Speaker Spotlights
Our upcoming speakers for the SMU Cox Executive Leadership Speaker Series are featured below. Read more, and join us for these great upcoming fireside chats!
Speaker Details
Whitney Wolfe Herd
Founder and Executive Chair
Whitney Wolfe Herd is the Founder and Executive Chair of Bumble Inc., the parent company that operates a portfolio of connections apps, including Bumble, Bumble For Friends, Badoo, Fruitz and Official. Wolfe Herd previously co-founded Tinder.
In 2014, Wolfe Herd launched Bumble to challenge the antiquated rules of dating and create a space where people could find healthy and equitable relationships. Bumble is the only dating app where women make the first move. The company launched Bumble BFF in 2016 for friendship finding and launched Bumble Bizz for professional networking in 2017.
In January 2020, Wolfe Herd welcomed Blackstone as Bumble’s new majority owner with a shared vision of growth for Badoo and Bumble. In 2021, Wolfe Herd led Bumble’s IPO as the youngest woman CEO to ever take a company public and Bumble was named as one of Apple’s Apps of the Year.
Wolfe Herd has previously been named to TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Forbes “30 Under 30” list, the Bloomberg 50 and InStyle’s 50 Women Who Are Changing the World. She has been featured on the cover of Fast Company, Forbes and WIRED magazines. In 2022, she was named to the Texas Business Hall of Fame as the youngest ever inductee. Currently, Wolfe Herd serves on the Board of Directors of Imagine Entertainment as well as the Executive Board at her alma mater Southern Methodist University’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.
Kelvin Beachum
Philanthropist and NFL Offensive Tackle
Arizona Cardinals
Kelvin Beachum is a Texas native and 12-year NFL veteran, currently with the Arizona Cardinals. He is a multi-dimensional leader who knows how to create and manage energy to drive change. While most notably a professional athlete, he understands how to reach across organizational boundaries to maximize collaborative energy and drive organizational success. Beachum has received multiple awards throughout his career, both inside and outside of the league, as a two-time Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Nominee (2018, 2021), the only five-time NFL Players Association Community MVP winner (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, 2022), a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient (2018), and an SMU Emerging Leader Award winner (2018). In 2023, he was also awarded the ‘In the Arena’ award from the McCain Institute for exceptional humanitarian efforts.
As a systems thinker, with keen insight into the impact of small changes on the greater outcome, Beachum focuses on his ability to step out of his local paradigm and take a broader view to recognize how to manage the dynamics of the whole system.
Beachum is a sought-after advisor in the areas of organizational design and systems change, and currently serves as an Executive Board Member for SMU Lyle School of Engineering, an Advisory Board Member for NFL Players Inc., and an Advisory Board Member for DonorsChoose. He is a professional speaker, active investor, and advisor to companies like APEX, Infinite Athlete, Miso, AcuityMD, Griffin Gaming, Will Ventures, and Wellington VC - and was previously an Entrepreneur in Residence with Next Play Capital in 2018.
Along with his NFL and business commitments, Beachum is passionate about ending hunger, providing clean water access, advocating for education equity, and encouraging minority youth to pursue STEAM disciplines while addressing the digital divide. He is a partner in the Jessica and Kelvin Beachum Family Art Collection and has hosted two exhibitions featuring selections from their family collection while also loaning works to museums across the country. He and his wife, Jessica, reside in Arizona with their three children.