2023 Gulf Coast Women in Leadership Symposium
March 09, 2023
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM (CT)
Theme
Rising in Resilience: Achieving Empowerment through Advancement & Adaptability
Sponsored By
The focus of this annual event is to bring together a diverse mix of successful women leaders who, through the discussion of topics relevant to today’s issues will educate, inspire and encourage women to reflect on their own goals and status as they strive to advance within their organizations.
Opening Remarks
Panelists
Aldred
As the senior vice president and Chief Human Resources Officer for Texas Children’s Hospital, Linda Aldred is the principal strategist and implementer for the people strategies and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the largest Children’s Hospital system in the country. Linda describes her leadership style as Think it Big...Lead it Bigger...Be the Difference. She is steadfast in her belief that without building and executing on effective and meaningful people strategies, which exemplify the brand and culture of an organization, it is impossible to achieve preeminence for any organization. For over 17 years, Linda has been an executive at Texas Children’s. In addition to her Human Resources role, she has also led marketing, public relations, and community initiatives in her tenure. She is passionate about leadership development, employee experience, and creating a compelling and inclusive place for people to do their work. With Linda’s leadership, Texas Children’s has received many accolades including Houston Business Journal’s Best Places to Work, the Forbes' first 'Best Employers for Women' list where Texas Children’s is #1 in Houston and #11 in America. Texas Children’s is also ranked the #2 pediatric hospital in the country by U.S. News and World Report, which would not be possible without its people. Linda holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Finance from the University of Houston and a Master’s in Organizational Performance and Change from Colorado State University.
Flix
LaTanya Flix is Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) for the Greater Houston Partnership, the Houston region’s principal business organization. In this role, she serves as executive staff liaison to the Partnership’s board Racial Equity Committee, oversees internal DEI learning and development, and leads One Houston Together- the Partnership’s commitment to leverage the power of the business community to reduce inequities. One Houston Together is a data-driven effort of 100+ businesses, institutions, and nonprofit organizations to advance people of color into senior management roles, increase racial diversity on corporate boards, and grow spending with Minority Business Enterprises. LaTanya is an organizational development and DEI practitioner with 20+ years of experience helping senior leaders operationalize equity and inclusion across an organization. She has a record of success leading change management, developing projects from idea to implementation, and leveraging stakeholder engagement to drive action. Prior to joining the Partnership, LaTanya held a variety of senior leadership roles in community development, philanthropy, and civic engagement. She is founder and principal of CauseAdvance, a social change consultancy offering customized solutions for businesses, philanthropists, and community-based organizations. LaTanya earned a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity University and a MPAff from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a fifth generation Texan and proud native Houstonian.
Harris
Paula Harris is Senior Vice President of Community Affairs for the Houston Astros and Executive Director of the Astros Foundation. She enjoys impacting our community through engagement and community programming. The Astros have invested over $30 Million dollars into the Houston Area during the last five years. They are focused on the pillars of youth sports and education, military, homelessness, domestic violence, and childhood cancer. In 2020 she retired after 33 years experience with Schlumberger Ltd. Educated as a Petroleum Engineer, Harris initially worked offshore field operations before progressing into leadership roles including operations, training, sales and ultimately, into global ESG and Sustainability positions. Her international career allowed her to manage business activities in Russia, Europe, Nigeria, Venezuela, China, and Australia. Paula developed a life-long civic interest in educational instruction and a personal interest in mentoring minority and female engineers. While working she authored two books: For Sister, The Guide for Professional Black Women and When I Grow Up I Want to be an Engineer. Harris currently also serves on the boards of: Chart Industries, Hunting Energy, Helix Energy, The Vantage Group, The Houston Children’s Museum, Petroleum Club of Houston, Independent Petroleum Association of America’s Energy Education Center and Energized for STEM Charter School. She helped to establish the HISD all-girls STEM school, the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy, serving primarily minority communities in Houston to graduate girls prepared to attend top engineering universities. Previously she served on the boards of the Houston Independent School District; Permian Strategic Partnership in Midland, TX, Space Center Houston and numerous other education and outreach associations. In 2020, she received the Women Who Mean Business Lifetime Achievement award from the Houston Business Journal and in 2019, the Women on the Move award from Texas Executive Women and the United Nations Global Citizenship Award.
Olvera
Norma Olvera, Ph.D., Full Professor, Department of Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, University of Houston. Dr. Olvera is the 2017 USDA E. Kika de la Garza Science Fellow, 2012, The Obesity Society Fellow and Director of the Latino Health Disparities Lab. She received her doctoral degree in Developmental Psychology with focus on maternal and child health from The University of Houston Psychology Department. Throughout her academic career, Dr. Olvera has committed to empower underrepresented minority faculty and students to pursue and achieve their academic and professional goals. Since 2017 she is a founding member and Executive Leadership Committee member of the Provost-sponsored Women of Color Coalition. The University of Houston Women of Color Coalition’s mission has centered on initiatives that foster academic, scholarship, and professional development among underrepresented Hispanic and African American women. Examples of such initiatives include the provision of competitive research stimulus grants and writing workshops, formation of writing groups, mentoring programs, and professional career seminars. In 2014, Dr. Olvera received the Lifetime Faculty Award For Mentoring Undergraduate Research for her work in mentoring underrepresented minority health, medicine, and nutrition students in obesity-related research projects. Since 2017 Dr. Olvera has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to offer an internship program that includes mentoring Hispanic and African American college students in research and experiential learning in obesity prevention and treatment. Dr. Olvera is also currently the Hispanic Health Coalition President leading several initiatives such as the Scholarship Student Program and Latino Health Summit. Lastly, Dr. Olvera has developed innovative community and family-based wellness interventions designed to empower Latino and African American families to make healthier lifestyle choices. As a principal investigator, co-investigator or consultant, Dr. Olvera has secured consistently funding and published over 60 scientific journal articles and book chapters.
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Moderator
Nguyen
Rosie Nguyen is the Race & Culture Reporter at ABC13 (KTRK-TV), specializing in reports about racial equity and social justice. She is the daughter of two Vietnam War refugees. Her passion is to bring more awareness about the issues impacting the lives of marginalized populations and provide more positive representation of diverse communities. She’s been in Houston for more than a year and came from her hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah. During her time there, she won a Rocky Mountain Regional Emmy in Breaking News during the destructive George Floyd riots in March 2020 and has been recognized with several 1st place awards from the Utah Society of Professional Journalists.
Award Nomination
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