Board of Directors

Gene is a Fortune 500 technology veteran, with more than two decades of experience leading growth of young companies, as well as major business units at global corporations. Gene is formerly the CEO of BazaarVoice and previously worked at Blackbaud, Inc. Prior to joining Blackbaud in May 2012, Gene was the driving force behind Convio’s strong growth since July 2003. Previously, Gene served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Careerbuilder.com, where he contributed significantly to growth leading to a 1999 public offering. After CareerBuilder.com, Gene worked at Dell as Vice President and General Manager of Internet Servers, and, just prior to Convio, as BMC Software’s Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Data Management.

Gene has been an active member of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. Gene is also active on the Board of the Austin Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and the Texas Institute for Education Reform Board of Directors. Gene has an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and a BS in Engineering Management from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Peter S. Brodsky is an investor and business executive who, through a majority-owned company, owns the Reimagine RedBird development (formerly known as Southwest Center Mall and, prior to that, Red Bird Mall). He is investing in the mall and its surrounding land to restore it to a place of pride and quality in the community.

Prior to acquiring the mall, Peter was a founder and partner of HBC Investments LLC, a firm focused on investing both third party capital and the capital of its principals in growth-oriented companies. Prior to co-founding HBC, Peter was a partner at the private equity firm of HM Capital Partners and its predecessor, Hicks Muse, where he was employed for over 15 years. At HM Capital, Peter focused on the media industry and was responsible for deploying or managing over $2.6 billion of equity investments and completed over 100 transactions.

In the civic and non-profit arenas, Peter serves on several boards. He serves as Chairman of the City of Dallas’s Animal Advisory Commission, which advises Dallas Animal Services, the city animal shelter and control service provider. On the Commission, Peter’s focus is addressing the stray and loose dog crisis in southern Dallas. Peter also serves on the Boards of: KIPP Texas, a network of 55 schools with 29,000 preK-12 students in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, as well as the Advisory Board of KIPP Texas – Dallas-Fort Worth, a network of seven schools serving over 3,000 students in grades K-10 in southern Dallas, which he chaired from January 2011 through June 2017. Formerly, Peter served on the following Boards: North Texas Public Broadcasting, the owner and operator of Dallas-Fort Worth’s PBS and NPR affiliates; AT&T Performing Arts Center; Vogel Alcove; and Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Peter received a BA in Russian Literature from Yale College. He lives in Dallas, TX. Peter is married to Lael Brodsky and they have three young adult children.

Cleve serves as corporate, transactional, and business counsel to entrepreneurs, family offices, emerging growth companies, strategic investors, and management teams across a broad range of sectors including energy, financial services, private equity, and sports & entertainment. Cleve is also a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas.

Cleve advises clients on complex transactions, including buy-side and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, leveraged recapitalizations and buyouts, spin-offs and sales of divisions, control and minority investments, growth equity investments, and joint ventures. Cleve also routinely advises clients on corporate and partnership formation matters, shareholder and governance issues, as well as commercial contract drafting and negotiations.

Cleve brings a unique blend of business, legal, and financial experience to each transaction. In addition to Cleve’s extensive private practice experience, he possesses C-suite and business management experience having previously served as General Counsel and CFO of an oilfield services company.

Cleve received his B.B.A. in Accounting from Lamar University in Beaumont Texas, and subsequently earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law where Cleve graduated with cum laude honors.

Lauren Gore is Managing Principal at LDR Advisory Partners and Partner at LDR Growth Partners. LDR Advisory Partners is a boutique advisory firm specializing in advancing complex multi-party deals and initiatives. With a background in law, risk management, and operations, Lauren’s practice specializes in the design, negotiation, and implementation of complex multi-party strategic ventures.  

Lauren serves as Vice Chairman of the Board for Combined Arms, and sits on the boards of Whitman Controls Corporation and LDR Leadership, and is an appointed Council Member of the Texas Workforce Investment Council. Lauren also teaches courses to executives and board directors in negotiation, problem solving and decision making. 

Before LDR, Lauren was a projects attorney with Baker Botts LLP; and served in the U.S. Army as an Airborne-Ranger qualified Infantry Officer with a combat deployment to Iraq, where he was awarded a Bronze Star.  

Lauren is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he received the Dean’s Scholar Prize in Deals. While at Harvard, Lauren taught courses on interest-based negotiation at both Harvard and Tufts Universities. Lauren is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.  

Lauren is married to Dr. Taryn Hargrove Gore and has two sons Alex and Crawford.

Keith Hennington served as the Chief Financial Officer of Maverick Capital, an investment management firm. He joined Maverick Capital as Tax Director in 1993 and served in that role until 2006. He is also on the Board of Directors of Maverick Capital Foundation (MCF). MCF mission is to aid organizations that focus on ending the cycle of poverty and has been a supporter of KIPP for several years in both Dallas and New York.

From 1987 until joining Maverick in 1993, Keith served as a Tax Manager for Ernst & Young in Dallas. He received a B.B.A. in Accounting and Information Systems and an M.S. in Taxation from Baylor University.

Keith is married to Keeley and has two daughters (Jordan and Paige).

Ivan Jaime is the Director of Government Affairs at Walmart. Jaime is a public affairs and marketing expert with more than 20 years of experience serving several roles, including Director of Border Policy and Community Affairs with Union Pacific Railroad. Ivan’s passion for community relations, eventually developed into legislative advocacy and lobbying and developing corporate strategy for local and state government affairs. As a minority, Jaime often considers obstacles that stand in the way as he strives to achieve new goals, he calls them “yeah-buts” which is something women and underrepresented groups often are met with as they don’t always get opportunities based on potential. “We often get the ‘yeah you’re extremely qualified but…’ responses.” Jaime has strived to eliminate those barriers by persevering and getting advances degrees to become an expert in his field.

Dolores Lozano is the current Harris County Justice of the Peace for Precinct 2, Place 2. As a first-generation graduate, Dolores prides herself in expanding her career in sports and entertainment, education, community relations, and public policy.

Dolores’ passion for quality education and gender equity has played a pivotal role in the vision and impact of her work. Her innovative, strength-based approach has been instrumental in launching Impact Hub Houston and promoting civic engagement in Greater Houston.

Dolores is a member of the KIPP Texas Board of Directors, serving as one of the first alumni to guide decision making on behalf of students and families. In her spare time, Dolores serves as a Child Advocate, Young Friend of AVDA (Aid to Victims of Domestic Violence), Houston Area Women’s Center Young Leader, and Junior League of Houston Head Active.

Claudine Lussier leads Human Capital at The Sterling Group since 2017, Claudine is responsible for developing and implementing people and talent management strategies at Sterline. Prior to this, Claudine spearheaded Human resources for the Petroleum and Chemicals businesses and was responsible for approximately 5,000 employees at Jacobs Engineering Group. Claudine over 13 years of experience in human resources experience in the United States and Canada holds a Bachelor of Management, with a major in human resources from the University of Lethbridge in Calgary, Canada.

Ethan Phillips is a partner with Bain & Company in the Houston office. He is a member of the Global Oil & Gas Practice and has deep expertise in upstream operations and organizational transformations.

He joined the company as a consultant in the Boston office in 2004 and served in the Dallas office from 2005‐2009 before moving to Houston to open the Bain Houston office.

While at Bain, Ethan has advised clients in a wide range of capabilities including growth strategy, organizational effectiveness, performance improvement and change management. In addition to Oil & Gas, he has also worked with the private equity, education, health care, telecommunications, and airline industries.

Prior to joining Bain, Ethan had several years experience as an entrepreneur, founding and growing two companies in his hometown of Austin, Texas. Ethan holds an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and an AB in Economics from Harvard University. He lives in Houston with his wife and four children.

Patricia Ponton has over 20 years’ experience working in the Oils and Gas Industry and has held various leadership positions in the Risk, Governance, Compliance and Financial Management of major assets with Shell Oil Company, Motiva Enterprise and currently Marathon Petroleum. In her current capacity as Assistant Controller, she heads an organization that ensures the financial accuracy and disclosures of Marathon’s commodity trading business. Her organization also ensures that the commodity trading operation is conducted in accordance with the Company’s risk profile, legal and external regulatory requirements. Prior to Marathon Petroleum, Patricia worked with Shell Oil Company in varying Finance roles, to include leading the multi-billion-dollar Refining divestiture of Motiva Enterprise, a 19-year joint venture between Shell Oil Company and Saudi Aramco. She was also Head of Finance at Motiva Convent Refinery whose organization partnered with Operation leadership to significantly improve the profitability of the Refinery.

Patricia graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS Degree in Economics from the Rolla-Missouri University of Science and Technology, was the recipient of the Sloan and Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Public Policy from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and holds an MBA from Saint Louis University, Saint Louis.

Patricia spent 4 years as an enlisted member of the United States Army that, through its College Fund Program, enabled her accomplishments. She is also a member of Culturingua’s Board of Directors/Finance, Investment Committee Chair and was the Treasury of Jack and Jill of America – Humble/Kingwood Chapter.

Shana Ravnsborg is the Senior Director of Capability Development & Operations at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her team provides comprehensive organizational and planning capabilities to drive transformational change across the curriculum development teams. Shana is passionate about education as an agent of change in the lives of millions of students and instrumental in translating a vision of more inclusive, culturally responsive materials into the skills and processes within HMH. Shana and her team embody the HMH value of “Learning” by illustrating the importance of intellectual curiosity, empathy, and openness for all of HMH.

Shana has a BA in Economics from Bryn Mawr College and an MBA in Operations and Information Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She serves as Chair of the KIPP Texas-Austin Regional Board and co-head of the Bryn Mawr in Austin alumni group. At home, she can be found trying new recipes to feed her teenage sons or knitting clothes they will outgrow before she finishes.

Shawn Raymond is a trial lawyer whose practice concentrates on heavyweight commercial litigation of all types. His clients describe him as “a passionate advocate,” “a skilled tactician,” and “meticulous in his preparation.”

Named The Best Lawyers in America 2015 Litigation ‐ Antitrust “Lawyer of the Year” in Houston.
Ranked as one of the top 100 lawyers in the Houston Region on the 2014 and 2015 Texas Super Lawyers List (presented by Thomson Reuters and the publishers of Texas Monthly).
Included in the 2012‐2016 editions of The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward White, Inc.).
Featured in either in Benchmark Plaintiffs: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Plaintiff Firms and Attorneys or in Benchmark Litigation as a Future Star (2014‐2016).
Past President of the Federal Bar Association’s Southern District of Texas Chapter, which serves the federal judiciary and federal practitioners in all seven divisions of the District.
Named to the Houston Business Journal’s 2011 “40 Under 40” list for being among Houston’s next 40 leaders who excel in their industry, are respected business leaders, and show dynamic leadership in their community.
Recipient of the 2009 Woodrow B. Seals Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. Named in honor of a well-known federal judge, this award is given annually to one Houston attorney under the age of 38 who best represents professional excellence and service to clients, the community and the Bar.
Shawn attended George Washington University where he graduated magna cum laude. He received his JD from the University of Texas School of Law.

MacKenzie Richter is a believer of making large-scale impact through leveraging technology and fostering social entrepreneurship to increase accessibility and affordability of essential systems such as health care. For over 8 years, MacKenzie has reimagined what is possible as consultant at XPRIZE, an innovation engine, facilitator of exponential change and catalyst for the benefit of humanity.

MacKenzie is married to Ben Richter and together they have six children. MacKenzie is a community leader who has selected KIPP as her top charity of choice.

Manolo Sánchez is the former chairman and CEO of BBVA Compass, and was named U.S. country manager for BBVA Group in 2010. Under his leadership, BBVA Compass has established itself as a bank driven by people, principles and innovation and a model of community involvement from Florida to California. Manolo worked for BBVA for nearly 25 years. He joined BBVA Compass as head of community banking in 2008, having led Laredo National Bank for the previous three years after it was acquired by BBVA. Between 2002 and 2005, Sánchez served as chief risk officer for BBVA Bancomer in Mexico City. Earlier in his BBVA career, Sánchez served in New York from 1999 to 2002, Paris from 1994 to 1999, and Madrid from 1990 to 1994, holding positions in the corporate, investment and correspondent banking divisions of the bank. In addition to English and Spanish, he speaks French, German and Arabic.

He lives in Houston with his wife and three children.

Sánchez is a governing director of the Houston Symphony and a board member of the Institute of International Bankers, the American Bankers Association, KIPP Houston charter schools and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He is a member of the Greater Houston Partnership and the Houston chapter of the Young Presidents Organization, and is a trustee at the Post Oak Montessori School. Sánchez received the Laredo Gateway Rotary Club’s 2014 Paul Harris Fellow award and was named Alabama Citizen of the Year for 2011 by the March of Dimes. He served as chairman for the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk in 2007.

Alex Nila K. Sharma is a native of Massachusetts but has been a Dallas area resident of and on for more than 30 years. He earned his B.A. Magna Cum Laude from Southern Methodist University and a JD from the University of Texas at Austin. He also earned an LLM in International Law from Southern Methodist University. His early work experience was with the State Attorney General’s office in Austin.

After several years Alex left the legal profession and began a career in real estate development. Primarily working in the Pacific Northwest for the past two decades Alex and one partner have built projects opportunistically, including offices, condominiums, and currently a second home resort development in Central Washington state.

Alex and his family are deeply committed to child welfare and children’s issues locally and all over the globe. The Family has given their time and energy to UNICEF for more than a decade. Alex is currently the Board Vice‐Chair for Family Gateway, an organization that assists homeless children and families in the Dallas area. He is also the current Board Chair of KIPP DFW Public Charter schools, which currently serve more than 2,400 disadvantaged children in Southern Dallas.

Alex and his wife Gowri have one high school aged daughter.

Allison K. Thacker joined Rice University in 2011 as President of the Rice Management Company with the responsibility of managing a $5.6 billion endowment fund and the University’s $968 million of debt. The Rice University endowment ranks in the top 20 endowments of private research universities in the US and funds
over 40% of the university budget. Over the 3, 5 and 10 years ending June 30, 2015, annualized endowment returns were 11.9%, 12.2% and 8.6%. Rice Management Company partners with third party investment managers and also internally manages a portfolio of direct real estate, oil and gas royalties, timberland and operating businesses.

Prior to joining Rice University, Ms. Thacker spent 11 years with RS Investments, a San Francisco‐based investment firm specializing in public equities. At RS Investments, Ms. Thacker held roles including Portfolio Manager, Managing Director and Research Analyst. In the earlier portion of her career, Ms. Thacker served
as a Summer Analyst at Putnam Investments and as a Financial Analyst in the energy investment banking group at Merrill Lynch & Co. She was a founding board member of KIPP Heartwood Academy, a college preparatory charter school serving East San Jose, California, is currently the board chair of the KIPP Texas Houston Regional board, a member of the Houston Ballet Board of Trustees, a board member for Black
Stone Minerals, and Chairman of the Board of Accelerate Learning.

Ms. Thacker is a graduate of Harvard Business School where she received an M.B.A. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with honors from Rice University.

Darla Whitaker is a senior vice president of Texas Instruments responsible for human resources.

Prior to this role, she served as vice president and manager of TI’s compensation and human resources systems and services. Throughout her career at TI, she has held various leadership positions in human resources, including director of human resources for the Application‐Specific Products organization, human resources manager for the Application‐Specific Integrated Circuit organization and compensation manager for the Asia region. Prior to her experience in human resources, she served in a variety of manufacturing and engineering roles.

Whitaker joined TI in 1984 in the wafer fabrication facility in Sherman, Texas. She is a graduate of Southern Methodist University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. She also earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dallas.

In addition to her role at TI, she serves on the board of directors for the TI Foundation, TI’s Political Action Committee and Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) DFW. She is also an alumnus of Leadership Texas.

Sara Villarreal is Cofounder and Managing Principal of Catalyst Property Partners, an impact-oriented real estate investment and development company with offices in Miami, Florida and San Antonio, Texas.

Prior to forming Catalyst, Sara spent 16 years in Asia in various entrepreneurial roles. Sara has an extensive background in operations, strategy, management, and business development.

After graduating from Claremont McKenna College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics & Accounting and extensive study of Mandarin, Sara joined Deloitte’s audit practice and subsequently moved to Shanghai in 2006 joining Anheuser Busch, China as a Financial Analyst.

Sara has also undertaken continued education courses including Financial Analysis for Non- Financial Executives at UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Future Proofed Real Estate from Real Innovation Academy and ESG Investing from Columbia Executive Education.

Sara is a member and mentor with the Urban Land Institute, a member of the UTSA Embrey Real Estate Founders Council and a regional Board of Director for KIPP Public Schools – San Antonio. She is also a minority investor in the San Antonio Missions, a Double-A baseball team.

Sara is a proud and dedicated wife and mother, an advocate for sustainability and is passionate about giving back to her community.

Keith Hennington served as the Chief Financial Officer of Maverick Capital, an investment management firm. He joined Maverick Capital as Tax Director in 1993 and served in that role until 2006. He is also on the Board of Directors of Maverick Capital Foundation (MCF). MCF mission is to aid organizations that focus on ending the cycle of poverty and has been a supporter of KIPP for several years in both Dallas and New York.

From 1987 until joining Maverick in 1993, Keith served as a Tax Manager for Ernst & Young in Dallas. He received a B.B.A. in Accounting and Information Systems and an M.S. in Taxation from Baylor University.

Keith is married to Keeley and has two daughters (Jordan and Paige).

Patricia Ponton has over 20 years’ experience working in the Oils and Gas Industry and has held various leadership positions in the Risk, Governance, Compliance and Financial Management of major assets with Shell Oil Company, Motiva Enterprise and currently Marathon Petroleum. In her current capacity as Assistant Controller, she heads an organization that ensures the financial accuracy and disclosures of Marathon’s commodity trading business. Her organization also ensures that the commodity trading operation is conducted in accordance with the Company’s risk profile, legal and external regulatory requirements. Prior to Marathon Petroleum, Patricia worked with Shell Oil Company in varying Finance roles, to include leading the multi-billion-dollar Refining divestiture of Motiva Enterprise, a 19-year joint venture between Shell Oil Company and Saudi Aramco. She was also Head of Finance at Motiva Convent Refinery whose organization partnered with Operation leadership to significantly improve the profitability of the Refinery.

Patricia graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS Degree in Economics from the Rolla-Missouri University of Science and Technology, was the recipient of the Sloan and Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Public Policy from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and holds an MBA from Saint Louis University, Saint Louis.

Patricia spent 4 years as an enlisted member of the United States Army that, through its College Fund Program, enabled her accomplishments. She is also a member of Culturingua’s Board of Directors/Finance, Investment Committee Chair and was the Treasury of Jack and Jill of America – Humble/Kingwood Chapter.

MacKenzie Richter is a believer of making large-scale impact through leveraging technology and fostering social entrepreneurship to increase accessibility and affordability of essential systems such as health care. For over 8 years, MacKenzie has reimagined what is possible as consultant at XPRIZE, an innovation engine, facilitator of exponential change and catalyst for the benefit of humanity.

MacKenzie is married to Ben Richter and together they have six children. MacKenzie is a community leader who has selected KIPP as her top charity of choice.

Sara Villarreal is Cofounder and Managing Principal of Catalyst Property Partners, an impact-oriented real estate investment and development company with offices in Miami, Florida and San Antonio, Texas.

Prior to forming Catalyst, Sara spent 16 years in Asia in various entrepreneurial roles. Sara has an extensive background in operations, strategy, management, and business development.

After graduating from Claremont McKenna College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics & Accounting and extensive study of Mandarin, Sara joined Deloitte’s audit practice and subsequently moved to Shanghai in 2006 joining Anheuser Busch, China as a Financial Analyst.

Sara has also undertaken continued education courses including Financial Analysis for Non- Financial Executives at UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Future Proofed Real Estate from Real Innovation Academy and ESG Investing from Columbia Executive Education.

Sara is a member and mentor with the Urban Land Institute, a member of the UTSA Embrey Real Estate Founders Council and a regional Board of Director for KIPP Public Schools – San Antonio. She is also a minority investor in the San Antonio Missions, a Double-A baseball team.

Sara is a proud and dedicated wife and mother, an advocate for sustainability and is passionate about giving back to her community.