Advisory Board

John Jacobs is a former Texas Junior Chess Champion, five-time winner of the Texas State Championship and he authored a weekly chess column in the Dallas Times Herald for 13 years. Business-wise, Jacobs is the executive vice president of economic development for the Richardson Chamber of Commerce, where he has served for 24 years. Jacobs helps companies to relocate, expand and establish businesses in Richardson. Before bringing his expertise to Richardson he was vice president of economic development in Garland.

Jacobs previously served as vice president for a major national commercial real estate development company. He has been chairman of the Dallas Area Economic Development Association, and president of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of NACORE, a corporate real estate organization that was a predecessor of CoreNet Global, of which he is a member.

Jacobs holds a degree in mathematics from The University of Texas at Austin and a master of corporate real estate designation from CoreNet Global.

Will is a Senior Director Business Performance at McKesson, a leading healthcare company. He currently has responsibilities that include enterprise-wide project management initiatives. He is recognized for his leadership in finance and supply chain management and has presented at industry conferences. 

Will has more than 20 years of experience in leading financial, business performance and supply chain service processes. Prior to McKesson, Will served as CFO for Inova Health where he drove significant EBIT and working capital improvements. Will has also previously worked at Ernst & Young as a management consultant implementing process improvements and merger integration strategies for global blue-chip clients.

Will holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and an MBA from The University of Texas at Dallas. He also serves on the UT Dallas Office of Development and Alumni Relations and the Supply Chain Management advisory board. Will currently lives in Richardson with his family. 

Abby Kratz has been engaged for more than 40 years in the development and growth of The University of Texas at Dallas, As an administrator and educator, she designed and provided oversight for programs for student academic success as well as the development of the organizational and technological infrastructure of the University. Her eclectic span of responsibility has included scholarships, library services, accreditation, strategic planning, distance learning, intellectual competitions, management of the University’s policy manual, and many nondiscrimination initiatives that include establishment of the Galerstein Community Center. 

An enthusiastic fan and supporter of UTD Chess from the very beginning, Kratz accompanied the fledgling Chess Team to Baltimore for its first Pan-Am in 1996, and proudly carried the trophy (for a ninth place finish in a field of 36) back to Richardson.

Kratz’s extensive experience as a professional librarian includes managerial appointments at the Roxbury Latin School, Harvard University, the Ohio State University and the Dallas Public Library. She served as interim director of the McDermott Library at UTD and director of the Mary and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She also taught in the library science graduate program at Texas Woman’s University.

A graduate of Leadership Richardson, Kratz has been active in professional and community organizations. She chaired the Richardson Arts Commission for seven years and led the development of the city’s Cultural Arts Master Plan.

Hank Mulvihill has been a licensed securities professional and a licensed life and health insurance agent since 1987.

Mulvihill is a member of the Financial Planning Association and the Dallas Association for Financial Professionals. He was a long-time member of the Government Finance Officers Association of Texas and the Government Treasurers Organization of Texas.

Mulvihill holds the Certified Financial Planner and Certified Wealth Strategist designations and the Permanent Credential of Certified Cash Manager from the Association for Financial Professionals.

Mulvihill is a member of the Richardson Rotary Club & the Richardson Chamber of Commerce. He is a graduate of Leadership Richardson, Richardson Citizen Police Academy, Richardson Citizen Fire Academy and is active in other community organizations.

Mulvihill, his wife and three sons reside in Richardson. He is a lifetime member of the Cooper Fitness Center in Dallas. He and his wife completed the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996. He owns the same 1941 Cadillac that he grew up with and used to take his first driver’s license test.

Chuck Riehm retired to Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, where his passion for skiing and hiking are plentiful. He is enjoying chess, skiing and options trading.

Riehm, has been an avid chess player and advocate since his college days. For over two years, Riehm taught Computers in Business during the early years of the MBA program at UTD.

During his career, Riehm has held a variety of technical and management roles at IBM, SGI, Raytheon/E-Systems, and Rockwell Collins across a wide technology spectrum from mainframes to high performance super computing to telecommunications to cloud computing. During his career, Riehm has done business in 30 countries and lived in Hong Kong during the 1980s.

For eight years, he served the City of Richardson on both the Arts Commission and then another eight years on the Environmental Advisory Commission. These commissions support and coordinate the many artists groups and environmental programs to improve quality of living in North Texas. Since UTD resides within Richardson, close coordination was successfully enhancing both. He earned a bachelor’s in financial economics (minor in computer science) and a master’s in econometrics from the University of Iowa. Riehm and his wife Sarah currently reside in Pagosa Springs.

Jason Saving is currently a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, where he conducts research into public policy issues. He joined the Dallas Fed in 1996 after completing a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at George Mason University. He has worked on a variety of topics including health care reform, the stimulus plan, entitlement debt and tax reform. He also speaks to Metroplex audiences about state and national economic conditions. He has taught classes at several institutions including The University of Texas at Dallas and Baylor University’s executive MBA program.

Saving majored in mathematical economic analysis at Rice University and received a PhD in economics from the California Institute of Technology. He is married with three children, one of whom helped rekindle his youthful interest in chess and renewed his appreciation for its logic and structure.

Roman Shevchuk is a Data and Analytics Strategy leader at American Airlines Cargo and a passionate advocate for chess education. He graduated from The University of Texas at Dallas with graduate degrees in Applied Mathematics and Business Administration.

Roman’s love of chess began at a young age, and he has competed in many scholastic and collegiate tournaments. He was an inaugural UTD Chess Team member, which competed at the 1996 Pan American Collegiate Tournament. Roman is also a dedicated chess enthusiast and volunteer who understands the transformative power of the game, especially for young minds. He founded the chess club at Glenhope Elementary School, which has achieved excellent results in various regional scholastic tournaments. Roman is passionate about helping kids learn and enjoy chess, and he believes that the game can teach essential life skills such as strategic thinking, problem-solving, and perseverance.

In addition to his work at American Airlines Cargo and his involvement in chess, Roman enjoys spending time with his family and traveling.

Rodney Thomas is a business development executive, investor, entrepreneur and civic board member. In 2018, he was an Encore Fellow with the Center for Finance Strategy & Innovation at The University of Texas at Dallas’ Naveen Jindal School of Management.

During a 39-year career at IBM Corporation, he held a number of roles in technology sales, marketing and management.

Mr Thomas is active in the community, serving on several boards at The University of Texas at Dallas, including the Executive Board, the Chess Program Advisory Board and the Economic Development Advisory Council. He is on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Club of Dallas, the Advisory Board of Mobility Credit Union and is a member of the North Texas Angel Network.

A chess enthusiast, Mr Thomas majored in applied mathematics at Harvard University.

A nationally acclaimed chess instructor, Weeramantry served as chairman of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) Committee on Chess in Education from 1990 to 2000. He also has served on the USCF Scholastic Committee from 1986 to the present, and served as co-chairman of the USCF Scholastic Council from August 2002 to July 2004.

For his work in scholastic chess, Weeramantry earned the 2004 Meritorious Service Award from the USCF. In 2005, Weeramantry was named Chess Educator of the Year, a prestigious national recognition by The University of Texas at Dallas. In January 2007, Weeramantry gained international recognition by earning the title of FIDE Trainer.

A FIDE Master (FM) and a former two-time New York state champion, Weeramantry is one of the most successful chess coaches in the country. He has coached over 80 individual and team champions in national scholastic tournaments organized by the USCF. He served as one of the coaches for the American players at the World Youth Chess Championships in 1985, 1987 and 1989. Many of his students have medaled at this event over the last 20 years, the most recent being his stepson Hikaru Nakamura. Weeramantry is a pioneer in the field of curricular chess instruction.

Weeramantry is the author, with Ed Eusebi, of the bestselling chess book, Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, and Great Moves: Learning Chess Through History, with Alan Abrams.