Participants for Engineering & Humanity Week 2013

 

David de Rothschild, Visionary Award Winner; Founder, Sculpt the Future Foundation

David de Rothschild is an environmentalist, explorer, eternal optimist and the founder of the Sculpt The Future Foundation, a group that uses exploration, adventure and storytelling as a way to give nature a voice. He is leading a new generation of action-oriented change makers and reigniting a collective spirit of hope that the fate of our planet can be rewritten. His unwavering belief that we must work together— and question a "that's just the way we've done it" mentality—is best exemplified in the Plastiki project.  In early 2010, David and his team designed and built a one-of-a-kind, fully recyclable catamaran made buoyant by 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles. He sailed the vessel 8,000 miles across the Pacific to alert the world to the devastating effects of single-use plastics.  The message and journey was seen and heard around the world by millions. In November 2011, David and a core crew travelled into the heart of Brazil's Amazon rainforest to discover the effects the controversial Belo Monte dam project is having on the local community.

With numerous adventures, several books, a Sundance channel TV series and a National Geographic documentary under his belt, David is always debating, collaborating and innovating solutions for a more sustainable planet and driving individuals and groups alike to unlock their human potential and dream big.

 

Emmanuel Jal, Humanitarian Award Winner, International Recording Artist

Emmanuel Jal was born in Southern Sudan, and spent the early years of his childhood in the midst of its long running civil war. At the age of 7, after the death of his mother, he was recruited as a child soldier for the Rebel army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

Amazingly, he survived front line action and eventually escaped with 300 other "lost boys," enduring a three month trek, on foot and without any supplies, to reach safety. One of only a handful to survive the journey, Emmanuel was rescued by Emma McCune, a British aid worker, who smuggled him to freedom in Kenya and enrolled him in school for the first time. Some 15 years later, Emmanuel is now a world-famous recording artist, author and advocate. He has released 4 studio albums and has published his own biography 'Warchild' and released a documentary of the same name. He has performed at the 90th birthday concert for Nelson Mandela, The One World Concert for the Dalai Lama and alongside some of the greatest names in music. He has addressed the UN Security Council and has spoken before the G20 and at the TED Global Conference.

Emmanuel has worked tirelessly with the United Nations, Amnesty International and Oxfam to campaign against the employment of child soldiers and the illegal trade of arms. Emmanuel's work for his non-profit Gua Africa and his We Want Peace campaign remains his overriding passion.  

 

Katie Spotz, Adventurer, Speaker, Safe Water Activist

An Ohio native, Katie Spotz, 24, describes herself as a "benchwarmer," but she came to believe that you don't have to be extraordinary to achieve incredible things. In 2010, she set the world record as the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic (3,000 miles). Along the way, she raised $150,000 for safe water projects in Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Kenya. Since then, her adventurous spirit continues to raise awareness about worthy causes. Her "Schools for Water" program raised $100,000 with the help of 10 U.S. schools to provide clean drinking water to 10 Kenyan schools. Her affiliation with Blue Planet Network continues her focus on water projects around the world. Besides speaking at the United Nations' Annual Youth Assembly and being featured several times in the media, Katie was named one of Glamour Magazine's 2010 "Women of the Year," alongside Julia Roberts, Cher, and Queen Rania of Jordan.

 

Erik Abild, Advisor to the Norwegian Refugee Council

Erik Abild is the political advisor to the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the largest humanitarian organization in Norway. At the age of 29, he has significant field experience, including serving as the resident representative of a medical NGO in Gaza. He has also worked on political aspects of operations in Somalia and Myanmar, and been involved in NRC's programs worldwide. The Norwegian Refugee Council is among the largest refugee organizations in the world behind UNHCR. Innovation in humanitarian programming is a key priority for NRC: from shelter and land rights, to market-based cash solutions for food security, to inclusion of refugees in programs in some of the world's largest refugee camps.

Photo Credit: Ida von Hanno Bast

 

Jeff Ball, Stanford University, Former Environment Editor for the Wall Street Journal

Jeffrey Ball, until recently The Wall Street Journal's environment editor, is scholar-in-residence at Stanford University's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance. Ball spent more than a decade at the Journal writing about energy and the environment, in particular about the economic viability of changing the way the world consumes fossil fuels. He covered the auto industry for the Journal out of its Detroit bureau, and the oil industry from the paper's Dallas bureau. In 2009, he wrote a Journal column called Power Shift, which won an award from the National Press Foundation for its coverage of the changing energy and environmental landscape. He spent most of 2010 covering the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, focusing on questions about the spill's environmental effect.

Also at the Journal, Ball created and was the founding editor of Environmental Capital, a blog on energy and the environment. He helped conceive, and was a host and moderator of, ECO:nomics, an annual conference on energy and the environment that brings together chief executives, policymakers, and other leaders in the field. In addition, Ball helped host the Journal's CEO Council, a group of global chief executives who meet annually in Washington to discuss policy issues and make recommendations for federal action.

 

Puja Batra, Sustainable Development Professional

Puja Batra, Ph.D., works across many fields of sustainable development. Examples include honeybee pollination in tropical forests, snow leopard conservation in the Himalayan high desert, drinking water security and groundwater sustainability, and urban ecological design in South Asia. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a doctorate in ecology from Michigan State University. She has had training in biomimicry as a BaDT – Biologist at the Design Table.

 

Alex Betts, University of Oxford, Refugee Studies Center

Dr. Alexander Betts is the Director of the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP)(www.oxhip.org) at the University of Oxford. Additionally, he is University Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies in the Department of International Development Oxford, where he previously served as the Hedley Bull Research Fellow in International Relations. He has also been Director of the MacArthur Foundation-funded Global Migration Governance Project and a Senior Researcher at the Global Economic Governance Programme. His research focuses on the international politics of asylum and migration, with a geographical focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Alex is author or editor of numerous books, including Survival Migration: Failed Governance and the Crisis of Displacement which will publish in May 2013. His other books include: Forced Migration and Global Politics, Protection by Persuasion: International Cooperation in the Refugee Regime, Global Migration Governance, Refugees in International Relations (with Gil Loescher), and UNHCR: The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection (with Gil Loescher and James Milner). He has worked for The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and as a consultant to the Council of Europe, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Commonwealth Secretariat. His work has been funded by, amongst others, the MacArthur Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Economic and Social Research Council. He has held teaching and research positions at Stanford University and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

 

Katherine Bliss, Senior Associate, Global Health Policy Center, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC

For Katherine Bliss, the state of the world's health is more than a job. A Senior Associate with the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, the Center works with diverse stakeholders to make U.S. global health efforts more strategic, integrated and sustainable over the long-term. Previously, she served as Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, where she led work analyzing the changing landscape of global health diplomacy and directed the Project on Global Water Policy. Prior to CSIS, Katherine spent five years at the U.S. Department of State, where, as a foreign affairs officer, she oversaw a team focused on environmental health, including water, sanitation and hygiene as well as indoor air quality issues.  As a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in 2003-2004, she served on the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff. The author of books, articles and reports on global health, international relations, gender issues and Latin America, Katherine received her A.B./A.M. at Harvard University, completed her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, studied at the Colegio de México and was a David E Bell Fellow in population and development studies at the Harvard School of Public Health. 

 

Louise Bloom, Humanitarian Innovation Project, University of Oxford

Louise Bloom is a research officer in the International Development and Humanitarian sector of the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP) at the University of Oxford.  Before joining the HIP at Oxford, Louise worked in the International Supply and Logistics team at Oxfam. Her work at Oxfam covered projects on global supply-chain process improvements, staff and partner training, evaluations, and audits across Oxfam's country programs, including: Ethiopia; Kenya; Haiti and Myanmar. Louise previously worked for Engineers Without Borders UK (EWB-UK) in various capacities, while studying engineering and later working at the University of Cambridge on industrial sustainability research projects. She later worked on EWB-UK's training and research programs, after which she sat on the organization's board of trustees. Louise received training in humanitarian logistics with Save the Children UK. She then worked in Myanmar for the Cyclone Nargis emergency response and the January 2010 Haiti Earthquake Response in the Dominican Republic, setting up the supply chain across the border. In April 2010 she moved to Haiti where she managed the supplies and pharmacies for Save the Children's health and nutrition programs.

 

Kate Canales, Director of Design and Innovation Programs, Lyle School of Engineering, Southern Methodist University

After nearly 15 years working internationally in the design industry, Kate Canales joined Lyle in 2012 to develop a program that infuses design thinking and innovation process into student learning. Her area of focus is innovation through an understanding of human needs and behavior. Kate has worked as a designer and researcher at IDEO and as a creative director at frog design. Her degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University helps inform her innovations. Kate's writings on human-centered design have appeared in GOOD magazine, The Atlantic and The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. In 2012, she and her team at frog design received an IDSA Gold Award for their work on mobile phone systems in health care for UNICEF in Zambia and Malawi. 

 

Marc P. Christensen, Dean ad interim and Professor, SMU Lyle School of Engineering

Marc Christensen sees light in different ways than most others. As one of the nation's key leaders in mapping photonic technology onto applications, he and a team of researchers from five institutions are working to develop an optical interface to the human nervous system. The science of photonics includes the generation, emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and detection and sensing of light. His groundbreaking research has put Marc in the forefront of innovation in his field. An SMU faculty member since 2002, Marc was selected as the inaugural Bobby B. Lyle Professor of Engineering Innovation in 2010 and is currently serving as Dean ad interim of the SMU Lyle School of Engineering.  He received his B.S. in Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 1993, a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University in 1998, and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from George Mason University in 2001.  His research may require a Ph.D., but his research philosophy is down to Earth. "Often, the best idea comes out of teams reacting to suggestions that won't work but inspire a new direction," he says. "Tackle big projects that necessitate collaborators from different fields. Expose yourself to seemingly unrelated areas of creative and innovative work. Inspiration strikes unpredictably. Build it. Build it. Build it."

 

Betsy del Monte, Adjunct Faculty-SMU Lyle School of Engineering, The Return on Innovation Project

People, places and opportunity—these are the specialty of Betsy del Monte, FAIA. Betsy leads The Return on Innovation Project, dedicated to the empowerment of people at risk, restoration of their dignity and economic self-sufficiency as well as protection of the environment and natural resources. She also serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at SMU's Lyle School of Engineering, where she has created and teaches a Master's degree program in Sustainability and Development. Formerly a Principal and Director of Sustainability for The Beck Group, an integrated architecture, construction and development firm based in Dallas, she has 30 years of experience in high-performance architecture and environmental responsive design. Betsy has been named to the College of Fellows of the AIA, and a Senior Fellow in the Design Futures Council. She has been President of AIA Dallas, and Chair of the North Texas Green Building Council, and sits on the boards of Habitat for Humanity in Dallas and Empower African Children. Betsy received her Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University. Her experience includes work at architecture firms in Atlanta and Houston, as well as nine years with Philip Johnson and John Burgee in New York.

 

Jean-François Durieux, Humanitarian Innovation Project, University of Oxford

Jean-Francois Durieux is a senior advisor to the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP) at the University of Oxford. Before joining the HIP, he taught international law at the Refuge Studies Center at Oxford and had a long career with UNHCR, most recently as Director in the Division of Programme Support and Management. While at UNHCR, Mr Durieux developed a number of significant insights into the challenges of humanitarian work and the resourcefulness of displaced persons. He developed the first model of field-based technological innovation architecture in partnership with the Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity at SMU. In recent years his research has focused on legal responses to mass influxes of refugees, including a comparison of African and European regimes and a reflection on the legal implications of refugee emergencies and protracted refugee situations. He has organized seminars and short courses on statelessness and on the cross-fertilization of refugee law, human rights law, and international humanitarian law. He is currently associated with a project which analyses the global impact of European Union (EU) asylum law. Jean-François Durieux is a graduate of Facultes Universitaires St-Louis in Brussels, Belgium, and obtained a Law Degree from the Catholic University of Louvain.

 

Myles Estey, Editor, Makeshift Magazine

Myles Estey is the Senior Editor of Makeshift Magazine: A Journal of Hidden Creativity, and a freelance journalist covering the drug war and regional politics in Mexico and Central America for BBC, CBC, Toronto Star and Times of London. Myles is currently producing the documentary "Getting By," looking at how street-level economies respond to countries in crisis. 

 

Jeff Fulgham, Sustainability and Strategy Executive, Banyan Water

Jeff Fulgham knows the water business. A 29-year veteran in the water industry, Jeff speaks extensively at global industry events and has published numerous technical papers on water and power topics.  Previously the Chief Sustainability Officer and Ecomagination Director at GE Power and Water, where he partnered with customers, organizations, and governments to drive awareness of current water challengers and solutions, and the need to implement water reuse technologies, he now spreads the message of smart water management for Banyan Water. Before assuming his new position, Jeff was the Chief Marketing Officer and Global Marketing Director for GE Water, where he was responsible for all global strategic marketing initiatives on existing and emerging markets and led the commercial and technical training functions for the business. Jeff holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Ohio State University.

 

Dr. Nathan Huntoon, Director, SMU Innovation Gymnasium

 

Nathan Huntoon is a dreamer—and that's his day job. As Director of SMU's Innovation Gymnasium, Nathan develops and leads student design projects. Under his guidance, students have been able to participate in several projects including the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Immersion Design Experiments, Innovation (Gym) Competition and several research projects for the U.S. military.

Nathan received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and immediately went to work for the U.S. Navy as a civil servant at China Lake Naval Weapons Center in California. He returned to graduate school, earning both his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from SMU. In 2006, Nathan founded the SMU Robotics Club, which provides undergraduate students real design problems that they tackle as members of interdisciplinary teams. In addition to running the Innovation Gymnasium, Nathan teaches Senior Design in the Electrical Engineering Department at SMU's Lyle School of Engineering.

 

Bob and Macky Johnson, 20 Liters

Bob and Macky Johnson are on a mission to preserve lives—20 liters at a time. Through their organization, 20 Liters—the amount of water most often carried in containers by those in developing countries who must obtain water from lakes or rivers to survive—the Johnsons are working with World Relief, Rwanda to provide clean water.  With backing from World Relief, the project is proving highly effective. With the assistance of Rwandan church volunteers, 20 Liters set up a program using intermittent slow sand filtration to bring clean water to the residents of Masaka, Rwanda.  As the program in Masaka moves into the sustainable phase, 20 Liters is moving to Gahanga, Rwanda to set up a similar program. A registered professional engineer, Bob provides the technical expertise and training for the filtration and the rainwater harvesting projects; Macky works with Rwanda Water Team on development and project follow through. Moving forward, the Johnsons have developed a comprehensive plan for providing access to clean water for over 87,000 people in four regions of Rwanda by 2015.

 

Ben Mann, Global Partnerships Director, WASH Advocates

Ben Mann is Global Partnerships Director at WASH Advocates, a neutral, third party advocacy initiative for the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector. He has been a leader in the nonprofit community for more than 10 years, with assignments at the American Lung Association and Arthritis Foundation.  A well-recognized expert in volunteer management, Ben has a talent for connecting people with their passions and turning that connection into new opportunities for leadership. His interest is to build diverse and dynamic funding and resource opportunities within the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector, including work with corporate, governmental, or other partners, not excluding various faith communities and private foundations.  Ben is a former chair of the diaconate at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  He was appointed to the Governor's Arthritis Advisory Council by Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland in 2010.  Ben received his Master of Public Administration from the University of Missouri – Kansas City and his Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Baylor University.

 

Tanvi Nagpal, Johns Hopkins University 

Tanvi Nagpal is an expert in international development policy. As a Professorial Lecturer and Student Advisor at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)at Johns Hopkins University, in the International Development Program, she now applies her extensive knowledge in the field to help prepare the next generation of students for service to the developing world.  Prior to joining SAIS, she was the Director of Programs at Global Water Challenge. She has worked closely with important water and sanitation grant-makers, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Tanvi, who has worked on environmental issues at the World Bank for 10 years, has a PhD in Political Science from Brown University.

 

Faith Nibbs, Educator, Researcher and Author of Immigration and Refugee Issues

Faith Nibbs received her Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University and lectures in anthropology at SMU in Dallas and at the University of Texas in Arlington. Her research focuses on the anthropological understanding of diasporic refugee communities and how long-term transnational involvement and incorporation into local host societies co-exist. Along with her forthcoming book, Displacement and Belonging: Hmong Refugees in Texas and Germany, she has published on topics including U.S. and European immigrant issues such as international migration and identities, and has done public and academic speaking on topics of immigrant and refugee integration in the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, China, and elsewhere. She also actively serves as a consult to refugee resettlement agencies.

 

Linda J. Paisley, Biomimicry and Sustainability Specialist

Building on her formal education in biology and architecture, Linda continues to expand her expertise to help organizations desiring to live up to the responsibility of enacting quality sustainability solutions. Her career began with an architectural firm specializing in passive solar power and, more recently, she served on the team to build Houston's first LEED gold building, The University of Texas School of Nursing. Her Houston ties also include currently serving as a board member of the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center and the Blackwood Land Institute. She has participated in biomimicry workshops in Peru and in Austin and is a past board member of Amigos de las Americas. Recently completing the Biomimicry Specialist Training Program and currently pursuing an MBA in sustainability, Linda's commitment to the use of sustainable materials and methods is also personal: She is a master gardener and master naturalist.

 

Andrew Quicksall, J Lindsay Embrey Trustee Assistant Professor, SMU

Andrew Quicksall specializes in clean water—and saving lives. The search for solutions to dangerous water quality issues in refugee camps around the world is driving a project that Andrew is helping lead—an SMU lab group's partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Through a research agreement with UNHCR, the university's faculty and students are working both in the lab and on the ground in Kenya, Uganda, Liberia and Bangladesh to help solve dangerous water quality problems at UNHCR refugee camps.  Results from the research may well save tens of thousands of lives. Andrew earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Sciences from Texas Christian University in 1998; his M.S. degree in Geology from Washington State University in 2000; and a Ph.D. in Earth Science from Dartmouth College in 2009.

 

Silvastone, Musician

Since he began playing the keyboard at the age of five, Silvastone has been entertaining audiences, and today the world is his stage. An acclaimed musician with an international recording portfolio, Silvastone's song writing and production skills have achieved great accolades for him and for the artists and record labels he has worked with. Silvastone has been pivotal in the career of hip-hop artist Emmanuel Jal. As part of Jalʼs core production team, Silvastone has appeared on stage at the World Bank (Washington DC), United Nations (New York), Melbourne Festival (Australia), V Festival (UK), WOMAD Festival (UK), Alicia Keysʼ Keep a Child Alive Black Ball (UK), fashion designer Ozwald Boatengʼs show at Catwalk the World (Ghana), Hip Hop Awards (Nigeria), Hip Hop Summit (South Africa) and Afrikadey (Calgary), to name but a few. Songs penned by Silvastone appeared on the soundtrack to the multi-award winning documentary of Emmanuel Jalʼs early life, War Child, and success with Jal came again in 2012 when Wanekulu, the criticsʼ stand-out track from the album "See Me Mama," gave Silvastone his second number one hit in Kenya. March 2013 marked the release of Silvastoneʼs landmark mixtape, "The Résumé," a celebration of his most recent Afrobeats production highlights. Born in Croydon, London to parents from Sierra Leone and Ghana, Silvastone developed a keen interest in music at a very young age, learning to play the keyboard at 5 years old. Influenced by highlife music along with other genres such as hip hop, reggae and R&B, he started to create his own music when he moved to Sierra Leone with his father at the age of 11. He would play his fatherʼs piano every day and soon became the keyboardist and musical director of his church. This honed his skills in creating harmonies and playing songs by ear. After returning to London to study for a college diploma in Performing Arts in the late 1990s, Silvastone continued to pursue his love of music and immersed himself in all the music he could buy including The Notorious BIG, 2Pac, Wyclef Jean, Timbaland, Dr Dre, J Dilla, Masters at Work and many others that he today cities as his influences.

 

 

Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci are Executive Directors and Co-Founders of Living on One. The company's first feature film, Living on One Dollar, follows the journey of Zach, Chris and two film makers as they try to live on just $1 a day for eight weeks in rural Guatemala to raise awareness about extreme poverty. The film's teaser videos have received over 630,000 views on YouTube, and the project has been featured in the Huffington Post, at TEDx Buenos Aires, and CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose. Zach and Chris recently toured the country speaking and hosting screenings of the film at 25 universities around the U.S. They have also  worked for 5 different microfinance organizations and are fellows of Creative Visions Foundation and Ashoka Youth Venture.

 

Vanessa Tobin, Senior Technical Adviser for Water Supply, Sanitation and Water Resources Development for Catholic Relief Services

Photo courtesy of IISD/Earth Negotiations BulletinVanessa Tobin's forte is international policy development and program management and she has led efforts to improve the lives of people around the world for 30-plus years. Her comprehensive approach to collaboration with countries' leaders and on-the-ground program implementation has brought better education, equality, child welfare, water and sanitation services, economic stability and health to the disadvantaged and underserved people where she has served in Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan and Nepal. For five years, she was responsible for the global UNICEF effort in the area of water, environment and sanitation programs, and in that role she developed strategies and tactics with decision-makers in countries and regions around the world. The result was new global initiatives in water and sanitation for schools, water quality improvement, public-private partnerships for hygiene improvements, and emergency water supply.

 

Jessie Zarazaga, Sustainability and Development, Lyle School of Engineering, SMU

Working across the boundaries of urbanism, landscape, sustainability and public art engagement, Jessie is a landscape-urbanist and architect who teaches at both the Lyle School of Engineering and the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. Her interests and influence span geographical boundaries, too. While living and practicing in Dallas, she is trained internationally and continues to travel and research with a global perspective in mind. Her research explores sustainable ways to connect culture and community to place and she continued that pursuit by undertaking a Fulbright in Valparaiso, Chile, focused on how devices of landscape are structures of urban order. Closer to home, Jessie served as the SMU production manager for Engineering & Humanity Week 2013, and even collaborated on the designs of The Water Tap and the Aquaponics structure.

 

Kathy Zarsky, Founder Biomimicry, TX and Sustainability Strategist 

Roles such as sustainable and regenerative building advisor, process mapper, biomimicry practitioner, educator, program developer and vegetated roof expert (and owner) only begin to describe Kathy's capabilities. Currently serving as systems and strategy designer at HOLOS, she has a career full of proven leadership, including her stint as the immediate past chair of the USGBC National Chapter Steering Committee. She has extensive facilitation, research and project management experience, and has worked as a sustainable strategist for municipalities, higher education institutions, and non-profit and private sector clients. In 2011, she founded BiomimicryTX--a regional network affiliate of Biomimicry 3.8 Institute—and then became a certified biomimicry specialist and frequent biomimicry speaker. Most recently, Kathy is nearing certification as a TX Master Naturalist and is leading in the development of a biome-based toolkit.

 

Hunter L. Hunt, President and CEO, Hunt Consolidated Energy 

Hunter Hunt is President and CEO of Hunt Consolidated Energy, the holding company for Hunt Oil, Hunt Power, and the other energy activities of the Ray L. Hunt family of Dallas, Texas.  Hunt Oil Company was founded in 1934 by H.L. Hunt and is one of the largest privately-owned energy companies in the world, engaging in exploration and production as well as LNG.  Hunt is also engaged in refining, development of energy technologies and developing renewable energy projects.

Hunter Hunt has led the efforts to expand the energy focus of the Hunt affiliation of companies to include the electric power industry.  He established Hunt Power in 1998 to develop and invest in entrepreneurial opportunities in the electric and gas utility infrastructure industries.  In 1999, he created Sharyland Utilities, L.P., as a regulated electric utility within Texas.  Sharyland was the first greenfield utility created in the United States since the late 1960's.  Over the years, Hunt Power and its subsidiaries have worked closely with Sharyland Utilities on a variety of innovative projects, including: the development of the first commercial interconnection between the electrical grids of Texas and Mexico; the development and construction of approximately 300 miles of new transmission infrastructure in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains as part of the Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) process; and the creation of first-of-their-kind Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) for electric and natural gas transmission and distribution assets.

Prior to joining Hunt Consolidated, Hunt worked with the investment bank Morgan Stanley for eight years, both in corporate finance and commodity trading.  He also took a leave of absence from the Hunt organization in 1999 and 2000 to work for the George W. Bush campaign for President, where he served in the Policy Group focusing on energy, taxes, and the budget.

Hunt graduated from Southern Methodist University summa cum laude, earning bachelor of science degrees with honors in both economics and political science.  He serves in several capacities at SMU, including serving on the Engineering School's Executive Board.  He is also co-founder of the Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute of Engineering & Humanity, which focuses on bringing innovative technological and business solutions to the global poor.

 

Stephanie Hunt, Co-Founder, Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity

Stephanie Hunt co-founded the Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity within SMU's Lyle School of Engineering. The Hunt Institute is dedicated to bringing technology-driven solutions to improve the lives of those in extreme poverty, and to developing a new generation of engineers who will apply their talents to the challenges facing the global poor. Stephanie currently serves on the boards of the USA for UNHCR (the UN Agency for Refugees); the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas (providing free legal representation and social services to asylum seekers); and The da Vinci School, which specializes in early childhood education. Stephanie is a past chair of the AFI DALLAS International Film Festival and continues her support of film preservation through the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. She studied at Sotheby's in London and subsequently worked in their Dallas office. Two years later, she joined the energy research group of the investment bank Wasserstein Perella.