Irma Carrillo Ramirez was sworn in as Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on December 11, 2023. She had previously served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, for 21 years. Prior to her judicial service, she was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, where she spent time in both the criminal and civil divisions, and an associate attorney in the general commercial litigation section of the law firm of Locke Purnell Rain Harrell L.L.P. She received her law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law, Dallas, Texas, where she was a Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Fellow, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Texas State University, Canyon, Texas.

Judge Ramirez received the State Bar of Texas Hispanic Issues Section Judge of the Year Award, the Dallas Women Lawyer’s Association’s Louise B. Raggio Award, the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law’s Distinguished Alumni Award for Judicial Service, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association’s La Luz Achievement Award, the SMU Women in Law Distinguished Alumna Award, a Federal Executive Board Public Service Award, the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers’ Outstanding Mentor Award, and the SMU Law School Board of Advocates Coach of the Year Award. She is a member of SMU Dedman School of Law’s Executive Board and the SMU Law Review Association Advisory Board, and she has previously served as an SMU Community Fellow. She has also served two terms on the Board of Trustees for the Texas Center for Legal Ethics, including as the Chair in 2019. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Dallas Hispanic Law Foundation; a Sustaining Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Dallas Bar Foundation, and the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers; a Master in the William “Mac” Taylor Inn of Court and the Sarah T. Hughes Inn of Court.

Management thought leader and award-winning organizational psychologist Wendy K. Smith is on a mission to help individuals and organizations turn our problems into possibilities.

Smith currently holds the prestigious title of Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management and serves as the faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Lerner College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware. Wendy is also one of the youngest people named as an Academy of Management Fellow. As an organizational psychologist, she is a leading expert on the power of paradox – applying both/and thinking to help us innovate, change and generate more creative, sustainable solutions to our toughest challenges. In her talks, Wendy brings science-based research to life with real world stories to both captivate and motivate her audiences.

Smith is the co-author of Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems, along with Marianne Lewis, named a Top 10 Management Book by Thinkers50, a finalist for the Next Big Idea Award, and a #1 Amazon New Release. Smith and Lewis were awarded the Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award for these groundbreaking ideas.

Wendy is also an award-winning scholar. She has been named the Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers for being among the top 1% most-cited researchers for 5 years in a row. She has published her research in influential journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, and Management Science, while also reaching beyond academia to publish in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, Newsweek and others. As a compelling and engaging teacher, she won the MBA Excellence in Teaching Award 5 times.

Beyond accolades and awards, Wendy’s passion lies in helping leaders worldwide tackle the complex challenges of interpersonal dynamics, team performance, organizational change, and innovation to transform their organizations and the world. Approachable, insightful, and globally revered, she continues to shape the future of management thinking.

Joe Tocco is responsible for all litigation and IP legal support at AT&T.

Before his most recent role, Joe was Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, responsible for legal support for product development, marketing, and sales to AT&T business customers worldwide, and to federal, state, and local governments and educational institutions nationwide.

Since joining the company in 2002, Joe has held more than a dozen positions with responsibility for providing legal and strategic support across a wide range of subject matters, including mergers and acquisitions, marketing and sales, legislative affairs, government investigations, network operations, corporate communications and advertising.

Before joining AT&T, Joe was a partner at one of Michigan’s largest law firms, where his practice focused on complex commercial and product liability litigation.

Joe is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where he was Executive Editor of the Law Review and a Director of the Moot Court. He has published several legal articles and co-authored a legal reference book for the Institute for Continuing Legal Education. Joe also serves on the board of directors of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Litigation Center.  He lives with his wife and three children in Southlake, TX.

Mark Melton is a partner in Holland & Knight’s Dallas office and the Co-Chair of the Tax, Executive Compensation, and Benefits practice group for the firm. He focuses on corporate and federal income taxation issues related to domestic and international transactions of private equity and hedge funds, as well as other investment partnerships, joint ventures, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and operating businesses.

Mark is also the founder of the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center, which provides free legal representation to tenants facing eviction in Dallas County. His team assists more than 5,000 families facing eviction each year.

Jeff Lanier is Head of Finance and Economics for Stewart Title’s Agency and Commercial businesses responsible for overseeing the financial planning and analysis organization to drive business growth and profitability, including Stewart’s Economics and Agency Financial Advisory Service.

Prior to Stewart, Jeff was a leader in Deloitte’s Insurance and M&A practice; served as Head of Finance & Administration for a national Life and Retirement retail distribution IMO; and served for a decade in a variety of leadership roles at AIG including Global Head of Health Business Alliances; Vice President and Chief of Staff to the CEO of the AIG Global Life, Health, and Annuity business; and Director of Strategy & Financial Planning for AIG Life, Health, and Annuity.

He has worked with insurance businesses based in U.S., Japan, UK, China, Ireland, Israel, South Korea, and Latin America.

Mr. Lanier has a B.A. and B.A.A. from UT Austin, and an M.B.A. from Rice University.

Seana Willing is a 1993 graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law, in San Antonio, Texas, and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in 1985 from the College of Holy Cross, in Worcester, Massachusetts.  She is licensed to practice law in all Texas courts, as well as before the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and the United States Supreme Court.

Willing has served as Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the State Bar of Texas since March 4, 2019.  Prior to that, she was Executive Director of the Texas Ethics Commission (2017-2019). From 1999-2017, Willing was with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, serving as its General Council (2001-2003) and Executive Director (2003-2017). Before serving as a prosecutor for the San Antonio Regional Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel (1998-1999), Willing was in private practice in San Antonio, Texas.

For more than 25 years, Willing has been a guest speaker on the topic of ethics, professional conduct, and the Texas attorney and judicial disciplinary systems before a variety of diverse audiences, including state and federal judges, court staff, lawyers, law students, law enforcement officers, legislators, government officials, lobbyists and foreign dignitaries.  She has also served as a visiting lecturer in Poland and as a pro bono legal consultant in the Republic of Georgia and in the Kyrgyz Republic.  In 2016, Willing was presented with the “Exemplary Non-Judicial Faculty Award” by the Texas Center for the Judiciary. Willing has also been recognized by Texas Lawyer as one of “30 Extraordinary Women in the Law” (2008) and an “Impact Player of the Year” (2006).  She has written and co-authored several articles and notes published in the South Texas Law Review (Summer 2010), the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, Lublin, Poland (May 2012), Texas Bar Journal (December 2019, November 2022, December 2022, January 2023) and the State Bar Litigation Section Report, The Advocate (Winter 2019).