Mr. Cardenas is the CEO/President/Principal Co-Founder of the Austin Healthcare Council. He is a senior executive with a 30+ year record of demonstrated achievement and success all while providing leadership in highly competitive markets. He has been tenacious in building new relationships, improving team performance, supporting regular training programs, securing stakeholder loyalty, and forging strong relationships with external nonprofit/public/private sector partners both domestically and internationally. He was also appointed to the Opening Central Texas for Business task force and City of Austin/Travis County Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution Partner Coalition and the Core Leadership Planning Group working on the Austin area Homelessness initiative.

Internationally he was instrumental in getting Austin selected as one of 3 cities worldwide by the World Economic Forum to participate in their Healthy Cities and Communities Initiative. He has forged collaborations with the Association of British Health Tech Industries, and with the Kingdom of the Netherlands Health Ministries. Prior to founding the AHC, he provided international consulting to clients seeking international growth opportunities in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Most recently he positioned the Austin Healthcare Council to be selected as 1 of 140 global initiatives at the Clinton Global Initiative 2022 Summit in NYC. Domestically he has worked in the finance/domestic banking/International banking field for over 23 years. In the healthcare space, Mr. Cardenas served on the board of directors of The Volunteer Healthcare Clinic (VHC), as well as its board chair for over 20 years. These Commitments to Action entities are addressing a wide range of pressing issues, including the refugee resettlement, climate resiliency, economic inclusion, education and health equity.

Mr. Cardenas currently serves on the board of directors of TexHealth Central Texas and serves on the University of Texas Medical Branch Development Board providing advice, counsel, and advocacy, when appropriate, to UTMB leadership on matters regarding long-range planning, external relations and philanthropy.

Mr. Cardenas is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, with a BBA degree with emphasis on Business Management and numerous continuing education courses