About Texas Healthcare Challenge (TXHCC)

Contessa “Tessa” Hoskin is a Business and Technical Executive Leader with more than 25 years of experience and leadership responsibilities in Program Management (P&L), Business Development & Capture Management, Operations, Engineering, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Strategy. Hoskin’s career spans industries of Petrochemical, Industrial and Commercial Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Defense & Aerospace, Healthcare, Insurance & Fintech, Distributed Control Systems & Automation, and Integration. She has matured her career from individual contributor to Divisional and Senior Executive (VP). 

Tessa holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from McNeese State University and a Master degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University (SMU), Cox School of Business. She is a globally certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Lean Six Sigma Certified Black Belt. 

She has earned multiple awards for Mentoring Excellence, Technical Honors, Service, Corporate Performance, Leadership, and more. She has been profiled in numerous publications for companies, engineering, and business, including US Black Engineer and Beta Gamma Sigma. She is currently on the Board of Directors for a couple of start-up accelerators, Angel organizations, Southern Methodist Cox School of Business Alumni Board and Associate Board. 

Tessa continues to be a motivational speaker and featured panelist for various events and organizations in the areas of diversity, careers, and leadership. 

In addition to her motivational speaking, she is also a published author, an avid runner, and has been successful in inspiring others in the areas of health and fitness. 

Josh leads the William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the SMU Cox School of Business. He has 20 years of experience in leadership roles at BCG, Kraft Foods, Keurig Dr Pepper, and PepsiCo, and was most recently the Chief Strategy Officer at Guayaki Yerba Mate, a venture-backed consumer products start-up. He has led large strategy & transformational change efforts and been at the forefront of consumer and technology start-up trends as an operator, advisor, and investor for the past decade.

Steve brings a wealth of knowledge, connections and expertise from his more than three decades as an entrepreneur, investor, mentor, author and educator. He has been a director and remains a mentor at Capital Factory, an Austin-based technology incubator and working space. As principal at Powershift Group, a venture development group, he helped launch companies such as Appconomy, Moxie and Nano Global. He has written or published 12 books and dozens of articles about business innovation and information technology.

Brandon Pope is senior vice president of strategy and market development at Texas Health Resources, the largest healthcare provider in North Texas. In his role at Texas Health, Brandon oversees market development and intelligence, growth planning, and consumer/product insights. Brandon has spent his career focused on applying systems engineering principles and methodologies to health systems including value-based care, quality, strategy and growth planning. Brandon has a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Abilene Christian University. He also has master’s and doctoral degrees in industrial and systems engineering from Texas A&M University.