ChangeMakers

H2Growth Strategies LLC, founded by Linda C. Hartley and Vivien Hoexter, advises executive staff and board members to improve performance, build leadership, and increase revenues for sustainable grow…

Michelle Gielan, national CBS News anchor turned positive psychology researcher, is the best-selling author of Broadcasting Happiness. Michelle is the Founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Re…

Carla Javits is President and CEO of REDF (The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund), a pioneering venture philanthropy galvanizing a national movement of social enterprises—purpose-driven, revenue-ge…

There is more than one way for a child to come up missing, at least in the eyes of Ret. Memphis Police Sgt. Len Edwards. As executive director of Memphis-based Commission on Missing and Exploited Chi…

Moira Forbes is the President and Publisher of ForbesWoman, a multi-media platform dedicated to successful women in business and leadership. She is also the Executive Vice President of Forbes Media w…

Life for Nick & Giles English changed significantly one clear day in March 1995. Nick was practicing for an air display with their father Euan. But the 1942 WWII Harvard aircraft they were flying was…

In June 2014, Jason Little became only the fifth person since 1912 to serve as Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation's president and CEO. Since joining Baptist in 2002, Little has held a number of…

Dorothy Gunther Pugh is the CEO and Founding Artistic Director of Ballet Memphis, which she founded in 1986 with two dancers and a budget of $75,000. Today, the Company has 25 dancers, a budget of mo…

Ephie Ballard-Johnson was born in Memphis, TN. After graduating from Treadwell High School, she attended the University of Memphis where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a conce…

Dr. Justin Lawhead is the Dean of Students at The University of Memphis. A Pittsburgh native, Dr. Lawhead's twenty year higher education experience is across five institutions across the nation and i…

Sally Jones Heinz came to MIFA in 2007 as Vice President of Development. In February of 2011, she became executive director, only the sixth person to hold that position in MIFA’s 43-year history. In …

Mauricio Calvo serves as the Executive Director of Latino Memphis but his story begins in the bustling Mexico City, Mexico where he grew up among the 25 million residents who also call Mexico City ho…

Dr. Isaac Rodriguez is the SweetBio CEO and Chief Science Officer responsible for the overall vision of the company as well as the lab and clinical research, publication, regulatory and product devel…

Ned Canty is the General Director at Opera Memphis and has over 20 years of experience as an opera stage director. As a freelance artist for 20 years, Canty directed operas at dozens of companies in …

There are few people who can match the drive and enthusiasm for social and community organizing that Cynthia Daniels has. A native of Atlanta, GA, Cynthia moved to Memphis in 2009 and embraced everyt…

Dr. John Smarrelli Jr. is the 22nd President of Christian Brothers University and its first permanent lay president. Over the past 25 years, he has served in senior administrative positions at Loyola…

Johnny Pitts was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 1973, graduated high school from Memphis University School in 1976 and graduated with a Bachelor of Scie…

Over 30 years ago, on a hot summer afternoon in Lagos, Nigeria, a missionary from Wisconsin approached a young African boy and invited him to enter a contest where the prize was a pair of shoes. For …

Reggie graduated from Hughes High School (1993), and then received his B.S. degree in Finance in 1997 from Arkansas State University. After graduation, Reggie took a position with First Tennessee Ban…

Jenny Koltnow is the Director of Communications and Community Relations and Customer Satisfaction for AutoZone, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. She manages everything from internal stakeholder e…