Elizabeth Gilbert: On the Three Most Powerful Words a Woman Can Say

SABRINA BROWN has over 20 years’ worth of hands-on experience in Texas government and politics. She offers valuable strategic counsel to a broad spectrum of clients. Brown’s extensive expertise in the state’s legislative, regulatory, public affairs and appropriations arenas, combined with her strong bipartisan relationships, provides businesses and organizations with vital political and governmental guidance. She has consistently been recognized by Capitol Inside as one of the top lobbyists in Texas. Prior to opening her own practice, Brown was a lobbyist for an Austin-based law firm, and previously spent a half-dozen years at the Capitol, working for the Texas House of Representatives. Brown currently serves on the boards of Dell Children’s Medical Center Foundation, West Austin Youth Association, Beyond Batten Disease Foundation, the Seton Development Board and the Texas Conference for Women. Brown earned an M.A. in public affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas and her bachelor’s degree at Texas A&M University.

BOBBI DANGERFIELD retired from Dell Technologies in February 2019 where she led the Global Business Operations organization at Dell. Her role was about making it the easiest company on the planet to do business with. She oversaw the Order to Cash process for the company as well as Global Channel Operations, and BI, Reporting and Analytics for Sales, Operations and Services. Bobbi had the privilege of leading a team of over 5000 highly engaged team members in over 70 countries who took care of Dell’s customers energetically and passionately every single day. Bobbi serves on the Board of the Texas Conference for Women , Susan G. Komen Greater Central Texas and as Board Chair of Dress for Success Austin.  Bobbi is also an active SCORE mentor, helping entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses.  She lives in Austin with her husband Elmer and has two adult children, Paige and Tyler.

TAMARA FIELDS is the office managing director for Accenture in Austin. She’s responsible for strengthening Accenture’s relationship with the local community, bringing innovation to clients, and recruiting and retaining top talent.

With nearly twenty years of federal and state government and multilateral project management experience, Fields helps a range of diverse clients better serve citizens with creative, strategic, and transformative solutions. She currently leads multiple Accenture initiatives with the state of Texas, seeking to bring about significant, positive change. Striving to strengthen and accelerate Accenture’s efforts to foster an inclusive culture, she serves as the US co-lead for Accenture’s women’s employee resource group as well as the inclusion and diversity lead for the Accenture Austin office. She recognizes that our differences make us unique and those differences, when brought together, can maximize our impact. In support of the company’s goal to achieve 50/50 gender balance by 2025, she frequently advocates that Accenture’s rich diversity makes teams stronger — more creative, innovative, and competitive, helping the company to better serve clients and communities.

A native Austinite and a University of Texas graduate, Fields is Accenture’s executive recruiting sponsor for her alma mater, and also serves on the Red McCombs School of Business advisory council. She further contributes to the local community by serving as a board member of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Texas Conference for Women and Paul Quinn College, a historically black college in Dallas. Fields also serves as a coach and mentor in and outside of Accenture, helping people find their voice and preparing them for career advancement.

In February of 2018, Jane Gasdaska assumed the role of Change Management Lead for Phillips 66’s business transformation. She had previously served as the General Manager, U.S. Product Supply and Distribution, for Phillips 66 Commercial.

During her 20+ year career in the Oil industry, she has held various positions in Supply & Trading, Fuels Marketing, Business Development and Downstream Strategy. She began her career in 1996 as a Crude Oil Scheduler working for Mobil Oil Corporation in Fairfax, Virginia and through a series of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures worked for, Tosco Phillips Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and now Phillips 66.

Jane attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and graduated in 1988 with a degree in Mathematics. She also holds an MA in Systematic Theology from the Graduate Theological Union and an MBA from the Kenan Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Carol McGarah, CEO of Blackridge, a Texas government relations firm, has worked in the Texas political arena since 1991. Her extensive background, proven work ethic, and respected relationships, positions her as a valuable asset to companies, associations, individuals and public entities needing governmental and regulatory counsel.

McGarah is widely recognized as an expert in environmental policy and law, stemming from her work as the Director of the powerful Senate Natural Resources Committee from 1991 – 2001. In this position, she gained valuable knowledge working on legislation involving air, water, waste, oil and gas, and agriculture, and was instrumental in the conception, development and passage of groundbreaking water and air-emission legislation. Ten years of Capitol experience provided her the expertise necessary to successfully maneuver the nuanced legislative and regulatory process.

Since starting her lobby career in 2001, McGarah has expanded her areas of expertise to include economic development, education, energy, finance, transportation, insurance, retail operations, municipal government, and real estate development. Often tapped to develop and lead strategic legislative and regulatory campaigns, McGarah brings a successful track record to her wide variety of clients.

LISA HERITAGE McLIN is vice president alliances and channel chief with Rackspace. In this role, she is responsible for the strategy and execution of growing partner relationships and propelling organizational revenue. Having been with Rackspace since 2002, McLin has mastered the development of high-velocity sales organizations through creating processes, methodologies, accountability for profit-generating programs, building relationships and strategies for the company’s partners and alliances. McLin serves on the board of directors for Texas Conference for Women and on the board for Girls Inc. She is also the executive chair for POWER, Professional Organization for Women Empowerment at Rackspace, the largest employee resource group at Rackspace. McLin has been recognized as one of the Top Gun 51 Channel Executive of 2019, honored as CRN 2019 Women in the Channel, and was awarded 2019 Gold Stevie for Woman of the Year in the Business Services Industries. McLin earned a BBA in accounting and business management from The University of Texas at San Antonio, and an executive business administration and management degree from The University of Texas at Austin.