John R. Butler, Jr.
Chairman
J.R. Butler and Company

John R. Butler, Jr. is chairman of J. R. Butler and Company and currently serves on the board of directors of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and the Houston Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors. He was formerly chairman and chief executive officer of GeoQuest International Holdings Inc. and senior chairman of Petroleum Information Corporation. He has also served on the Metropolitan Transit Authority board of directors and as chairman of the Regional Mobility Commission for the Houston Chamber of Commerce. Butler was twice a commissioner of the Texas Department of Highways and Public Transportation. Mr. Butler served as chairman of the HARC board from 1988 to 2000 and served as its president between July of 1998 and November of 1999.

Elizabeth Anderson Fletcher
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology Transfer, UH System
Associate Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer, UH University of Houston

Dr. Elizabeth Anderson Fletcher is Associate Vice Chancellor/Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer at the University of Houston and Associate Professor of Decision and Information Sciences in the Bauer College of Business.   Her teaching field is service operations management and her research interests are forecasting, service quality management, and health care operations.  Prior to her position in the Division of Research, she was the Associate Dean for Administration and Academic Affairs in the Bauer College of Business from 2001 to 2008.  She earned her Ph.D. in Business Administration in 1992 from the University of Houston in the area of Production and Operations Management.

Elizabeth Lyons Ghrist
President
Liz Ghrist & Associates, Inc.

Elizabeth Lyons Ghrist is president of Liz Ghrist & Associates Inc. She serves on a number of boards, among them CenterPoint, Chase Bank of Texas, and the Texas Medical Center. She also is a trustee of Hermann Hospital and a regent of the University of Houston. She is a former Harris County commissioner. She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in March 1999.

Chip Groat
Director
Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy

Chip Groat is Director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, Director of the Energy and Earth Resources Graduate Program, holds the John A. and Katherine G. Jackson Chair in Energy and Mineral Resources in the Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, and Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He assumed these positions in June 2005 after serving 6 ½ years as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, having been appointed by President Clinton and retained by President Bush.

His degrees in geology are from the University of Rochester (A.B.), University of Massachusetts (M.S.), and The University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D.)

Robert (Bob) Harriss
President
HARC

Robert Harriss is President and CEO of the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC). His professional interests focus on sustainability science, engineering, education and policy. He was formerly Senior Scientist and Director of the Institute for the Study of Society and the Environment at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO. Prior positions included a Harvard University postdoctoral fellowship and faculty appointments at McMaster University (Canada), Florida State University, University of New Hampshire, Texas A&M University, and the University of Colorado. He also served ten years as a Senior Scientist in the ocean and atmospheric sciences at the NASA Langley Research Center and three years as Science Director for the Mission to Planet Earth Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Dr. Harriss obtained a B.S. in Geology from Florida State University and a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from Rice University.

Amy Myers Jaffe
Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies
Director of the Energy Forum, Baker Institute
Director of the Rice University Energy Program

Jaffe’s research focuses on oil geopolitics, strategic energy policy including energy science policy, and energy economics. Jaffe was formerly senior editor and Middle East analyst for Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. She is widely published and served as co-editor of "Energy in the Caspian Region: Present and Future" (Palgrave, 2002) and "Natural Gas and Geopolitics: From 1970 to 2040" (Cambridge University Press, 2006), and as co-author of "Oil, Dollars, Debt and Crises: The Global Curse of Black Gold" with Mahmoud A. El-Gamal (Cambridge University Press, 2010). Jaffe also contributed to Foreign Policy’s "21 Solutions to Save the World" (May/June 2007). She served as a member of the reconstruction and economy working group of the Baker/Hamilton Iraq Study Group, as project director for the Baker Institute/Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on Strategic Energy Policy, and as a principal adviser to USAID’s project on "Options for Developing a Long Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry." She currently serves as a strategic adviser to the American Automobile Association (AAA) of the United States and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Jaffe was among the Key Women in Energy-Americas honorees in the Pathfinders/Trailblazers category (2004), the honoree for Esquire’s annual 100 Best and Brightest in the contribution to society category (2005), Elle magazine’s Women for the Environment (2006), and was named to Who’s Who in America (2008). Jaffe is a Princeton University graduate with a degree in Arabic studies.

R. Bowen Loftin
President

Dr. R. Bowen Loftin was named the 24th president of Texas A&M University on February 12, 2010, after serving as interim president since June 15, 2009.  He previously served for four years as a vice president of the university and as chief executive officer of the institution's marine-oriented branch campus, Texas A&M University at Galveston, where he also held the position of professor of maritime systems engineering.

Prior to assuming leadership of Texas A&M University at Galveston, Dr. Loftin served at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, as professor of electrical and computer engineering and professor of computer science. Additionally, he was Old Dominion's director of simulation programs and had responsibility for the institution's graduate programs in modeling and simulation. He also served as executive director of the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center. Earlier in his career, he was professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and director of the NASA Virtual Environments Research Institute at the University of Houston.

Dr. Loftin has frequently served as a consultant to both industry and government in the areas of modeling and simulation, advanced training technologies, and scientific/engineering data visualization. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 technical publications and has conducted more than 180 invited lectures and other presentations. Additionally, he has served as principal investigator or major participant in scores of grants and contracts totaling millions of dollars.

He serves on numerous advisory committees and panels sponsored by governmental and professional organizations. He has served since 2007 as a member of the National Academies' Panel on Arms and Armaments and previously served on the National Science Advisory Committee for the Desert Research Institute, which was assembled under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Since 2006, he has served as associate editor of Computers in Science and Engineering. His citations and honors include the American Association of Artificial Intelligence Award for an innovative application of artificial intelligence, NASA's Space Act Award, the NASA Public Service Medal, and the 1995 NASA Invention of the Year Award and the University of Houston-Downtown Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Service (twice).

William J. Merrell

William J. Merrell is a founding partner of MerrellKatsouros LLP, chairman and principal scientist of The Institute for Oceans and Coasts and professor of marine sciences at Texas A&M University at Galveston. In these positions, he develops innovative public policy on sustainable approaches to ocean and coastal governance and advises on the implementation of such policies. Merrell also serves as general manager of NIOXX, LLC; a medical research and development company, and president of Merrell Historic Properties, Inc.; a corporation that develops and preserves historic properties.

He has served as president of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment, vice chancellor for Strategic Programs of the Texas A&M University System, vice president for Research Policy of Texas A&M University, president of Texas A&M University at Galveston, and assistant director of the National Science Foundation.

George P. Mitchell
Chief Executive Officer
The Mitchell Family Corporation

George P. Mitchell is the chairman and CEO of The Mitchell Family Corporation. He formerly served as chairman and CEO of Mitchell Energy & Development Corp., one of the nation's largest independent oil, gas, and natural gas liquids producers. He has developed real estate in the Houston/Galveston area, including The Woodlands. Mitchell has received numerous awards for his leadership in energy, real estate, historic preservation, and global issues.

Greg Mitchell
Associate Research Oceanographer
Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Greg Mitchell is a research oceanographer at the University of California - San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Dr. Mitchell served NASA as program manager for Ocean Biochemistry and program scientist for the SeaWiFS Ocean Color Satellite Mission. His research on phytoplankton photosynthesis and ecology has been sponsored by NASA, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

J. Todd Mitchell
Owner & President
Two Seven Ventures, LLC

J. Todd Mitchell has served as chairman of HARC's board of directors since 2000 and was president of HARC from 2001 to 2006. Mr. Mitchell has a BA in Geology from The Colorado College (1981), an MA in Geology from The University of Texas at Austin (1987), and an MSc. in Sustainable Development (with Distinction) from Edinburgh University (2007). He has worked extensively in the energy industry, first as a principal in start-up companies related to natural gas exploration and geophysics; and more recently as owner and President of Two Seven Ventures, a VC fund that backs development of low-carbon energy technologies. Mr. Mitchell is a director of Devon Energy and a member of the Roundtable for Science & Technology for Sustainable Development organized by the National Academies of Sciences.

Thad "Bo" Smith

Thad "Bo" Smith is chairman and chief executive officer of Smith Global Services, Inc. Previously, he served as president of three Brown & Root Companies - Brown & Root Services Corporation, Brown & Root Environmental and Brown & Root Civil. His twenty-eight year career with Brown & Root included major project operations in Europe and Africa and corporate business development. He graduated from the University of Houston in 1967 and has served on various fundraising projects for the university. Smith was named Outstanding Alumnus of the College of Business in 1993.

William Turner
Assistant Provost for Research
Rice University

Mr. Turner spent 23 years with 3D/International, Inc. after graduating Rice in 1981, and became their Chief Operating Officer in 1996 managing a business of 500 employees. Representative projects include the renovation of the Pentagon - pre and post 911, the Washington DC FBI Metropolitan Headquarters, Marrakech Morocco Renewable Energy Development Center and Bank America/Security Pacific retail branch merger project, among others. 3D/I was acquired by Parsons Corporation in 2006 where he became their Division Manager for Building design and management. He brings a wealth of experience in strategic planning, organizational management, budget preparation, executive coaching, and human resource management.

Spiros N. Vassilakis
Executive Vice President,
Chief Operating Officer
The Mitchell Family Corporation

Spiros N. Vassilakis is executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Mitchell Family Corporation, a Houston private asset and wealth management company that manages a variety of assets and investments including oil and gas properties, ranching, timber, real estate, and hospitality businesses. From 1984 to 1995 he managed various corporate finance projects with the finance departments of Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. and The Woodlands Corporation. A chartered financial analyst, he is a long time member of the CFA Society of Houston. He holds a MBA with concentration in finance from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Athens, Greece.