each individual client, is a rare and valuable combination on which their business is based. Beckie and Martina say they both admire and have been inspired by European women and how they dress and shop - combining new and old with timeless sophistication and style. They have also observed women spending too much time and money on the wrong clothes for the wrong reasons or simply not wearing the clothes they have as well as they could, which is where their special brand of re-styling shines and what sets them apart from traditional stylists. The inspiration behind beckiemartina, re-stylists came from their fascination with how the right combination of clothes can transform a woman combinewith their desire to create understated yet head turning styles and show women everywhere a more stylish, beautiful side of themselves. Today beckiemartina, re-stylists continues to expand and grow as they add public speaking, fashion curators for online stores and a new roster of male clients to their list of endeavors.
 
Professional Website: www.therestylists.com

Favorite Charities: Dress for Success, The NRCD, Housing Works, The Green House Project

Cynthia Greenawalt-Carvajal

Featured in Chapter Four: Power
           
A graduate of the Wharton School of Business, Cynthia Greenawalt-Carvajal is a successful trainer, consultant, and professional coach on the power of social capital.
 
She was the founder of both the Fort Lauderdale-Broward and Miami-Dade franchises for BNI -Business Network International, the world’s leading referral organization.  In addition, she co-founded the Referral Institute of South Florida, a major training resource for business professionals whose business relies on personal recommendations.
 
Contributing author of the New York Times bestseller, Masters Of Networking, and the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Masters Of Success, Cynthia provides business owners, community leaders, and sales executives with access to extraordinary results by developing their social capital and increasing their return on relationships.
 
Cynthia has coaching clients throughout the world, and is an investor in green energy projects.  Her passions include photography, writing poetry, singing, alternative health, and facilitating groups in playing the CASHFLOW board game created by Robert Kiyosaki of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series of books.  With a strong attraction to new paradigms of thinking, Cynthia enjoys studying quantum physics as it applies to leadership and cultural change.  She expresses her love of humanity through her philanthropy to The Hunger Project, a global non-profit that focuses on the sustainable end to world hunger through the empowerment of women as the key change agents in their communities (www.thp.org).

Professional Website: www.SeaChangeNetworking.com
Favorite Charity: The Hunger Project

Lee Hanson

Featured Chapter Four: Power

Lee Hanson is a Vice Chairman and Partner in the San Francisco and New York offices of Heidrick & Struggles.  She is a senior member of the Global Financial Services Practice and CEO/ Board of Directors practice, specializing in the private equity, investment banking, asset management, and hedge fund industries. She also manages the firm’s most high profile General Counsel assignments.  In addition to her executive search practice, Ms. Hanson is the Chair of the firm’s elected Global Partnership Council and served on the firm’s inaugural Global Promotions Committee.

Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles in 1995, Ms. Hanson was a Director in the Investment Banking Division of Merrill Lynch & Co.  In this role, she was instrumental in establishing and building a group which had client responsibility for the telecommunications industry. She was involved in assignments ranging from equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, and general financial advisory projects, including a number of assignments with companies in Europe and Asia.

Ms. Hanson began her investment banking career as an Associate in the Corporate Finance Division of Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York.  She also spent three years in the firm’s Tokyo and London offices.  Prior to her work as an investment banker, she served as a law clerk to a federal district judge in New York.

Ms. Hanson graduated with a B.A. in economics, summa cum laude, from Yale University and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She was a Trustee at the Head-Royce School in Oakland, California for nine years, the last two years as Chair of its Board for two years.  She also served as Co-Chair of the school’s capital campaign. Ms. Hanson is a member of the Board of Directors of Analysis Group, Inc., an economics and financial consulting firm.  She is also on the board of Students Rising Above, a non-profit focused on assisting high-potential, low-income high school students to achieve a successful college career.  She was previously Vice President of the Board of the Financial Women’s Association of San Francisco.
 
Professional Website: www.heidrick.com

Lauren Bush Lauren

Featured in Chapter Four: Power

Lauren Bush Lauren is the Chief FEEDer and Co-Founder of FEED Projects, a charitable company with the mission to create good products that help feed the world.  Each FEED product sold supports organizations such as the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF.  Lauren started her work as an Honorary Spokesperson for the WFP in 2004 and has traveled to many countries around the world to learn about the realities of poverty and hunger firsthand.  Inspired by her travels in 2005 she conceptualized and designed the initial FEED 1 bag, which feeds one child in school for one year through WFP, as a way for consumers to give back in a tangible and meaningful way.

In 2007, FEED Projects was founded to sell FEED bags. To date, FEED Projects has partnered with companies like Whole Foods Market, Barnes & Noble, the Gap, HSN, Disney, Pottery Barn, and many more.  Through the sale of eco-friendly products, FEED has been able to donated over $6 million dollars to the WFP’s school feeding program, which equates to over 60 million school meals to school children.  

Lauren is also the Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder of the FEED Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization that supports programs and organizations that are effectively working to fight hunger and eliminate malnutrition throughout the world. For her work with FEED, Lauren has been awarded the 2011 Stevie Award for Best Non-Profit Executive, the 2011 Fashion Group International Humanitarian Award, and the 2010 Accessories Council Humanitarian Award.

Lauren was born in Denver, Colorado, and grew up in Houston, Texas.  Lauren graduated from Princeton University in 2006 with a B.A. in Anthropology and certificate in Photography.  She now resides in New York City, where she works on FEED and other socially conscious ventures.

Professional Website: http://www.feedprojects.com
 
Favorite charities: The FEED Foundation, Robin Hood, Donors Choose, Women for Women International, & Somaly Mam Foundation

Nancy Mendelson

Featured in Chapter Four: Power

As President & Chief Advisor for NEM Global LLC, Nancy specializes in strategic brand building with a personalized approach to development, differentiation and communication. She also teaches a graduate course in the Marketing of Destinations at NYU.
 
In her 5 year role as Senior VP of Branding & Communication for Loews Hotels, Nancy oversaw the management, strategic development and communication of the Loews Hotels brand in all channels and to all stakeholders.
 
Prior to joining Loews, Nancy was Vice President and Creative Director of PRI, a New York City-based event, media and marketing communication company, where her clients included Loews Hotels, Loews Corp., CBS Television, Sirius Satellite Radio, New York University and the 92nd Street Y.  Previously, she headed MPI/Mendelson Productions, Inc., which specialized in, branding, marketing and media consulting, project management, creative development and design, film and video production. From 1981 to 1988, she was with CBS Television Network, serving in a variety of positions including Executive Producer/Creative Director, Special Projects, CBS Broadcast Group and Creative Director for CBS Marketing. Previous experience included positions in domestic and international advertising and publishing.
 
The recipient of numerous industry awards, Nancy is a member of Writers Guild of America, the Forbes Executive Women’s Board and on the board of New York Natives.

Professional Website: www.nemglobal.com

Kathy Reilly

Featured in Chapter Four: Power

As CEO and founder of Lifestylist Advisory, Kathy brings over 20 years of marketing and lifestyle business experience to the leadership of her firm. Kathy has had a distinguished career creating memorable lifestyle and experience programs for some of the world’s most high profile corporations. Kathy gained her marketing know-how at American Express, where she spent a decade creating best customer loyalty strategies for the affluent and launching merchant strategies for emerging industries. A respected business leader and relationship manager, Kathy has grown several entrepreneurial businesses with her keen marketing insight, passion for lifestyle and ability to continually anticipate client needs.  A seasoned veteran of the concierge business, Kathy has been at the forefront of creating some of the most impactful programs delivering the most bespoke levels of service.

She founded Lifestylist Advisory in 2009 to address a specific void in the marketplace for a high touch, boutique lifestyle management firm that caters to the ultra high net worth client who place a premium on experience, service and value. In 2011, her firm was awarded the Private Asset Management Award for Lifestyle Services. She counts among her clients some of the world’s most prestigious brands.
 
Kathy speaks frequently on lifestyle issues in the ultra high net worth space and has authored white papers about the impact of concierge services in service organizations.
 
Kathy received her MBA degree from Harvard Business School and her BS in Marketing from Boston College. She sits on the board of Goods of Conscience and lives in New York and Watermill with her husband.
 
Professional website: www.lifestylistadvisory.com
Favorite charity: Good of Conscience

Linda Tarr-Whelan

Featured in Chapter Four: Power
 
Former Ambassador Linda Tarr-Whelan is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, a national progressive think tank based in New York City.  The author of the award-winning Women Lead the Way: Your Guide to Stepping up to Leadership and Changing the World (Berrett-Koehler, 2009, 2011), Linda was Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in the Clinton Administration and Deputy Assistant to President Jimmy Carter for Women’s Concerns in the White House.

Named as one of the 50 most powerful women in Washington by Ladies Home Journal, her leadership on the importance of gender balance and women’s empowerment has included national unions, New York state government, CEO of a think tank and as managing partner of a successful international management consultancy with her husband as her business partner as well as national and international government experience. A frequent speaker and writer she has edited three books and appeared in numerous publications and on air in the United States, Europe and Asia.  She blogs for Huffington Post and MomsRising.  Linda chairs the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Group and the Pax World Resources Women’s Advisory Council, co-chairs the national advisory group for the CEDAW Education Initiative and is a member of the Women’s Leadership Council of United Way Worldwide. 

She began her career as a nurse and holds a BSN from Johns Hopkins, an MS from the University of Maryland, and honorary PhDs from Chatham and Plymouth State Universities. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.  Linda and her husband live on St. Helena Island, SC and in Burlington, VT.  They have two adult children and four grandchildren.

Professional website: www.lindatarrwhelan.com
 
Favorite Charities: Women’s Leadership Councils of the United Way, Vermont Works for Women, & Penn Center

Bonnie Wurzbacher

Featured in Chapter Four: Power
 
During her 27 year tenure at The Coca-Cola Company, Bonnie has held various senior leaderhsip roles in sale, marketing and management including: Senior Vice President, Global Customer & Channel Leadership; Vice President, Customer Strategy; Vice Presidnt, Southeast Area; Vice President, McDonald's Account; and Assistant Vice President, Education Market.  In 2003, bonnie was given responsibility for a $1.6 billion portfolio of global customers, new busness acquisiion and the development of growth strategies for all key channels, working in close partnership with The Company's franchised bottling partner arouund the world.
 
In January, 2011, Bonnie accepted a special assignment to help the company lauch a new global initiative called  "5 By 20" that will enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women by 2020.  This initiative aims to create more jobs and business expertise across the company's unparalleled value chain, with a focus on improving the capabiliites of womemn who own or operate small businesses in developing coutnreies. By growing the small business Women's Leaderhsip and Corporate Social Responsibility.  Her appreciation and passion for the critical role of business around the world has made her ian an effective voice for successfuul, sustainable and ethical business practices.  She is a frequent public speaker on this subject.Texas. playing golf together and serving in various leadership roles at Peachtree Jessica Fry.
 
Bonnie graduated from Wheath College (Illinois) in 1977 with a B.A. in General Management from Emore University in 1990. She currently serves on the board of directors of Cbeyond, Inc., as a trustee of Columbia Theological Seminary and on the board of advisors of the J. Dennis Hastert Center at Wheaton College. Throughout her career, she has also served on the boards of Gordon Foodservice, the Georgia Independent College Association, the Network of Executive Women,  the March of Dimes and the Wheaton College Board of Visitors.
 
Bonnie and her husband Steve enjoy entertaining family and friends at their homes in Atlanta and Texas. They have one son, Daniel, who is married to the former Jessica Fry.
 
Professional website: www.cocacola.com
 
Favorite charities: Opportunity International, Samaritan's Purse, Hope International, Laity Renewal, 4word and Prison Fellowship