Rising Star

As an innovation and brand leader, Chris Elley identifies and executes opportunities to grow the value of companies through increased collaboration, cutting-edge technology and an emphasis on overall customer experience. As chief innovation officer at iCoreConnect Inc. Elley’s background as both a creative and a systems design thinker allows him to collaborate with people across diverse disciplines to strengthen product performance, company processes and grow customer goodwill. He also monitors emerging technologies and how they might be adapted to improve or expand existing products.

In his multidisciplinary career, Elley has been intensely involved with diverse functions from television executive producer to inventor to defense. He co-created two primetime television documentary series for NBC’s Esquire and USA networks. He has multiple Emmys and nominations for his work at both the national and regional levels. Chris has translated cutting-edge technological concepts into understandable stories for general audiences.  He also has directed projects that played a key role in a $3 billion fundraising initiative and served as a Subject Matter Expert and instructor for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Elley graduated summa cum laude from Texas State University and holds a master of arts in mass communication. He received his bachelor of arts in communication studies, also summa cum laude, from Texas Lutheran University.

As a graduate student in 2005, Bharati Naik managed the Texas State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Bobcat Update newscast. Today, she serves as planning producer, newsgathering at CNN London. 

In her 14 years at CNN, Naik has helped produce news packages on international events including the Syrian refugee crisis, the earthquake in Nepal, and elections in India and Russia. She has worked with top professionals in the field, such as Soledad O’Brien, Anderson Cooper, Aaron Brown, and Hala Gorani. 

Naik has given back to the journalism program by providing career advice and allowing Study Abroad students the opportunity to tour CNN’s studio facilities in London. She serves as a member of the National Union of Journalists in the United Kingdom and as a mentor for the Media Trust, which works to give marginalized groups a stronger voice in the media and creative industry. 

Randy Rogers was born in Cleburne, Texas. At the age of 6 years, he learned to play the piano from his grandmother, and later started playing the guitar. The Randy Rogers Band recorded its debut album, Live at Cheatham Street Warehouse, at a music hall of the same name in San Marcos, Texas.

Polo Sandoval (B.A. ’07) is a TV news reporter. Now 34, Sandoval was in his late 20s when he found himself sitting at a desk alongside veteran CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer. His rise from local news to a national audience surprised even him. “It was like going from high school to the major leagues,” he says.

Sandoval transferred to Texas State University, majoring in mass communication with a concentration in electronic media. Before joining CNN, he was a reporter and anchor at KRGV-TV in the Rio Grande Valley. It was his stories about immigration and the drug cartels in Mexico and Central America that brought him to the attention of CNN. “It was nice to be doing stories that touched people outside of my region,” Sandoval says.

Anna Uzele was a 2018 Musical Theatre graduate. She made her Broadway debut in Once on This Island as Andrea Devereaux, originated Catherine Parr in Broadway’s SIX, and is now starring in John Kander’s newest musical, New York, New York on Broadway. She also starred in Dear Edward on Apple TV+.