Bonnie Shea, BS’84, was one of 26 honorees at the Dallas Business Journal’s 15th annual Women in Business Awards on August 25.

Shea is the founder and CEO of Urban Oil and Gas LLC. She also owns Urban Family Restaurant Group — several restaurants in downtown Plano, including Urban Crust and Urban Rio — with her husband, Nathan. Outside of her business ventures, Shea served as director and chairman of the Historic Downtown Plano Association and as director for the Downtown Plano Arts and Heritage Foundation.

In her acceptance speech at the DBJ award ceremony, Shea said the career move she is most proud of was getting involved in the oil and gas field during her time as an accounting student at the Jindal School. “I went out on a limb and entered probably the most male-dominated industry,” she said.

In May, Mahesh Shetty, EMBA ‘99, received a Most Admired CEO Award from the Dallas Business Journal. The 18 award recipients were chosen based on their leadership within their companies and how they contribute to the overall growth of the North Texas business community, according to the DBJ. He was also honored as Outstanding Private Company Chief Financial Officer in 2011 by the DBJ.

Shetty is the founder and CEO of ILE Homes, a Dallas-based single-family rental investment firm with the mission to provide quality, affordable housing and make a meaningful impact in communities across the country.

“Housing is increasingly becoming unaffordable for a wide swath of the working population,” he said in a DBJ interview. “Inflation, an increase in mortgage rates, and the high prices of starter homes have made the American dream beyond the reach of hardworking families.”

With ILE Homes, Shetty said he hopes to significantly change the affordable housing dynamic by creating a viable path to home ownership.

Carla Mashinski, GLEMBA ’04, released her first book Five Attributes to a Successful Career: Change Your Career Path with a Practical Roadmap to Overcome the Challenges and Achieve Success. Her book shares anecdotes from her personal career journey, including challenges she has faced in the workplace and how to overcome those obstacles.

Anat Borodyansky, BS ‘07, MS ‘09, was named one of 20 Rising Stars honorees by the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TXCPA) this June. TXCPA gives these annual awards to members under 40 years old who have shown “innovative leadership qualities within the accounting profession and their communities,” according to the organization’s website.

At UT Dallas, Borodyansky earned her bachelor’s in business administration and her master’s in accounting. She is currently a shareholder at Dallas-based accounting firm Huselton, Morgan & Maultsby, P.C. (HM&M), where she started as an accountant in 2008.

Dr. Sara Mahmood, BS’11, MS’16, was selected as a DBJ 40 under 40 Honoree at age 32 for being the founder and owner of brush365, a dental practice with four locations throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Mahmood said she got the idea for her company’s slogan — Dentistry with Integrity — after seeing her parents struggle to navigate finding new healthcare providers in different cities while growing up. To accommodate working professionals and parents, brush365 also offers late evening and weekend appointments at every location.

“When patients come to any of my practices, I want them to know that they can trust us,” she said. “What I want them to really understand is what kind of treatment is being recommended and the ‘why’ behind it.”

Despite her success, Mahmood said she still has more work to do.

“I almost think we’re still in the infant stages, so to be recognized at this point is a huge honor, and I’m extremely humbled by it,” she said. “But I can’t help but think, just wait till you see where we are in five years or ten years.”