We are a multidisciplinary team experienced in bringing innovation processes and organizations together to improve the lives of people in our local communities. Our leadership has a background in community advocacy, human-centered product and service design, social impact financing and fundraising, and the operationalization and commercialization of new ideas. Moreover, we are building a team whose skill and expertise deepen our core capabilities and extend our capacity to do meaningful work.
A human-centered designer and innovation capability builder. Beto serves as co-founder and executive director of DesignRun.Org. He previously co-founded and built, from the ground up, the Design Institute for Health at the University of Texas at Austin to advance the Dell Medical School’s mission to tackle health care reform. Prior to that, he spent more than a decade at IDEO, a global design and innovation consultancy, where he was both a Design Director and their first Global Lead of Systems Design. He earned a Masters in Engineering (systems design) from the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and held Associate Professor roles in both the College of Fine Arts and the Dell Medical School at UT. Beto was born and raised in El Paso, Texas.
An entrepreneur and community activist. He believes that many of our most intractable community problems can be solved by matching human and financial capital with the brightest people and the best ideas. Educated at the University of Texas at Austin (BBA, JD), Dennis was a partner in a successful boutique financial services firm in Austin for over thirty years. As a social impact investor he directs both philanthropic and investment capital toward ideas for transformational change. As a community activist, he has served as Board Chair for the Livestrong Foundation, Mission Capital, and College Forward. Dennis is cofounder of Social Venture Partners in Austin and former board member of SVP International. He currently serves as a member of the Advisory Council of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2016 he received the Governor’s Lone Star Achievement Award in recognition of his community engagement. Dennis was born and raised in Athens, Texas, the Black-Eyed Pea Capital of the World.
John is a serial entrepreneur and Austin-based impact investor. He has over 25 years of executive financial experience in public and private companies, both large and small. Most recently, he founded Austin Impact Capital where he focused on facilitating interactions between social entrepreneurs and investors in order to create sustained impact by balancing a venture and philanthropic mind-set. John has served as a board member for a number of nonprofits and foundations including Mission Capital, the Austin Community College Foundation, Mother’s Milk Bank at Austin, and the Discover Hope Fund. He is an active social impact investor in Austin with social impact loans and equity investments in the healthcare, education and environmental sectors and provides growth capital to both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. John earned an B.S. from Texas A&M University and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Ms. Young Brown is an experienced Chief Executive Officer and community leader. She has a 30-year history of working in strategic leadership and oversight roles to community based and statewide efforts focused on improving quality of care and cost efficiency across the continuum of health services supporting underserved and vulnerable communities. Ms. Young Brown is a Board Trustee of Integral Care, Travis County’s local mental health authority, a long-time member of and 2021 Chair of the Austin Area Research Organization, a board member of the Shivers Cancer Foundation, and an advisor to other community volunteer efforts. She holds a B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Denver and an M.A. in Spiritual Formation from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest.