Board Of Trustees
Executive Committee
Paula Gold-Williams serves as the Chair of the Keystone Policy Center and she has been a member of both the Policy Center and its Energy Board since 2016. Paula also serves on the Board of Emera Inc., a publicly traded Canadian multinational energy holding company.
Paula previously served as the President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CPS Energy, San Antonio’s (S.A.) 162-year old fully integrated electric and natural gas municipal utility. During her CEO tenure that extended from November 2015 to January 2022, Paula was the only African American Female CEO in Energy. Paula took the helm of the company by leading more than 3,000 team members with a focus on her vision of keeping “People First.” Under her leadership, CPS Energy delivered value to its customers and community, as it developed a “Flexible Path” to a new age of energy solutions.
Earlier in her 17-year career at CPS Energy, she was Controller & Assistant Treasurer. Next she became the VP & Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)—Organizational Excellence & Shared Services. This was followed by becoming Executive Vice President (EVP), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) & Treasurer. Then Paula was promoted to Group EVP – Financial & Administrative Services, CFO & Treasurer. In that prior role, she oversaw all enterprise financial functions, while also handled the strategic oversight for People & Culture; Enterprise Safety & Health; Supply Chain; Facilities; Enterprise Information Technology; plus Physical & Cybersecurity.
Paula’s over 35 years of leadership experience includes being a Controller for Time Warner’s regional cable and telephony office in S.A., TX. Then she became the Vice President (VP) of Finance for Luby’s, Inc. before being recruited by CPS Energy in late 2004.
Relative to governance, Paula was CPS Energy’s sponsor of its Energy Portfolio Strategic Committee (EPSC), as well as a representative on two committees that oversaw the company’s direct and nuclear decommissioning investments. Concurrently, she was a member of the Oversight Committee (OC) that oversaw CPS Energy’s four Employee Benefits Trusts. (Membership for the OC also included the Board’s Audit Committee.)
Paula is a Board Member & Treasurer of EPIcenter, an innovation think tank; incubator and accelerator; and strategic advisory organization. She serves as an Energy Pillar Co-Chair of Dentons’ Smart Cities & Communities Initiatives & Think Tank. Paula is an Advisory Board Member of iEmpower, an all-inclusive organization that optimizes the concept of community to engage and inspire women. Paula also serves on the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s (Jennifer Granholm’s) Advisory Board (SEAB).
Recently, Paula held other board positions including: 1st Vice Chair of the Electric Power Resource Institute (EPRI); Board Treasurer of Greater SATX, S.A,’s regional economic development engine; a member and designated Chair Pro Tem of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ San Antonio Branch; and a past Chair of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.
In 2022, Diversity Woman named Paula to their Elite 100 Black Women Leaders List. In 2021, Bloomberg designated her a Climate Leader. That year, Smart Energy International listed her as a member of Global & Power Energy Elite. Additionally, the Energy Diversity & Inclusion Council designated her as a Top CEO in Energy. In 2020, Paula was named Woman of the Year by the S.A. Business Journal and she was a finalist for S&P Global Platts’ Chief Executive of the Year. In 2019, Paula was named S&P Global Platts’ Chief Trailerblazer and the Women’s Council on Energy & the Environment (WCEE) voted her as Women’s Champion. In 2018, Paula was recognized as the Energy Thought Leader of the Year by Zpyrme and was a Leadership Award Honoree of the Keystone Policy Center.
Paula has an Associate Degree in Fine Arts from San Antonio College. She has a BBA in Accounting from St. Mary’s University, in S.A., Texas. She earned a Finance & Accounting MBA from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Paula became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) while working for her first professional employer, the then Big 8 accounting firm of Ernst & Whinney. She is a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA).
Paula mentors numerous people, from college students to top executives. She is married and has two daughters.
A Kansas native, Terry McGrath Craig has lived in Keystone, CO since 1978. In 1982 Craig, along with her business partner Marty Hibberd, opened the Hibberd McGrath Gallery, representing a number of notable contemporary artists from Colorado and beyond. Established first in Keystone in 1982, the gallery relocated in 1985 to Breckenridge, where it remained popular with locals and visitors alike until it’s closure upon Hibberd’s passing in 2012.
Ms. Craig met Bob Craig, her partner of more than 30 years, in Keystone in 1978. They were married in 1999 and remained together in Keystone until his passing in early 2015.
Previously, Terry developed curriculum and taught environmental education at a number of institutions including the Colorado Outdoor Education Center and Sanborn Western Camps in Florissant, CO; Keewaydin Environmental Education Center in Salisbury, Vermont; and Keystone Science School.
Ms. Craig is an active member of the Summit County community and has served on the Snake River Planning Commission for 12 years. She has also served as president and board member of the Summit Historical Society; president and board member of the Summit Ski Education Foundation; the Summit County Open Space Advisory Council; and the Keystone Citizens League.
Ms. Craig holds a B.A. in Geography/History from the University of Missouri at Columbia.
The Alliance to Save Energy has announced that Paula R. Glover will become the organization’s new president. A dynamic leader with more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry, Glover currently serves as president and CEO of the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE). Glover will assume the new role on Jan. 4, 2021, and will become the Alliance’s seventh president in its 43-year history. Paula R. Glover is President and CEO for the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE), a national energy trade association that represents all sectors of the energy industry. Mrs. Glover leads a 2000-member association with 40 chapters nationwide. The association’s focus is to represent the voice for African Americans and other minorities on energy policy, regulations, and environmental issues.
Mrs. Glover directs the association’s strategic plan, business development and policy positions. She represents the organization before energy industry executives and national and state policy makers. She is an industry thought leader for issues around diversity and inclusion. Her work on international energy issues underscores the importance of energy to improve the quality of life for people throughout the African Continent. The association under Mrs. Glover’s leadership has partnered with the US Department of Energy on its Minorities in Energy initiative as well as business development programming for minority entrepreneurs. She has also testified before Congress about the impact of policies on underserved communities. Ms. Glover’s has more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry, including 15 years in both electric and natural gas distribution companies where she has worked in government affairs, regulatory affairs and economic development.
In March 2014 Ms. Glover was appointed to the National Petroleum Council by U.S. Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz. She continues to serve on the Council having been reappointed by Secretary Perry in 2016 and Secretary Brouillette in 2020. She serves on the board of the Alliance to Save Energy and Groundswell, a community solar development organization. She is also a Trustee for Cardigan Mountain School, a junior boarding school in Canaan, NH. She received her B.S. in Marketing Management from the University of Delaware.
She is the recipient of the Bring It Home to Hartford Award, the Clarke Watson Chairman’s Cup, and the Platinum Achievement Award from the Cooperative Developmental Energy Program at Fort Valley State University. In February 2019, she was named a Champion in Energy by the Florida Women’s Energy Leadership Forum. She is a 2003 graduate of Leadership New Haven and has contributed to article on work life balance in Take Pride magazine.
As Vice President, Environmental Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer for FedEx Corporation, Mitch Jackson leads the strategic direction and provides vision for all aspects of the company’s sustainability initiatives and environmental innovations and technologies.
Jackson helped envision and pioneer the implementation of hybrid and electric vehicles in the FedEx fleet, and ultimately in commercial vehicles. He was also instrumental in successfully securing first-ever national fuel economy standards and greenhouse gas requirements for commercial vehicles, He championed the first FedEx solar energy system in 2005, with it being California’s then largest corporate rooftop array. He was also the key driver for the establishment of the first FedEx sustainability goals and has responsibility for current and future goals.
In 2012 the British newspaper The Guardian named him as one of the top 15 sustainable business executives on Twitter. He was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders by Trust Across America for four consecutive years. In 2014 Green Fleet Magazine named Jackson a Sustainability All Star for his contributions to environmental sustainability. And, in 2009 Ethisphere Institute named Jackson as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics.
Jackson is currently a member of the Keystone Policy Center’s Board of Trustees, executive committee and Energy Board, and a board member of Shelby Farms Park Conservancy. He has also served as environmental juror for the Heinz Awards, and was a long-serving member of the American Trucking Associations Board of Directors.
Bob Perciasepe has been an environmental policy leader in and outside government for more than 40 years, most recently as the president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). He now serves as a senior advisor to several organizations including C2ES.
Prior to serving as C2ES’s president Bob was the longest serving Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He is a respected expert on environmental stewardship, natural resource management, and public policy, and has built a reputation for bringing stakeholders together to solve issues.
Bob served as Deputy Administrator from 2009 to 2014. He was previously assistant administrator for both the agency’s water and clean air programs from 1993 to 2000, leading efforts to improve the safety of America’s drinking water and development of a new infrastructure revolving fund for drinking water. He also led efforts to lower sulfur levels in gasoline and diesel fuel to reduce smog.
In 2002, Bob joined the National Audubon Society, one of the nation’s oldest conservation organizations, as its senior vice president for public policy. He served as the group’s chief operating officer from 2004 to 2009, and worked to protect wetlands and expand environmental education, especially in urban areas.
He has also held top positions in state and municipal government—as Secretary of the Environment for the state of Maryland from 1990 to 1993 and as a senior planning official for the city of Baltimore, where he managed the city’s capital budget from 1980 to1986.
Bob is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He serves on the boards of the Keystone Policy Center, the George B. Storer Foundation, and the Environmental Law Institute. He has received American University’s William K. Reilly Award for Environmental Leadership, the Chesapeake Water Environment Association’s Abel Wolman Award, and the American Lung Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
Bob holds a master’s degree in planning and public administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Science degree in natural resources from Cornell University.
Christine Scanlan is President and CEO of the Keystone Policy Center, a nonprofit organization which over the past 40 years, has built a portfolio of substantive work in energy, environment, education, health, and agriculture. Keystone has accomplished this work with a series of complementary approaches that reflect the diverse strategies utilized in leadership and successful issue resolution.
Christine joined the Keystone Policy Center from her role as Director of Legislative Affairs and Strategic Initiatives and Senior Education Policy Advisor to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. Prior to her senior staff role in the Governor’s Office, Christine was a Colorado State Representative for House District 56 and served in leadership as Majority Whip.
In earlier years, Christine had previously been at Keystone as Senior Vice President and COO. Christine has extensive public policy experience as a seasoned facilitator, negotiator and policy expert and is a respected leader in finding policy solutions through collaborative dialogue to complicated issues of urgency and import. Christine received both her MA Nonprofit Management and BA History from Regis University, Denver, Colorado.
Tom Sheldon recently retired from his position as Chief Financial Officer of Global CO2 Science Initiative, a start-up non-profit whose focus was to fund and mentor research in the areas of carbon capture and use. Prior to that Tom served as Chief Financial Officer of the National Ecological Observatory Network, Inc. (NEON) where he spent over five years developing the business functions necessary to support construction and operations of the 110 site ecological observatory. Tom previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Sorin Group North America for eight years, and worked for TRW Inc. in various financial management capacities for over 19 years, including overseas and corporate staff assignments.
Tom received a BA in economics from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Clint Vince is the chair of Dentons’ US Energy Practice and Co-Chair of Dentons’ Global Energy Sector.
Clint is rated as one of the leading energy lawyers in the US and has directed the expansion of the US Energy team into a premier practice that includes professionals spanning the continent coast-to-coast, offering a full range of services to energy industry clients. He is widely recognized for his cutting-edge theories and solutions within the energy industry and has a top-tier litigation track record. Recently, Clint created the groundbreaking Dentons Smart Cities & Connected Communities Think Tank and he is one of the industry leaders on this subject.
Clint remains at the forefront of energy developments and continuously handles some of the highest profile cases in the industry. His experience involves major project development, legislative and regulatory advocacy on behalf of public and private clients, and litigation and appellate cases including US Supreme Court advocacy.
Clint has handled more than 650 regulatory and litigation proceedings and argued before trial and state appellate courts; numerous US District Courts; and the US Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Tenth, Eleventh and District of Columbia Circuits; and the Supreme Court of the United States, in some instances multiple times. He also has handled too many complex energy transactions, negotiations and projects to count.
Dentons was named the “Energy Firm of the Year” by Who’s Who Legal Awards for five years, in 2015-2017 and 2021-2022. Clint and his team of energy professionals, also were awarded Energy Daily’s Leadership Award for “Most Dynamic Energy Practice” in the US. Clint was recently honored as one of the 2015 “Energy & Environment Trailblazers” in the National Law Journal’s inaugural supplemental issue. He also has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Legal 500 US, Washington DC Super Lawyers and most recently the 2023 Lawdragon 500 Leading Energy Lawyers.
Dentons was named as one of the “Awesome Opponents” by BTI Consulting in BTI Litigation Outlook 2023, an honor bestowed upon 12 elite law firms. Acritas has named Dentons in the Acritas Global Brand Elite Index 2021 in two categories including, the second best known law firm and the third most favored law firm. That value is the result of Dentons’ unstinting focus on quality, inclusion, breadth and depth of capability to bring together the best teams, and a polycentric approach which combines local knowledge and relationships with a global outlook.
Clint is a past editor-in-chief of the Energy Law Journal and has served as Co-Chair of the prestigious Keystone Policy Center, a think tank known for its work in the energy and environmental fields. Clint currently chairs the Board of the Alliance to Save Energy, a leading energy efficiency nonprofit. Clint is a co-founder and chair of the Energy Advisory Council of the World Resources Institute.
Trustees
Paul is the Head of the Global Governance Office in the cross-divisional Chief Medical Office at Novartis, with responsibility for the oversight, standards, training and systems for compassionate use/expanded access, grants and post-registration medical programs (e.g., Investigator initiated trials, research collaborations, non-interventional and local studies, registries and patient support programs). He has nearly 20 years’ experience in the Pharma industry across multiple therapeutic areas and roles. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, he practiced as a clinical pharmacist.
He previously served as an industry representative over a 5-year period on the WHO/Roll-Back Malaria (RBM) case management working group, managed various partnerships (Public-Private & Private-Private), and has been a speaker/panelist at various conferences and stakeholder discussions on Global Health, Patient Access, Bioethics and Medical Governance.
Paul is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (MRPharmS). He has a Doctorate in Clinical Pharmacy from the University of Florida, a first-class honors master’s degree in Pharmacy from the Sunderland School of Pharmacy in the UK, a qualifying Law degree from the College of Law in London (now University of Law), a certificate in Global Health Delivery from Harvard University, and an executive MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Allyson Anderson Book is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Baker Hughes. In this role she oversees Baker Hughes’ energy transition strategy by driving sustainable operations, supporting commercial energy transition solutions for customers, and ensuring market creation of these solutions via stakeholder engagement and policy development.
In 2021 alone, she was recognized by Petroleum Economist as among Top 10 Women Leading Energy Transition in Sustainability, by Oil & Gas Investor as among 25 Influential Women in Energy, and by Hart Energy for its ESG Champion of Year Award.
Before joining Baker Hughes, she served as the executive director of the American Geosciences Institute, which represents more than 250,000 geoscientists and focuses on increasing public awareness of the role geosciences play in society’s use of resources. Prior to that, she held several academic, policy and senior government positions, including teaching at Georgetown University, working for the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and serving as the associate director of strategic engagement of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) at the U.S. Department of the Interior. She began her career as a geoscientist for ExxonMobil.
She holds bachelor’s degrees in geology and music from the University of Northern Iowa, and a master’s degree in geology from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Profile
Barrón serves as executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Constellation, the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free energy and the leading competitive retail supplier of energy products and services for 2 million homes and businesses across the United States. In this role, Barrón is responsible for corporate strategy, corporate development, public policy, sustainability, communications, corporate relations and philanthropy for Constellation. She is also part of Constellation’s Executive Committee.
Professional History
Barrón previously served as Exelon’s executive vice president for government and regulatory affairs and public policy, where she led the development and implementation of federal, state and regional governmental, regulatory and public policy strategies for Exelon Corporation, the nation’s largest producer and distributor] of clean energy. She was responsible for identifying and assessing key federal and state policy issues of interest to Exelon, crafting the company’s position on such issues, and developing strategies for achieving public policy objectives on behalf of Exelon’s customers and businesses. She was also responsible for managing the company’s wholesale market design advocacy in each of the regional markets where the company operates.
Prior to joining Exelon, Barrón was the Deputy General Counsel at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), where she advised the Commission on all aspects of its responsibilities and represented the Commission before Congress, government agencies, and industry groups. Previously, Barrón was the FERC’s associate general counsel for energy markets, where she led a group of about 90 lawyers on legal and policy matters related to electric power sales and transportation, electric system reliability, corporate regulation of public utilities and natural gas and oil pipeline transportation. Prior to joining FERC, Barrón was in private practice with the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP. There, she represented utility and independent power producer clients in proceedings before FERC, U.S. Courts of Appeal, and state utility commissions.
Family
Barrón is married with three children.
Currently the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City.
Prior to coming to NYU School of Medicine, Dr. Caplan was the Sidney D. Caplan Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, where he created the Center for Bioethics and the Department of Medical Ethics. Caplan has also taught at the University of Minnesota, where he founded the Center for Biomedical Ethics, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia University. He received his PhD from Columbia University.
Dr. Caplan is the author or editor of thirty-five books and over 850 papers in peer reviewed journals. His most recent books are Vaccination Ethics and Policy, with Jason Schwartz and, Getting to Good: Research Integrity in Biomedicine with Barbara Redman.
He has served on a number of national and international committees including as the chair of the National Cancer Institute Biobanking Ethics Working Group, chair of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations on Human Cloning; chair of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Health and Human Services on Blood Safety and Availability. He has also served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, the special advisory committee to the International Olympic Committee on genetics and gene therapy, the Special Advisory Panel to the National Institutes of Mental Health on Human Experimentation on Vulnerable Subjects, the Wellcome Trust Advisory Panel on Research in Humanitarian Crises, and the co-director of the Joint Council of Europe/United Nations Study on Trafficking in Organs and Body Parts.
Caplan has served since 2015 as the chairperson of the Compassionate Use Advisory Committee (CompAC), an independent group of internationally recognized medical experts, bioethicists and patient representatives which advises Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals about requests for compassionate use of some of its investigational medicines.
Dr. Caplan is a regular commentator on bioethics and health care issues for WebMD/Medscape, WGBH radio in Boston, WOR radio in New York City, Hearst Media Group, Connecticut and CNN. He appears frequently as a guest and commentator on various other national and international media outlets.
Dr. Caplan is the recipient of many awards and honors including the McGovern Medal of the American Medical Writers Association and the Franklin Award from the City of Philadelphia. He was a USA Today 2001 “Person of the Year and was described as one of the ten most influential people in science by Discover magazine in 2008. He has also been honored as one of the fifty most influential people in American health care by Modern Health Care magazine, one of the ten most influential people in America in biotechnology by the National Journal, one of the ten most influential people in the ethics of biotechnology by the editors of Nature Biotechnology, and one of the 100 most influential people in biotechnology by Scientific American magazine.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he co-directed an advisory group on sports and recreation for the US Conference of Mayors, created a working group on coronavirus vaccine challenge studies, developed an ethical framework for distributing drugs and vaccines for J&J, helped develop rationing policies for NYU LMC and many other health systems, is a member of the WHO advisory committee on Covid, ethics and experimental drugs/vaccines, helped set policy for WIRB/WCG for research studies He was an advisor to Moderna. And serves on the NCAA Sports and Covid committee.
He received the Patricia Price Browne Prize in Biomedical Ethics for 2011. In 2014 he was selected to receive the Public Service Award from the National Science Foundation/National Science Board, which honors individuals and groups that have made substantial contributions to increasing public understanding of science and engineering in the United States. In 2016 the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) honored him with their Rare Impact Award and e received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Bioethics and the Humanities. In 2018 he was awarded the Food and Drug Law Institute’s Distinguished Service Leadership Award. In 2019 he was honored by the Food and Drug Administration’s, Reagan/Udall Foundation with its Innovation Award.
He holds seven honorary degrees from colleges and medical schools.
Terrance D. Carroll was the 54th Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives. He is the only African-American to have served as Speaker of the Colorado House. Terrance served in the legislature from 2003 until being term-limited 2011. Terrance has been listed by 5280 Magazine as one of the “50 Most Influential People in Denver,” Terrance’s entry noted his reputation as a skillful dealmaker, stating that he is a “critical and respected negotiator.” Terrance is the Colorado State Director for Unite America which is a movement of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents working to bridge the partisan divide in order to further a more representative and functional government capable of solving major challenges.
He also serves as a reserve police officer. Additionally, Terrance has been listed as Power Book Industry Leader in Law by the Denver Business Journal. He is an alum of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Terrance serves on the board of directors for the National Western Stock Show.
Terrance is a graduate of the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He also an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches-USA and the Progressive National Baptist Church.
Currently a senior fellow at The Freedom Forum and Vice Chairman of The Newseum in Washington, DC, Coffey is the author of “Best Practices: The Art of Leadership in News Organizations,” a book on leadership that draws on the experiences of top media executives. Previously the president of CNN Business News and CNNfn, he was responsible for the overall leadership of CNNfn, which expanded to a 24-hour programming schedule under his leadership, and for all business and financial programming on CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN Headline News, CNN Airport Network and the news content of CNNfn.com.
Prior to joining CNN, Coffey was the executive vice president of ABC News, and also served as the editor and executive vice president of the Los Angeles Times from 1989 to 1997. In 1995, he was named Editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation in recognition of the Los Angeles Times’ coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the 1994 O.J. Simpson trial. He also received the Ida B. Wells Award in 1995 for exemplary achievement in the hiring and advancement of minorities in the news media. Other positions he has held include serving as senior vice president and editor of the Dallas Times Herald and editor of U.S. News & World Report. He began his career at The Washington Post where he held a variety of positions during his 17 years there.
Michael Doane is the Managing Director of Agriculture and Food Systems for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Michael leads a team of the organization’s foremost global experts to scale up conservation outcomes across productively managed farming, ranching and agroforestry landscapes.
Providing food and water sustainably is a top global priority for TNC with a focus on minimizing the conversion of natural landscapes to agriculture, restoring degraded croplands and grasslands with advanced soil health, grazing and nutrient management techniques, and securing freshwater in basins threatened by pollution or overuse. TNC has significant food, water and climate programs across the America’s and emerging programs in Africa, India and China. Michael and his team are developing creative strategies to build new business models designed to accelerate conservation gains through catalytic finance, innovation, public policy and agri-food supply chain programs.
Michael brings twenty years of relevant business and leadership experience to the role and holds a B.S. in Agribusiness and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics, both from Kansas State University. He has led high performing teams in the agribusiness and non-profit sectors across corporate strategy, business development, commercial sales and marketing, public policy and sustainability. In addition, he has played a catalytic leadership role in the development of multi-stakeholder sustainability programs such as the No-Till on the Plains, Soil Health Partnership, Collaboration for Forests and Agriculture, Field to Market Alliance and The Sustainability Consortium.
Michael started farming at a young age and is a partner in his family’s cattle and row crop farming operation located in Kansas. He combines his passion for agriculture with his love for nature as an avid angler and sportsman. He makes his home in Parkville, Missouri with his wife, Julie and their two children.
Charles Dukes serves as an Educational Team Member for Wend Collective. As a member of the Wend team, Charles coordinates youth development opportunities to enhance and improve the educational ecosystem. He is also a Board Member for Climb Higher Colorado, a coalition of trusted partners who work together to elevate student, family, and community priorities in improving Colorado’s educational ecosystem.
Before joining Wend Collective, Charles dedicated a significant amount of his career as an education policy director and central office school district administrator. As an Education Policy Director, Charles served as a liaison between the City of Denver and Denver Public Schools to support the alignment between educational institutions, companies, and governance structures. As the Director for College and Career Success at Aurora Public Schools, Charles was a catalyst for changing systems at both the school and district levels to ensure all students have access to postsecondary education and workforce credentials. As the Director of College Access Initiatives at Denver Public Schools (DPS), Charles actively worked with the Denver community, parents, and schools to ensure all DPS students were prepared academically and socially to enter postsecondary opportunities.
Charles is recognized nationally for his work. Recognitions include the “Advocate of the Year” award by the American School Counselor Association (2011), “Friend of CACTA” award by the Colorado Association
of Career and Technical Administrators (2012) and the Sawaya Values “Hope” award from the Sawaya Law Firm (2012) for instilling a sense of hope and providing a brighter future for people in and around their community.
Charles holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Colorado Mesa University, a master’s degree in Education Foundations Practice and Policy from The University of Colorado at Boulder, and a second master’s degree in leadership from Grand Canyon University.
John Echohawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, was a co-founder of the Native American Rights Fund in 1970 and has been its Executive Director since 1977. The Native American Rights Fund has been involved in most of the major Indian rights litigation since 1970. He serves on many national boards and has received numerous service awards and other recognition for his leadership in the Indian law field.
In 1992, he served on the Clinton-Gore transition team for the Department of the Interior and in 2008 he served on the Obama-Biden transition team for the Department of the Interior. B.A., University of New Mexico (1967); J.D., University of New Mexico (1970); admitted to practice law in Colorado.
Shelley Fidler supports clients operating at the intersection of business and government in areas as diverse as, business strategy, government relations, innovative governance, advocacy, federal funding, regulatory assistance, thought leadership, coalition management, mentorship, nonprofit effectiveness, relationships with regulators and policymakers and participation and visibility for companies at government’s highest levels. She assists in subject areas as diverse as trade, utility models, smart grid and grid modernization, energy efficiency and renewable energy, energy innovation in fuels, transportation, power, agriculture, and public lands, as well as with deep engagement in regulation and emerging energy technologies and regulatory trends.. Shelley utilizes more than 45 years of Washington D.C. experience to assist clients in obtaining creative, responsive, sustainable solutions to complex and vexing business, public policy and regulatory challenges.
Prior to her last two decades in the private sector as part of the deeply substantive, well respected, collaborative law firm of Van Ness Feldman, Shelley served six years in the Clinton White House Council on Environmental Quality with an assignment at the Department of Energy. Shelley also served twenty years in the U.S. House of Representatives with former Congressman Philip R. Sharp, finishing her Capitol Hill service as Staff Director at the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Ambassador Edward Gabriel has an extensive background in international affairs, having convened multilateral policy forums involving national security, trade, and energy issues. He has been involved in matters of Russian nuclear non-proliferation, and he has been active in advising the US government on Middle East policy concerns.
In 1997, he became the 16th US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco. Currently, Ambassador Gabriel is the volunteer President and CEO of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a nonprofit organization that seeks to build greater understanding and cultural ties between the United States and Lebanon. In August 2022, the US Senate confirmed the nomination by President Biden of Ambassador Gabriel to become a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace.
Ambassador Gabriel was founding CEO of one of the largest public affairs companies in Washington, the Madison Public Affairs Group. He was a senior economic analyst with the Department of Energy, and was founding Executive Director of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes, an association of American Indian tribes that owned energy resources. He was also Director of the Keystone Policy Center’s Energy Project which pioneered electricity sector reform.
He serves on the boards of the American Schools of Tangier and Marrakech, the Keystone Policy Center, AMIDEAST, and Lebanese American University.
He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and ACCESS Arab American of the Year, among others, and was recognized by the FBI for his work on bilateral security issues. He is the recipient of Lebanon’s National Order of the Cedar and Morocco’s Order of the Ouissam Alaouite.
Ambassador Gabriel holds a B.S. degree in business and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Gannon University. Ambassador Gabriel grew up in Olean, NY, and lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Kathleen Linehan.
Rudy D. Garza is the President & CEO for CPS Energy, the nation’s largest community-owned electric and natural gas utility. He is the first Hispanic leader to hold the position. Rudy has more than 25 years of experience as a leader in the utility industry and has served in both the public and private sectors over the course of his career.
Rudy has successfully led the company to the approval of the first-rate case in 8 years and approval for the next phase of energy efficiency and conservation programs. He also led the comprehensive strategic engagement strategy for Board of Trustee approval of a blended generation planning approach to power our growing community. To deliver on CPS Energy’s mission to serve our community, Rudy developed a strategic plan called Vision 2027, a roadmap to guide CPS Energy through the rapid transformation of the utility industry.
Rudy joined CPS Energy in 2012 and previously served as Chief Customer & Stakeholder Engagement Officer and as Senior Vice President of Distribution Service & Operations where he oversaw the maintenance and construction activity of the electric distribution system. He has also served the company in the role of Vice President of External Relations.
Rudy has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin and a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Texas. He continues to serve his Austin alma mater as an Engineering Advisory Board member for the Cockrell School of Electrical Engineering.
Rudy is dedicated to public service and is actively engaged in his community through multiple board roles, including the Archdiocese Hope for the Future, Brooks Development Authority, greater:SATX, United Way of San Antonio & Bexar County, Texas Energy Reliability Council, and the Large Public Power Council.
David Goldston became Director of the MIT Washington Office in May 2017. Prior to that, he was the Director of Government Affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a leading environmental group, for eight years, where he helped shape NRDC’s federal political strategy, policies and communications. Before that, he spent more than 20 years on Capitol Hill in Washington, working primarily on science policy and environmental policy. He was Chief of Staff of the House Committee on Science from 2001 through 2006. After retiring from government service, Goldston was a visiting lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 2007 and at the Harvard University Center for the Environment in 2008 and 2009.
He is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. From 2007 through November 2009, he wrote a monthly column for Nature on science policy titled “Party of One.” Goldston also was the project director for the Bipartisan Policy Center report “Improving the Use of Science in Regulatory Policy,” which was released in August 2009. He authored a chapter in The Science of Science Policy: A Handbook (Stanford University Press, 2011). He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the National Academy of Sciences’ Division of Environment and Life Sciences and has served on numerous panels of the Academy and other science policy organizations. He holds a B.A. (1978) from Cornell University and completed the course work for a Ph.D. in American history at the University of Pennsylvania.
Carolyn is the founder and managing partner of EnerGreen Capital Management, LLC, which invests in growth stage lower and middle market firms in the environmental and energy industries. EnerGreen owns controlling interest in a St. Louis, MO based environmental engineering firm and a Houston based energy efficiency auditing and consulting firm. Prior to starting EnerGreen, Carolyn was Vice President of Health, Environment & Safety for independent oil refiner/marketer Sunoco, Inc. were served as Chief EHS Officer and published the company’s annual CSR/Sustainability report.
Beginning her career as an urban planner, Carolyn has provided strategic planning, process improvement, regulatory analysis and compliance, government and public affairs, and community outreach services for state and local air pollution control agencies, the homebuilding industry, electric and natural gas utilities, and the oil & petrochemical refining and marketing industries.
Carolyn holds a Bachelor of Music and completed graduate coursework in Urban & Regional Planning from the University of Iowa. She also has completed a course in Planning & Public Policy at the University of California, the US Small Business Administration’s Emerging Leaders Program for small business owners, and an NACD board member training program.
Carolyn is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) and serves on the President’s
Council of Ceres. In 2019, she co-authored the book The Energy Within Us.
Bruce C. Harris is the Vice President of Federal Government Affairs for Walmart.
He is the head of the Washington, D.C. office for the Fortune #1 company, and is responsible for all aspects of the company’s advocacy strategy before the federal government. He leads a team that manages a broad array of complex policy issues, including tax policy, trade, sustainability, food and agriculture, financial services, healthcare, e-commerce, and privacy issues.
Prior to joining Walmart, Mr. Harris was the Chief Policy Advisor for Energy and Air Quality with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in the U.S. House of Representatives. In that capacity he was the principal advisor to the chairman, subcommittee chairman, and Democratic members of the committee on issues before the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality including climate change, alternative energy, renewable fuels, electricity policy, oil and gas, pipeline safety, and nuclear power. He represented the committee and its members in negotiations with the U.S. Senate and various branches of the federal government including the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Transportation.
He began his work with the committee in 2003 and worked on every energy bill passed by the U.S. Congress from 2003 through 2008 including the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
Mr. Harris began his career in 1992 on the staff of then-U.S. Representative Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D-AR), as a legislative assistant covering energy, agriculture, transportation, appropriations, and special projects. In 1996 he was appointed Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Marion Berry (D-AR) where he managed an 18 member staff with offices in Washington, D.C. and Arkansas.
Prior to joining the staff of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Mr. Harris was a Senior Director of Corporate Communications for America Online, Inc. In that capacity he served as deputy head of business communications and developed strategic messages for the company’s commerce and content transactions, as well as cross-divisional marketing and advertising alliances between AOL and Time Warner.
Mr. Harris is a 1992 graduate of the University of Arkansas and holds degrees in English and Communication. He is a member of the Keystone Center Board of Trustees; the Board of Directors for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute; and the Board of Directors for the Clean Energy Buyers Association.
Duane D. Highley is the Chief Executive Officer of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. headquartered in Westminster, Colorado. He has held this position since April 2019.
Tri-State is a not-for-profit cooperative power supplier with a mission to provide its member systems a reliable, affordable and responsible supply of electricity in accordance with cooperative principles. Tri-State is a generation and transmission (“G&T”) association of 45 members, including 42 electric distribution cooperatives and public power districts in four states that together provide power to more than 1 million electricity consumers across nearly 200,000 square miles of the West.
As CEO, Highley leads the executive management team in its strategic and operational initiatives while reporting to the association’s member-appointed board of directors. Highley is working with the board to define the 21st century G&T cooperative as one that is reliable, affordable, increasingly flexible, increasingly clean and, as always, member-focused.
Highley also serves as Co-Chair of the Electric Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC), coordinating security efforts between electric utility CEOs and cabinet-level officials of the U.S. Government.
Highley is a Registered Professional Engineer in Missouri and has over 39 years of professional experience leading energy portfolio transitions with large electric power supply cooperatives. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management, both from Missouri University of Science and Technology (then University of Missouri-Rolla). He also completed the Executive Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Management and the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
He began his professional career as a resource planning engineer with Associated Electric Cooperative (“Associated”), a G&T cooperative serving six other G&Ts which, in turn, serve 51 retail electric distribution cooperatives in Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma. Collectively, Associated and its members serve over 1 million consumers. During his 28 years with Associated, he held positions of increasing responsibility, supervising transmission planning, resource planning, power marketing, power generation operations, mining reclamation operations, and plant construction, ultimately holding the position of Senior Vice President. In 2011, he accepted the position of President and CEO of two organizations: Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation, a state-regulated G&T cooperative serving 17 retail distribution cooperatives with over 1 million consumers, and Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc., a national utility service cooperative with multiple subsidiaries providing utility equipment sales, warehouse management, right-of-way management, transformer manufacturing, smart grid research and development, utility scale solar and battery storage development, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
In her role as Global Sustainability Director for Climate, Carrie will accelerate our efforts and strategies around climate, water and biodiversity. She will organize a team of technical experts to support and guide the Company efforts on key sustainability priorities and will provide strategic input for external ESG reporting. In this capacity, she also has responsibility to represent Dow externally with several key stakeholders, including the CEO Water Mandate and Task Force for Nature Related Disclosures.
In her previous role as the Director of the Global Public Policy and Issues Management team, she was responsible for the company’s policy and strategy development to matters of key strategic importance for Dow, including addressing climate change and resolving plastic waste management issues, among others, and leading multi-disciplinary teams to mitigate enterprise risk.
Carrie joined Dow in 1996 in technical service and development. Throughout her career, she has spent more than 12 years in Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability, including various roles in Dow’s toxicology laboratory, environmental expertise and product stewardship. She also served on the Remediation team representing the company to external stakeholders and media. In her 13 years in Government Affairs, she has led cross-functional issues teams to manage key challenges to Dow’s licenses to operate and sell, represented Dow at trade associations, lobbied on Capitol Hill, and staffed Dow’s Chairman & CEO and other senior executives with the Obama White House, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Australian Growth Centre Programme.
A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Carrie is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, and is a Leadership Midland alumnus. She is on the Board of Directors for the Saginaw Children’s Zoo and is on the Board of Trustees for the Keystone Policy Center. She has also completed programs in Risk Analysis and Risk Communication at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.
Helayne Jones is an Education Consultant specializing in Education strategies in Innovation, Personalized Learning, Scaling and Sustaining non-profits and Leadership. She is a former Sr. Strategy Advisor to New Profit, a national venture philanthropy fund. Prior to that she served as a Sr. Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation developing and implementing the Innovation & Personalized Learning strategy. Prior to joining the foundation, Jones was the President & CEO of the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI). As the leader of CEI, a dynamic, growing organization, Jones drew on 15 years of expertise gained as an education consultant, her experience as a college professor, and her previous work as a marketing executive. Her consulting experience includes work with, for profit & not for profit education firms, school districts and education foundations in Colorado and throughout the country to focus on systems change resulting in improved student outcomes for all students. She also has extensive experience with private-sector and nonprofit organizations to facilitate strategic planning, board communications, and managing the impact of change.
Jones has been an active philanthropist and community leader. She currently serves on the board of Leap Innovations. Past board involvement includes the Boulder Valley School Board for 8 years, 4 of those years as Board President; past trustee of the Rose Community Foundation, past chair of the Health committee and the Education Committee. She served as a member of Governor Hickenlooper’s Education Leadership Council and a board member of the Boulder Community Health Foundation.
Prior to consulting, Jones spent three years as an adjunct professor at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., and 12 years in the technology industry including several executive marketing positions at Wang Laboratories.
She received her doctoral degree in educational administration from the Columbia University Teachers College with an emphasis on school reform. She received a master’s in English from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor’s, honors college, from the University of Michigan.
Doyle Karr is director of Consumer Insights and Social License for Corteva Agriscience. In this role since 2017, Doyle leads efforts to understand global consumer preferences and integrate relevant insights into the business planning within the company. He also directs efforts to engage with traditional and non- traditional stakeholders to achieve social license for emerging technologies that the company is pursuing.
Previously, Doyle was director of Biotechnology Public Policy for DuPont where he led development and implementation of company-wide strategies for biotechnology policies, acceptance and communications across business units and functional areas.
Doyle began his career at DuPont in 1989 with the marketing communications group for North America operations of Pioneer Hi-Bred. He held a variety of communications roles before being named the director of global communications for Pioneer in 2004. While in that role, Doyle also led global public affairs for DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition business. He was named director of DuPont biotechnology public policy in 2013.
Prior to joining Pioneer, Doyle was a journalist in Illinois and Iowa. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois in Journalism and Agriculture and was raised on a small farm in central Illinois.
Doyle is currently chair of the Center for Food Integrity Board of Directors; and chair of the Des Moines Public Schools Foundation Board of Directors.
At Corteva, Anjali led strategy and execution of Corteva’s Global Responsibility program, representing the global integration of Corteva’s ESG efforts and initiatives across Community Investment, Sustainability, and Agriculture Development in over 140 countries. She worked with stakeholders and colleagues across Corteva to help shape the future of sustainable agriculture, ensuring progress for future generations of producers and consumers.
She has 11+ years of experience in responsible business, strategy, analytics across private sector, consulting, NGOs, social enterprises, and international organizations. She holds an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
After nearly 30 years in the industry Dave can grow just about anything you see in the produce section of your local grocery store, especially bananas. He spent nearly 30 years in Latin America growing bananas for one of the world’s biggest produce companies – Chiquita Brands International. At first glance it’s an interesting career path for someone with a graduate degree in finance.
If you dig a little deeper you’ll find that Dave’s love for Latin America led the way. The son of a geologist, he was born and raised in South America. After finishing graduate school in the United States, he found the perfect job in the finance department of Chiquita’s Costa Rica operation, so he sold his car at the airport and jumped on a plane.
Over the course of his career, Dave was able to make some real improvements to the agriculture industry in Latin America. In the 1980s, he was one of the few plantation managers in the oil palm industry to embrace a plan to make the farms and extraction mills more sustainable. In the 1990s when leading Chiquita’s banana operations in Costa Rica, he listened to the appeals made by environmental groups, did the math, and implemented a host of measures that made the cultivation of bananas more sustainable while contributing to the bottom line. He started with two farms in Costa Rica and ultimately executed a $20 million effort to implement the standards across Chiquita’s global operation’s in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Along the way Chiquita became the first multinational banana producer to be certified by the Rainforest Alliance in sustainable cultivation.
Dave applies these lessons learned to a host of agricultural industries including livestock, sugar cane and palm oil where he actively engages the business community to become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
Kerry McNamara is a Senior Advisor in the OCP Group, a leading global crop nutrition company. He has held various roles in the OCP Group since 2010, including serving as founding CEO of OCP’s North American subsidiary. From 2008 to 2010 he was an independent consultant to a broad range of international development agencies, foundations and corporations. From 1996-2008, at the World Bank, he played an important role in the international donor community’s efforts to understand and strengthen the contribution of information and communication technologies to economic development and poverty reduction.
From 1993 to 1996, he served as Executive Director of the Civic Education Project, building CEP from a pilot project to a 10-country initiative assisting higher education reform in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
A political scientist by training (University of Chicago), Mr. McNamara has served as a Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, an Instructor at the University of Notre Dame (where he also received his undergraduate degree), and one of the early staff members of the EastWest Institute in New York.
Rob has been with PepsiCo since 1997 and is currently Vice President of Sustainable Agriculture leading PepsiCo’s Positive Agriculture agenda across their global supply chain. Rob has played a key role in developing PepsiCo’s sustainable agriculture strategy and programs since their inception in 2008.
Throughout his career Rob has consistently demonstrated the ability to implement “big” initiatives across complex global supply chains. Prior to joining the Global Sustainable Agriculture Group Rob was a Sustainability Director in PepsiCo’s Global Operations function delivering productivity and minimizing risk for PepsiCo’s global enterprise and supply chain. In this position, Rob was responsible for PepsiCo’s ReCon (“Resource Conservation”) program, maintaining global environmental metrics systems and reporting, and directing PepsiCo’s Environmental Sustainability Council, a global & cross-divisional team of environmental professionals.
Prior to joining PepsiCo Global Ops Rob worked for PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America division in various Environmental and Energy Engineering positions. Rob holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Akron (Ohio, USA) and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati (Ohio, USA). Rob lives with his wife of nearly 30 years and two daughters in the Dallas, Texas, USA area.
The Honorable Philip D. Moeller is Executive Vice President, Business Operations Group and Regulatory Affairs at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). EEI is the association that represents all of the nation’s investor-owned electric companies.
Mr. Moeller has significant responsibility over a broad range of issues that affect the future structure of the electric power industry and new rules in evolving competitive markets. He has responsibility over the strategic areas of energy supply and finance, environment, energy delivery, energy services, federal and state regulatory issues, and international affairs.
EEI’s member companies increasingly are focused on delivering innovative solutions that meet customers’ changing expectations. Mr. Moeller works with EEI’s member companies to identify policy solutions and business opportunities to better serve customers.
Prior to joining EEI in February 2016, Mr. Moeller served as a Commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), ending his tenure as the second-longest serving member of the Commission. In office from 2006 through 2015, Mr. Moeller ended his service as the only Senate-confirmed member of the federal government appointed by both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. At FERC, Mr. Moeller championed policies promoting improved wholesale electricity markets, increasing investment in electric transmission and natural gas pipeline infrastructure, and enhancing the coordination of theelectric power and natural gas industries.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Moeller headed the Washington, D.C., office of Alliant Energy Corporation. He also served as a Senior Legislative Assistant for Energy Policy to U.S. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), and as the Staff Coordinator of the Washington State Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee in Olympia, Washington.
Mr. Moeller was born in Chicago and raised on a ranch near Spokane, Washington. He received a BA in Political Science from Stanford University.
David Naylor is the President / CEO of Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Rayburn), a generation and transmission cooperative representing four distribution cooperatives who serve consumers in sixteen counties north and east of the Dallas Metroplex.
He has over 25 years of experience in the utility industry. Prior to becoming the President / CEO of Rayburn, David served as Rayburn’s Executive Vice President and was a managing consultant with C. H. Guernsey & Company.
He is a licensed Professional Engineer, with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.
Gilberto Gilberto has spent thirty years working to build a network of political and business relationships with community leaders, operatives, entrepreneurs, and elected officials. His coalition-building skills include gathering local intelligence, performing political outreach, and crafting communications strategies that work for his clients. This unique combination of experience has led to Gilberto providing quality business management consulting services to clients in both the public and private sectors, domestically and internationally.
A veteran of four presidential campaigns, Gilberto most recently led the National Latino Presidential Campaign for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2000. Other roles include twice serving as the DNC regional field director, in addition to his role as DNC director of the Office of Voter Participation under the late Chairman Ron Brown. Gilberto has run statewide campaigns in Texas. When he began, he was one of the first Hispanics to do so. When he was director of Communications for the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, he led one of the most successful voter registration and education groups in the Southwest.
Gilberto’s experience in turning a start-up business in 1992 into a successful security printing and fulfillment company has given him insights into key business issues of governmental contracting. The success of his business enterprise, coupled with his commitment to maintain a strong civic presence, garnered him local recognition as the “Hispanic Businessman of the Year” as well as “Volunteer of the Year” by the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Hispanic Magazine recognized Gilberto as a “Rising Entrepreneur” and among his successful startups is the web-based Latino News Digest “Newstaco.com”, providing innovative and insightful news, critique, analysis, and opinion from a Latino perspective in a 24-hour world.
Gilberto has served on the National Advisory Boards of the Resolution Trust Corporation, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Secretary of Energy and the Smithsonian Task Force on Latino Affairs. With special pride, Gilberto serves on the board of the Mi Familia Vota Education Fund (MFVEF), a national non-profit organization working to unite the Latino community and its allies to promote social and economic justice through increased civic participation. In addition, Gilberto serves on the board of the Texas Democracy Foundation, publisher of the Texas Observer, and also serves on the Texas Advisory Board of the Environmental Defense Fund.