Speakers

no meeting at May Dragon 

Dr. Linda Braddy is President of Dallas College Brookhaven where she is responsible for leading initiatives which contribute to the vibrancy, growth, and economic stability of Dallas County. In 2020, she served as the inaugural Provost in an interim capacity for Dallas College as they transitioned from seven independently accredited colleges to a singly-accredited college.

Dr. Braddy previously served as Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) at Tarrant County College (TCC) Northeast Campus near Fort Worth where she oversaw the library; academic support services; academic divisions, including both credit and non-credit technical programs; dual credit, and early college high schools. Prior to her role as VPAA, she served as Deputy Executive Director of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) in Washington, D.C., a professional association for mathematics faculty, where she oversaw programs, public policy efforts, the Competitions Department, and the Meetings and Facilities Department. While at MAA, she raised $10 million, thereby increasing the externally funded programs portfolio from $8 million to $14.5 million, and co-authored multiple publications. She has raised a total of $21 million in gifts and grants over the course of her career.

Prior to Dr. Braddy’s transition to the non-profit world in D.C., she served as dean of the Division of Health and Natural Sciences at TCC South Campus, during which time she assisted with the transition of the Nursing program to the Trinity River Campus, and subsequently served as dean of the Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the South Campus. Immediately prior to her tenure as dean at TCC, she chaired the Department of Mathematics at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, where she was a tenured, full professor. She holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Braddy has embraced change throughout her career and welcomed opportunities to lead major organizational and cultural changes at multiple organizations. She has promoted the use of evidence-based teaching practices that improve student learning outcomes, and in the past decade, she has focused on promoting social justice in society through higher education.

Gregory Patterson was appointed Executive Director of the Plano Symphony Orchestra in May 2022.  Prior to that, Gregory was the PSO’s Director of Development.  Gregory’s distinguished career in arts management has cover a wide range of areas from marketing and communications to development and executive management. 

Susan graduated from University of North Texas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development and a minor in Psychology. She has been married to the most fabulous man in the world for over 32 years, has two amazing children, and a wonderful daughter-in-love.  Her oldest son is married and living in Indianapolis where her daughter-in-love will graduate this May with her Doctorate in Industrial Organizational Psychology.  Her youngest son works in IT at a company in the Dallas area.  

God called Susan and her husband, Paul, to homeschool their children when they were still toddlers, so she retired from her job as an Executive Administrator to train up their children and follow God’s call on her heart.  They homeschooled both children from Kindergarten through High School Graduation, and taught many others along the way.  

Once their youngest went off to college, God called Susan to serve "the least of these", "the forgotten", "the marginalized" -- formerly incarcerated women and their children. She is currently the Executive Director for Exodus Ministries.  She has found that, at Exodus, God uses everything He has given her to serve these families every day --counseling, advice, wisdom, discipline, insight, encouragement and creativity.  It's all part of her daily job. She says she is truly blessed to have the privilege of a front row seat to watch God move in the lives of these women and children. He performs miracles every day and occasionally He allows her to participate. Praise God for His mercy and redemption! 

Her motto is the “Bloom where you are planted” and she has certainly done that.  She thinks that Erma Bombeck said it best when she wrote, “ When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.”  

Director of Infection Prevention/ISO Internal Audit:

Patti Grant, RN, BSN, MS, CIC, FAPIC

 

Patti has been an Infection Preventionist for just under 35 years in hospitals ranging from 1000-bed University-Teaching Level I Trauma Centers, to small for-profit acute care community facilities.  She has been continuously held her “CIC” since 1992 and earned her Fellowship in APIC with the first awardee class of 2016. Patti has published in peer-review journals and gives presentations from the local to the international level on infection prevention and control.  She is the 2013 past president of APIC, a 16 thousand international professional association, and served as president of the Texas Society for Infection Control and Prevention in 1998.  Also, Patti served three terms on the advisory panel for Texas Healthcare Associated Infection / Preventable Adverse Events.

 

Patti firmly believes in leading by example and mentoring others toward reaching their optimal potential – with that said she is the recipient of the 1997 APIC New Investigator Award, a Great 100 Nurse for Dallas-Fort Worth in 1994, the 2001 Gerre Haynes Award Recipient for Excellence in Infection Control from the Texas Society of Infection Control Practitioners, and the APIC headquarter 2010 Leadership Award from a nomination of her APIC-DFW chapter peers based on her public policy work within Texas. Patti’s Motto?  Giving back after being blessed with strong mentors keeps the cycle of patient safety and good outcomes continuously growing.

 

* Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology, Inc (www.apic.org)