New leaders will take the helm at the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), a nonprofit organization addressing environmental and sustainability issues in Texas.

Jim Lester, an expert on the management of water, air and biological resources, becomes president and CEO, while Lisa Gonzalez, a specialist on coastal issues, assumes the position of vice president and chief operating officer.

"As HARC’s chief operating officer for the past six years, Jim is immersed in our culture, and the transition will be seamless," said Todd Mitchell, chairman of the HARC Board.

"Jim is well known across Texas for his leadership in programs related to regional air quality, aquatic ecosystems and water scarcity," Mitchell said. "He is well prepared to continue HARC’s tradition of introducing non-partisan science into environmental policy debates."

Lester succeeds Robert Harriss who will continue his affiliation as a distinguished fellow at HARC.

Mitchell credits Dr. Harriss, who served as president since 2006, with taking the institution to a new level.

"Bob Harriss possesses the rare combination of outstanding scientific credentials, a big network of friends and collaborators, and an appreciation of the social dimensions of sustainability science," Mitchell said. "Under Bob’s guidance we have deepened our research and business teams and strengthened our relationships with universities and funding agencies."

Dr. Lester said that HARC will continue the work begun by both Mitchell and Harriss to improve sustainability and the environment in Texas.

"We hope to broaden our research to focus on all the key sustainability issues in Texas and serve a wider client base, including business, all levels of government and nongovernmental organizations," Lester said. "This work will be crucial to Texas’ future, its quality of life, economic stability and environmental health."

Lester joined HARC in 2002 as director of HARC’s environmental group and in 2006 was named vice president and chief operating officer. From 1975 to 2002 he worked for the University of Houston System and held administrative positions at the UH-Clear Lake as a dean, associate vice president and director of the Environmental Institute of Houston.

Lester, who holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Texas at Austin, is currently engaged in projects that analyze datasets from multiple sources to obtain new insight for watershed or landscape management.

He serves as chair of the Monitoring and Research Committee of the Galveston Bay Estuary Program, vice chair of the Trinity San Jacinto Basin and Bay Expert Science Team on environmental flows and on advisory committees for the Texas Sea Grant Program, Texas A&M University College of Geosciences and the Texas Environmental Research Consortium.

Gonzalez joined HARC in 2002. As a research scientist, she manages projects related to coastal water quality, fish and wildlife populations, invasive species, habitat characterization, freshwater inflows and seafood safety. Her research focuses on the analysis and dissemination of data relating to the health and productivity of bays and estuaries, coastal watersheds and the Gulf of Mexico. Her past projects include the State of the Bay: A Characterization of the Galveston Ecosystem (2011), the Galveston Bay Status and Trends Project (2002-2011), The Quiet Invasion Galveston Bay invasive species field series (2010) and the Texas Coastal Management Performance Measurement System (2010).

Prior to joining HARC, Gonzalez worked for the Environmental Institute of Houston at UH-Clear Lake. She also served as operations manager at the Institute of Marine Life Sciences at Texas A&M University at Galveston. She holds an M.S. degree in environmental management from UH-Clear Lake and a B.S. degree in marine fisheries from Texas A&M at Galveston.

Gonzalez serves on a variety of local and regional committees for groups including the Galveston Bay Estuary Program and the Gulf and South Atlantic Regional Panel on Aquatic Invasive Species.