Wayne Johnson
Vice President
Dallas, Texas
Wayne Johnson serves the
Foundation with 30 years of experience in both the business arena and in
corporate and business associations law. He currently serves as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of
T‑NETIX, Inc.,
a public company in the specialty telecommunications industry. His legal career has
included partnership in a law firm where he specialized in business association
formation, maintenance, and governance. He also worked on business transactions
such as real estate, corporate securities, and mergers and acquisitions.
During his varied business career he has served as founder and general counsel and
was at the executive and directorship level
with various public and private businesses.
Dr. Quenton Dokken
Executive Director
Corpus Christi, Texas
Dr.
Quenton Dokken, Executive Director, is uniquely
qualified to lead the efforts of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. Formerly, he was Associate Director of the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Center for Coastal Studies and
the Director of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Gulf of Mexico Regional
Marine Research Program. As a marine scientist, Dr. Dokken has an
extensive publication record relating to the study
of the ecosystems and fauna of the Gulf of Mexico.
As Executive Director of the Gulf of Mexico Regional
Marine Research Program, he has led his professional
peers in developing priorities for marine research
in the Gulf of Mexico, a daunting task in the face
of declining research dollars. He is the founder and
coordinator of the Flower Garden Ocean Research
Program and was Executive Director of the Texas
State Aquarium in 1985.
J. Gary Ellis
Secretary
Gulf Shores, Alabama
J. Gary Ellis is president and publisher of Compass Marketing, Inc., parent company of
Southern Breeze magazine. Launched in 2000, Southern Breeze highlights the coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, and northwest Florida and promotes conservation of our natural
resources and responsible tourism to its readers. Ellis, a lifelong resident
of coastal Alabama, believes in preserving resources and promoting that
concept. Upon launching Southern Breeze magazine, Southern Breeze made a donation to the Gulf of Mexico
Foundation in honor of all charter advertisers. That spirit of giving
continues, with GMF as the key beneficiary of the Southern Breeze
Coastal
Wine Tour, a series of wine and culinary events aimed at the magazine's
readers. Ellis is also involved in the Alabama Coastal Cleanup, the Conservation and
Natural Resources committee of the Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of
Commerce, the Southeast Tourism Society, the Travel and Tourism Research
Association, the Alabama Tourism Partnership and the Alabama Hospitality
Association.
Michael Kieschnick
Treasurer
Corpus Christi, Texas
Michael Kieschnick graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas A&M University Kingsville (TAMU-K) in May 1999
with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting and a Masters of Public Accountancy.
Michael was the Distinguished Honor Graduate from the College of Business Administration.
He joined Guerra, Kieschnick, Cross & Lovvorn, L.L.P. on a part-time basis in August 1998,
becoming a partner January 1, 2005. He received his Certified Public Accounting Certificate in
September of 2002. He and his wife Laura have two children. Michael's uncle,
Lawrence Kieschnick, served as the GMF's treasurer until his death in August
2005.
Joseph Dial
Founding Member, Former President
Dallas, Texas / Washington DC
A native Texan, Joseph Dial is a founding member and former president of the
Gulf of Mexico Foundation. In 1989 he was elected by 24 gubernatorial appointees
from the five Gulf coastal states to serve as the first Chairman of the US
Environmental Protection Agency's
Gulf of Mexico Program. Leading up to that
time, Dial owned and managed a
multi-faceted cattle, crop and agricultural products/services business in South
Texas. He was also active in banking and international trade and had been
exporting agricultural products to foreign countries for 25 years. From 1991 to
1997, Joseph Dial served as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission in Washington DC. In January 1998, he was named a Fellow at the
Institute of Politics, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
At present, he is a consultant to several foreign governments and US firms in
the fields of Global Derivative Markets Development and Managing Change in
Agriculture through Electronic Commerce. He currently serves as a member of the
United Nations Conference of Trade and Development, Committee on Commodities
Group of Experts.
Colie Donaldson
Founding Member
Diamondhead, Mississippi
Mr. Donaldson is a founding member and former president of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. His management
experience in economic and community development spans more than 25 years. During the past decade,
he has been a consultant to various companies, assisting them to reorganize and refinance their operations.
He has completed the six-year Institute for Organizational Management Program and the
three-year Advanced Management Academy, at Notre Dame, both under the direction of the
US Chamber of Commerce. Donaldson offers his diverse experience in management, economic, and
community development to the Gulf of Mexico Foundation.
Marcus J. Allen
Board Member
Houston, Texas
Marcus
J. Allen has been President of Marathon Oil Company since 2007. Previously, he
held several different roles since joining Marathon in 2002 including director
of the company's Subsea Project, in which he ran several concurrent deep-water
projects. Before that, he held engineering positions in Lafayette, Louisiana and
Anchorage, Alaska, working in production, reservoir, drilling and management. He
earned a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University
in College Station, graduating summa cum laude. His interests include spending
time with wife and two sons, running, outdoor activities and community programs.
He enjoys reading self improvement and Christian literature and values time most
with wife, Joyce, who is God’s greatest blessing of his life.
Rick Fowler
Board Member
New Orleans, Louisiana
Richard L. "Rick" Fowler is vice
president Deep Water Projects for LLog Exploration Company L.L.C. Prior to joining LLog, Mr. Fowler was General Manager of Gulf of Mexico operations for Dominion
Exploration & Production based in New Orleans. Rick joined Dominion in 1996 when the offshore unit was part of Consolidated Natural Gas Co.. Prior to CNG, Rick
performed reservoir engineering and operational duties for Exxon. A 1984 graduate of Tulane University, Rick earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.
An active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, he has served as past president of the Delta section, chairman of the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Symposium,
and committee member for the geology and geophysics session for the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition.
Dr. Ian Richard Hudson
Member
Houston, Texas
Dr. Ian Hudson is the current Head of Environment at
Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, with over 82 rigs distributed worldwide and over 15,000
employees. Ian coordinates the company's
environmental strategy and environmental management system.
Previous to this role, Ian was head of the SERPENT Project, a scientific collaboration between 15 major oil and gas companies and scientific institutions
that is run from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in the UK. Ian headed the project for
four years and still remains the chairman.
He has visited offshore installations all over the world and has extensive
offshore research cruise experience with the NOC.
He is involved with scientific projects in Australia looking at developing a new pool of deep ocean ecologists and works closely with industry and government in Angola to increase the knowledge of local scientists and links with the energy industry.
Ian is a scientific advisor to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Natural History Unit and has been involved in the successful Blue Planet and recent Planet Earth productions for Discovery Channel.
Ian holds a degree in marine biology from the University of Newcastle in the UK and a PhD in
deep ocean ecology, specializing in climate change on the ocean floor, from the University of Southampton, UK. Ian is an enthusiastic PADI scuba diver and in between work, diving and science, he enjoys playing rugby.
John LaRue
Member, Former President
Corpus Christi, Texas
With a career of public service spanning more than
25 years, John LaRue brings a wealth of experience and
expertise to the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. He is the Executive
Director of the Port of Corpus Christi Authority. His
responsibilities include day-to-day operations of the port
including the departments of Engineering, Finance &
Administration, Government Affairs, Operations, and Trade
Development. He offers the Foundation his broad
experience in commerce, management, and development, as well as his
knowledge of effective collaboration with government agencies.
Kevin McEvoy
Member
Houston, Texas
M. Kevin McEvoy is Executive Vice President of Oceaneering International, Inc., an
advanced applied technology company that focuses on
deepwater engineered products and services for the oil and gas industry world wide. He is responsible for four of Oceaneering’s six
business operations: Subsea Projects, Mobile Offshore Production Systems, Inspection, and Advanced Technologies.
With 35 years of industry experience, he began his career with the US Navy working in the areas of diving, salvage and submarine rescue.
He joined Solus Ocean Systems, Inc. in 1979, which was acquired in 1984 by Oceaneering. He has worked in all of Oceaneering’s business
operations and most of the geographic regions in which the company operates.
He holds an undergraduate degree in Biology and Geology from Brown University (1972) and an MBA with a minor in Marine
Resources Management from Texas A&M University (1979).
Dr. Gene Meier
Member
Picayune, Mississippi
A member of the board since 2002, Dr. Gene Meier has 31 years of experience in
basic and applied research related to health and environmental science. He
brings to the Foundation experience in: developing methods of analyzing
environmental samples, developing hazardous waste,
environmental monitoring, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), environmental
monitoring, and remote sensing programs.
Fred Palmer
Member
Mandeville, Louisiana
Fred Palmer is Manager of Communications and Government Relations for Shell EP Americas business. In this role, he has responsibility for providing public,
social performance, reputation, stakeholder and local government relations’ support for Shell’s exploration and production operations and new business
ventures in the US Lower 48 states and Gulf of Mexico. Palmer joined Shell Exploration & Production Company (SEPCo) in April of 2002 and Shell EP Americas was formed in August of 2003.
Prior to joining SEPCo, he was Regional Manager of Public and Government Affairs for the Southeast United States with Texaco Inc.
He graduated from Salem (Mass.) State College with a degree in political science and held positions of increasing responsibility in the Public and Government
Affairs and Corporate Communications Division with Texaco from 1981 to 2001. Palmer is married, has three children and lives in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Marti D. Powers
Member
Houston, Texas
Marti D. Powers joined
BP in 2001 and has almost 20 years of public relations/ communications experience with an emphasis on television and print reporting and a
background in government and issues management. In her current role
with BP, Marti serves as the General Manager, Government and Public Affairs, for the Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent. Marti leads a team of external affairs professionals responsible for government and public affairs, issues management and advocacy, emergency response and community investment in nine states. She and her team work with the Gulf of Mexico businesses, the North American Gas BU
and a number of other clients. Marti has maintained an active leadership role in her community by volunteering her time in a range of activities. She has held numerous local and state board leadership positions. She was awarded ExxonMobil’s “Shared Visions Realized” award, received the Baytown Hispanic Chamber’s “Business Person of the Year”
award, was recognized as co-Volunteer of the Year for the Texas City-La Marque
Chamber of Commerce and received two Rotary Foundation Paul Harris
Fellow honors.
Mary Yturria
Director Emeritus
Brownsville, Texas
Mary Yturria is a founding member and former president of the Gulf of Mexico
Foundation. She is a civic activist and visionary community leader who is well
known in South Texas. Her legacy of contributions to a multitude of public
services organizations has gained her recognition in both the United States and
Mexico. She is a recipient of numerous civic and humanitarian awards. Yturria's foresight, organizational skills,
and leadership are an immeasurable asset to the Gulf of Mexico Foundation.
Gulf of Mexico Foundation - PMB 51, 5403 Everhart - Corpus Christi, TX 78411
(800) 884-4175 toll free - (361) 882-3939 phone - (361) 882-1262 fax
e-mail:
info@gulfmex.org
website:
gulfmex.org
webmaster:
Carrie Robertson
Shelf
Policy Committee, serving as chairman of the committee from 1994 to 1996. In
1991, President Bush appointed him to serve on the U.S. Commission on Ocean
Policy established to examine the major issues affecting America’s coasts and
oceans. Currently he serves as a member of the