Breakaway Leadership

Dr. Scott Conard is a practicing family physician who is passionate about transforming healthcare to provide more convenience, increase access, significantly improve quality, and lower cost. He believes that challenges can be best met with innovation, technology, and accountability, and that “greater convenience, increased access, higher quality, and lower costs” are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the surest path to reduced costs lies in a better model of care that embraces preventative care, early detection, excellence in management of known conditions, and improved behaviors.

As a medical director for corporations and benefit coalitions, his experience in medicine, corporate leadership, and healthcare allows him to create the strategic plan and serve as the accountability “agent,” leveraging this deep understanding as an integrator of effective interventions. His work in patient engagement has led to the development of a new model for chronic care management, building knowledge and skills, resulting in better health outcomes.

Conard believes that every company has a unique culture and needs that create opportunities to achieve significant improvement in health and lower costs.

Kevin Gilliland is a clinical psychologist with a broad range of healthcare experience in business, treatment, and research. His business experience has included managed care (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Magellan Behavioral Health) and the pharmaceutical industry (Johnson & Johnson, Cephalon). Clinically, he has participated as a sub-investigator on three phase III pharmaceutical studies and overseen the development and expansion of multiple outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatments. 

He has a diverse range of expertise and experience presenting on mental health and its relationship to physical health and work performance. Gilliland has presented to a diverse group of corporations – multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, Google, AT&T, United Airlines – as well as a diverse group of professionals – physician groups on opioid addiction, school superintendents, and keynote presentations for annual conferences.

Gilliland also has a unique ability to discuss complex research topics in a manner that resonates with the broader public and is part of the People Magazine Health Squad, Men’s Health Advisory Group, and a frequent guest on local and national television, and radio. 

After working more than two decades in healthcare, Gilliland started an outpatient healthcare treatment company, Innovation 360, that specializes in mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse and addiction. He has served as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Cooper Wellness Center. 

Dr. Dana B. Labat is a practicing clinical psychologist in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is also licensed to practice psychology in Texas.

Her areas of specialty include: supporting adolescents and adults with everyday life stressors, such as anxiety and depression; women’s emotional health across the lifespan including reproductive health; and pregnancy loss. She also partners with women and adolescents who are coping with disordered eating patterns and clinically diagnosed eating disorders, and she assists couples in their search for improved communication and connection.

Additionally, in Labat’s private practice, she conducts psychological and psychoeducational assessment to determine learning differences, attention-related difficulties, and to clarify diagnoses. She also collaborates with Wondr Health as a team member to support content development and deliver participant content to its participants across the country via its digital media platform.

Dr. Tedd L. Mitchell was named the fifth chancellor of the Texas Tech University System in October 2018.

As chancellor, Mitchell is the CEO of a $2.5 billion, five-university higher education enterprise consisting of Texas Tech University (TTU), Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC), Angelo State University (ASU), Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso), and Midwestern State University (MSU Texas).

Collectively, the TTU System enrolls more than 63,000 students, has an endowment valued at more than $1.7 billion and operates at 24 academic locations in 21 cities (19 in Texas, 2 internationally).

Mitchell works collaboratively with the TTU System Board of Regents, TTU System Administration and university presidents to enhance the TTU System’s profile and support shared missions of advancing higher education, health care, research and community outreach. Additionally, Mitchell guides the TTU System’s engagement with elected officials in Austin and federal leaders in Washington, D.C., to further increase funding and support.

Mitchell first joined the TTU System when he was named the eighth president of TTUHSC in May 2010. He held a dual appointment as chancellor and president for approximately one year until deciding to close his presidential tenure in 2019 after nearly a decade at the helm of TTUHSC. He is the longest-tenured president in the 52-year history of the university and led the institution to monumental milestones, record growth in enrollment, academic excellence and physical campus expansion.

Prior to arriving at TTUHSC, Mitchell served as president and CEO of the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, an internationally recognized center of excellence in preventive and sports medicine. Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science at Stephen F. Austin State University in 1983. He is an Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas Medical Branch, where he received his Doctor of Medicine in 1987, and, in 2012, he was honored as a distinguished alumnus of the Department of Internal Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Sports Medicine. From 1988 to 1996, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves (Medical Corps).

Dr. James H. O’Keefe is a cardiologist and the medical director of the Charles and Barbara Duboc Cardio Health & Wellness Center at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute. He is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

His postgraduate training includes a cardiology fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. O’Keefe is board-certified in cardiology, internal medicine, nuclear cardiology, and cardiac CT imaging.

He is consistently ranked among the regional ‘Top Doctor’ lists and has been named as one of USA Today’s Most Influential Doctors. O’Keefe has contributed more than 250 articles to medical literature and has authored best-selling cardiovascular books for health professionals including: The Complete Guide to ECGs, Dyslipidemia Essentials, and Diabetes Essentials.

He lectures extensively on the role of therapeutic lifestyle changes and drug therapy in cardiovascular risk reduction. O’Keefe has co-authored, with his wife Joan, the best-selling consumer health book, The Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle. He is actively involved in patient care and research.

Dr. Jill Siler served as the superintendent of Gunter ISD for nearly 10 years and now serves as TASA’s deputy executive director for Professional Learning.

Siler grew up in Rochester and Buffalo, New York, and completed her undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh, where she was a collegiate swimmer. She was a teacher and coach in Pflugerville ISD before beginning her administrative career in Marble Falls ISD. In 2004, she moved to Lake Travis ISD, where she served as a campus and district leader for eight years. During that time, she completed her doctorate at the University of Texas.

In her first months as a superintendent, Jill faced financial crisis along with many other challenges that leadership brings. In 2015, her school board was named a TASA Honor Board (as one of the top five school boards in the state), and one of her campuses was named a 2017 National Blue Ribbon School.

Prior to joining the TASA staff, Siler chaired TASA’s Future-Ready Superintendent Leadership Network (FRSLN) Design Team, which brings together innovative leaders from across the state to learn, share, and grow together. She was also a member of the TASA 2025 Task Force, which helped launch the redesign of TASA’s Aspiring Superintendents Academy. 

Jill has a passion for helping others reach their goals and has been a frequent speaker at leadership and teacher conferences across the country. In 2020, she released her first book, Thrive Through The Five: Practical Truths to Powerfully Lead through Challenging Times, which was the #1 Bestselling New Release for Education Administration books and has hit the Top 10 Education Leadership books multiple times since its release. In 2021, Thrive Through the Five was honored with four Eric Hoffer Awards, including Reference Category Winner and Montaigne Medal finalist.

Lt. Col. (retired) David Yebra leads the Training and Leader Development Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and has done so since January 2019. 

Prior to that, he served as the director of emergency management at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, where his responsibilities included emergency preparedness for the university and facilitating the High Potential Leadership Academy and other law enforcement leadership development programs.

Yebra served in the U.S. Army for more than 23 years, including three tours in Iraq, before retiring in 2013. At West Point, he served as a company tactical officer and operations officer for the Corps of Cadets. In 2009 he became the professor of military science for the ROTC program at Sam Houston State University and served as a guest instructor for incoming military science faculty.

Yebra lectures on leadership development topics at universities, conventions, and before professional organizations all over the country and the world.

He received his bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a master’s degree in leadership development from Long Island University.

Todd Whitthorne is recognized as one of the country’s leading public speakers regarding health, well-being, and productivity. He’s also the author of Fit Happens! Simple Steps for a Healthier, More Productive Life! 

Whitthorne has a particular interest in those who serve in public education. Since 2009, he has delivered multiple presentations for TASA, Texas ESCs, and individual districts. He serves as the chief inspiration officer for Wondr Health, a Dallas-based company dedicated to improving the health and productivity of organizations nationwide. The company currently serves more than 800 clients and positively impacts over 250,000 lives annually. 

Prior to joining Wondr in 2013, Todd spent 14 years as a senior executive at The Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. The Emmy award-winning broadcaster is an honors graduate of UCLA with a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology and exercise physiology.

Dr. Charles Dupre joined the full-time TASA staff as deputy executive director, Member Engagement and Support, in fall 2021.

Prior to that, Dupre served as superintendent of both Pflugerville and Fort Bend ISDs. Under his leadership from 2013 to 2021, FBISD saw notable growth in student achievement and increased opportunities for all students, including traditionally underrepresented groups. In 2018, the district was awarded the H-E-B Excellence in Education Award as the best school district in the large district category, and Dupre was named the Region 4 Superintendent of the Year and finalist for Texas Superintendent of the Year in 2019. While serving in Pflugerville ISD in 2012, he was named the Region 13 Superintendent of the Year and was chosen as a finalist for Texas Superintendent of the Year.

Dupre received his BBA with a major in Accounting from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, and his master’s degree in Educational Administration from the University of Houston. He received his doctorate in educational leadership from Lamar University in Beaumont.