Boys & Girls Club of Greater Dallas Announces New CEO

Boys & Girls Club of Greater Dallas

Karen Tan, President and Chief Executive Officer

Karen Tan most recently served as the president and CEO of one of Hawaii’s largest nonprofits, Child & Family Service, for 18 years. There, she focused on providing family-strengthening services and spearheaded innovative partnerships, fundraising strategies, and programs. Tan’s appointment comes after Charles English announced his retirement after almost 20 years leading Boys & Girls Club of Greater Dallas. Tan will assume her new role as of September 1.

EDUCATION: University of Hawai’i at Manoa (M.S.), Seattle Pacific University (B.A.)

Mohr Partners

Michele Shibuya, Chief Operating Officer

Michele Shibuya is being promoted from her role within Mohr Partners as managing principal of business operations to COO. In her new role, she will serve on the company’s board as corporate secretary, as well as a managing member of the Executive Committee. Shibuya will oversee business operations for all service lines across Mohr’s 25 U.S. offices and 13 international offices, working with Mohr’s CFO and CCO. She will continue to directly oversee human resources, information technology, legal and risk management, and marketing and corporate communications functions. Shibuya joined Mohr in 2018.

EDUCATION: University of Southern California (B.A.)

Perkins&Will

Eurico Francisco, Design Principal

Eurico Francisco will serve as the point with clients and his team of designers, focusing on creative solutions and urban design. Francisco has previously served as a design principal at CallisonRTKL, HDR Architecture, and Omni Plan Architects in Dallas.

EDUCATION: University of São Paulo (B.A.)

Blank Rome

Steven R. Block, Co-Chair and Partner, Corporate, M&A, and Securities Group

Attorney Steven Block joins Blank Rome as the company launches its Dallas office at the Crescent in Uptown. Block will lead the Dallas office as a co-chair and a partner practicing in the firm’s Corporate, M&A, and Securities Group. Block was most recently an attorney with Block & McNeill. Some of his specialties include practicing corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and all forms of corporate finance.

EDUCATION: Emory University (J.D.), Indiana University Bloomington (B.A.)

Jason S. Luter, Co-Chair and Partner, Corporate, M&A, and Securities Group

Jason Luter advises clients on corporate ownership succession planning transactions involving employee stock ownership plans, including seller-financed and leveraged and non-leveraged buyouts. He represents companies, business owners, financial institutions, and independent fiduciaries in their roles as sellers, lenders, and purchasers in ESOP transactions. His practice includes mergers, acquisitions, and the structuring and financing of employee stock ownership plans involving private equity. Luter was most recently a partner with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath for nearly five years. Prior to that, he served as a partner at Foley & Lardner.

EDUCATION: Georgetown University (LLM), Southern Methodist University (J.D., BBA)

Mark W. Harris, Partner, Finance Group

Attorney Mark Harris most recently served as an attorney with Alston & Bird. In his practice, he represents specialty finance companies, private credit funds, financial institutions, and related service providers in structured finance and securitization transactions involving asset classes, including residential mortgage loans, automobile loans, leases and subscriptions, consumer receivables, timeshare receivables, structured settlements, life settlements, whole businesses, and more. Harris also represents specialty finance borrowers and lenders in connection with warehouse lines of credit, whole loan sales, participations, servicing and derivative transactions, strategic alliances, and corporate governance matters.

EDUCATION: Southern Methodist University (J.D., B.A.)

Justin G. Mapes, Partner, Real Estate Group

Justin Mapes joins Blank Rome from Locke Lord, where he .served as partner. Mapes focuses his practice on real estate and commercial transactions with an emphasis on the financing, acquisition, development, management, and disposition of commercial properties. He has represented major financial institutions, specialty lenders, and borrowers in numerous lending transactions, loan workouts, loan modifications, acquisition financing, mezzanine debt, remedy enforcement, and foreclosures involving a wide variety of collateral.

EDUCATION: University of Texas (J.D., MPA, BBA)

Christopher M. McNeill, Partner, Corporate, M&A, and Securities Group

Christopher McNeill’s goal is to get deals done effectively and efficiently, with an emphasis on providing his clients with the information they need to make informed business decisions and a focus on the business practicalities. He works with clients in biotechnology, online gaming and social media, software and software as a service, hospitality and entertainment, private equity, manufacturing, retail and distribution, logistics, construction and related services, and automotive sales and services. He assists clients with entity formation, corporate restructuring and expansion, securities financing, traditional commercial debt financing, and mergers and acquisitions. He previously served as a principal and attorney at Block & McNeill for more than 16 years.

EDUCATION: Harvard Law School (J.D.), University of Mississippi (B.A.)

Michael B. Thimming, Partner, Finance Group

Michael Thimming was most recently an attorney with Alston & Bird. Thimmig focuses his practice on structured finance, FinTech, mortgage banking, and secured lending transactions. Recently, he has also focused on structured warehouse credit facilities secured by consumers loans, small balance commercial loans, and merchant cash advances. He has also been involved in a variety of fintech bank partnership structures, including representation of fintech platforms, bank partners, private fund purchasers and credit facility lenders, and credit products.

EDUCATION: Southern Methodist University (J.D.), Marquette University (B.A.)

Association for Corporate Growth

Brittany Timmerman, Senior Vice President, Chapter Operations

Brittany Timmerman, has been promoted to ACG’s senior vice president of chapter operations from her previous role as CEO of its South-Central Region. Timmerman has been a part of ACG’s DFW chapter since 2018 and rose from chapter manager to executive director of the region. She will continue to oversee the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter, managing membership, events, sponsorships and marketing initiatives. In her expanded role, Timmerman will lead the ACG Chapter Operations team, streamlining workflows, enhancing technological capabilities, and ensuring the optimal service delivery that our members deservePrior to joining ACG, Timmerman worked for the Dallas Regional Chamber as director of member services.

EDUCATION: University of Dallas (MBA), Southern Methodist University (BBA)

MYCON General Contractors

Jason Meuth, Vice President

Jason Meuth has been promoted to a VP role at MYCON General Contractors from his former position as a project director, where he specialized in retail projects. In his new role, Meuth will find new opportunities within MYCON’s retail markets, while maintaining existing client relationships. He hopes to help facilitate the firm’s growth even outside the DFW market. Meuth served in the Air Force prior to joining MYCON ten years ago.

EDUCATION: Texas A&M University (B.S.)

DeFy Tickets

Mike Rogers, Vice President of Business Development

Mike Rogers will lead blockchain-based ticketing platform DeFy Tickets in growing their presence across North America. He will also help the company expand its U.S. partnerships across the entertainment industry including performers, promoters, and venues. Rogers has previously held roles at companies including Dice, Eventbrite, and Ticketfly. DeFy was launched last summer from the team behind Fort Worth’s Fortress Festival, joined by several ticketing industry veterans from Eventbrite, FrontGate, and Ticketfly. 

EDUCATION: University of Pennsylvania (B.A.)

Flexeserve

Michael Torrescano, Vice President of Sales, Americas

Prior to joining Flexeserve, Michael Torrescano served Rational as a top-performing salesperson, where he was recognized several times for outstanding performance. He held two other leadership roles at Rational during his 7-year tenure with the company. Prior to that, he served as a territory sales manager with Sysco for nearly five years.

EDUCATION: University of the Incarnate Word (B.A.)

The Family Place

Natalie Wall, Director of Marketing and Communications

Prior to joining The Family Place, Natalie spent more than 10 years leading teams with brands such as Max Mara, Kate Spade, and Dillard’s. After leaving the retail industry, Wall shifted to working in the nonprofit sector as a brand marketing manager, where she streamlined brand messaging for digital and printed donor communications and assisted with special events.

EDUCATION: Texas Tech University (B.S.)

Valor

Liz Johnston, Director of Relentless Innovation

At Fort-Worth mineral management software company, Valor, Liz Johnston will aim to improve the processes and standard operating procedures, as well as enhance the company’s software platform. She will also serve as the point person for employee training programs. Prior to joining Valor, Johnston served software development company, ResourceX, as their executive marketing director, where she specialized in priority budgeting. Johnston is currently pursuing an MBA at the University of Texas at Dallas.

EDUCATION: Davidson College (B.A.)

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