U.S. Labor Shortage: A Perspective in East Texas

A Panel Discussion

Panelists:

Felicia Beam, Head of Human Resources, Safety & Performance Management at John Soules Foods Director at John Soules Foods

 

Felicia Beam joined John Soules Foods in February 2023, where she is responsible for Human Resources, Safety and Performance Management. She has over 10 years of human resources experience and has spent most of her career in food manufacturing. Felicia earned both a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Management, and Master of Business Administration Degree from Stephen F. Austin State University.

 

 

 

 

Jenifer French, Director of Operations at Olive Garden

Jenifer is a Director of Operations for Olive Garden which is one of the Darden brands.  I have worked for Olive Garden for 29 years.  I began my career as a team member at the Olive Garden in Tyler, Texas while I was attending UTT.  After being promoted to the manager and then the GM role I led multiple restaurants and new restaurant openings.  I have been in my current role for 14 years leading teams in East Dallas, East Texas, and Northern Louisiana.  I currently lead 10 restaurants and I am responsible for leading and executing operational excellence.  I ensure profitable sales growth year over year through the selection of managers, development of highly effective General Managers while ensuring the execution of standards and achievement of results.  I work to meet and exceed organizational, and restaurant financial metrics as related to sales, margin, controllable costs and deliver year over year sales growth.  My operations experience expertise includes knowledge of systems, processes, protocols, and standards.  I understand and teach brand and culture knowledge as well as business and financial acumen.  I consistently impact the P and L and identify trends and connections in the data across restaurants to determine course of action.  I work quickly to identify what needs to be done when performance is lacking.  I spend high quality time identifying and developing talent.  I am so proud of the work my teams do each and every day to delight our guests, team and investors.

I have been married to my husband Mickey (who is also a graduate of UTT) for almost 25 years.  We have a daughter Emma who is a teacher and coach, and our son is a civil engineering major at UTT.

 

Amparo Mahler, Healthcare Executive for Federally Qualified Health Centers

Amparo has over 25 years of experience working with Federally Qualified Health Centers.   She has extensive experience and education via health care executive administration and leadership programs, including the UCLA School of Management and the UCSF Center for Health Professions. As a result of her dedication, experience, and education, she became the Chief Operating Officer for a large FQHC in Southern California. Under her leadership, the company grew from a $4 million to an $80 million annual enterprise.  In additional to her role as COO, and most recent CEO position for an FQHC in East Texas, Amparo provides healthcare consulting services to firms in California and Nevada. 

Her passion is to ensure access to quality, compassionate, whole-person healthcare for all regardless of ability to pay in order to help improve the health of the local communities.  

As someone who maintains a constant awareness of trends and services, Amparo focuses on the development and implementation of strategic initiatives to better meet the needs of the community, keeping Community Health Centers ahead of the curve.  She is well respected for her commitment to excellence and maximizing profitability and performance.  In 2009 she was honored with the Health Care Champions award from the San Diego Business Journal.  She is certified in Human Resource Management through California State University San Marcos and was an invited participant in the North County Leadership Program, also hosted by California State University San Marcos. She has also obtained Lean Six-Sigma Green Belt certification from San Diego State University. 

In her spare time, Amparo enjoys exploring and traveling the world with friends and family. 

 

Jose Ivan Rodriguez, Economist at the Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University

Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez, Ph.D., is a research scholar for the Baker Institute Center for the United States and Mexico. His research focuses on international trade, migration, environmental economics and economic growth. Prior to joining the Baker Institute, he worked as a research associate for the Hunt Institute at The University of Texas at El Paso. Rodriguez-Sanchez also worked as a deputy director in environmental economics at the Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio Climático (INECC), where he analyzed different environmental problems in Mexico and crafted different public policy solutions. He has taught economics classes and seminars in the U.S. and Mexico. His work has also been published in both academic and non-academic publications.

Rodriguez-Sanchez received a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science and a master’s degree in economics from the Universidad de las Américas Puebla, and master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he specialized in environmental economics, international trade and econometrics.