Lawyers by Training                                                                      

 Bruce Barshop is a lawyer, entrepreneur and businessman, who has been able to bring other people's passions to fulfillment.  His wife wanted to bring big name comedy to San Antonio, so they started the River City Comedy Club, and now have three comedy clubs around the country. The comedy clubs led them to Jeff Valdez, and the formation of an Hispanic oriented, English language television network, SiTV.

Barbara Belejack, the new managing editor of the Texas Observer, lived in Mexico for more than ten years, making her living as a freelance journalist. She studied law and  worked as a lawyer in Texas, before becoming a journalist. Her first job was in Brownsville, Texas where she developed a love for the border and for Texas as well as Mexico where she feels most at home.

Jay Brandon is trained as a writer and an attorney. While practicing law, he has published more than 10 legal thrillers which have not only received favorable reviews and wide readership, but also been optioned by first rate actors and directors for the movies. His fiction writing allows him to live lives he wouldn’t other experience.  

Bruce Heafitz knows how to combine businesses and technologies to launch ambitious undertakings. His first venture applied what he learned from his father’s junk business to the recycling of new materials and metals. His synthesis of oil technology and archeological inquiry lead to the discovery of Ramses II tomb. Recently back from three years enforced residence in Peru, he had to fight, he also has tales to tell about fighting a powerful network out to dislodge him from some profitable business ventures. 

Victor Miramontes has started several businesses and was the first employee of the North American Development Bank of which he became Chief Executive Officer. He is currently President and Chief Operating Officer for AmericanCity Vistas.  Victor puts thought, talent and energy and innovation into his enterprises with skills he learned at  the remarkable Cathedral High School in El Paso.

Juan Sepulveda has been involved in community organizing and politics since the age of 16 when he was the first high school student hired to work for the Kansas Secretary of State.  Juan was the third Hispanic ever to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.  Although a graduate of Stanford Law School, Juan chooses to devote his time to training leaders and building vital communities through his Enterprise Institute.

Lewis Tarver has practiced law in the law firm of Matthews & Branscomb for 50 years.  While maintaining an active real estate and public law practice which has kept him in the eye of the San Antonio community, he has also nurtured his love of art and architecture in ways that have made a lasting impact on the city of San Antonio.