Success Profiles

Pam Losefsky and I used to co-write articles on the topic of success and entrepreneurship  We are both fascinated with the social paradigm of success and how different people define success. To read copies of the articles, please click on the appropriate individual’s name below. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view most of them (pdf).

Our goal was/is to transform people’s current views on and ideas about success by leveraging public and less visible people’s stories.  The series of articles are meant to challenge commonly accepted definitions of success, the methods of achieving success, and how people find meaning in their success and failures.  Readers will hopefully be inspired by seeing how different people have followed different paths and achieved success…most notably how they find meaning in their path.  We also hope that people will get a sense of comfort by seeing that even “successful” people don’t always have it ‘all figured out’ and that it is normal for someone’s definition of success and what is meaningful to vary at different stages in their lives.

The University of Texas at Austin Alumni publication: The Alcalde

Kirby Allison (Sep/Oct 2008).  Kirby is the founder of The Hanger Project.

Bart Knaggs (July/Aug 2008).  Bart is the founder of Capital Sports and Entertainment, and the creator of the Austin City Limits Festival.

Gay Gaddis (May/Jun 2008).  Gay is the founder of T3-The Think Tank, the largest women owned advertising agency in the United States.

Clay Nichols (Mar/Apr 2008).  Clay is a Michener Fellow at the Texas Center for Writers and Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at DadLabs, an Internet TV show featuring humor and advice on fatherhood.

James A. Nolen (Jan/Feb 2008).  Jim  is a UT Distinguished Senior Lecturer of Finance and President of CFO Services.  He is the recipient of numerous teaching awards.

Leilah Powell (Nov/Dec 2007).  Leilah is the Government Relations Manager for Bexar County, Texas.  Previously she was the Assistant to the Mayor of San Antonio, Texas.

Robb Lanum (Sept/Oct 2007). Robb is a writer with screen credits to his name. Robb blogs at The Robblog.

Marc Seriff (July/Aug 2007). Marc is the founding CTO of America Online.

Stephanie Wilson (May/June 2007). Stephanie is an astronaut with NASA.

Kinky Friedman (Mar/Apr 2007). Kinky is a mystery writer, former country western singer, founder of Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, and was a candidate for Texas Governor in 2006. To learn more about Kinky, please visit http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/.

Ray Almgren (Jan/Feb 2007). Ray is VP of Product Marketing and Academic Relations for National Instruments and VP of the NI Foundation.

Sandi Aitken (Sept/Oct 2006). Sandy is the Benefits Manager of Freescale Seminconductor, Inc.

Dr. Ari Brown (July/Aug 2006). Ari is board certified pediatrician and co-author of Baby 411 and Toddler 411.

Rachel Muir (May/June 2006). Rachel is the founder and fearless leader of Girlstart, an Austin, Texas based non-profit that empowers girls in math, science, and technology.

Susan Hays (Mar/Apr 2006). Susan is an attorney based in Dallas, Texas. She is also the co-founder of Jane’s Due Process.

Jack Baum (Nov/Dec 2005). Jack is the CEO of Food, Friends & Company which owns Cozymel’s Mexican Grill.

Randi Shade (May/June 2005). Randi is the founder of Charity Gift (now Kintera) and was responsible for launching Americorps in Texas.

Liz Carpenter (Mar/Apr 2005). Liz is the former press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson, a writer, and a humorist.

Mort Meyerson (Jan/Feb 2005). Mort is the former CEO of EDS and Perot Systems. He currently leads 2M Companies and the Morton H. Meyerson Family Tzedekah fund.

Rice University Alumni publication:

Jimmy Treybig, Jimmy is the Founder of Tandem Computers (now a part of Hewlett-Packard). Jimmy believes that Successful Companies Require Successful Teams!