7 Questions on Leadership
Mariandl Hufford
Name: Mariandl Hufford
Title: Principal - President and Head of School
Organisation: Miami Country Day School
I was born in Suriname, spent my adolescence in Belgium, and came to the US for college, where I remained and raised a family. I have spent most of my life living and working in the Philadelphia area, and moved to Miami in 2019 to take on the leadership role at Miami Country Day School. I have been a teacher, a counselor, and worked in a more general administrative role as an assistant head of school.
Marva Sadler
Name: Marva Sadler
Title: Managing Director
Organisation: MLS Odyssey LLC
Marva Sadler is an award-winning, results-driven, and tenacious Senior Executive who has delivered multibillion-dollar total impacts and unlocked the potential of hundreds of pathbreaking organizations across some of the most competitive sectors—including automotive, clean energy, education, finance, healthcare, and philanthropy.
Commitment to Goals.
A Theory of Constraints “Jonah” and integrative leader, Marva looks at businesses differently—not as they are but as they could be. She leverages deep expertise across borders, enterprise stages, and industry ecosystems, to help organizations discover and reach their true north. In the process, Marva has built a tangible legacy of sustainable growth while maintaining a disruptor mindset, rocketed efficiency while remaining adaptive, and imagined NextGen innovation while employing proven processes. Simply put, Marva leaves every organization she leads stronger, more productive, and more profitable than its stakeholders could have envisioned.
Excellence, Impact, and Social Justice Commitment. Marva’s ethos—“Be Good and Do Good” for the world, work, and people—permeates every strategic pathway she crafts. To that end, she delivers solutions that matter. This philosophy has played a vital role in transforming countless high-potential professionals into leaders, enthusiastic customers into brand ambassadors, and ambitious companies into inspired organizations that achieve productive outcomes.
Matthew Holloway
Name: Matthew Holloway
Title: Global Head of Design
Organisation: SnapLogic
With a career spanning more than 30 years, Matthew has co-founded six start-ups and has held leadership and executive roles at Apple, WebMD, Shutterfly, and SAP. Collaborating across the organization, Matthew helps executive teams fully engage design as a key differentiator, successfully using design to shift the strategic direction and deliver increased market share, improved customer satisfaction, and competitive advantages.
Matthew has also helped design leaders make the shift from creative thinkers to business executives. Many of the designers he has managed and mentored have moved on to executive roles at companies such as SAP, GE, Oracle, Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Nike, etc. In his current role as Global Head of Design for SnapLogic Matthew is responsible for designing integration products and services, including bringing generative AI into the user experience enabling SnapLogic’s customers to unlock the hidden value in their data and application integrations.
Matthew is also a Board Advisor to the Design Executive Council, the world’s first network supporting peer-to-peer learning and professional development for design executives.
Md. Akbar Hassan
Name: Md. Akbar Hassan
Title: CEO & Managing Director
Organisation: BRIDDHI- School of Professional & School of Knowledge (Sister Concern of BRIDDHI- Industrial & Marketing Consultant)
MBA from IBA in 1985, Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Dhaka University in 1983 Worked in three MNCs Philips; Youngone, Mobil Oil Bangladesh, and world bank activities for 19.5 years Presently CEO & Managing Director of BRIDDHI- Consulting house & Professional training institute in the country. Conducted over 1000 Corporate Training and consultancy in 23 yrs where the clients list raised to 114 reputed MNC conglomerates and corporates operating in Bangladesh. Created 1800+ video clips on professional management.
Faculty in different Universities and resource person of many reputed institutions for 21 years
Faculty:
BRAC University (Visiting Faculty)
(IGS) ; BRAC University - Masters in Procurement & Supply Management
“Supply Chain Management” Certified of CIPS; London, England.
International University of Business Agricultural & Technology (IUBAT).
BGMEA Institute of Fashion & Technology (BIFT)
Chief Resource Person:
International Purchasing & Supply Management, International Trade Centre ( ITC) UNCTAD WTO Geneva.
International Labor Organization (ILO) for Garments Sector.
National Defense College (NDC) Bangladesh.
Police Staff College (PSC) Bangladesh.
DCCI & MCCI
BPATC
Bangladesh AOTS Alumni Society (BAAS)
Bangladesh Federation of University of Women
GIZ
Planning Academy
BIAM
Resource Person of ITC Geneva for Supply Chain Management
Publications / Key Note Speaker:
Prospect and Future of Textiles & Garments in Bangladesh
Cotton Bangladesh, A Global Textile Magazine, and October 2002
“Professional Management in the Garments Industries” BATEXPO 2003.
“Motivation for improvement of Quality & productivity’ Organized
by BASS & World Network of Friendship WNF Japan.
“Social Compliance Need of Unified Code of Conduct” BATEXPO 2007.
“Changing Times and Changing Focus in Garments Trade” BATEXPO 2008.
“Total Quality Management in all spheres of Life …Special reference to Garment & Textiles.”
16th National Annual Quality Convention (16th NAQC)
Bangladesh Society for Total Quality management-BSTQM
BRIDDHI-Developed 1850++ video clips in 22 years in Professional Format
Received Award from "WORLD CONFEDERATION OF BUSINESS" USA
Michael Fontaine
Name: Michael Fontaine
Title: Vice President of Project Management
Organisation: Falcon Project Consultants
Michael Fontaine is an award-winning project management expert with Falcon Project Consultants. He has over 15 years of experience in driving safe and reliable operations through improved organizational processes, most notably as a Certified PMP and Certified Lean Six Sigma practitioner. Falcon Project Consultants is a certified NMSDC MBE firm.
In his free time, Michael loves reading the autobiographies of prominent statesmen and business moguls. He finds their stories of success and failure fascinating, and he always takes something away from them that he can apply to his own work.
Michael is an extremely fast runner, often winning family races. He provides insights and strategy to local businesses looking to drive operational excellence in their own organizations. Michael can be reached at (713) 425 6497 or https://falconprojectconsultants.com/schedule-consultation-now/.
Michael Kovar
Name: Michael Kovar
Title: CFO & Treasurer
Organisation: Acra Lending
Mr. Kovar is Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Acra Lending. He has over 17 years of executive experience as a financial executive in financial services and real estate industries. He was CFO of Lender Processing Services Real Estate Group and was Vice President and Risk Controller at Lending Tree Loans. He was co-founder and CFO of Real Estate Digital and Cerulean Media Holdings, both of which had successful exits. Mr. Kovar also spent time at Pacific Life Insurance Company as a Financial Engineer in the Enterprise Risk Management Group. Mr. Kovar has a B.S. in Mathematics from Tarkio College and an MBA in Finance/Accounting from Arizona State University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant.
