Adi Mishra, Chair

Adi is the CEO and Founding Partner at ANCHOREO LLC, developing apps for business and healthcare. His work includes pro bono projects in the non-profit space to enable the delivery of innovative therapy. Adi loves exploring ways to bring 3D gaming, and mixed reality experiences into productivity and health apps.

Adi graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with an MS in Computer Engineering in 1991. He has founded and worked at multiple successful startups since then.

Laura York, Secretary

Laura York became involved with Austin Speech Labs as a One Word At A Time committee volunteer in 2012. She has chaired the annual fundraiser twice and joined the Board of Directors in 2018. Laura graduated from UC Berkeley and worked as a consultant in the healthcare industry in the Bay Area and in Austin before starting her own business, TopBun. She is constantly amazed by the founders of Austin Speech Labs, Shelley Adair, and Shilpa Shamapant, and looks forward to supporting Austin Speech Labs in this role.

Robert Hollingsworth, Treasurer

Robert is a retired technology executive, having spent 40 years working in Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and General Management roles in companies developing systems solutions including hardware, software, and semiconductors. Robert and his wife, Donna, are active Angel Investors and have been members of the Central Texas Angel Network since he retired in 2012. Robert is Board Chairman for Tekvox, Inc, a Texas-based company supplying innovative Audio/Video solutions for classrooms, conference rooms, and meeting spaces. Robert and Donna have been supporters of Austin Speech Labs for more than 4 years and they see the opportunity for Robert to serve as a member of the Board as a means to enhance their contribution to the organization, the Austin community, and stroke survivors everywhere.

Sherrie Frachtman

For the last 30 years, Sherrie Frachtman, a community volunteer, has served in numerous leadership positions in local nonprofits and area schools. She has co-chaired the organization’s largest annual fundraiser, One Word At A Time, for consecutive two years and has been a leader on the fundraising committee each year.

Dr. Harish Gagneja

Dr. Gagneja graduated from the Government Medical College, Guru Nanak Dev University in Punjab, India in 1990. He completed his internship and residency training at the Cleveland Clinic Health System affiliated hospitals in Cleveland, OH in 1997. He completed his gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship with State University of New York at Buffalo, NY in 2000. Dr. Gagneja accepted a position as an assistant professor of medicine at The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. He also served as co-director of the GI fellowship program there. He moved to Austin in 2002 and joined Austin Gastroenterology in 2004. He maintains his academic interest and actively participates in the teaching of medical students and residents of Austin Medical Education Programs. He was chosen consultant of the year by the resident class of 2003-04. Dr. Gagneja was a lead interventional endoscopist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has a special interest in therapeutic endoscopy and newer technology in endoscopy. Dr. Gagneja has presented at many national meetings and has authored many abstracts, manuscripts, and book chapters. Dr. Gagneja is fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu. Dr. Gagneja has practiced in Austin since 2002.

Dr. Kapil Jain

Kapil Jain, Ph.D., has been an educator, advisor, and keen student of marketing for over 40 years – in the US and internationally. He retired in 2019 from the marketing faculty at the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin after 17 years.  He has previously been on the marketing faculty at universities in Arizona, Rhode Island, and Florida.  His interests are mainly in the marketing strategy arena with a commitment to the principle that being customer-empathetic is the most wholesome path toward sustained growth for all stakeholders. He has a Ph.D. in marketing (Columbia University), an MBA (Bombay University), and a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering (IIT Delhi).  He was also the co-founder of Marketing Intelligence, LLC, a market research & strategy consulting company in Tucson, Arizona.

Zubin Khambatta

Zubin is a partner in Perkins Coie’s Healthcare industry group. He has devoted his career to representing major hospital systems, free-standing hospitals, specialty and pediatric physician practices, clinical laboratories, telehealth providers, academic medical centers, and behavioral health and other providers in complex transactional, regulatory, and reimbursement matters. As a member of the Technology Transactions & Privacy practice group, he counsels startups as well as mature organizations in healthcare technology and data-related matters. Zubin has served on the Austin Speech Labs Board since 2018.

Megan Koppenhoefer

David E. Little

David is an attorney who maintains a general civil litigation practice, D.E. Little Law Firm. He also serves as a chaplain at Baylor Scott & White Health. David was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1991 and served on active duty from 1993 to 1996. As a Marine Judge Advocate, he defended more than 100 Marines before courts-martial and administrative discharge hearings. David survived a stroke in 2008 and is a former client of Austin Speech Labs. He is also the founder of the non-profit, A Link to Hope, and enjoys mentoring others in faith and leadership.

Catherine Lucchesi

Catherine has a lifelong passion for connecting diverse leaders and communities through social impact. A graduate of NYU and McCombs School of Business, she has over 8 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. During her time in the nonprofit sector she organized citywide programs serving over 110,000 people and raised over $57 million for the Austin community. She is currently working in ESG consulting at The CSR Group, helping businesses define their sustainability strategy. Passionate about building equity in healthcare, she is committed to supporting the future of ASL and has served on ASL’s OWAAT Committee since 2017. Catherine is a Young Patron of Yellowstone Forever and Board Member of Pease Park Conservancy.

Ann McIver

Ann has enjoyed over 40 years of service to the Austin community through her involvement with a host of nonprofit organizations. The experience and knowledge she has gained from hands-on involvement in fundraising and serving on other nonprofit Boards of Directors has made her well qualified to help in the advancement of philanthropic causes.

Jody Rudman

A seasoned litigator at Husch Blackwell LLP, Jody is passionate about advocating for healthcare clients who face enforcement and compliance issues – both in and out of the courtroom. Jody has assisted clients across a wide range of industries at investigations, negotiations, mediations, pretrial matters, grand jury proceedings, civil lawsuits, criminal indictments, jury trials, sentencings and appeals. She has tried dozens of jury and bench trials in the federal and state courts, argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court. Her experience of more than 20 years includes representing clients in all phases of litigation.

Dr. Steven Warach

Steven Warach, MD, Ph.D. is Professor of Neurology at Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, and Executive Director of the Seton Dell Medical School Stroke Institute. He is a Neuroscientist and Vascular Neurologist. Previously, Dr. Warach was Founding Chief of the Section of Stroke Diagnostics and Therapeutics at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and Chief of the Cerebrovascular Division in Neurology at Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where he had completed his medical and neurological training. Among his many research accomplishments, he is most noted for the introduction of diffusion-weighted MRI into clinical practice for improved diagnosis of acute stroke and for the use of advanced brain imaging to guide the development and application of new stroke treatments.