Irma Brand
Irma and her husband Jim have been supporters of Breakthrough since 2017. Irma is a nurse practitioner, originally from South Texas and daughter of first-generation college graduates. Irma has been involved with Breakthrough for a number of years, mentoring Latina students and serving as a panelist for Middle School Career Days. She also serves on the board of the Horizon program at Trinity Episcopal School. Irma and Jim co-chaired the Breakthrough Benefit Concert in in 2021 and returned to serve again in 2022. Irma and Jim serve on the Breakthrough Internship Network Advisory Council and host a Breakthrough intern every summer.
Munira Fareed
Munira Fareed is a seasoned technology startup executive who has lived and worked in Austin, Texas for 25 years. She is committed to giving back to the Austin community and serves on the board of CASA of Travis County and the advisory boards for ConnectHER and Miracle Foundation. Munira has served on the board of KIPP Texas and worked with Keep Austin Fed and refugee support programs in Central Texas. Munira was most recently the chief marketing officer at Hive9, the marketing performance management company. She also founded and ran Appleseed Partners, a B2B marketing company providing fractional CMO services to technology companies. Munira has served as the VP of Marketing at LifeSize, and in marketing and strategy positions at Motorola Ineto, Netpliance, and Trilogy Software. She holds an undergraduate degree in computer science and economics from Lafayette College, and an MBA from Cornell University. Munira was introduced to Breakthrough by Jessica Slade at the 2020 spring Visitors Day at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School.
Michael Ramirez
Mike serves as Austin Market President for VeraBank. Born and raised in Austin, TX, Mike attended O’Henry Middle School and Austin High School before venturing to the Midwest for college at the University of Notre Dame. After graduating with a B.A. in Finance in 2009, Michael began his career in Commercial Banking with PlainsCapital Bank in Austin. After 11+ years Michael joined VeraBank, where he currently leads the Market’s commercial banking team specializing in small business & commercial real estate lending, private banking, and treasury management services.
Mike has been involved with Breakthrough in various capacities since 2014, including serving on the Development Committee, co-chairing the Honor Roll Steering Committee and fundraising for Amplify Austin and the Breakthrough Benefit Concert. Outside of Breakthrough, Mike has also volunteered with the Young Men’s Business League, Austin Sunshine Camps, the Real Estate Council of Austin, and most recently the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society where he was recognized as Central Texas Man of the Year.
Jabrell Scott
Jabrell joined Breakthrough the summer before 7th grade as a part of the 2015 Austin cohort, spending his Breakthrough summers at UT and his Breakthrough Saturdays at St. Stephens. He graduated from LBJ High School and went on to attend UTSA where he became an active leader with the Epsilon Sigma Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, NAACP and Men of Honor groups on campus. He also gave back as a Breakthrough AmeriCorp Summer Teaching Fellow and participated in the Breakthrough Internship Network. Jabrell graduated from UTSA with his Bachelor’s degree in Communications with a minor in Public Administration in December 2019. In May 2022, he earned his Master’s of Public Administration from the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley. Today, Jabrell works as an analyst for Ernst & Young and serves as the co-chair of Breakthrough Alumni Association’s inaugural steering committee.