Advisory Council

Jassi Chadha is an entrepreneur and a highly regarded data scientist in the rapidly evolving field of data analytics and artificial intelligence. He currently serves as President and CEO of Axtria, a cloud software and data analytics firm, dedicated to assisting global life-science companies efficiently run their commercial operations. Since its founding in 2010, Axtria has become one of the most prominent global firms in the industry with customers in over 50 countries with 1,500 associates across nine offices in the U.S., Europe, and India.

Under Mr. Chadha’s leadership, Axtria is widely recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in North America, featured on numerous occasions in a number of aspiration lists: INCE 500, Deloitte FAST 500, NJBiz Fast 50, SmartCEO Future 50, and Red Herring 100.

Mr. Chadha’s contributions as an entrepreneur and industry leader have garnered him several recognitions: Top Forty under Forty from NJBiz Magazine in 2003, regional winner of E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year in New Jersey in 2004 and 2018, one of the 100 most influential people in the life sciences industry by PharmaVOICE 100 in 2009, and lifetime achievement award from the Pharmaceutical Management Science Association in 2014.

Mr. Chadha is currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a mentor and angel investor to a number of companies that include Ocular Therapeutics, SpectraMedix , and Estee Advisors, and has served on the boards of the New Jersey Technology Council, TIE Global, PAN IIT, Panjab Digital Library, and Sikh Research Institute.

Mr. Chadha received his B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1990, M.S. in Industrial Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso in 1992, a Doctoral candidate (ABD) in Operations Research at Texas A&M University until 1995, and graduated from the Owners President Program from Harvard Business School in 2017. For his service and achievements, Mr. Chadha was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Service Award by IIT Delhi in 2008.

Ruben Chavez is principal and founding member of the CEA Engineering Group, Inc., one of the largest Hispanic owned engineering firms headquartered in El Paso. With over 25 years of civil engineering experience, Mr. Chavez's expertise includes the design, planning and construction of major transportation, drainage, land development and water/wastewater projects throughout the southwest.

In addition to his work with CEA Engineering Group, Mr. Chavez is actively involved in a number of professional, civic, and philanthropic organizations. Mr. Chavez has served on the boards of The Hospitals of Providence (East Campus), Council on Regional Economic Expansion & Educational Development, the El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence, Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, the YWCA Foundation of El Paso as well as service with the CommUNITY En Accion, Young Achievers Forum, El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, El Paso Bicycle Advisory Committee, City Plan Commission, El Paso Historic Landmark Commission, among others. Mr. Chavez has been actively involved in STEM and engineering education in serving on several STEM Advisory Boards at UTEP, TSPE, and area high schools with numerous honors and awards for his outreach work.

Mr. Chavez received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso and holds professional licensure from both Texas and New Mexico.

Maria Teresa Delgado is currently serving as Director of Human Resources at Index, Inc. Ms. Delgado has more than 30 years of experience working in human resources within the maquiladora and manufacturing industry for Index, Virtex, among other companies.

In addition to her work in human resources, Ms. Delgado has served a number of professional and community organizations over her career. Ms. Delgado served as President and board member for Association de Maquiladoras/Index Juarez, the National Director and board member of the Human Capital Committee for Index Nacional, coordinator for Human Resources Manager Group Juarez, Gema, Fernandez y Anexas, along with the boards of Tec Milenio, the Lydia Patterson Institute, and the College of Engineering at The University of Texas at El Paso. In 2017, Ms. Delgado was recognized as the Outstanding Hispanic Alumni from the College of Business Administration at The University of Texas at El Paso.

Ms. Delgado received her Bachelors in Business Administration from The University of Texas at El Paso.

Ardo Fuentes currently serves as Senior Vice President for the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management office in Dallas. Mr. Fuentes began his career as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry and upon receiving his MBA transitioned to investment banking working for Robertson Stephens in San Francisco and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York City.

During his tenure in New York, Mr. Fuentes worked in Global Corporate & Investment Banking as a senior high-grade debt analyst covering the energy and technology sectors, and as an analyst on the swaps trading desk.

Mr. Fuentes received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Fuentes currently serves on the boards of Uplift Education, a charter school in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, and Dallas CASA.

Don Margo is Area President of HUB International Texas, Inc.’s El Paso office, one of the largest offices in the state with 85 employees. In addition to managing the firm’s largest property and casualty business, Mr. Margo oversees all sales management and operations in providing commercial lines of property and casualty, employee benefits, life, and private client insurance solutions to customers across the U.S. and on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. With over 15 years of industry experience, Mr. Margo is well versed in assisting commercial clients with sophisticated risk management and risk financing needs in managing, designing, and implementing individualized corporate strategies to identify, mitigate, and/or transfer risks. Such commercial clients include large hospitality organizations, professional service firms, healthcare organizations, heavy contractors, real estate holding companies, transportation risks, financial institutions, and manufacturing operations.

Mr. Margo is heavily involved in a number of community organizations that include the Board of Directors for the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, Kids Excel, the El Paso Club, and the Executive Committee of the Bordeplex Alliance.

Mr. Margo graduate magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Spanish from Vanderbilt University and received his MBA with distinguished honors from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Emma Wollschlager Schwartz is the Managing Director of Ecotone Investment Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund in El Paso, Texas to provide capital to promising start-ups from around the globe while providing them with value from El Paso. She also serves as a co-founder and Chief Growth Officer for Samaritan Trade Technologies, a tech marketplace making the manufacturing buyer and seller market along the US-Mexico border and throughout Mexico more efficient. In addition, she co-owns and operates several vacation properties in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Prior to these new ventures, Emma founded and served as the President of the Medical Center of the Americas (MCA) Foundation, a non-profit operating in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, from 2006 to 2022. The MCA developed the first biomedical incubator in the region – the Cardwell Collaborative (60,000 sf) – and the first free-standing mental health clinic for veterans (33,000 sf). The MCA also works to harness a robust Life Sciences industry for the region through its Innovation Center, supporting technology start-up companies; BIO El Paso-Juarez, a bi-national biomedical cluster group representing the medical device manufacturing industry; the MCA Clinical Trials Consortium; the MCA Health Care Think Tank; and STEM camps. Emma was highly involved in the El Paso and Juarez COVID-19 response through the MCA and as a member of the City / County United COVID-19 Task Force.

Before the MCA, Emma worked in healthcare management, revenue cycle improvement, strategic planning and regulatory compliance for a variety of healthcare companies, including Tenet Healthcare in El Paso, Texas and Sinaiko Healthcare Consulting in Los Angeles, California. During this time, she gained extensive experience in the areas of acute care hospitals, physician practices, clinical laboratories, imaging facilities, dialysis centers, and organ transplant.

Emma’s community involvement is extensive. She is a founding director of Progress321, a young professional’s organization, and on the boards of Borderplex Alliance, Workforce Solutions Borderplex, and the Centro Cultural Mexicano Paso del Norte. She is also the co-chair of El Paso’s chapter of Stanford OVAL. Formerly, she served on the board of and former chair of the PDN Center of Hope anti-human trafficking organization, the selection committee for the TTUHSC El Paso Founding President, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ Emerging Leaders Council, the board of La Fe Preparatory School. She is also a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, El Paso Chamber, Texas Healthcare and Biosciences Institute, InBIA and Women Corporate Directors.

In 2016, Emma was inducted into the El Paso Business Hall of Fame, and she was named 2017’s El Pasoan of the Year. In October 2019, the office of Governor Greg Abbott appointed Emma to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) for a term set to expire on August 31, 2025.

Emma is a proud El Pasoan, who attended Loretto Academy. She received her BA in Human Biology concentrating in Comparative Health Policy from Stanford University and her MPH in Health Services Management from UCLA, where she was a Foley & Lardner Fellow. Ms. Schwartz has been a director of WestStar Bank since 2011.