Our Organization
Stacy Putman
Manager of Advocacy, Leadership & Strategic Technology Development at INEOS, League City, Texas
Allatia Harris
Vice Chancellor for Stategic Iniatives San Jacinto College, Pasadena, Texas
Byron Brister
HR Manager Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., LaPorte, Texas
Carla Thompson
Workforce Development Manager, Western Region, United States
Peter Beard
Senior Vice President, Regional Workforce Development and UpSkill Houston at Greater Houston Partnership, Houston, Texas
Douglas Walcerz
Provost and Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Lee College, Baytown, Texas
Sara Cassells
Senior Events & Marketing Coordinator at INEOS ICAN Foundation
Antonio Rios
Program Specialist, Spring Independent School District, Houston, Texas
Chad Burke
President/CEO Economic Alliance Houston Port Region, Deer Park, Texas
Dave King
Retired, Ineos, Texas
Patti Bell
Program Manager, Dream It. Do It. at Economic Alliance Houston Port Region, Deer Park, Texas
Economic Alliance Houston Port Region
Role: Founding Partner
Economic Alliance Houston Port Region is a nonprofit business-led organization whose mission for over 35 years has been to Grow a Vibrant Regional Economy through Economic Development. This effort is supported by Public Policy, Workforce Development, Transportation/Infrastructure, Quality of Life and Thought Leadership initiatives.
Economic Alliance has established itself as the convening entity in identifying, prioritizing, and promoting issues of Houston Port region significance. Working diligently to represent the unique needs of the petrochemical, maritime, and logistics industries that make up one of the World’s most influential energy corridors and trade ports.
Providing economic development services for the businesses and communities surrounding the 25-mile Houston Ship Channel. Since 2008, the Economic Alliance has supported 82 successful projects that have helped create 4,174 new jobs and over $18.8 billion of capital investment to the Houston Port Region.
A healthy and vibrant economy also raises the quality of life we all enjoy. We founded Dream It Do It Southeast Texas to leverage the national power behind the Dream It Do It Movement with the local power of our grassroots workforce development programs like the Speaker’s Bureau and Manufacturer’s Day.
See the Economic Alliance’s website for additional information.
Baker Ripley
Role: Founding Partner
Baker Ripley has a rich history in building communities that work since its early days when it was part of the Settlement House movement in the early 1900s ′s. When Alice Graham Baker founded the agency in 1907, the main intention behind it all was to help every resident of Houston have an opportunity for an education, for health, for work, and to become an informed participant in democracy. One hundred years later, the purpose of Baker Ripley hasn’t changed one bit. Baker Ripley is the largest charitable organization in Texas and hosts a network of over 70 service sites that help more than half a million people each year. We fulfill our mission to bring resources, education, and connection by working side by side with our neighbors. We founded Dream It. Do It. Southeast Texas as a way to provide an integrated network of support for the community and social services we provide in the areas of workforce development and student engagement.
East Harris County Manufacturers Association
Role: Collaborator
The East Harris County Manufacturers Association (EHCMA) is a coalition of nearly 120 plant sites at one of the largest petrochemical complexes in the world, managed by corporations dedicated to providing jobs, upholding environmental standards and providing a better quality of life for their neighbors in and around the Greater Houston area. EHCMA member companies span 10 cities, seven outreach areas and three ports. They represent 25,000 employees and drive the area economy with a $12 billion impact through taxes, payrolls, purchases and capital expenditures.
EHCMA member companies have facilities in Houston, Deer Park, Baytown, Pasadena, North Channel and La Porte. They transform natural resources into the materials needed to make many essential consumer products such as cosmetics, gasoline, jet fuel, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, electronics, building supplies, household goods, clothes, plastics, automobile parts and thousands of other everyday items that are a part of your daily routine. For EHCMA members, neighbors and everyone living and working in the Greater Houston Area, the organization is dedicated to promoting and protecting the health, safety, security, environment and economic well-being of the petrochemical, refining and manufacturing industry. EHCMA continues to raise awareness about the economic value and benefits the industry brings to the region and to the world.
UpSkill Houston
Role: Collaborator
The Greater Houston Partnership, the UpSkill Houston initiative, focuses on closing the skills gap in Houston by increasing the number of Houstonians trained for great careers across the region. The Partnership forecasts nearly 75,000 annual job openings in these “middle skills” careers that require more than a high school education but less than a four-year college degree.
UpSkill Houston has three key objectives:
