Writer: Elizabeth Palmer
2 min read March 2022 — North Texas is facing a future teeming with potential, and female leaders are crucial to realizing that potential. From healthcare to professional services and everything in between, these are some of the women fostering the region’s success and solving problems for their communities.
Tarsha Hearns, Director, Dallas Fort Worth LiftFund Women’s Business Center
Tarsha Hearns is the Director of the Dallas Fort Worth LiftFund Women’s Business Center (WBC), an economic development organization that prioritizes making professional success accessible to groups that statistically have less support. Outside of directing the variety of business services the WBC offers, she works as a personal brand strategist for women and minorities interested in entrepreneurship
Sunny Ackerman, President of the Americas, SThree
Sunny Ackerman is the President of the Americas for SThree, an international staffing company focusing on connecting talent to STEM industries. Last week, she was recognized in the Staffing Industry Analysts’ (SIA) Staffing 100 North America lineup. “She has prioritized advancing the interests of women in the workplace and issues surrounding work, diversity, equity and inclusion, which has had an amplifying effect within the region and has furthered SThree’s strategic mission to have a 50-50 gender split across its business,” SIA featured.
Lisa Hanlon-Knight, Co-Founder, Executive Chairman and CEO, Teltech Communications
Lisa Hanlon-Knight serves Teltech Communications as President and CEO and is also a Vice President at the Native American Business Association (NABA). Teltech offers solutions to clients who need help with finding talent, warehousing, understanding technology and asset management. One main focus for Teltech is making technological innovation accessible to everyone, specifically Native Americans living in rural locations. “The lack of access to reliable and affordable broadband service in tribal and rural areas has been a long-standing issue, and with the COVID-19 pandemic, it has given a new sense of urgency for broadband investment,” she said in a statement to the Dallas Business Journal.
Pamela Stoyanoff, President and Chief Operating Officer, Methodist Health System
Pamela Stoyanoff sits as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the 10 hospital Methodist Health System in Dallas, Texas, serving communities who previously had difficulty in accessing quality care. She has been recognized in multiple publications as a leading female leader in healthcare. She was the first woman to be named president of a health system in the region and has used her position to advocate for the Quadruple Aim framework to address disparities in the healthcare system.
Tiffany Ricks, Founder and CEO, HacWare
Tiffany Ricks is currently the Founder and CEO of HacWare, an organization that promotes digital and cybersecurity literacy and combats hacking by mitigating human error through A.I. capabilities. Ricks was an Ethical Hacker in a past role and was inspired to found HacWare as a result of experiencing how easy it was to hack organizations through phishing attacks, with human error being the root cause of security breaches. She is also heavily involved in the Dallas community, leading multiple educational computer science programs for children living in the area.
