CLASS Advisory Board Members | College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

CLASS Advisory Board Members

Mr. Brian Briscoe is a senior communications leader with more than 30 years of experience in the public relations industry and 10 years in broadcast media. His focus has been on developing creative public relations and communications plans, managing crisis communications, and fostering brand/community relations.Over three decades in the PR industry, Brian has developed strong relationships with local, regional, and national media contacts and corporate constituents. Having worked as a broadcast journalist prior to a public relations career, he offers a keen perspective and insight to communications for clients. Building strong personal relationships in media sectors and within the public relations industry has been, and continues to be, a strength of his approach to serving clients in a one-on-one style.  Brian’s diverse career includes experience in a public relations agency setting, corporate communications, book and author promotions, retail marketing and branding, motorsports public relations, intercollegiate athletics public relations, crisis communications, media training, and broadcast media. He has served as a press officer with the United States Olympic Committee and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Brian founded Briscoe Communications in 2017 to provide public relations services for clients across a wide range of industries. Prior to establishing his own PR firm, he served in senior public relations leadership roles with Brown Books Publishing Group, Tucker & Associates Public Relations, Texas Motor Speedway, NCAA Lone Star Conference, University of North Texas Athletics, Southern Methodist University Athletics, and the Dallas Sidekicks Soccer Club. In the broadcast media sector, Brian served as a sports producer, reporter, and anchor in the cable television industry and at KRLD radio in Dallas. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas (1978).

Mr. Brian Briscoe is a senior communications leader with more than 30 years of experience in the public relations industry and 10 years in broadcast media. His focus has been on developing creative public relations and communications plans, managing crisis communications, and fostering brand/community relations.Over three decades in the PR industry, Brian has developed strong relationships with local, regional, and national media contacts and corporate constituents. Having worked as a broadcast journalist prior to a public relations career, he offers a keen perspective and insight to communications for clients. Building strong personal relationships in media sectors and within the public relations industry has been, and continues to be, a strength of his approach to serving clients in a one-on-one style.

Brian's diverse career includes experience in a public relations agency setting, corporate communications, book and author promotions, retail marketing and branding, motorsports public relations, intercollegiate athletics public relations, crisis communications, media training, and broadcast media. He has served as a press officer with the United States Olympic Committee and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Brian founded Briscoe Communications in 2017 to provide public relations services for clients across a wide range of industries. Prior to establishing his own PR firm, he served in senior public relations leadership roles with Brown Books Publishing Group, Tucker & Associates Public Relations, Texas Motor Speedway, NCAA Lone Star Conference, University of North Texas Athletics, Southern Methodist University Athletics, and the Dallas Sidekicks Soccer Club. In the broadcast media sector, Brian served as a sports producer, reporter, and anchor in the cable television industry and at KRLD radio in Dallas. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas (1978).

Ms. Sarina Lora Davidson, was born in El Paso, TX and moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2015 where she attended college at the University of North Texas. Sarina Lora graduated in the spring of 2019 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Integrative Studies with a focus in Criminal Justice, Business Management, and Communications.
Sarina Lora currently serves as the Director of Special Events and Media Coordinator for the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce where she has a strong passion for helping develop the workforce, assisting the marginalized business community and is in the business of connecting people to one another.

Sarina Lora has been heavily involved in her community and currently serves the following:
• Board Member for Casa Mañana
• Board Member for Immunization Collaboration of Tarrant County
• Executive Committee Member for the Red Shoe Society of Fort Worth benefitting the Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth
• President for Tarrant County for the University of North Texas Alumni Association
• Marketing Committee Member for Leadership Fort Worth
• Member of Steer Fort Worth
• Founding Ambassador for the Young Women's Preparatory Network
• Founding Board Member for the Sunhouse Arts - The Work Project.

Mr. Harry Eaddy is a UNT alumni, with a BA in Marketing from 1970. He is an active and well-respected member of the Denton community, and is highly active in the Denton black community and he promotes diversity. The Eaddy's served as honorary co-chairs during UNT's 50th anniversary of desegregation in 2004, and are also highly involved in the Denton arts scene. Harry is the chairperson of the Denton Black Film Festival, which celebrated its third annual run this year. The proceeds benefit the Denton African American Scholarship Foundation (DAASF), for which Harry has served as chairperson. The DAASF holds many large fundraising parties at several diverse holidays throughout the year. Harry serves in an advisory capacity for a life sciences company, and is a business man in the truest sense of the word.

Mrs. Linda Eaddy earned a BA in Psychology from 1972, and a master's in Personnel / Industrial Relations from UNT. She is an active and well-respected member of the Denton community, and is highly active in the Denton black community and promotes diversity in all she does. Alongside Harry, she served as honorary co-chair during UNT's 50th anniversary of desegregation in 2004. Linda is actively involved in the Denton arts scene. She has also served on the Denton Greater Arts Council, and is the film programming director with Denton Black Film Festival. Mrs. Eaddy states her primary interests in this stage of life is in building community and sharing Black culture.

Ms. Tiffaney Dale Hunter is an award-winning global marketing and communications leader with over 20 years of experience with developing successful business strategies for Fortune 500 companies, national foundations, nationally-ranked research universities and an array of high-profile companies from a range of industries. Currently, she implements internal communications for a global audience of more than 90,000 professionals at one of the largest professional services companies in the world.

A highly-respected and trusted industry and business pioneer, she was awarded the 2015 University of North Texas Distinguished Young Alumnus Award and the coveted 2013 Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce Quest for Success Award. In addition, Tiffaney is a member of the Junior League of Dallas and a graduate of Leadership Dallas '07, Leadership Arts '07 and Leadership Women '19.

Tiffaney received both her Master of Business Administration and Graduate Finance Certification from Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business in 2018; a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of North Texas; and an Associates of Liberal Arts from Blinn College.

She is a member of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church with Senior Pastor, Dr. Tony Evans, and the illustrious Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Alpha Xi Omega chapter.

Kelli Karlow graduated from the University of North Texas in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in Radio/TV/Film and a minor in Journalism. While at UNT, Kelli was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. Kelli moved into hospitality and event planning after graduation. She worked for The Mansion on Turtle Creek, and for 10 years as the Director of Communications and Event Planning for The Energy Council, an international legislative organization in the energy sector. More recently, Kelli has focused on philanthropy, serving on the Executive Committee of several charitable boards. In 2022, Kelli was the chair for Council for Life's annual fundraising event which raised a record amount.

In 2022, Kelli and her family created the Karlow-Robinson Family Endowment, which benefits UNT's PUSH foster care alumni student program. Kelli remains active with the PUSH program working closely with PUSH Director Brenda Sweeten.

Kelli lives in Plano with her husband Marvin and their daughter Karys.

Mrs. Cathy Krendl received her B.A. in Political Science (summa cum laude) from UNT in 1967. She received her J.D. from Harvard in 1970, cum laude. She was given the Distinguished Alumna award in 1985. She was also named one of the Best Lawyers in America. Cathy specialized in corporate, mergers, acquisitions, and securities during her law career, retiring from Krendl Horowitz & Krendl in 2014 (based in Denver). She served as a Professor of Law at the University of Denver from 1973 to 1983. Cathy once practiced law in Anchorage, Alaska. She authored "Colorado Methods of Practice," widely considered the definitive text on Colorado law. Cathy and her husband, James, had a successful law firm in downtown Denver prior to retirement. Cathy and James have three grown daughters, and the couple now resides in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Charles T. Ku, D.D.S. has been a practicing dentist in Lewisville since 1974. He received his B.S. from Baylor University in 1970 and his dental training Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas (1974). Born in Mainland China and reared in Taiwan, Dr. Ku is the founder and chairman of four Sunray Chinese Schools in the metroplex, the mission of which is to teach Chinese children about their culture and heritage, as well as to how to speak and write Chinese. He is also a Deacon at First Baptist Church in Lewisville and active in the Lewisville Rotary Club. Dr. Ku is on the Board of Directors of the R.I.C.E. Foundation, Baylor Oral Health Foundation, Dallas Red Cross, SMU Deadman College Board and SMU Asian Advisory Board Chairman. He was appointed by former Governor Bill Clements to the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (1987) and by former Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Health Coordinating Council (1997).

J. Lilly J.is a Senior Practice Manager at an international Technology Services company, Wipro Limited. He works with a variety of clients across industries on digital transformation strategies and strategic project-based services. J. also specializes in leading Cloud Infrastructure services and solutions.

Prior to this role, J. served as a Sales and Marketing Manager at Volteo, a niche technology services and automation firm. Prior to this, he also worked for some of the largest technology companies in the world including IBM, HP, Dell and DXC to name a few, while working in a variety of Sales, Consulting, Marketing and Technical roles. For over 20 years, he has successfully helped clients build their technology infrastructure strategy while working with a number of senior level executive and directors. Starting his professional career in insurance at Safeco, J. went on to spend a number of years in the technology services business.

J. earned his BBA in Business Administration from the University of North Texas at Denton, and his MBA from the University of Dallas, Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business.

With regards to philanthropy and community involvement, J. founded and is the Executive Chairman of the Board for his 501 ©3 nonprofit, Supplying Our Seniors, where he leads a team of volunteers that assist Seniors with nutritional needs, financial assistance and other wellbeing support services aimed at providing safer living options for senior citizens. He is also a board member at the University of North Texas, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. J. currently lives in Frisco, Texas a northern suburb of Dallas.

Mr. Ron Lynch is the chair of the CLASS Advisory Board. Ron is a UNT alum who earned his Bachelor's in Psychology (1992) and a Master's in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (2000). He has had a twenty-plus year career in Human Resources with experience in a wide array of companies such as Johnson & Johnson, 7-Eleven and Sonic. Ron is currently the VP of Human Resources Operations for The Certified Group which is focused on lab testing to ensure our food supply is safe as well as testing various consumer products. He specializes in Human Resource systems and technology as well as benefits and rewards.

Ron is a sixth generation Texan, has two children (Katy and Micayla) and has been married to his wife Kelly for over 30 years. Kelly is an Occupational Therapist for the Keller School district who specializes in working with children living with autism.

Mrs. Miya Maysent currently serves as President, LWF Consulting & Executive Consultant. In this role, she partners with forward-looking executives, leaders, and organizations to devise strategies, custom solutions, and programs that lay the foundation for long-range business success. She works with leaders to identify needs/gaps and delivers actionable strategies on an ad hoc coaching and consulting basis. Her expertise has been utilized advising organizations in retail, petro-chemical, hospitality, manufacturing, government, and many more sectors. She has experience coaching leaders who want to develop skills in the following areas: Increasing personal awareness and impact, enhancing team effectiveness and alignment, successful career transitions and personal growth, coaching and developing others, and managing professional and personal stress and well being.

Prior to her consulting work, Miya served as Senior Vice President Talent Management for Children's Health, where she led upwards of 90 team members developing learning strategies, performing talent planning, executing diversity and inclusion activities, and acquiring top talent. Her work with JC Penny as their VP of Talent Development, Diversity and Acquisition encompassed managing an operating budget of up to $6M and delivering over 2,000 exempt hires per year. She also pipelined field talent through mass hiring events for stores and the supply chain. In this role, DEI initiatives were implemented to identify and accelerate careers of diverse talent. For 7-Eleven Inc, Miya served as Vice President / Senior Director of People and Organizational Development. She designed talent management and educational strategies while overseeing 3 departments: Talent Management, L&D Design and L&D Delivery. As Valero Energy's Executive Director for Talent and Organization Performance, Miya directed organizational development, eLearning, professional and leadership education, and technical training,

Earlier in her career, Miya served in consulting roles for Personnel Decisions Inc. and Drake Beam Morin. Miya earned an MS in IO Psychology and an MA in Counseling Psychology from the University of North Texas as well as a BA in Psychology from University of Texas Austin. Miya is active as the Vice Chair and Board Member of City House Inc. She also serves on the YMCA's HR Advisory Committee, as well as Personnel Committee / Nominating Committee / Session for NorthPark Presbyterian Church. Miya resides in Dallas, is happily married with four adult children, a dog and cat.

Amani Wells-Onyioha is a political expert, civil rights advocate, and thought leader. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Amani found her passion for politics during her time at University of North Texas. After completing her Masters in Journalism, Amani worked for the Democratic Party in Dallas, a Texas state representative race, Dallas district attorney races, and for the coordinated campaign of Texas Democrats including Beto O' Rourke's race. After the murder of Trayvon Martin, Amani understood stopping something like that from happening again would require systematic and institutional change, so she committed herself to making an impact on her local and national communities.

Now working with Sole Strategies as their operations director, she is the engine behind progressive candidates who are seeking to uplift underrepresented communities and change the system. She's represented clients like Ahmaud Arbery's family lawyer Attorney Lee Merritt, Mayoral candidate India Walton, City Councilman Daniel Carlino, and City Councilwoman Lauren Rider, among others. Recently she's appeared on Newsweek's Debate, The Krystal Knight Show, Let it Be Known, Fox Soul, Diamond and Silk's Chit Chat, and NTD News and been featured in Forbes, International Business Times, INSIDER, Epoch Times, PR News, SuperCreator, and more.

Mrs. Jodie Sanderson is a transformational leader with 15+ years of progressive experience in the healthcare industry, most of her time focused on clinician recruitment and retention. She earned a bachelor of science degree in health promotion from The University of North Texas and her MHA from The University of Texas at Arlington. Currently, Jodie is a member of Acclaim Multi-Specialty Group's core leadership team, working closely with Acclaim and JPS Health Network leadership to achieve strategic recruitment, engagement, and compensation goals. Jodie is a native of Tarrant County and is proud to work with and serve the community where she grew up. She lives in Grapevine with her husband, Andy, and two daughters, Maggie & Audrey. When she is not working, Jodie enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, and going to concerts.

Mrs. Karin Seligmann is a residential and commercial realtor for Keller Williams Realty. Her involvement with UNT includes being a Life-Time Member of the President's Council, a Life Member of the North Texas Exes, and Advisory Board Member for the Department of Marketing and Logistics. In addition, she has endowed a scholarship in the name of her husband, G. L. Seligmann, a historian at UNT as well as funding a scholarship for marketing students in the College of Business. As a retired professor teaching 21 years, with a B.A. and M.A. in English as well as many hours of Ph.D. course work (completed at UNT), Karin supports scholarships and unrestricted funding of virtually every department in the College of Arts and Science, as well as other UNT departments.

Mr. Pat Smith

Mrs. Brooke Traister is an award-winning communicator with broad industry experience, including technology, healthcare and travel/hospitality. In her current role at Texas Instruments, she works closely with senior executives to communicate business priorities to a global workforce and manage organizational change. She also chairs communications for TI's Women's Employee Network and previously implemented content marketing and PR programs for TI's analog semiconductor products. In prior roles, Brooke managed media relations, crisis communications and content development at Children's Health, one of the largest pediatric health systems in the United States, and she was a vice president at Tucker & Associates Public Relations, where she led national PR programs for tourism destination, hotel and consumer product brands.

As a past president of the Public Relations Society of America's Dallas chapter, Brooke is a recognized leader in her profession. Among her numerous accolades, she has been named to PRSA Dallas's 40 Under 40 list (2020), was recognized as a Rising PR Star by PR News (2017), and earned distinction as Accredited in Public Relations (APR) (2018). Most recently, she was bestowed with the Super Alum Award from the UNT Mayborn School of Journalism (2022).

Brooke holds an M.S. in quantitative management from New York University's Stern School of Business (2022) and a B.A. in journalism from UNT's Mayborn School of Journalism (2009). She and her husband, Chris (who is also a UNT alum), live in Dallas with their four dogs.