The University of St. Thomas has launched an advisory board for its McNair Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.
George Joseph, CEO of Common Bond Bistro & Bakery and Positive Recovery Centers, and Zawadi Bryant, president of acute care pediatrics at Mednax Inc. (NYSE: MD), are the board's first founding members. Each board member "has life goals that align with those of the McNair Center," UST said.
“The McNair Center is laser-focused on entrepreneurship and free enterprise, and what a shot in the arm to launch an advisory board with two such outstandingly successful Houston entrepreneurs," Patrick Woock, director of the McNair Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas, told the Houston Business Journal. "Our students are going to have an added edge as they develop the art of entrepreneurship.”
Woock joined UST in May 2020 to lead the McNair Center.
In 1994, Joesph purchased Houston-based Right Step, a network of outpatient and inpatient addiction treatment centers located throughout the Southwest. Its programs include Spirit Lodge, a high-end residential treatment center outside Austin, and San Cristobal, an adventure-based addiction treatment center in Taos, New Mexico. In 2012, Joseph sold Right Step to Elements Behavioral Health, a California-based provider of addiction and mental health treatment programs.
In 2016, Joseph and Houston restaurateur Johnny Carrabba, his then-business partner, added a new venture. The duo bought Common Bond bakery from Brad and Kathy Sanders. The original Common Bond opened in May 2014 at 1706 Westheimer Road in the Montrose area.
Common Bond has since expanded to more locations, most recently with its new drive-thru concept, Common Bond On the Go. After opening the concept in the Heights and Garden Oaks, Joseph announced more on-the-go locations would open in the Marq'E entertainment district near Interstate 10 and the 610 Loop, The Ion innovation hub in Midtown and in Australia-based developer Caydon's first U.S. apartment building in Midtown Houston, Drewery Place.
“Paying it forward is a calling for me to make a difference in the world," Joseph said. "I learned about the McNair Center helping women and minorities, and I want to support that. Entrepreneurs tend to want to improve things.”
Bryant is the co-founder and former CEO of Nightlight Pediatric Urgent Care.
Bryant and co-founder Anastasia Gentles opened Nightlight Pediatric's first location in Sugar Land in 2007. Since then, Nightlight has grown steadily, bringing in $3.48 million in gross local revenue for fiscal year 2013, $4 million in 2014 and $5.9 million in 2015. As of June 2020, it had eight Houston-area locations and more than 130 employees, Inc. magazine reported at the time.
The clinic had been on the Inc. 5000 list seven years in a row and was one of 110 Houston-area companies to make the list in 2020, coming in at No. 4,696 with three-year revenue growth of 64%.
In March, Mednax Inc. (NYSE: MD), a national medical group specializing in prenatal, neonatal and pediatric services, acquired Nightlight Pediatric Urgent Care. Mednax said its affiliation with Nightlight was the South Flordia-based company's first step in a new strategy in reimagining pediatric total care for patients in select U.S. markets.
Mednax reported the acquisition was closed in a cash transaction but did not provide additional information in the press release.
As part of the deal, Gentles joined Mednax as specialty medical officer along, while Bryant took on her current title as president of acute care pediatrics.
“One of my life goals is to help close the wealth gap for people of color, and I believe that entrepreneurship is going to be one of the main drivers to do that," Bryant said of the McNair Center appointment. "Happily, entrepreneurship for women and people of color is a focus of the board.”
The McNair Center at UST was created in 2016 through a $5 million donation from the late Houston Texans owner Bob McNair. It's one of several such centers established by McNair around the country. The McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth (previously called the McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation) at Rice University was formed following an $8 million contribution from McNair, and the McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise at Houston Baptist University was created with a $5 million donation. Additionally, there are McNair Centers at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and Northwood University in Midland, Michigan.
