Jane Weiner
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jane Weiner graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in deaf and elementary education, and a dance minor. She has been a professional dancer for the past 15 years, and has performed extensively with the Doug Elkins Dance Company as well as appeared with Mark Dendy, Deborah Tell, Jennifer Monson, Michael Foley, Jody Oberfelder, Joe Chavala, Sandra Organ and Amy Rosen/Derek Bernstein. The past five summers she has directed the Youth Arts Program for high-risk children at the Bates Dance Festival. She is the co-founder of the Pink Ribbons Project, Dancers in Motion Against Breast Cancer and directs the Houston Project.

Barbara Aksamit
Barbara Aksamit is a mother of two daughters. She founded "Houston Womanade" in 2002 and has raised money to help mothers and families who need financial assistance through funding a non-restrictive account at the Nehemiah Center. She is also a member of the Development Committee for the Nehemiah Center. She has done extensive volunteer work for Annunciation Orthodox School and has also volunteered at First Presbyterian Church, Pink Ribbons Project and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

Consuelo Duroc-Danner
A native of Philadelphia, Ms. Duroc-Danner received her BA/BS from the University of Delaware and MA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. Since becoming a naturalized Texan in 1987, she has raised three children along side her efforts to support educational and literary organizations in the Houston. She has served as an active Board Member with the International Dyslexia Association (Houston Branch) and River Oaks Baptist School. Ms. Duroc-Danner currently serves as a Board Member of INPRINT, a non-profit organization that strives to enhance Houston’s literary community by supporting the Creative Writing Dept. at the University of Houston as well as sponsoring the Margaret Root Brown Reading Series and other outreach programs.

Julie Fette
Julie Fette is a professor of French Studies at Rice University. She earned her Ph.D at New York University. Her research on France focuses on xenophobia and immigration, women and work, and the role of public apology in coming to terms with the past. In her youth, Julie danced professionally with the Garden State Ballet in New Jersey. Julie and her daughter Talia love to take dance classes at Hope Stone Center.

Georgia Gatoura Foulard
Georgia Gatoura Foulard is a native of Houston, and a graduate of Rice University, where she received her B.A. in Foreign Languages. She then attended Baylor College of Medicine and is currently a Family Practice Physician. Dr. Foulard has been active in the Society for the Performing Arts, serving as a member of the board and the executive board as well as serving on the education and outreach committees. She co-chaired the SPA Ball in April, 2003. In September, 2002, she co-chaired the Planned Parenthood Gala. She is married to Mike Foulard, and they have two children, George, 17 and Lilly, 10.

Shannon Hall
Shannon Hall is co-owner and co-founder of Sloan/Hall, a contemporary lifestyle store with locations in Houston and San Antonio. Before his time in retail, Shannon worked in the nonprofit arena in the areas of architectural restoration and the performing arts. Shannon earned his MBA and an MA in Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University.

Matt Harris
Matt Harris currently works at MH Contractors, LLC, a residential remodeling and roofing corporation, where he is President. Previously, he was a principal at Noble Executive Search, a boutique executive recruiting firm specializing in accounting/finance. Active in both the cultural and not for profit communities, Matt serves on several boards and founded the young professional program, PULSE, under the St. Joseph's Foundation Board and previously served as Chair of the Emerging Leaders program under Houston Downtown Alliance. He also volunteers at Bering Omega House, an AIDS hospice in Houston. Matt did his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, receiving his BA in Philosophy.

Kathy Harrison
Kathy Harrison is a wife, mother, and community volunteer. In addition to serving on the Board of Hope Stone she is a board member of Express Soccer and actively involved in fundraising for Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas and in various capacities at her children's school. She graduated from Barnard College and the Northwestern University School of Law. She practiced law in New York City and Houston, Texas, retiring in 1996 as General Counsel of Mellon Mortgage Company in 1996.

Lesley Lilly
Lesley Lilly has a BBA from the University of Texas. She worked in the commercial and investment banking business for 12 years before retiring to raise her three children. She has done extensive work with not-for-profit organizations including Child Advocates, The Museum of Natural Science, and Alternatives in Motion Adoption Agency. She is also a member of the Junior League of Houston and has held leadership positions on their Board in the past several years.

Kristen McKeever
Kristen McKeever is a partner at the law firm of Smyser, Kaplan & Veselka. Selected as a Texas Rising Star by her fellow attorneys each year since 2004, Kristen has a general civil trial and appellate practice. Kristen has extensive experience handling complex commercial matters and has represented corporations as well as individual officers and directors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Before joining Smyser, Kaplan & Veselka, Kristen clerked for the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Curcuit, and she practiced as an associate in the trial and appellate sections of Baker Botts. Kristen received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1999, where she was the primary editor of the Harvard Law Review. She received her B.A. in English, with the highest honors, from the University of Florida in 1995. When not at the office, Kristen can be often be found pointing her toes at the ballet barre at Hope Center, taking class from the wonderfully talented Jeanne Doornbos, Rose Taylor, and Lindsey McGill.

Alan Morlan
Alan Morlan has been a Houston resident for the last 13 yrs. and has adopted this great city as his hometown. As a Realtor with the Keller Williams Metropolitan he is priviledged to experience many of Houstons diverse neighborhoods on a daily basis.

Alan's proud association with Hope Stone & Jane Weiner reflects his desire to be a part of a community that creates opportunity...

A member of Unity Church of Christianity, Alan believes in living a life that is progressive, practical & positive.
In addition Alan is a supporter of Saving Animals Across Borders and various AIDS organizations. Alan and his partner of 13 yrs. Ben Whittle live in the Rice Military neighborhood with their dog Oscar.

John Morris
John H. Morris is a licensed marriage and family therapist and personal coach in private practice. He has more than ten years experience in helping people change their lives for the better. John’s compassion and insight into trails people face is the product of a combination of factors including his faith, life experience, and wealth of both clinical and grass roots training in settings such as the VA Hospital (Houston), Conroe Independent School District, Star of Hope Shelters and Houston Child Guidance Center. John has helped even the most entrenched and troubled families turn the corner from despair and hopelessness into lives of renewed meaning and success. Apart from his career in assisting others, John enjoys time with his wife and two children as well as pursuing his interests as a musician.

Judy Nyquist
Judy Nyquist received a B.A. in Art History from the University of Michigan and a M.A. in Art History from Northeastern University. As a museum professional, she worked as a curator for the American Architectural Foundation in Washington, D.C. (the non-profit arm of The American Institute of Architects) for a decade. She has also worked as a consulting curator for several institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom. Judy’s volunteer activities include serving on the board of the C.O.R.E. sub-committee of the Glassell School of Art (Museums of Fine Arts/Houston) and as a board member of the Contemporary Arts Museum/Houston. She has taken on many fundraising and developmental roles for River Oaks Baptist School, the Contemporary Arts Museum/Houston, Casa d’Esperanza, and the Girl Scouts of America. Judy is particularly committed to education and bringing all disciplines of the visual and performing arts to a wide public audience.

M. Louise Partello
Louise Partello has had her own business as a computer consultant who has spent the last 13 years working with various for profit companies and non-profit organizations in the Houston area. Some of the organizations include the Houston Zoo, Inc, University of Houston Foundation, Pink Ribbons Project, and Hope Stone where she has donated both her time and expertise. Louise has lived in a variety of places including Saudi Arabia, where she installed a system for the International School in Dhahran working with a large variety of nationalities, and more recently, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bridget Schmal
Bridget Schmal is an airline product manager at PROS. When not taking adult ballet classes at Hope Center, she can typically be found at home mourning because she no longer has flight benefits from her former job working for ExpressJet or Continental Airlines to escape out of town to attend a ballet performance . Yet it’s still all about dance.

Roland Sledge
SECRETARY

Since 2003, Mr. Sledge has served as Vice President and Legal Counsel for VAALCO Energy, Inc., a Houston-based independent energy company. Mr. Sledge is responsible for extensive legal matters related to the company’s exploration and production (E&P) activities in the Republic of Gabon, Africa. He prepares and negotiates a wide range of legal documents associated with the international offshore E&P business and he manages the legal aspects of corporate and securities matters required by the operation of a public company. From 1983 to 2002, Mr. Sledge rose to the position of a Managing Director of Torch Energy Advisors Incorporated of Houston. There he was responsible for the negotiation and documentation of wide-ranging legal issues pertaining to the investment and management of more than $3 billion of domestic and international oil and gas assets. In previous career experience, Mr. Sledge has served as the Assistant General Counsel of The American Gas Association and Assistant to the Chairman of the Federal Power Commission (now known as FERC) in Washington, D.C.

Camille Stovall
Camille Stovall is a Principal in Deloitte & Touche LLP's Financial Advisory Services practice. She is responsible for the mid-America Reorganization Services Group. She has nineteen years of experience in financial and operational restructuring, crisis management, bankruptcy, commercial lending, dispute consulting and corporate development. Her experience includes seven years providing reorganization advisory, crisis management and bankruptcy consulting services with PricewaterhouseCoopers; three years in the global corporate development group of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where her responsibilities included the acquisition of technology companies and consulting practices, investments in alliances and joint ventures, and the divestiture of non-core business/practices; and over eight years in commercial lending and restructuring of troubled transactions for Bank One Corporation.

Emily Weinstein
PRESIDENT

Emily Weinstein is a full-time mom for six-year-old Zoey and 1-year-old Jules. A former communications consultant, Emily freelanced in Houston for seven years in public relations, marketing, event planning, and writing with various local restaurants, PR firms, and several non-profits. From October 1998 until 2000, she worked with Spiralgroup, a virtual high-tech public relations firm based in San Francisco. Prior to that, she spent five years in sales and event planning with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company at the Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel and Spa in Pasadena, CA and The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead in Atlanta. Clients included Sony, Fortune Magazine, Amgen and movie press junkets. Prior to her career with the Ritz-Carlton, Emily was with a catering company in Atlanta, handling preparation and planning for the 1996 Olympics. She has a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin. Emily now spends time with her husband Adam, two kids, and new puppy Rocco, focusing on family and involvement in her daughter’s school.