ABOUT OUR PANEL

Amit Banerjee, President and CEO at Philanthropy Kids

Amit Banerjee is a dedicated champion of civic engagement and charitable activism, especially among younger populations. As President & CEO of Philanthropy Kids, he works with the Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, and partner organizations to fulfill the organization’s mission to celebrate and inspire philanthropy in youth. His driving philosophy when working in the nonprofit world has always been: “You don’t have to be rich or old to be a philanthropist; you just need to care.”
 
Amit’s background in nonprofit leadership is coupled with a background in STEM, having studied Electrical Engineering at Southern Methodist University. He has served on the engineering staff at companies like AT&T and Lockheed Martin where he worked on projects ranging from clean energy production to telecommunication architecture.
 
Amit is a proud DFW native who loves making his community stronger through his volunteerism and membership with local community organizations. He was invited to join the inaugural cohort of the Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy program at the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Dana Juett Residency at Dallas Social Venture Partners.

Lola Dada-Olley, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at JPMorgan Chase

Lola will be the moderator for the panel discussion and will be bringing in her story and expertise into the conversation.

Her current role has included drafting and negotiating technology agreements and advising business partners on issues connected to the Americans with Disabilities Act as it relates to the procurement and implementation of customer facing technology. In 2020, Lola launched the Not Your Mama's Autism Podcast. Part audio memoir/part interview style podcast, Lola weaves in personal narratives of her life as an older sibling to an autistic man with an intellectual disability and now, as a mother of two autistic children with interviews of various members of the global neurodivergent and disabled communities.

Lola is also on the board of two non-profits dedicated to bettering health care, support, and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Lola has a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems from Eastern Illinois University, a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a law degree from Howard University. She currently lives in the Dallas, Texas metro area with her husband, two children and a Portuguese water dog.

 

 

Mei Lin, Project Manager at City of Plano

By day, Mei connects Project teams to deliver value. By heart, she fuels positivity and kindness to inspire leaders to do more and serve.

Mei Lin, was born and raised in Taiwan, where she received dual bachelor's degrees in Law and Social Work from National Taipei University. In 2008 emigrated to the United States and attended Texas A&M University-Commerce received an MBA. As a project manager and the Past President of the Project Management Institute (PMI) - Dallas Chapter, Mei views herself as a servant leader who builds collaborative teams while focusing on delivering value for organizations. 

 

Mark Phariss, Global Business Center General Counsel at Tenet Healthcare

Mark Phariss has been a business attorney for the past 37 years after graduating from Vanderbilt Law School. For the past 25 years, Mark has also been a civil rights advocate, lobbying for the Equality Act and nondiscrimination ordinances in San Antonio and Plano, Texas, contributing to the campaigns of many pro-equality advocates and allies, and serving on the boards of numerous equality organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Texas.

In 2015, Mark and his now husband, Vic Holmes, and another couple from Austin successfully sued the State of Texas for the right to marry.  In 2018, Mark ran for State Senate, District 8, narrowly losing by 2%.  Mark currently serves on the boards of TeamSA Endowment for the San Antonio Sports Foundation and the Hendrick Scholarship Foundation.