Ben

Williams

Ben Williams’ affinity for venture management began at an early age. The product of an entrepreneurial lineage, Williams’ knack for business operations was further honed at Howard University in Washington DC, before spreading his wings into the full-time management and expansion of developing enterprises —the feat included his own live events promotion company, which oversaw the national promo for several Grammy award-winning artists.

 

Following his move back to his hometown of Houston, TX, Williams put his business and fiscal strengths to use in the private education sector, serving as the Business Development + Financial Director at The Imani School — a private, Christian elementary and middle school where his mother, Patricia Williams, also serves as Head of School — for the past 17 years. In August 2012, Williams partnered with his brother and Executive Chef Chris Williams to open well-refined Southern restaurant Lucille’s in a 1923 Mission-style home on a quiet, tree-lined street in the Museum District. The restaurant serves as a tribute to the culinary tradition began by their great-grandmother, Lucille B. Smith, who was an educator, culinary innovator and successful entrepreneur who founded her own food corporation.

 

Williams’ foray into the hospitality sector eventually sparked an interest in the world of spirits. Seven years of experimental distilling led to the launch of Highway Vodka — the brainchild of Williams, which also serves as Texas’ first hemp seed vodka. The venture also marks the first fully Black-owned distillery in Texas. In just over one year, Williams has led the company through robust expansion, with the Houston-based distillery now distributing product throughout the state of Texas and forthcoming distribution into Georgia. Williams is set to release his first whiskey — Highway Young American Whiskey — in November 2020, which will be followed by the opening of Highway’s first tasting room in 2021.

 

Williams has once again partnered with his brother, Chef Chris, to help configure the newly formed non-profit Lucille’s 1913. The foundation mimics the ethos of the restaurant, Lucille’s, and its namesake — functioning as a conscious community collective that combines food philanthropy and development to further nourish Houston’s most vulnerable communities. Williams currently serves as a founding board member of the initiative.

 

 

Jennifer

Williams

For Jennifer Williams, financial planning provides both profession and purpose. A Bachelor of Science graduate by way of Xavier University, Jennifer continued her education via a Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from American Intercontinental University — further honing her innate passion for the industry. A native Houstonian, Williams returned to the Bayou City to establish her career in financial planning, channeling the spirit of financial preparedness her family instilled in her at a young age.

 

A consistent student of her craft, Jennifer is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM practitioner, Certified Retirement Counselor® and Certified Wealth Strategist®. She holds the Texas General Lines – Life, Accident, Health and HMO, FINRA Series 7, 63 and 65 licenses. After twelve years at a boutique financial planning firm, Jennifer transitioned to a role as Senior Financial Planner and Vice President at BBVA Compass Bank for six years, before her eventual move to her current position as a Financial Planning Manager and First Vice President at Trustmark. Always looking to instill knowledge in others, Jennifer devotes her time as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM Certification Education Program Instructor at Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. Jennifer is also a member of the Financial Planning Association and is a member of the Association’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

 

In addition to all of her professional endeavors, she has continued bolstering her heart for service — another tenet ingrained in her youth — by extending her financial prowess to vulnerable communities. Jennifer’s service roster is both robust and diverse, spanning volunteer initiatives like the Women’s Resource Center’s financial literacy classes to Twelve Days of Christmas Houston Chapter Treasurer and the United Way Reading Together Program. She is a graduate of the United Way Project Blueprint Program, which prepares participants for non-profit board service.  Jennifer also extends her time to The Junior League of Houston, where she has been a member for the past 6 years, holding multiple administrative placements, which includes the Board Director-At-Large position for 2021-2022.

 

As a newly-minted Board Member of Lucille’s 1913, Jennifer looks to utilize her thriving professional and service background to further the non-profit’s mission via financial acumen and additional educational and structural resources.

 

 

Jackye

Alton

Jackye Alton, a Little Rock, AR, native, initiated her pursuit of higher education at Fisk University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. Her aim for academic proficiency didn’t stop in Nashville, TN, as she went on to earn a Master’s degree in Education from Howard University. An obvious proponent of scholastic achievement, Alton began her professional career by focusing her talents in elementary education in Washington, D.C. After relocating to Houston, she continued this career as an instructor in the education department at Texas Southern University.

 

Upon completion of Wellesley College’s Travel Counselor Certification, Alton reached for the entrepreneurial stars, launching Almeda Travel in partnership with her late husband, Dr. Washington I. Alton. Founded in June 1977, Almeda Travel enjoys the esteemed designation as the second largest African-American owned travel agency in the United States today, and was an associate of the distinguished Leaders Group of Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Presently, Almeda Travel is an associate of the Travel Leaders Group.    As the President and CEO of Almeda Travel, Alton oversees the management of all government, corporate, and leisure travel operations nationwide.  She credits her long-running success to a commitment to superlative service.

 

Her professional relationships are numerous.  She is a current Board Member and immediate past President of the Society of Government Professionals, an organization whose thrust is the National Forum for the $70 Billion Government Travel Market.  In 2005, she was cited “Person of the Year” by this entity. For five years, this business owner held an engagement with the US House of Representatives Travel and Tourism Caucus. Alton has also tirelessly served in a member capacity on the Board of Directors for the Houston Convention Visitors Bureau, Institute for the Association of Travel Agents, and Houston Executive Women in Travel.

 

Since perseverance and success rarely go without recognition, the accolades this business owner has received rival her affiliations: UNCF Community Sponsor Support Award, Best Travel Agency Leisure Sponsor Support Award, Top Ladies of Distinction Travel Agency Award, S. Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus Service Award, Inter-American Travel Agents Presidents Award. Furthermore, her travel industry triumphs have been trumpeted by the Governor of Louisiana and the Louisiana House of Representatives, as well as the Virgin Islands’ Hotel Associations, just to name a few.

 

Alton is not only immersed in business, but she is a stronghold in the community. In addition to being a Life Member of both Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the NAACP, she is past President of the Houston Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and member of Board of Trustees at Fisk University.

 

This travel industry entrepreneurial executive attends Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.  Alton is the proud mother of Kimberley Alton Calhoun of Washington, D.C. and Rey Alton of Houston, TX.  She is also the proud grandmother of three grandchildren.

 

Reginald "Ricky"

Browne, Jr.

Reginald (“Rickey”) Browne graduated from A. M. Story High School in Palestine, Texas in 1965.  After college at the University of Houston, he worked as a Transportation Analyst for Shell Oil Company for 5 ½ years.  He had work assignments in Houston, Texas; New York, New York; Kilgore, Texas and back to Houston.

     He began his tenure with ExxonMobil at the Baytown, Texas refinery on January 5, 1977; in the Oil Movements Department.  He worked in numerous special assignments and was promoted to First Line Supervisor after five years.  Within two years a specialized job was created for him.  He became the Procedures Coordinator for the Oil Movements Dept.  In this position, he did circuit-wide interaction with Exxon Headquarters - Product Audit and ensured that the Baytown, TX refinery (BTRF) was in compliance with federal regulations on the shipping and receiving of all petroleum products.  He became an Exxon retiree on June 30, 2003 after more than 26 years at the refinery.

 He received the ExxonMobil Baytown Refinery’s Lifetime Achievement Award in February 2006.  Reggie credits God and his parents' contributions to church, community and education for any success he may have achieved.  He is the son of educators, Mildred Alexander Browne and the late Reginald O. Browne, Sr. His father was an agricultural teacher and later became a junior high school principal.  His father was also one of the first three African-American County Commissioners elected in the State of Texas - all three were elected to office in 1976.  His mother was an elementary school principal. His father and his mother were his role models.

His proudest accomplishment is the “Honor Thy Father and Mother” roast and toast affair that his sisters and he held for their parents on October 22, 1994.  It was a celebration of the more than 100 years of contributions in church service, community service, education and politics their parents had made to the Anderson County, TX community.  He and his siblings’ lives have been truly blessed since they followed the biblical saying, “Honor your father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise” - Ephesians 6:2.

Reggie and his co-worker, Roy DuBose, set up the first complex-wide computer-generated distribution list of Exxon-Baytown African-American employees in 1992.  This list contained over 700 African-American names and led to a great line of communication among all A-A employees.  The ExxonMobil –Baytown, Texas complex is made up of six Exxon companies with over 4,000 employees. Reggie wrote the proposal to set-up the annual budget for the current Black History Month (BHM), Cinco da Mayo and Hispanic Heritage Month programs and got them approved by the Human Resources section in 1994.  Reggie was able to acquire $10,000 in annual funding for each of the three programs.  The first BTRF Black History program was held in 1994 and was attended by over 400 people. In 1995, Bobby Banks, Roy DuBose, Stan Freeman, Jesse Shead, Ray Wilson and Reggie implemented the first complex-wide celebration of the Black History Month program, which combined 6 ExxonMobil sites holding their BHM program together at the Baytown Refinery at the same time. The programs were shown on Closed-Circuit TV to more than 3,000 employees in 1994.  In 2019, the program celebrated its 26th year as an annual event.

He was a member of the Baytown Employee Support Team (B.E.S.T.), along with the Refinery Manager.   He convinced the B.E.S.T group (including the Refinery Manager, Human Resource Manager and Process Manager and 45 members of their families to attend church service together at Windsor Village United Methodist Church, an all-black church in 1992.

He was also a member of the complex-wide Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration Committee.  He served on the Lee College Black Educational Access Committee and the Lee College Hispanic Educational Access Committee.  In 1998, he acquired $10,000 in funding from Exxon to set up a permanent monument that highlighted 50 outstanding African-Americans from Baytown and 50 outstanding Hispanic Americans from Baytown.  This monument is located at Lee College in Baytown.  He also served on the Board of Directors - Communities in Schools of Baytown and Board of Directors - American Diabetes Association of Baytown.

He served on the Board of Directors - Bay Area Heritage Society and set-up the first-ever Black History display cases in the Baytown Historical Museum.  He also served a 2-year term as Secretary of the Baytown Historical Museum.  The museum began in 1976 with $25.00 and now it has more than $1.5 million in its treasury.

His second proudest accomplishment occurred in 2005, when he made a 15-minute presentation to the Vice-President of the University of Texas, the President of Prairie View A&M University and the Executive Director of the University Interscholastic League (UIL), which led to the UIL recognizing the sports records from the former all-black Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL).  The Prairie View Interscholastic League Coaches Association (PVILCA) had been trying to get this accomplished since 1967.  The black high school state championships in football, basketball and track are now listed on the UIL website.  He accomplished in 15-minutes what the coaches association had been trying to get done for almost 40 years.   (Houston Chronicle, July 26, 2005).

 He also wrote the 501(c) (3) Tax Exempt Certification for the Prairie View Interscholastic League Coaches Association (PVILCA) in 2005.

 In 2002, he worked with the George Washington Carver High School Alumni Association, ExxonMobil Public Relations, Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District, and the Bay Area Heritage Society of Baytown to acquire $40,000 in funding for a permanent monument to Carver High School, the former all-black high school in Baytown.  This monument is located at the former school site.

 Reggie also wrote the 501(c) (3) Tax Exempt Certification for the T. J. Ford Foundation in 2004. T. J. Ford is the former University of Texas All-American basketball player and the 2003 Number 1 draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association.  Reggie served as the V. P. of the foundation. The foundation gave the Goose Creek School District $40,000 worth of Leapfrog personal learning tools in 2005.  He coordinated a National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game Gala in 2006, at the Ensemble Theatre in Houston.  The president of Prairie View A&M U. was the guest speaker and 18 other Houston-area college presidents attended the affair.

He has been working with the vice president of the University of Texas, the president of Prairie View A&M University and the University Interscholastic League (U I L) Executive Director to get more recognition of the academic and sports records from the pre-integration era all-black high schools in Texas.

In 2006, he wrote the 501(c) (3) Tax Exempt Certification for the Willowridge High School Wall of Fame in Sugarland, Texas.  This has led to an annual Wall of Fame banquet that recognizes 30 to 50 inductees each year, in the areas of academics, business-world accomplishments and sports achievements.  This event is annually attended by over 800 people and the proceeds are put back into the school system in learning tools and other educational needs.

 

 

Antoinette M.

Jackson

Antoinette M. (“Toni”) Jackson is a principal with The Banks Law Firm practicing in the area of real estate with a focus on affordable housing and community development financing.  Toni’s practice has been the perfect marriage of practicing law while serving the community. The developments she works on have increased the number of affordable housing units and revitalized communities throughout the U.S. Southeast.  Ms. Jackson focuses her practice in mixed-finance transactions which include low income housing tax credits (“LIHTC”) and new markets tax credits (“NMTC”), HUD FHA financing, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac platforms and other public funding sources. Toni also works on tax exempt bond transactions and transactions utilizing disaster recovery funding as well as the most recent community development financing tool utilizing Opportunity Zones.  Additionally, she serves as special counsel to public housing authorities assisting with the redevelopment and conversion of public housing portfolios.

 

Ms. Jackson’s board service includes the Houston Downtown District, the Texas Southern University Foundation, Texas Medical Board District One Review Committee and Safe Housing Alliance (formerly National Alliance of Safe Housing). She is a former Chair of the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law and Past President of the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers (“TAAHP”) and Houston Habitat for Humanity boards.  In July 2018, Toni was awarded the Jean MacDonald Lifetime Achievement in Housing by TAAHP. She also received the Carl Umland Humanitarian Award from Houston Habitat for her advocacy work in housing.  Ms. Jackson has been recognized by the National Bar Association (“NBA”) Women Lawyers Division as Outstanding Minority Partner in a Minority Firm and received the NBA’s prestigious Wiley A. Branton Award for Civil Rights Advocacy.  In 2017, Ms. Jackson had a personal essay published in the ABA publication “GRIT, The Secret to Advancement: Stories of Success Women Lawyers” about being a minority in a major law firm.

 

Ms. Jackson serves as an Adjunct Professor at Thurgood Marshall School of Law along with serving as a speaker and guest lecturer in the area of affordable housing and community development law. She also serves her community as a member of the Texas Spring Cypress Chapter of The Links Incorporated.  Toni is a proud graduate of the University of Virginia and Thurgood Marshall School of Law Texas Southern University.

Antoinette M.

Jackson

Lee is a resident and native son of Houston, Texas. During his formative years in the public and parochial schools of Houston, El Franco’s artistic abilities were duly acknowledged by Houston Independent School District, the Archdiocese of Galveston Houston, Houston Livestock and Rodeo, and Glassell School of Art.

El Franco’s solo and juried exhibitions have included Gift of the Spirit (A partnership of JPMorgan Chase and Art League Houston); Project Row Houses – Houston, Texas; Angstrom Gallery – Dallas, Texas; Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., LLC Public Finance Summit – Napa Valley, California; Contemporary Arts Museum – Houston, Texas; Romo Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia; G Gallery – Houston, Texas; University of Houston Project Gallery; Blaffer Gallery – Houston, Texas; Yale University – Annual Art Barn Exhibit – Norfolk, Connecticut; Diverse Works Gallery Art Space – Houston, Texas.

The future for El Franco will certainly encompass more of his “Urban Mannerist Pop Art” on a larger scale. You can also expect a recommence for his love of sculpting and comic book characters.

Teeba

Rose

Motivated professional with over 20 years of experience in brand management, marketing, communications, strategic planning, sales and crisis management. Strong business development professional with a master of Community Development degree and demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to collect and analyze data efficiently. Self-motivated and driven, adaptable, able to work in a fast-paced environments and goal oriented.

 

Specialties: Branding, Videography, Graphic Design, Public Speaking, Leadership and Strategic Management,

As a leading motivational speaker nationwide, Teeba Rose consistently engages sold-out audiences for public events, school settings, and corporate team-building retreats. A native Houstonian, Teeba graduated from Texas Southern University with a Bachelor of Art in Business and Marketing. Teeba's business experience spans years at Xerox, where he received numerous awards for his ability to market and communicate effectively with clients. Before he moved on to represent Abbott Laboratories, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies, in his position at Abbott, he was responsible for the South Texas Region and received several accolades for exceeding milestones. Teeba’s own business has garnered him a six-figure income and the freedom to engage with audiences of all ages, teaching valuable fiscal responsibility strategies and engaging team-building modalities that can be used in any workplace.

 

Teeba Rose specializes in engaging his client with valuable leadership, customer service, and team-building skills developed within a high-stakes sales environment. Teeba was named Associate of the Year amongst 40,000 of his peers in the insurance industry in 2006 and has consistently ranked in the Top 25 of executives at his current company for the past four years. Teeba's strategies can help your staff overcome communication challenges, work toward common goals, and achieve milestones that will boost their confidence and productivity.