Speakers & Agenda: Power to the Small

Having grown up chasing garbage trucks and never completely having grown out of that fascination, Kevin got a job during his summers and holidays off from LSU throwing trash and driving garbage trucks for WCA Waste. After college, he was brought on as a trainee, eventually being promoted to Operations Manager and then Assistant General Manager, running Houston’s residential division, a $36 million operation that consisted of 250 employees, 80 trucks, and over 200,000 customers. In 2013, Kevin left and started Texas Pride Disposal with a partner. Since then, the company has grown to 39,000 customers, 50 employees, 20 trucks, and generates about $7 million annually.

Jane Henry is a transformational business leader that helps teams and organizations gain a deeper understanding of how business goals translate into workforce needs. Her objective is to help companies unlock unprecedented growth while delivering an internal rate of return that far exceeds the cost of living with “people problems”. After years of building a career as a consultant with Accenture, Jane Henry decided to “settle down” in one place to start a family. She took a secure job with a corporation called Enron. Six months later she was a part of the history-making mass layoff only to be called back in later the same day to help project manage the divestiture. At this moment, she started building the concepts behind her methodology – eradicating the politics and complexity of change - pulling the workforce back together, and delivering 15 IT systems to support 750 new jobs.

Jerry Lasco is the Founder, President and CEO of Lasco Enterprises, the parent company of The Tasting Room Wine Café, MAX’s Wine Dive, Boiler House Texas Grill & Wine Garden and Añejo. Jerry began his entrepreneurial career in 2003 when he opened The Tasting Room at Uptown Park. After garnering a loyal following, Jerry developed a second concept called MAX’s Wine Dive – a unique wine-focused concept combining chef-driven comfort food with wines from around the world. In 2013, Nation’s Restaurant News recognized MAX’s Wine Dive as one of the 50 “Breakout Brands” as well as one of the 5 “Hot Concepts” in the United States. Lasco Enterprises has been recognized as one of Houston’s top businesses.

Prior to becoming contributing writer, Burt was senior writer for Inc., a position he held since February 2011. He writes features about entrepreneurs and the inevitable drama of starting a company. His feature story, “Betrayed in China: One Entrepreneur’s Hard Journey East,” won a 2013 Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) Best in Business Award for International Feature. His 2012 cover story, “Turntable.fm: Where Did Our Love Go?” as well as the feature story “After the Squeeze,” were also recognized as one of the best magazine feature stories of the year by the SABEW.

SPEAKERS

KEVIN ATKINSON

JANE HENRY

JERRY LASCO

BURT HELM

AGENDA