FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Vania is a former professional tennis player that reached career high rankings of #3 in the world in doubles and #50 in the world in singles. She is a two-time Grand Slam Doubles Champion, winning Wimbledon and the US Open. When she was an active player, she represented all players ranked 50+ as a Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Player Council representative, which guided decision making and strategy for the governing body of women's professional tennis.

Currently, Vania is a consultant for the WTA, WTA Foundation and the Women’s Tennis Benefit Association (WTBA). In addition to founding Serving Up Hope, she is the co-founder of the Asian American Pacific Islander Tennis Association, whose aim is to support the AAPI community in the tennis industry. In addition, she is a Director At Large, Elite Athlete, on the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Board of Directors.

Vania received an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a masters degree in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University. In her free time, Vania enjoys birdwatching and singing.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE & FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR

Edgar is a civil engineer and business professional serving as managing director for a construction materials company in Uganda; Edcorp International. Edgar also advises on market entry into Uganda, raising and capital structure for business and operational management. Prior to that, Edgar has worked on various fundraising campaigns for Australia for UNHCR and Save the Children Australia. He holds a civil engineering degree from the University of Sheffield. Edgar grew up playing tennis and is passionate about both expanding the reach of tennis in Africa and growing sustainable impactful enterprises on the continent.

SECRETARY

Maegan is a five-time All-American tennis player that attended UC Berkeley, achieving the #1 ITA ranking in both singles and doubles. She reached the finals of the NCAA Women’s Doubles Championships and was part of the team that won the 2015 Masters BNP Paribas title in France, a tournament featuring the best college players in the world.

As a professional player, she holds career high ranking of 327 in singles and 175 in doubles, won one WTA doubles title and four ITF doubles titles. Maegan’s bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley is in Social Welfare. She has volunteered with the UC Berkeley Food Pantry and Bear Trax.

TREASURER

Albert is a Managing Director of Crescent Capital focusing on private credit. Prior to joining Crescent, Mr. Lee was a member of the investment banking departments at Lazard Fréres and Lehman Brothers. He received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his BA from Columbia University. Albert grew up playing basketball and tennis and is passionate about trying to equal the playing field for those with less opportunity.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Christina Mchale reached career highs of #24 in singles and #35 in doubles. Off court, she is a member of the Player Council and one of the elite winners of the Harvard Business School’s Crossover to Business program. She has one sister, Lauren, who was also a competitive tennis player, who played at the University of North Carolina. Christina speaks Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and was a competitive swimmer when growing up.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE & BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIR

Kathleen Ferrell is an investor/mentor and avid tennis fan (and recently retired partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLC). She left New York after 20+ years to return to South Carolina (after a total of 40 years away from home!) In her former professional life she advised corporate clients on federal income tax matters, including major U.S. domestic and cross-border transactions, as well as capital markets transactions, bankruptcy and workouts, and tax legislative and administrative matters.

In addition to serving on the board of SUH, Kathleen continues a number of mentoring relationships and is an investor in several women run enterprises.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Laura is a workplace strategy consultant with decades of experience in sales, project management and developing workplace programs for clients globally. She worked as a research consultant for twenty years at Steelcase, the world’s largest commercial furniture manufacturer, with multiple Fortune 50 companies as clientele. Laura currently works as a real estate consultant in Los Angeles. A University of Colorado alumni, majoring in Public Relations. She is passionate about design and travel. Laura is an avid tennis player who prefers playing doubles and her favorite shot is her forehand.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Nilou is a criminal defense attorney specializing in indigent appellate claims. She attended Brown University and Stanford Law School and worked as a journalist at Rolling Stone Magazine before practicing law at Irell & Manella, the Federal Public Defender, and the California Court of Appeal.

An avid tennis fan and player, Niloufar learned to play tennis as a young child in Iran. She played for her high school team at Choate Rosemary Hall, and through tennis, she learned to play squash, which she played at Brown. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Chris, and two daughters.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

John Robertson is a recently retired executive from State Farm Insurance Company. John was in numerous leadership positions over his 35 year career, including in Claims, Research, Technology, Consulting and Data and Analytics. He helped develop State Farm’s internal business consulting practice and their data and analytics functions as well as overseeing their auto and home research areas.

John has been involved with several charitable organizations in Central Illinois, including roles with the local YMCA, Easter Seals, his local church and other community organizations. He also served several years on the Board of Directors at Illinois Business Consulting, the student led business consulting organization at University of Illinois (the largest university student consulting organization in the United States).

John is currently president of the Board of Directors of Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Illinois. Evergreen recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary and was selected as a USTA National Facility of the Year in 2019. John is a lifelong tennis player. He was an Illinois High School doubles runner up and graduated from Indiana University with a BS in Finance. He has led three different USTA League Tennis to the national championship competition level and also was assistant coach at a local high school with several female and male state level participants.

John lives in Bloomington, Illinois with his wife Vickie and has two adult children.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Barb currently serves as the USTA-Chicago Junior Play Director. She is a PTR and USPTA certified teaching professional and a USTA National Coach Developer training coaches around the country.

A strong believer in youth development, Barb became the first woman to receive PTR’s Master of Junior Development tennis certification in 2013. She played D-1 tennis at Marquette University and is honored in their athletic hall of fame. After college, Barb worked as a consultant for Hewitt Associates for 22 years before returning to her tennis roots.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE & MARKETING COMMITTEE CHAIR

Dimple is a multiple award-winning entrepreneur with a career in technology that spans 14+ years. Having previously won the Power 30 Under 30 Award and a prestigious nomination from Empact100, who recognize the Top 100 US-based companies run by young entrepreneurs early in her career, Dimple is now a seasoned business executive that advises savvy start-ups to billionaires on projects that have complex technical needs with a focus on: Blockchain technology, virtual reality, website and mobile app development, artificial intelligence, 3D modeling, hologram technology, and more.

Aside from tech consulting, Dimple's other company SYNHERGY MARKETING, which was identified by the US Chamber of Commerce as a Small Business of the Year, oversees social media marketing for clients in technology, telemedicine, nonprofits, start-ups, food, and beverage. On a personal level, Dimple volunteers her time to non-profit organizations, sits on the Board of Directors for the West Hollywood Design District, and enjoys mentoring youth to become future business owners and professional leaders. Dimple has a BA in Communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Mike Morkin is a recognized practitioner in international arbitration and litigation matters and the partner-in-charge of growth and expansion at Venable LLP, a law firm with 800 lawyers in 12 US offices. He has successfully arbitrated disputes in areas of sports, hospitality, transportation, reinsurance, life sciences, energy, shipping, post-acquisition, intellectual property, and numerous commercial arrangements. His extensive experience has resulted in arbitration awards valued in excess of $1 billion. Before Mike joined Venable, he spent over 30 years at the world’s most global law firm, BakerMcKenzie where he managed the firm’s home office to record headcount, brand recognition, revenue and profit. While at BakerMcKenzie, he also chaired the largest, busiest, and most diverse international arbitration practice in the world, personally handling arbitrations in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States.

Mike received his AB from Augustana College in Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics where he was a two-time NCAA All-American, Academic All-American and NCAA Rookie of the Year in tennis. While earning his JD from the University of Illinois, Mike also served as the assistant men’s varsity tennis coach. Mike also serves on the Executive Committee and as Secretary of the Board of World Business Chicago. Mike is the father of 5 and lives in the Chicago area.