Executive Leadership and Board Members
Teofilo Tijerina
Executive Director and Co-Founder
teo.tijerina@edcoonline.org
(915) 539-5552
Mr. Tijerina is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of EDCO Ventures. Born in Reynosa, Mexico and raised in McAllen, TX, Mr. Tijerina is an entrepreneur who co-founded Innovei International, LLP (www.innovei.com), in El Paso, Texas. He has held executive and senior engineering positions with Dell, Inc., Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, and Dow Chemicals. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and attended the Graduate School of Business and the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) program at University of Texas El Paso.
Laura Bosworth-Bucher
Venture Executive
laura.bosworth@edcoonline.org
Laura is a venture executive mentoring nascent start-ups on all aspects of strategic planning from critical hiring, business development to capitalization. She is an experienced executive with 20 years of combined service with Dell and IBM.
She was most recently director of Dell’s WW Customer Experience effort where she worked with leaders across the corporation to define Dell’s strategy and execution plans for improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. During her tenure, satisfaction improved 40-50% in core support organizations. Within Dell, she led several marketing and engineering functions and delivered solutions that enabled over $500M in revenue. Ms Bosworth was also part of launching Dell’s consulting services business. Prior to joining Dell in 1998, Ms. Bosworth held a variety of management positions at IBM with experience in customer support and both product and manufacturing process engineering. Laura is also applying her strategic planning skills to a variety of other non-profit organizations, sharing her expertise through consulting, volunteer and board service. Ms. Bosworth holds a degree in engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Morgan Simon
Director of Strategy and Business Development
morgan.simon@edcoonline.org
Morgan is the Director of Strategy and Business Development for Innovacion Investments, a division of EDCO Ventures. Morgan leads strategic planning and business development, and supporting implementation through her broad connections in the social enterprise and impact investment movement. She also serves as the leader of Toniic, an angel investor network focused on social enterprise, bringing together 30 angel investors looking to place $100 million. In her position she leads the review of 25-50 deals a month in concert with the angels who have a broad range of investment experience. She also serves on the boards of the Social Venture Network and SJF Advisory Services. Morgan previously served as the founding executive director of the Responsible Endowments Coalition, an organization working with colleges and universities with $150 bn in endowment funds to embrace impact investment strategies.
Bryan Lord
Venture Fellow
As a venture fellow, Bryan provides entrepreneurial coaching, support and business counsel to companies enrolled in the BizLaunch program. He also conducts due diligence on prospective companies seeking investments from EDCO.
Bryan recently earned his MBA from the Acton School of Business-a one year, submersion program specializing in entrepreneurship taught exclusively by successful entrepreneurs. He is currently serving as student advisor for Acton’s class of 2011. Prior to earning his MBA, Bryan was the VP of Business Operations for a design-build firm in Austin, Texas specializing in the design and construction of parking facilities. He was responsible for financial planning, contract review, negotiation and compliance, and human resources. Earlier in his career, Bryan worked for Fleetwood Homes, the second largest manufactured housing company, as National Product Manager, and contributed to the sales growth of non-traditional business from $30M to over $100M. Bryan began his professional career in 1998 as a structural engineer upon graduation from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Architectural Engineering.
Board of Directors
Alberto Tovar, Chairman
Senior Project Manager, Pacific Charter School Development
Mountain View, CA
alberto.tovar@gmail.com
Alfonso Morales, Secretary
Sociology Professor, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
amorales@ssc.wisc.edu
Angel Fierro, Treasurer
Investment Banker, Vice President, Credit Suisse Energy Banking
New York, New York
angel.fierro@credit-suisse.com
Board Advisors
Adriana Cruz
Vice President, Global Recruiting, Austin Chamber of Commerce
Austin, TX
acruz@austinchamber.com
Ms. Cathy Swain
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Commercial Development, University of Texas System
Office of Research and Technology Transfer
Austin, TX
cswain@utsystem.edu
Dr. Javier Angel Kypuros
Asst. Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas Pan American
Edinburg, TX
jakypuros@utpa.edu
Jesse Tijerina
R & D Programs, Praxair Corporation
Houston, TX
Jesse_Tijerina@Praxair.com
Lance Jones
Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Trilogy, Inc.
Austin, TX
lance.jones@trilogy.com
Leo A. Ramirez, Jr.
CEO, MiniDonations and EDCO Ventures Co-Founder
Austin, TX
leo.ramirez@edcoonline.org
Phil Pompa
Former CEO, Sigmatel, Inc.
Austin, TX
ppompa@austin.rr.com
Steven Chang
Principal, Reservoir Capital Group
New York, NY
steve@clearlakecapital.com
Violet Bell
Independent Consultant, Business and Non-Profit Development
Austin, TX
VKBell@aol.com