Betty loves Rice football, and men s and women s basketball, but her first love is Rice baseball.

Transcription

1 Steve Akin I graduated from Tulane University in 1973 with a BA in Political Science and a BS in Biology. I received an MBA from Southern Methodist University in 1975 and I have been a consultant to the commercial banking industry in Southern California for the last 15 years. I have been married to Jan McWilliams Akin for 24 years and I have one daughter, Anne, age 15 who is a sophmore at Lamar High School. I presently live with my family in the Tanglewood area of West Houston and work there from my home office. I have served for two years as an Adjunct Professor of Economics ( Financial Institutions and Markets ) at Tulane University (University College) and I am a licensed airplane pilot with associated ratings. Interests include Rice University athletics (specifically, football, baseball & men s & women s basketball) and travel.

2 Betty Bixby Betty Bixby graduated from California State University at Hayward with a degree in history. She later returned to college for a second round and completed a bachelor of nursing degree from Texan Woman s University. Betty came to Houston in 1984 when her husband, Bob, became a professor in the Computational and Applied Mathematics department at Rice. Bob and Betty are both avid sports fans and are especially fond of Rice athletics. Their three children grew up attending college sporting events, first at Northwestern University and then at Rice. Their son, David, is a Rice graduate, class of He later received his MBA from the Jones School at Rice. Their daughter, Ann, is also a Rice graduate, class of She later received her PhD from Northwestern University. Their other son, Geoff, attended the Air Force Academy and then completed his bachelor s degree in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University. Betty loves Rice football, and men s and women s basketball, but her first love is Rice baseball. Besides attending as many athletic events as possible, Betty is a member and past president of the Rice Faculty Women s Club, a member of the Charity Guild of Catholic Women and of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. Her hobbies include quilting, reading and spoiling her four grandchildren.

3 Mike Ecklund Mike is a 1994 graduate of Rice University earning degrees in Managerial Studies and Sports Management. While at Rice, Mike earned All Southwest Conference honors in Football and was named to the Southwest Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll. Subsequent to Rice, Mike attended the University of Texas and received a Masters Degrees in Accounting and Sports Management. Mike currently works for The Lionstone Group, a private equity real estate firm based in Houston. Prior to Lionstone, he served as the International Controller for Hines. He has been active in the Community as a member of the United Way Young Leaders, Young Texans Against Cancer, Special Olympics. Mike also serves as a member of the R Association Board and is an Associate of Lovett College. Mike is married to Michol McMillian Ecklund who graduated from Rice in They have been married for five years and have identical twin daughters named Evan and Elliott. Evan and Elliott are currently 16 months old and have attended numerous Rice events.

4 Larry George I received a business degree in finance from Texas, a law degree from SMU and a masters in law in tax from Georgetown. After spending several years with Ernst & Young and after becoming a partner in a large Texas law firm, I have been with Crain Caton & James for over 18 years practicing in the Estate Planning, Business and Tax areas. I have helped manage the firm for about 10 years of the time I have been there. Texas Monthly Magazine has designated me as a Super Lawyer and HTexas Magazine has named me as one of the Top Lawyers in Houston. I am married to Karen Ostrum George (Rice, 77) and we live across the street from Rice Stadium. We have two daughters, Camille and Meredith, who are in 12th and 8th grades, respectively, and have literally grown up on the Rice campus. Karen has been very involved in volunteer activities at Rice including a recently completed stint on the Board of Trustees and she was named a recipient of a Honorary R in Outside of an interest in Division I college athletics, serving on the Athletic Steering Committee at Rice and transporting my daughters to every conceivable event, I have been active in fundraising at River Oaks Baptist School and St. John s School and I have also chaired the Legacy Society at River Oaks Baptist School and am currently serving on its Development Committee.

5 Paul Hlavinka Paul has over 25 years of experience in real estate and business transactions, estate planning and international law in Houston. He was educated at Rice University (BA 1973), and holds an MA in Journalism (1977) and law degree (1977) from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Houston and American Bar Associations, and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. His personal interests, family history and business associations have led him to take a particular interest in volunteer activities concerning his undergraduate university, Rice, and in support of new-found freedoms in the land of his forebears, the Czech Republic. Recent involvements and offices held in such regard include stints as Director, Association of Rice University Alumni, ; Director and Secretary, Rice University Friends of Fondren Library, ; Director and Secretary, Czech Educational Foundation of Texas, 1996-present; Rice Associates and activity in American Friends of the Czech Republic. Other posts have included: State Bar of Texas and Association of Rice Alumni committees as well as church associate vestry and service with the Jabboury Foundation for Cancer Research. He is a member of Who's Who in the South and Southwest (Marquis), 1989-present. He and his wife, Kimberly, maintain a (too-infrequently visited) summer home in Camden, Maine. They have a daughter, Megan, a university student in Florida. Out of nostalgia for his original career in journalism (Houston Post staff, ) and due to what his wife, Kim, considers an unfathomable fanaticism for his alma mater s college football team, he edits and publishes The Rice Football Webletter, where readers are able to find out more than they might ever wish to know about Rice Owl football.

6 Mike Johnson Michael L. Johnson retired from Conoco Inc., in October 2002, after almost 28 years with the company. His last position was Vice President and General Manager of Conoco Inc, and was Chairman and CEO of the Conoco Gas and Power Co., a division of Conoco Inc. This part of Conoco is an integrated, midstream portfolio of businesses that include gas gathering and processing, gas storage, gas and power marketing, power generation, and natural gas liquids fractionation and marketing, transportation and storage for North America and the Caribbean. He is based in Houston. Mr. Johnson spent his first years after graduate school at Rice University in Conoco s Exploration Department, in various individual and first line supervisory roles as an exploration geologist in the Gulf Coast and Alaska areas. Johnson s earliest managerial experience with Conoco included two years as exploration manager of the Rocky Mountain Exploration Division in Denver, Colorado and one year in the same capacity at Ventura, California, in charge of the West Coast and Alaska Division. In 1984 he took a sabbatical from Conoco, and was named a Sloan Fellow at MIT s Sloan School of Business, where received his SM degree in Later that year, he returned to Conoco, and was promoted to general manager of administration, planning and finance for the company s North American exploration and production group. He became general manager of exploration for operations in the Mid-East, the Far East, Africa and Latin America in In 1990, he was named vice president and general manager of exploration and production in Europe and Africa. He moved to Stavanger, Norway, as president and managing director of Norske Conoco A/S in 1993, and in addition to exploration and production operations, oversaw the $4.5 billion Heidrun concrete TLP project. He had held his last position in Conoco s CG&P since Johnson has been a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists since He is listed in the 1993 edition of Who s Who in International Business. He was also a member of the board of directors of Phoenix Park Gas Processors in Trinidad and Tobago, and vice president of the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce. He is past Chairman of The Natural Gas Supply Association (a trade group representing the 15 largest natural gas producers in the U.S.), Vice Chairman of the Texas Intrastate Pipeline Association, and President of the Houston/Galveston-Stavanger Sister Cities Society. He was on the board and a member of the executive committee of the Gas Technology Institute. He was also a member of The Natural Gas Council Of America. He is currently a member of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, and the Greater Houston Partnership. He is currently serving as the Houston Representative for the City of Stavanger, Norway. He is also a member of the board of directors and audit committee of Copano Energy LLC. and is on the advisory board for Vineland Energy. Johnson holds a B.S. degree in geology from New Mexico State University (1972), an M. A. in stable isotope geochemistry from Rice University (1975) and an S.M. in management and finance from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1985). He was chosen as Distinguished Alumni for New Mexico State University in 1997 and currently serves as the Chairman of the Dean s Advisory Council for Excellence in the Sciences there. He serves on the Rice University Owl Club Athletics Board and is an alumni interviewer for the university s

7 admissions office, and he also serves as an alumni recruiter for MIT. He has been frequently called upon to testify in Congress regarding land access, gas supply and gas economics, and is a frequent speaker to outside groups on the U.S. gas business, free enterprise, and scientific issues regarding climate change. A native of Roswell, New Mexico, Johnson now lives with his wife, Judy (who is Director of Finance and Administration for the City of Houston, and former Houston City Controller), in Houston. They have two children in college.

8 Sarah Longpré Sarah is a dual graduate of Rice University, holding a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (1989) and an M.B.A. (1991). Since her graduation she has remained involved with Rice and supported the institution through her participation in her class gifts as well as attending many events on campus. Sarah's passion for Rice Athletics became stronger when she was involved in setting up an endowed scholarship to honor her late husband, Mike, who was a golf letter winner at Rice. Over the last few years Sarah has been an avid supporter at most Rice sporting events, and has become involved with the Women's Athletics Advisory Board and the Owl Club Advisory Board. Sarah has lived in Houston for 22 years, and recently moved to a neighborhood near the Rice campus, which makes her commute to games easy. She works for PricewaterhouseCoopers where she is a Director on the Human Resources team, focusing on strategy and operations for the firm. In addition to her support of Rice Athletics, Sarah gives of her time as a member of the Board of Trustees of Chatham Hall, an all-girls college preparatory school in Virginia, and on the Board of Directors for Golfers Against Cancer, a Houston-based charity that since its inception in 1997 has raised over $10 million for cancer research.

9 Don Rather I was born and raised in Houston and attended Reagan High School. After two years at Del Mar Jr. College I transferred to Rice. I played football for Coach Jess Neely in 1958 and In 1961 I was granted a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, and in 1965 I earned a Master s degree at Southwest Texas University. After graduating from Rice I worked as a teacher-coach for a total of sixteen years in Austin, Clear Lake, and Klein. I spent the last twenty-one years of my career as a school administrator in Klein. I retired as an intermediate school principal in I am married to Maxine Barnes (Class of 61). Our son, Rodney, teaches English at Tarrant County Community College. We have one two-year old grandson.

10 Edmund Segner Edmund P. Segner, III is President and Chief of Staff of EOG Resources, Inc., (EOG) one of the leading independent oil and gas exploration and production companies. EOG Resources, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as EOG and is a member of the S&P 500. Ed graduated cum laude from Rice University with a B.S. degree in civil engineering and received an M.A. degree in economics from the University of Houston. He is also a Certified Public Accountant. He was elected Vice Chairman and Chief of Staff for EOG in September In August 1999 Ed was named President and Chief of Staff and elected to the Board of Directors. Ed serves as EOG s principal financial officer. Ed is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He is a member of the Natural Gas Council representing the Independent Petroleum Association of America and is a member of the executive committee of the Texas Oil & Gas Association. He is a part-time member of the Rice University Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty. He is an active trustee of River Oaks Baptist School and is chair of the Center for Education at Rice. He is past Chairman of the Board of Community Partners, a healthcare social service agency serving Houston children, past Chair of The Nature Conservancy of Texas, and a former Trustee of the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Alley Theatre.

11 John Sylvester Born and raised in Baytown, Texas. Graduated Robert E. Lee High School in Entered Rice in fall of Walked on to football team in spring of 1961 and earned scholarship for sophomore year. Mid-season 1961 moved to second string end and started at left end the 1962 and 1963 seasons. Earned All SWC Academic team recognition and second team All SWC as well as Rice's Bob Quin Award. Majored in economics and served as Baker College President my senior year. Graduated from Stanford Business School with an MBA in 1966 and joined Exxon Corporation. Worked for Exxon from 1966 to 1978, Tenneco Exploration and Production from 1978 to 1988, Commonwealth Savings and Loan from 1988 to 1989 and finally Linbeck Group LP from 1989 to present, primarily in human resource and administrative roles. I currently serve as Chief Administrative Officer of Linbeck Group LP as well as Sr. VP Division Manager for Xavier Structures I Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Linbeck. I am married to Jessica Darling, former UT cheerleader, Sweetheart of the University and Cotton Bowl Queen. We have two sons, John III who graduated from the University of Houston and the Houston Art Institute and lives in Houston and Dirk who graduated with a business degree from SMU and lives in Austin.

12 Jeremy Thigpen After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Managerial Studies from Rice University, Jeremy joined National Oilwell in May, 1997 as a Financial Analyst. Beginning in 1998, he served as National Oilwell s Global Supply Chain Manager, implementing and managing fully integrated supply chain solutions with specific customers throughout the Eastern Hemisphere. In January of 2000, Jeremy became the Director, Business Development, supporting the Chief Executive Officer in the: a) development and implementation of corporate strategy, b) valuation and integration of acquisitions, and c) preparation of internal and external communications. In November of 2001, Jeremy completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School. In May of 2002, Jeremy acted as General Manager of the Gulf Coast Region for the Downhole Tools Group, where he has served as the President for that Group since May Jeremy currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, and is a member of the Owl Club Advisory Board supporting Rice University athletics.