Board of Advisors

Frank Roby
Frank Roby is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Concero Global, Inc. Through his leadership responsibilities, Mr. Roby has served “for profit” businesses and NGO’s in the U.S. as well as in Africa, China, India, and Mexico. Mr. Roby is a member of the Executive Committee of the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, where he chairs the International Business Council. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft. Worth and is a member of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations and the Dallas Assembly. He serves as Board Chairman for Vision Africa, an organization that provides medical supplies to fight malaria, radio communications to promote peace, and financial support to equip local Nigerian Methodist pastors to meet the needs of the communities they serve. He is the U.S. liaison to the Board for St. Stephens Hospital, a 730 bed facility and Community Health Center in Delhi, India primarily serving the poor. He is a founding board member of Juntos Servimos, which works with communities in and around Matamoros, Mexico providing housing, clean water, food, educational support, and medical care. Mr. Roby serves his alma mater, Southern Methodist University, as an Executive Board member of the Meadows School of the Arts, focusing on Communications Arts and the convergence of media. Roby is a board member and past Chairman for the North Texas Food Bank, which is responsible for supporting the food needs of hundreds of agencies throughout North Texas by providing over 25 million meals each year. Prior to starting Concero Global, Mr. Roby was CEO of Holmes Murphy Texas, one of the regions’ largest business risk and insurance advisory firms. Mr. Roby served as an owner and board member of the parent company, Holmes Murphy & Associates, Inc. During his tenure leading the Texas practice, the division achieved an annual 20% compound growth rate for over 17 years.

Bruce Friend
Bruce Friend is the director of SAS Curriculum Pathways, an award-winning online resource for students and teachers in high schools, community colleges, virtual schools and home settings. Friend ensures that SAS Curriculum Pathways program aligns with SAS Institute’s vision for providing high-quality and engaging online content resources to teachers and students. Friend’s career in education and public service began in Florida, where he served as a middle school social studies teacher in Orange County Schools from 1993 to 1997. He earned a M.Ed. in educational leadership from the University of Central Florida in 1997 and went on to serve as an online teacher and course developer for Florida Virtual School. As the COO and Vice President of Florida Virtual School, Friend played an integral role in the development and oversight of organizational goals and policies, outreach programs and implementation of online learning on a statewide level of one of the largest and most acclaimed virtual schools in the United States. Prior to his role with SAS, Friend served as the first Vice President of the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL), the only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to K-12 online learning issues. He also served as the first Director of the North Carolina Virtual Public School, the Tar Heel State’s first statewide virtual school program. Friend serves as a special advisor on educational technology issues for local and state leaders as well as serving on advisory boards for several online learning programs. In 2009 he was elected to the Board of the NC Distance Learning Association as the Business representative from within the state. Among Friend’s honors and distinctions: He was the recipient of 2004 and 2005 Principal Achievement Award by Florida Department of Education. In 2003 he was recognized for the “Most Outstanding Achievement by an Individual: K-12 Education” by the United States Distance Learning Association. Friend is a two-time recipient of the Florida Principal Achievement Award and was the Florida Virtual School Teacher of the Year for the 1998-1999 school year.

Jeff Levitan
Jeff Levitan has held executive-level positions and guided the strategic direction of some of the most successful companies in retail, consumer products, and e-commerce industries. His expertise is identifying and driving successful paths to top and bottom line growth. As General Manager of SAS’s Customer Intelligence business Jeff drove product line expansion and growth of the global business. Prior to this appointment he was chief operating officer of Veridiem which was acquired by SAS in 2006. Today he is Managing Director of Growth Initiatives, a consulting firm that focuses on helping clients accelerate growth. Previously, he was vice chairman of the TransNational Group. Jeff also served as an executive officer of Staples Inc., lead strategy and new business development, and executive vice president of Staples.com. He founded and launched Staples.com, and guided its domestic and international expansion. Before Staples, Jeff was a strategist with the Boston Consulting Group and a marketer with Gillette. Jeff earned his MBA from The Wharton School of Business and holds a BA from Cornell University. He is on the National Board of Directors of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and has held a number of board positions with early-stage companies.