Jose Punnoose, BS’95, was named Teacher of the Month by a local Frisco magazine for his work as a Certified Instructor at the Kumon Math and Reading Center of Frisco – Starwood. After enrolling his own children in Kumon while they were in elementary school, Jose opened the Kumon Center in 2012 and later became a certified instructor. He spent almost 20 years in the accounting field — in which he earned his bachelor’s degree — before serving as a mentor to students in the Jindal School’s MBA program and realizing his passion for education. Jose is the first non-Frisco Independent School District teacher to be given this award in its publication.

Linda Guillory, MBA’04, will be featured in Guinness World Records 2022 for two largest-collections titles: largest collection of LCD gaming systems and largest collection of playable gaming systems. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to break a world record,” Guillory said. “It was always in the back of my mind, but I never thought I would break it for vintage gaming systems.” Linda began collecting vintage video-game systems as a hobby in 2003 and over the course of 13 years, grew her collection to over 2,500 vintage video-game systems.

Kristine Conway, MS’11, who earned an MS in Management and Administrative Sciences, is now a professional certified coach in North Texas and has a client list that has exploded in the past two years. “It seems the [pandemic’s] disruption woke us up, we found our voice, and when we weren’t listened to, we opted out,” she said. “Continuing to work in an organization or for a leader who doesn’t align with our values isn’t necessary. Many professionals are voicing their needs, which includes being valued and respected.”

Jason Wang, BS’12, MS’12, MBA’13, recently earned the 2021 Pegasus Prize, a $50,000 grant awarded by the Dallas Foundation to nonprofits applying innovative new ways to solve ongoing community issues. Wang’s startup FreeWorld received the award for its efforts to help the formerly incarcerated land a secure, good-paying job. Specifically, FreeWorld helps its clients complete truck-driver training and get hired by stable trucking companies. Wang himself spent time in juvenile detention for armed robbery when he was a teen. Wang earned his bachelor’s degree in Global Business and his master’s in International Business Management.

Collin Zreet, MS’16, MBA’16, opened Funky Picnic Brewery in Fort Worth in June 2019 with a group of friends and investors. Getting into the brewery business right before a pandemic has tested his innovation skills ever since. “We’ve had to constantly pivot since the start of COVID-19,” Zreet said. “We retooled our entire menu and completely changed our operating procedures… We hope that eventually, when COVID is finally gone, this experience will have taught us to remain flexible and willing to try new ideas.”

Mohammad Elashi, BS‘17, MBA’19, was recently interviewed for the Texas Business Hall of Fame in its Alumni Spotlight feature. He is the founder of several companies, including Synaptic Pediatric Therapies and Synaptic Solar. In 2019, Elashi was the recipient of a $15,000 Texas Business Hall of Fame scholarship. His interview can be found at https://texasbusiness.org/alumni-spotlight-mohammad-elashi/.

Ruth Blackburn, MS’20, discovered her passion for forensic accounting during her undergraduate studies at Schreiner University; that passion transformed into a career through the Jindal School’s cohort accounting master’s program. “I initially interned with Forensic Risk Alliance while enrolled at UTD. I completed the internship … and was able to secure a full-time employment offer,” Blackburn recalled. She’s glad she finally made it back to Forensic Risk Alliance, where she said diversity is important to the firm, global clients make her work interesting and overall, the work is exciting and challenging

Sara Joy, EMBA’21, received the 2022 BEYA Modern Day Technology Leader award for outstanding achievement. Sara leads the Experience Design and Strategy team at AT&T. “My role is to use my background and expertise in business, design and technology to transform the way we reimagine customer experience and humanize technology.” Sara’s passion is leadership, experience design, brand strategy and operational excellence. She enjoys mentoring young STEM leaders and helping them discover the power of creativity and design thinking in designing the future of technology. For fun, she enjoys music, reading, and martial arts.

Vikrant Rathore, MS’20, was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for his data-centric contributions at California Correctional Health Care Services for the better management of COVID-19 in the California Prison System. The Distinguished Service Medal is awarded for an employee’s exemplary work conduct with the department for a period of months or years, or involvement in a specific assignment of unusual benefit to the department. Rathore earned his master’s degree in Business Analytics.