In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Witte Museum - Mays Family Center
3801 Broadway St
San Antonio, Texas, 78209
United States

Aaron Stone

Advocate for sexual assault victims

Raised in Goldsboro, North Carolina, he enlisted in the US Army after high school for an initial four-year term that has now stretched to over twenty. Throughout his career as a combat medic he has had the pleasure of serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Korea, and Honduras (to name a few) alongside numerous men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving the nation. Currently stationed at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, he serves in the 187th Medical Battalion.

Alberto Garcia-Jurado

Bicultural thought leader

Bicultural thought leader, developer of next-generation models of human collaboration such as Collaboration System Management (CSM) for establishing lean collaboration systems. For over twenty years he has helped all kinds of organizations to meet collaborative challenges across individual, organizational and cultural boundaries. He is the former President of the Gulf Chapter of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and has also created the first norm and certification on collaborative systems. He is an author, speaker and has written over a hundred articles on national and international publications. He is currently establishing the world’s first center for certifying collaboration systems, as a tool to enhance human collaboration for greater and faster development of new models, technologies and social projects.

Ali Goljahmofrad

Teacher & Coach

Award-winning teacher, author, and coach. Early on, I learned unique lessons about leadership and self-discovery. At age 16, a time when I did not believe in myself and felt like there was no hope, I found myself trying to survive between homes of friends and family. It was during this time that I started to appreciate being surrounded by those who encouraged and believed in my potential to be more. With their help, I was able to get back on track, and start working toward my goals. After graduating high school, I attended Idaho State University and got my degree in Accounting. But I quickly realized my heart wasn’t in it. That’s when I decided to pursue my original plan in education.

Eric Cooper

President & CEO, San Antonio Food Bank

Eric Cooper is the President and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank. Through his dual strategies of feeding the line of the hungry and shortening that line, Eric has received national recognition. It is this holistic approach to serving the entire community that has garnered community support while delivering measurable impact with exceptional efficiency. The San Antonio Food Bank is ranked in the top 2% in the nation for operational efficiencies by Charity Navigator. Eric’s business strategy has also been highlighted in the Wall Street Journal and Huffington Post recognized the San Antonio Food Bank among five not-for-profit organizations to watch. National Geographic highlighted Eric’s commitment to building partnerships, sustainable agriculture, and the food economy. Eric works tirelessly at the Federal, State and Local level to reduce rates of Food Insecurity and Poverty while increasing access to healthy foods, believing that everyone should have access to good nutrition.

H. Drew Galloway

Executive Director, MOVE San Antonio

H. Drew Galloway is a civic innovator and champion of civic technology. As Executive Director of MOVE San Antonio, Drew builds power in underrepresented youth communities through civic education, leadership development, and progressive issue advocacy. Recognized as one the nation’s leading youth voting rights organizations, MOVE San Antonio registered 8,568 new young voters last year and increased youth voter participation in the 2017 City of San Antonio municipal election by 300%. Before joining MOVE San Antonio, Drew led the New Politics Forum initiative at The Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at The University of Texas at Austin and was a Domestic Policy Council intern at the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. He is a proud alumni of The University of Texas at San Antonio’s College of Public Policy

Janet Treviño

Rehabilitative Touch Specialist

Janet Trevino, Professional Platonic Touch & Cuddling Specialist, has over 800+ hours providing empowering touch connection. She’s devoted to expose society’s largest unmet need: platonic touch.

Jonathan Berman

National co-chair of the March for Science (2017)

Jonathan Berman is a postdoctoral fellow at UT Health San Antonio, where he studies the molecular origins of hypertension. He received a Ph.D. from SUNY Buffalo in 2015, and a BS from the Rochester Institute of technology in 2009. He was a national co-chair of the March for Science on April 22nd, 2017, host of the unveiling of the world’s largest periodic table of the elements, a standup comedian for nine years, a rickshaw driver, pizza cook, adjunct, and radio host, cable access director, film extra, volunteer block walker, carpet remover, and photographer. He has taught critical thinking, genetics of hypertension, kidney endocrinology, human development, and cognitive biases. He believes that building academic environments that foster passionate advocacy for science is key to fighting science denial.

Jose Amador

Musician/Band Leader

A native of Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. Married to Terri Amador for the past 33 years. Father of Valerie Amador and Dr. Natalie Amador. Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts from State University of NY at Albany, Master’s in Health Care Administration, Webster University, St. Louis, MO. Served for 20 years in the U.S. Army as an Intelligence Officer and Paratrooper with Airborne and Special Operations units. Combat veteran, Legion of Merit recipient. For the past decade have worked in Health Care as a Corporate Development Director and Strategic Consultant. Musician and Band Leader for NATIAO Latin Jazz. Jazz is my passion, Salsa is in my Soul.

Matt Eng

UX Research Team Lead, IBM

Matt is a product design. He has worked with companies such as IBM, AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, Ogilvy, and Symantec. He also teaches and mentors designers new to their careers on process and team building.

Miriam Holladay Juckett

Program Manager – Environmental Protection and External Hazard Assessment, SWRI

Miriam Holladay Juckett is an enthusiastic environmental scientist and public outreach specialist working as a federal contractor on nuclear energy regulation projects. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry and an M.S. in Environmental Science, and currently serves as the manager of the Environmental Protection and External Hazard Assessment program at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Working in public outreach provides a unique window into the often distinct rift between the viewpoints of regulators, citizens, and scientists. Miriam has dedicated more than a decade of her career to helping bridge that gap. In 2015, she was awarded San Antonio Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 recognition for this work. Miriam is deeply passionate about restoring trust in science, understanding the citizens’ voice, and helping science work for the betterment of society.

Paula Sullivan

Restaurant Owner & Operator, Carmens De La Calle

Paula is the owner and operator of Carmens de la Calle Cafe where, for 17yrs, she has curated a weekly experience which includes a global perspective of both food and live music. A Chicago transplant, her past jobs as a wastewater chemist for AE Staley and food technologist and production manager for Kraft Foods, allowed her to join, the once San Antonio based, Pace Foods. As a former Director of Operations for this legendary salsa company, one of her biggest takeaways was that we have more things which connect us than divide us. If we’re willing to recognize our biases and reshape our thinking, great success is possible. She recently founded a non-profit, Peoplehood, to further unravel, acknowledge and promote the history of our cross-cultural connections.

Ryan Lamm

Director Research & Development – Applied Sensing, SwRI

Mr. Lamm has over 20 years of experience in the areas of unmanned ground vehicles, automated driving systems, and non-linear controls. He is currently Director R&D at SwRI focusing on Automated Driving Systems. He is responsible for domestic and international collaboration and business development for commercial and defense R&D efforts and is involved in various SwRI activities with U.S. and foreign militaries. Mr. Lamm is a U.S. Expert for the ISO TC204 Working Group 14 – Vehicle/Roadway Warning and Control Systems and author of the Forward Vehicle Collision Mitigation System (FVCMS) standard and Bicyclist Detection and Collision Mitigation System (BDCMS) standard. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, serves as the Chair of the San Antonio Chapter of the IEEE Technology Engineering Management Society (TEMS), and was named one of San Antonio’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2013 by the San Antonio Business Journal. Mr. Lamm is a 5th generation south Texan, and received his BSEE and MSMOT from UTSA.

Sonny Melendrez

CEO, Sonny Melendrez Communications

Sonny Melendrez began his career as a broadcaster at age 19, while attending University of Texas at El Paso. He gained national recognition when he was named Billboard Magazine’s National Radio Personality of the Year (twice). Sonny received a Grammy nomination for his creation of the children’s version of the worldwide anthem, “We Are the World,” benefiting USA for Africa. He was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2003, the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame in 2017 and is included in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as one of the “Top 100 Radio Personalities of All-Time”. It is estimated that he has raised over 100 million dollars in money, goods and services for charities, during his career. Sonny has hosted and/or delivered motivational keynotes at thousands of events and at conferences and universities around the world.

Ted Fox

Retired Healthcare CEO

Ted is a retired hospital and healthcare system CEO with 30 years in the field. He served in low income, minority areas doing turnarounds and improving access to local health services. Ted also served as the Chair of the Hospital Council of San Diego and Imperial Counties, on the Board of the CA Hospital Association, as the Chair of the CA Hospitals Political Action Committee, as a member of the Boarder Health Alliance, on a variety of local nonprofit Boards such as the Cancer Society, Heart Association, United Way, etc. He serves a Board member of Texas Doctors for Social Responsibility.

Troy Hailparn

Founder of the Cosmetic Gynecology Center of San Antonio

Dr. Troy Robbin Hailparn graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She is Board-Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and has been in practice for 23 years in San Antonio. She practiced routine Ob/Gyn for a dozen years as Complete and Compassionate Ob/Gyn Care until she recognized a need that wasn’t being met in her field. After additional education and surgical training in cosmetic-plastic gynecologic surgery, she founded the Cosmetic Gynecology Center of San Antonio to address intimate concerns related to sexual function. Her online ebook “Beneath Your Pink Perfect: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Labiaplasty but Didn’t Know to Ask” is available on Amazon.