Independent Study and Mentorship
Social Entrepreneurship
mentors
Ms. Amy George
Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Marketing at the American Heart Association (Dallas Division)
Ms. Amy George received her Bachelor of Arts in radio, television, and film at the University of North Texas and later worked as producer and reporter for KTEN and Texas Cable News. She is a UNT alumni who has since been dedicated to serving social causes to positively impact the lives of others.
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She became involved with the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) nonprofit as National Director of Media Relations and later as Senior Vice President of Giving, Marketing & Communications. She had an integral part of MADD’s senior leadership team, leading its branding, marketing, media relations and internal communications strategy across the country. Ms. George continued her work promoting health & wellness at Cooper Aerobics as Vice President of Marketing & Communications, providing integrated strategy and execution on brand, culture, customer experience, and business development.
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Currently, she is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Marketing at the American Heart Association (Dallas Division). She provides strategic consulting to the Board of Directors, executive directors and event teams on marketing, communications, branding, revenue growth, and stakeholder engagement. Ms. George’s diverse philanthropic experiences and knowledge in the nonprofit space is accompanied by various honors, such as the Best of Texas Award by the Texas Public Relations Association for her work as Editor-in-Chief of Cooper Health Magazine. She also helped launch a successful MADD campaign in partnership with Uber and Tostitos that earned a title as one of the “20 Best PR Campaigns of the Past 20 Years” by PRWeek magazine.
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I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with Ms. George and look forward to the many things I will learn under her mentorship!
Mr. Eric Cunningham received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications at the University of Notre Dame and has since held a passion for impacting the lives of others.
He worked as Senior Extended Operations Manager at Capital One leading collections and call center functions for four years before transitioning as Assistant Vice President at NCO Financial Systems and later as AVP Servicing at Westlake Financial Services. He has had over two decades of diverse experiences working with small and Fortune 500 companies both in the United States and abroad, drawing a unique perspective in managing call centers, project management, and cost management/analysis.
Currently, Mr. Cunningham works as VP of Collections Operation at Oportun, a social impact company providing inclusive financial services to offer an affordable approach to borrowing. He is fulfilling his dedication of helping others here as Oportun's mission carries the great responsibility of supporting others. He is also an educated bi-lingual leader as he frequently visits, manages, and builds connections at sites outside the United States. His current and previous experience in maintaining domestic and international locations has ranged across many different verticals in areas like banking, auto loans, telecom, healthcare, student loans, mortgages, and utilities management.
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I am grateful for all of Mr. Cunningham's guidance and look forward to the many things I will learn from his diverse experiences.