The Stanford Leadership gathering
Meet the Speakers & Table Hosts
Hear from thoughtful leaders, founders, and culture-shaping executives bringing practical wisdom on principled business, organizational culture, and community flourishing.
Jess Correll
Jess Correll is the founding member of First Southern Bancorp, Inc., where he has served as Chairman, President, and CEO since 1988. He has also held leadership roles across several organizations, including Director of UTG, Inc. since 1999 and Chairman and CEO of UTG and Universal Guaranty Life Insurance Company since 2000. Jess has served as President and Director of The River Foundation since 1990 and President of First Southern Funding, LLC since 1992.
Beyond business, Jess is passionate about advancing Kingdom impact through philanthropy, biblical stewardship, and Christ-centered leadership. He serves on the boards of Friends of the Good Samaritans and the National Christian Foundation, and previously served on the Centre College Board of Trustees. Jess attended Asbury University.
Doug Ditto
Doug Ditto is a founding member of First Southern Bancorp and has served as a board member since 1987. He has served the First Southern family of companies in many roles over the past 40 years, including as CEO of First Southern Bancorp. He currently serves as vice president of Universal Guaranty Life Insurance Company. Over most of his career, Doug has worked closely with Jess Correll in the acquisition and oversight of diverse investments. These investments include discounted commercial real estate loans acquired from the RTC in the 1990’s and from the FDIC in 2009 and 2010. Other investment themes include timberland, commercial real estate, and royalty interests in oil and gas, precious metals, and music. Much of our investment success has come from long-standing relationships with trusted partners who have proven expertise in their chosen field. Doug is a founding member and advisor to the River Foundation. He and his wife Karen enjoy life on the farm near Danville, Ky. They have two married daughters, one son, and three grandsons who all live nearby.
Pete Ochs
Pete is a lifelong faith-driven entrepreneur whose 30-year journey has focused on building prosperous businesses God’s way. His mission is to inspire and equip business leaders to live with purpose and use their businesses to make a Christ-centered impact. He is the author of High Impact LIFE and High Impact Business and lives by four principles: Honor God, Serve People, Pursue Excellence, and Steward Capital. Before launching his impact investment company, Capital III, Pete spent eight years in commercial banking. In 2018, he stepped away from day-to-day operations to focus on helping purpose-driven businesses implement the Stewardship Operating System and Stewardship Trust. Pete and his wife, Debbie, live in Valley Center, Kansas, and have two children and nine grandchildren.
Wes Perry
Wes Perry is the owner of S.E.S. Investments, LTD and managing partner of PBEX, LLC, both entities are oil and gas investments/companies. He is also Director of Genie Energy (GNE NYSE) and Viper Energy (VNOM NASDAQ). Wes has a BS degree in Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He served as the Mayor of the city of Midland, Texas from 2007 to 2015 and served as a director on the UTG, Inc. board from 2001 to 2013. He is Trustee of the Abel-Hangar Foundation and President of the Milagros Foundation.
Thomas Darden
Tom Darden, 71, grew up in small towns in North Carolina and Virginia. He studied environmental policy at UNC, married Jody in 1977, and worked for the Korea Institute of Science and Technology before attending Yale Law School and joining Bain in Boston. In 1983, Tom, Jody, and their son Tom III moved to Raleigh, where James and Elizabeth were born. Tom bought eight brick plants and converted them to use wood waste fuel. He later developed bacteria for pollution remediation, built private equity funds focused on brownfield sites, and invested in land near Raleigh. He has started more than 50 technology companies and invested in about 50 others, focused on pollution, alternative energy, quantum computing, fusion, solar farms, and health supplements.
Lucas Roush
Luke Roush co-founded Sovereign’s Capital in 2012 and serves as Co-CEO and board member. From 2013 to 2016, while living in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, he opened the firm’s Asia operations. Before Sovereign’s Capital, Luke spent 12 years in global commercialization and business development with venture-backed and Fortune 500 companies. He held leadership roles at TransEnterix and Liquidia Technologies, worked in sales and marketing at Boston Scientific and Newell Brands, and co-founded 410 Medical, a pediatric emergency care medical device company. He currently serves on the board of Bandwidth. Luke graduated summa cum laude from Duke University and earned his MBA from The Fuqua School of Business. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Brooke, and their three children.
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