This month, ten young San Antonio Business Leaders are traveling to Harvard Business School (HBS) to participate in the 2023 Young American Leaders Program (YALP). YALP is a week-long leadership program at Harvard University, which began out of a deep concern and great hope uncovered by Harvard Business School’s ongoing project on U.S. competitiveness. “The concern is that the local, shared resources which drive American prosperity are not keeping pace with global standards. Our workforce skills, schools, and infrastructure, for instance, are not improving as fast as we need or, in too many cases, are deteriorating.”
San Antonio is one of fourteen cities invited to participate in this prestigious annual program. greater:SATX is proud to support and coordinate this program for San Antonio and responsible for selecting the cohort of young business and community leaders to represent our community.
In May, greater:SATX hosted a reunion for San Antonio Young American Leaders Program (YALP) Alumni and for the new cohort. YALP Alumni from four cohorts came together to mingle, exchange memories, and discuss the fundamental lessons and takeaways they gained from their YALP experience. Also in attendance was Harvard Professor and YALP Program Director, Manjari Raman. The YALP Alumni shared their experiences in the program and how they’ve implemented their learnings in their everyday leadership and companies.
During her visit to San Antonio, Professor Manjari lead the YALP Alum and other industry leaders in a discussion on “Hidden Talent” in the workplace, which focused around workforce trends, barriers, and solutions to combat these barriers. Her work and research at HBS explore how hiring and promotion practices undervalue large sectors of the low to middle-skills workforce. Attendees engaged in a dynamic conversation regarding “Closing the skills gap with untapped talent” and shared their own gaps, ideas, and solutions to collectively take a step in the right direction to address the current workforce skills gap and increasing high numbers of unfilled positions. In closing, Professor Manjari encouraged attendees to take their learnings from the session back to their organizations and community as a whole.
The 2023 cohort of 10 leaders will convene at Harvard Business School June 20-23. Representatives from the 2023 cohort and greater:SATX are available for interviews regarding their insights from the prestigious program and vision for San Antonio’s future. San Antonio’s 2023 YALP cohort is listed below.
Danny Akina, vice president of inside sales, Medtronic
Akudo Anyanwu, MD, MPH, VP of development, Texas Biomedical Research Institute*
Jordan Ghawi, director of strategic initiatives, Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council*
Morgan Jones, director of justice and equity, Spurs Sports & Entertainment*
Loretta (Kerner) McCrary, director, chief of staff to the CEO, CPS Energy*
Marques Mitchell, director of business development, Turner Construction
Dr. Lyssa Ochoa, CEO and president, San Antonio Vascular and Endovascular Clinic
Alberto Pina, CEO, PorchPass
Katie Reynolds, director of corporate affairs, Silver Eagle Beverages*
Olivia Travieso, partner, OCI Consulting Group
*Representative available to speak to media
Congratulations to the 2023 Young American Leaders Program cohort who will be traveling to Harvard next week!