|
ERJCC Calendar
|
Dialogues 2012 Table Host Bios
| |
|
 Dr. Jennifer Arnold, M.D., M.Sc. and Director of TCH New
Pediatric Simulation Center
"Living Large – Think Big"
Dr. Jennifer Arnold,. M.D., M.Sc., is the medical director of Texas Children's Hospital’s new state of the art pediatric simulation center and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Arnold has been involved in simulation education for the last 5 years. She was trained in resuscitative medicine and simulation education at the University of Pittsburgh's Peter M. Winter Simulation, Education, and Research Center and within the Safar Center for Resuscitative Medicine as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Scholar. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, following which she completed her pediatric residency and neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She obtained a Masters of Science degree in medical education from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Arnold received the Ray E. Helfer Award for Innovation in Medical Education from the Academic Pediatric Association for her research in simulation education, and she has spoken both nationally and internationally on simulation research. Dr. Arnold will focuses on developing curriculums for the Simulation Center. Dr. Arnold and her husband, Bill Klein, reside in Houston and are also the stars of the TV show " The Little Couple."
|
|
| |
 Brian Block, Social Media Strategist/Pierpont Communications
“You Will  this Guy”
Brian Block, Senior Account Executive/Social Media Strategist, has been with Pierpont Communications since 2006 where he manages social media and civic engagement activities for clients from a wide range of industries and backgrounds. This includes facilitating online and offline community engagement, social media education, corporate volunteerism, sponsorship management and general marketing activities. He is an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America and serves as a member of the Sam Houston Area Council Marketing Committee where he advises on social media activities. Brian serves this function for other organizations including the Houston Area Women’s Center and Jewish Family Service of Houston. He is called upon by other non-profit organizations to serve as social media counsel whenever the need arises. Brian speaks frequently to various organizations about social media for business, community engagement and for fun throughout the year, including guest lecturing at University of Houston classes and teaching an intro to social media class at the University of Houston Small Business Development Center.
|
|
| |
 Judge Ed Emmett, Harris County Judge
"Hunker Down with the Judge"
Judge Emmett attended Bellaire High School and graduated from Rice University. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated Emmett as a Commissioner at the Interstate Commerce Commission. After being confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate, Judge Emmett served on the commission for three years. He became Harris County Judge on March 6, 2007. Judge Emmett also is director of Harris County’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, a role that took on special significance when Hurricane Ike struck the Gulf Coast in September 2008. As Harris County’s chief executive officer, Judge Emmett is responsible for working with four county commissioners to oversee a county government serving nearly four million remarkably diverse residents. Judge Emmett believes strongly that vision, planning and teamwork are the keys to maintaining Harris County’s economic strength and its commitment to opportunity and a unique quality of life for every resident. A member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1979 to 1987, Judge Emmett was chairman of the Committee on Energy, a member of the Transportation Committee, and represented the state on numerous national committees relating to energy and transportation policy. |
|
| |
 Grant Goodman, Child Actor
“Houston Script to Hollywood Screen”
This 12 year old film star started acting when he was 7 years of age. He landed his first character movie job in Super where he played Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) as a child. His favorite part of Super was his stunt scene where he was strapped upside down to a bed. He then began reading for more advanced characters and eventually got a part in This Must Be the Place. He then traveled to Louisiana for three weeks to play Billy in Playing the Field, where he met many people including: Gerard Butler, Uma Thurman and Dennis Quaid. He also worked on G.I. Joe 2 with director Jon Chu. In his latest film, The Campaign, he worked alongside Will Ferrell, Jason Sudekis, Dylan McDermott, Sarah Baker, Kya Haywood and Hangover star Zach Galifianakis, who played his dad. He lived and worked in New Orleans for three months while it was shooting. He currently attends Johnston Middle School and hopes to attend The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, then film school at New York University or University of Southern California. When he’s not acting, he enjoys web-surfing, texting, Skyping, playing on his iPad, hanging out with friends, jumping on trampolines, being a foodie and a techie. |
|
| |
 Janet Gurwitch, Founder of Laura Mercier
“From Make-up to Wall Street”
Janet Gurwitch is the founder and former CEO of Laura Mercier Cosmetics and Skincare, a global brand of high-end niche cosmetics. Gurwitch managed and oversaw Laura Mercier’s day-to-day business operations, as well as strategy development and retail negotiations. In 1999, Gurwitch was named a finalist for Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” for Houston, TX and in 1994 Business Week included her as one of the “Top 50 Chief Executive Prospects in the Nation.” She was named one of Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women of 2010 by Houston Woman Magazine. Gurwitch is now a partner with Castanea, a Boston-based private equity investment firm specializing in dynamic consumer brands. In addition, Gurwitch is on the Boards of La-Z-Boy, Inc., Urban Decay Cosmetics and Drybar. At Rice University, Gurwitch is a member of the Jones School Council of Overseers and an Adjunct Professor in Management. She lectures at the following Business Schools: University of Texas, Rice University, University of Houston and University of Alabama. |
|
| |
 Matt Marcus, Chef and Eatsie Boys Restaurateur and a
Founder of the 8th Wonder Brewery
"Keep on Trucking with Chef Marcus and the Houston Food Scene"
Chef Matt Marcus has created something unique – a food truck that caters to foodies with gourmet tastes, run by Jewish young adults and ambitious entrepreneurs. In 2011, there were no less than ten new food trucks opening their stainless-steel door flaps in Houston every single week. Some held their ground, and many failed. And along came the Eatsie Boys, a group of friends with a vision. Matt Marcus (a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America), Ryan Soroka (a business/hotel and restaurant UH grad) and Alex Vassilakidis have been friends since childhood, and they started the “Eatsie Boys” truck last year. It was a huge hit, until the summer dragged on into brutality. They could handle cooking in the truck, but it was just too hot outside to bring a big crowd out to eat outdoors. So they decided to start an ice cream truck. The idea was simple: use great ingredients, and name your flavors after Beastie Boys songs. When the Eatsie Boys’ ice cream truck turned loose in the late summer, it brought wild crowds from abound. Maybe it’s just ice cream in hot weather, but it probably has a lot to do with perfect timing and great marketing. And now, after hinting at a Montrose address for the Eatsie Boys' new brick and mortar cafe, the men behind one of Houston's first gourmet food trucks have officially announced that they will be moving into the former Kraftsmen Baking space at 4100 Montrose.
|
|
| |
 Roz Pactor, Fashion Diva
“What’s Trending Today?”
Roz Pactor is a fashion and marketing consultant and blogger based with more than three decades of experience in fashion retailing that has spanned Foley’s, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s NYC. She has earned a reputation for delivering expertise, energy and enthusiasm to her impressive roster of clients. Her sense of trend direction, merchandising and visual creativity proved to be very valuable in her previous role as Vice President-Fashion Director for Foley’s Dept. Stores, and now in her own consulting practice. She may be known best through her own signature personal fashion statement that has evolved from my many years of wearing red glasses. The Chic Sheet provides a unique perspective on the world of fashion. It truly represents fashion, as she sees it, through her red glasses. Her consulting clients vary from large retail establishments to small boutiques for which she provides art direction, styling supervision, merchandising and trend forecasting. She also provides personal wardrobe consultation and professional shopping services. |
|
| |
Arthur Schechter/Fred Zeidman, Democratic Leader/Republican Leader
““Crossfire: Working It from Both Sides of the Political Aisle”
 Arthur L. Schechter served as the US Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas from 1998-2001. He has a distinguished legal background, and is licensed in to practice in all Texas Courts; the US Supreme Court; the US Circuit Court for the Fifth, Eleventh and Fourth Circuits; and, the US District Courts for the Southern, Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas. In 2002 he became Chairman of the Board to the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas. He has a long history of committed, diverse and broad-based community service and charitable involvement that span the State of Texas and our nation. He has served as President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, Chair of the United Jewish Campaign, President of Congregation Beth Israel; President of the American Jewish Committee; and, National Chair of the Jewish Democratic Council.
 Fred S. Zeidman was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the Chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, the Museum’s governing board, in March 2002. A prominent Houston-based business and civic leader, he is Managing Partner of WoodRock & Company; Chairman, Southwest Region, Anti-Defamation League; Vice Chairman of the Board of Regents, Texas Southern University; Texas State Chairman, Israel Bonds; Vice Chairman, Republican Jewish Coalition; Vice President and Director, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs; and member of the Investment in Discovery Campaign Committee, Baylor College of Medicine. He also serves on the Executive Committees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC); the Houston Jewish Community Foundation; the Texas Inter-Faith Housing Corporation; and the Houston Ear Research Foundation. He has played a leadership role in a number of other organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, the American Jewish Committee, the North American Jewish Forum, the Houston Grand Opera, and Washington University. In 2001, AIPAC recognized his efforts with its Southwest Region Distinguished Leadership Award.
|
|
|
 Cleverley Stone, Founder of Houston Restaurant Weeks, Radio & TV Personality Covering Houston's Restaurant Scene
“Reservations? Let’s Talk”
Cleverley Stone is the founder and chair of Houston Restaurant Weeks, the city's largest charity dining event held in restaurants in the greater Houston area and the largest single annual fundraiser for the Houston Food Bank. In 2003, Cleverley started co-hosting a popular radio talk show about food, wine and dining with Radio Hall of Fame legend Mark Stevens. After Mark retired, she continued solo with The Cleverley Show. She enjoys providing this forum for Houston’s restaurant community to tell their stories and highlight charitable events that have food elements. Since 2008, she has been a contributor to Houston’s Fox 26 Morning News. In January 2012, Cleverley was named by Houston Woman Magazine as one of 'Houston's 50 Most Influential Women.’ In 2010 she was the honoree at the Champagne & Chocolat Gala, a fundraiser for the Gaston Le Notre Culinary Scholarship Fund. She was also the honorary chair for Houston’s Flavors Festival. Cleverley is one of the leading authorities on food in Houston and was called the "diva of dining" by the Houston Chronicle and the "dining news diva" by the Houston Business Journal. Cleverley Stone is widely considered to be the best informed insider in the Houston restaurant scene.
|
|
| |
 Cressandra Thibodeaux, Executive Director of 14 Pews,
an Art Movie Venue
“From Real to Reel”
Cressandra is the Executive Director of 14 Pews, non-profit art house located in the Heights, whose mission is to provide a forum to experience, discuss and celebrate film & music, and to strengthen our community through education. 14 Pews offers year round, independent, foreign, documentary and experimental film and music related events. Cressandra received her MFA from Columbia University's film program, teaches Screenwriting at Rice University and has been a screenwriter and director for over 15 years. Her graduate thesis, a feature film titled “Spamarama, the Movie,” recently was screened at the Alamo Draft House in Austin. She is the author of “On the Couch,” an original sitcom written for Comedy Central, and has written and directed numerous films which have been accepted into the SXSW Film Festival, the Houston Film Festival and the Directors Guild of America. She recently completed a documentary, “Baja 1,000” and several commercials for the Houston Zoo. Cressandra was awarded fellowships to the MacDowell Colony, the Walt Disney Studios & ABC Entertainment Fellowships Program, the Fox Entertainment Group Diversity Development Program, was a semifinalist in both the Nicholl and Chesterfield fellowships and was the recipient of a Rockefeller Travel Grant. She has studied improv and comedy under comedians Amy Poehler and Matt Besser. |
|
| |
 Courtney Zubowski, KHOU News Reporter
“What’s New in the News”
Courtney began her career as an anchor and reported the news at KFDM in Beaumont where she won several local and state awards for her news coverage and helped her station win the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award for its coverage of Tropical Storm Allison. She then went to KTVK in Phoenix where she covered such stories as the case of the most prolific serial killer in the city's history and was the only TV reporter to witness Arizona's first execution in seven years. From Phoenix, she contributed many stories and breaking news reports to Headline News and CNN including a hostage situation that was featured on Anderson Cooper 360. She joined the 11 News team in January of 2008. Courtney is a graduate of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication where she was named the most distinguished student in her graduating class and honored two years in a row as one of the top young talents in the country by the Hearst Journalism Awards program.
Reporting for KHOU is not Courtney's first experience in front of the camera in Houston. Her first big break was in high school at Bellaire. She delivered the news to the student body on a big screen TV set up in the school cafeteria. Now, a college education, two jobs and a few different cities later, she's right back where she wants to be -- home. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Back
|
|
|
