North Texas Man & Woman of the Year: Meet the Candidates

The 2016 MWOY candidates at kickoff.
(L-R) Michael Leyton, Amanda Whitelaw, George Meza,
Loan Huynh, Shannon Ridley, Leigh Costa, Dr. Brian Berryman
(missing: Jeanne Buck)

North Texas Man & Woman of the Year Chair Kim Alexander introduced the 2016 candidates at Sambuca during the official MWOY kickoff on April 12th.  We are pleased to introduce you to this group of dynamic and driven candidates who will spend the next nine weeks campaigning on behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  

Dr. Brian Berryman  

Dr. Berryman is the attending physician for the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Services at Baylor University Medical Center and is the Medical Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Services at Medical City Hospital Dallas. He also serves as a member of the North Texas Medical Advisory Board.

Michael Leyton

Michael is the owner of his own business, MLeyton Co and works as a freelance marketing specialist in the Dallas area. Michael and his sister are both blood cancer survivors.

George Meza  

George is a senior manager at Accenture and a survivor of follicular B Cell lymphoma. He is also a longtime cycle coach for LLS’s Team In Training Program and a member of the North Texas Board of Trustees.

Shannon Ridley

Shannon is an Account Executive with Amazon Web Services and is running in memory of his brother who fought and lost his battle against multiple myeloma.

Jeanne Buck

Jeanne works for Takeda Pharmaceuticals which produces multiple blood cancer related drugs, including drugs specifically geared towards multiple myeloma. Jeanne is participating in honor of her brother who is a lymphoma survivor. 

Leigh Costa  

Leigh owns her own sports marketing firm, Costa Sports Marketing, and donated her bone marrow back in 2014 to help a patient battling leukemia.

Loan Huynh. 

Loan is an account manager for Imagine! Print Solutions and is a two-time leukemia survivor.  She serves on the North Texas Board of Trustees.

Amanda Whitelaw

Meet Woman of the Year candidate, Amanda Whitelaw.   Amanda serves as Vice President of New Business Development at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and is running in honor of anyone currently feeling the negative impact of a cancer diagnosis.