We are proudly sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co. as well as Next Street.
NEXT STREET DIRECTOR
About
Jocelyn joined Next Street in 2020. She is a Director in the New York office within the Advisory Practice. In this role, she serves as a trusted advisor and an advocate to clients who seek to broaden the small business and entrepreneurial landscape.?
Prior to Next Street, Jocelyn was a global relationship manager and client success director at firms within the research, workforce development, higher education, and technology industries. It is from this diverse backdrop that she provides business leaders with the tools to activate strategic solutions that deliver value to their business and society.
An entrepreneur herself, Jocelyn launched a boutique advisory firm to advance startup growth, provide individual professional development, and craft corporate thought leadership. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Boston College with a concentration in Marketing and Hispanic Studies.
CEO
About
Since 2009, Carol has been the CEO for Center for Transforming Lives, which works alongside women and their children to disrupt the cycle of poverty by providing comprehensive homeless services, early childhood education and economic mobility services. These comprehensive services include traditional child care and Early Head Start, family housing and trauma intervention services for women and children experiencing homelessness. The Center also offers one-on-one financial coaching and asset building, as well as other economic mobility interventions.
Klocek holds a master’s degree in social work from University of Texas at Arlington and a master’s in business from Texas Christian University. She serves as a board member for DFWI, UNT Health Science Center’s Academic Community Partnerships, and has served on boards that address homelessness, mental health, and maternal and child health.
JPMORGAN CHASE | BUSINESS BANKING MARKET MANAGER
About
Karen is the Business Banking Market Manager covering the West area of DFW, including Denton, Mid-Cities, Arlington and Fort Worth. Her responsibilities include managing 45 Relationship Managers, $2 billion in business deposits and $ 380 million in business loans. Her team of managers address the financial needs of owner-managed businesses ranging from depository, treasury and credit needs.
She has been with the firm for 34 years, the past 13 years in Dallas with Business Banking. Prior to her current role as Market Manager, she held the Business Manager role for the West Region of Business Banking and played a key role in building the Business Banking teams for the branches in California, Florida, Oregon and Washington. She started in the Rio Grande Valley managing Credit Administration for Texas Commerce Bank.
After leading the consolidation of the Credit area into the Houston group she moved into Branch Management. She managed the consolidation efforts of several key acquisitions for the bank expanding its presence in the Valley. Most of her career was spent in Houston, managing Sales and Service for the market, as well as managing several Districts across the city, including New Build Branches and Same Store Branches. She and her husband live in Frisco and have a daughter, son and three granddaughters.
CTL | DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC MOBILITY
About
Charletra Sharp, Director for Economic Mobility with the Center for Transforming Lives (CTL), is a native of Arlington and a public servant. She has professionally served the community in local government, higher education, church, and nonprofits for more than 12 years, managing budgets of over $25 million, ranging from affordable housing to street outreach services to, now, economic mobility resources for underserved Tarrant County families. Her current work with CTL provides her the opportunity to disrupt the cycle of poverty for women and children through financial education, career readiness services, and microenterprise support. She also serves on the City of Arlington’s Unity Council.
As a graduate of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators and the Boys and Girls Club of Arlington’s Winning Foundations College Preparatory Program, she is the byproduct of what great role models and mentors produce. Charletra’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Social Work and Spanish minor from Baylor University, and a Master of Social Work with a concentration in Community Development and Program Administration from Washington University in Saint Louis where she also specialized in Management. She continues to reside in Arlington with her husband, Aaron, and son, Jackson.
CITY OF ARLINGTON | DEPUTY MAYOR PRO TEMPORE | DISTRICT 7
About
Victoria Farrar-Myers first moved to Arlington in 1998 and has been actively engaged in our city ever since. She was first elected to the Arlington City Council in May 2016 and her term expires May 2020. In her role as Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore At Large, she represents the entire city. Dedicated to building communities, Victoria has held leadership positions in numerous volunteer organizations as well as served on the Planning & Zoning Commission and AISD’s Financial Futures Committee.
Known as “Doc F-M” to her students, Victoria served as a Professor of Political Science and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington for 16 years and served as the Director of the Tower Scholar Program and as a Senior Fellow in the Tower Center for Political Studies at SMU. She received a Ph.D. from University at Albany, SUNY, a Master’s degree from University of Illinois, and a Bachelor’s degree from Russell Sage College. Victoria has been married to Jason since 1992, and they have one son. They are members of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.
UNITED WAY OF TARRANT COUNTY | VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
About
Regina is guided by the lens gained through the strength of her family, her years of travel as a military spouse and as a school social worker. She contributes those experiences to her dedication to addressing the intersection of race and poverty and how systems continue to create obstacles to the empowerment of our communities. Those experiences have also provided her the firsthand account of the strength and spirit of those very same communities and the potential for generational impact.
?Regina is currently the Vice President of Community Investment and Regional Director for United Way – Arlington. She works in conjunction with community leaders to provide a collaborative approach to community problem solving, planning, and capacity building. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Regina is also an advisory board member for a local chapter of My Brother’s Keeper, is married to Cedric Williams, a 26-year Army Veteran and they have one daughter, Britney Williams.
ROSS TRANSPORTS LLC | OWNER & OPERATOR
About
Sheret James, Owner and Operator of Ross Transports LLC, is a native of Chicago. She has professionally served the trucking industry for 2 years, including driving, administering compliance regulation and reports, prompt deliveries, and networking in the DFW area.
As a single mother of two, Robert 19 and Savannah 9, Sheret has seen the need to implement and display to her children entrepreneurship, financial responsibility, and perseverance. Sheret has obtained an Associate of Arts degree from TCC, a Commercial Driver License, NCTRCA Certified and countless counsel from The Center of Transforming lives.
CTL has provided the needed coaching and support for Sheret to start and sustain a startup. From the awarded IDA funds of $4000 to match her monthly savings, learning how to manage her payroll, to now assisting offering business support to her peers. Sheret’s connections and appreciation of CTL are the beginning of more stories like hers.
