After graduating from the University of Texas in 1996 with a Communications and Leadership Studies diploma Adam went on to an award winning, seven year run with legendary Texas advertising agency GSD&M. In 2002, he co-founded Butler brand development studio. His studio has led brand defining work for Austin FC, College Board, Texas Children’s Hospital, Truth Initiative, Chariot Energy, and a host of beloved Texas brands.

He is a founding board member of Farmshare Austin, a member of Austin Park Foundation’s Groundbreakers and currently serves the Shield Ranch Foundation as a fundraising steering committee member. Adam is a grateful husband to his wife of 17 years, Julie Butler and together they are the proud parents of three boys; Wilson, Davis and Noah. When not at work you’ll find Adam outside; most often on a bicycle, swimming in the sacred waters of Barton Springs, or somewhere in the Texas state parks system.

Andy is a Managing Director with Mesirow Financial, Inc. in the Public Finance Department. He focuses on servicing municipal clients primarily in Texas as well as other states across the South and mid-Atlantic. Andy has more than 30 years of public finance experience including over $100 billion in bond transactions for water and sewer facilities, utilities, general infrastructure, housing, and education.   Andy has participated as a board member for the Greater Houston Area Red Cross, Jazz Houston, Inc., the Houston Area Urban League, and the Community Artists Collective among several civic endeavors.

Susana grew up in Del Rio, Texas and Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico, where she helps run her family’s multi-generation cattle ranch.  In her legal practice, Susana specializes in water-rights and real estate transactions and administrative practice.  She has represented land and water owners, as well as groundwater conservation districts, and regularly writes and speaks on water law.  Following law school, Susana clerked for the Honorable United States District Judge Lee Yeakel of the Western District of Texas.

For over three decades, Golemon was a Partner with Brown McCarroll, LLP, where he was the senior member of the environmental team. From 1992 to 2006, he served as General Counsel for the Texas Chemical Council, the association representing the approximate 80 chemical manufacturing operations in Texas. He was a founder of the State Bar of Texas Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section and during a 30-plus year tenure in the American Bar Associate (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy and Resources (SEER) Law he held numerous leadership positions. In 2008, he was inducted as an initial Fellow in the American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL). He presently serves on the Executive Council of the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Center for Energy, Law and Business at The University of Texas at Austin. Golemon served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1961-69, which included tours in Cuba, Okinawa, Taiwan and Vietnam.

John Hall is the President and CEO of the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), a research hub providing independent analysis on energy, air, water, and resilience issues to shape scientific solutions for a sustainable and equitable future. He has been a thought leader and practitioner on the impacts of energy on air quality, the environment, communities, and climate for the past thirty years. His policy and research expertise include environmental justice, clean energy, climate resilience, and emerging technologies that reduce air and climate pollution while supporting economic growth and job creation.

Before joining HARC, he chaired the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), the predecessor agency to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).  Hall left a lasting mark on TCEQ by implementing the Mickey Leland Environmental Internship Program. He also served in leadership roles at Environmental Defense Fund, focusing on clean energy efforts in ten of the largest states, and vehicle electrification initiatives in Texas.

Palisades Pipeline is constructing a high capacity water pipeline to deliver non-potable, sustainable reclaimed water from the City of Lubbock, Texas to the Permian Basin with the ability to preserve an estimated 70 million barrels of ground water per year.  Reagan brings 19 years of experience in commodity logistics to the water space allowing for fresh market driven ideas toward conserving the resource.

Reagan graduated from the University of Texas in Austin in 1999 and now resides in Houston with his wife Jacqui and their 3 children.

Holly serves as a Managing Director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early-stage, high-impact social enterprises. She plays a lead role in sourcing new investments and working with the leadership of those organizations as an operating partner and board member as they grow to build capacity and achieve their maximum impact. As a member of the Foundation’s senior leadership team, based in Dallas, Texas, Holly plays a lead role in increasing the Foundation’s presence, portfolio investments, and donor partnerships in Texas and the Southwest region. Holly currently serves on the board of grantee Child Poverty Action Lab.

Holly has 25 years of public policy and leadership experience. As Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute, Holly led the team in developing and implementing major policy and programmatic initiatives on key issues of national and global importance. She oversaw the organization’s strategy on leadership development, with four leadership programs graduating over 1,000 alumni to date from around the world. Domestically, she led their efforts to push for comprehensive immigration reform and developed key alliances and partnerships in support of that effort. Globally, she shepherded the Bush Institute’s public-private partnership on global health that scaled up screening and treatment for cervical cancer for millions of women in sub-Saharan Africa.

She is a veteran of the White House, U.S. Department of Education, and Capitol Hill, where she developed her expertise in education policy. She served on the White House Domestic Policy Council staff and then as Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that, she worked for two United States Senators on domestic policy issues. She has also consulted on education and workforce issues with major foundations, companies, non-profits, and policymakers.

Holly also served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, a Pahara Institute Fellow, and an Aspen Global Leadership Network member. She serves on the boards of the Gates Policy Initiative, the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, and the Dallas Assembly, and is an alumnus of the Texas Lyceum. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.

He currently represents numerous entities in the financing of public infrastructure projects, including the Texas Water Development Board, the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and the Cities of Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth. Among his many accomplishments is the development of the State Water Implementation Revenue Fund for Texas (SWIRFT) bond financing structure.

In 2008 she founded Mandell and Associates, a strategic consulting firm based in Austin, Texas. Mandell currently works with electric and water utilities, and with clients in energy and environmental industries to create successful business development strategies that range from policy development to legislative advocacy to communications and public outreach campaigns. Mandell graduated from The University of Texas at Austin. She has been involved in many community activities in Central Texas, including Friends of the Children, the American Heart Association, and the Center Child Protection. She and her husband have three children.

Since 2013, he has served as the Executive Director of the Harte Charitable Foundation, developing their investments in the stewardship of and sustainable development of the Gulf of Mexico. The Harte Charitable Foundation provided catalytic financial support for the launch of Texas Water Trade.

Julia Rathgeber currently serves as Vice President Government and Regulatory Relations for Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Before joining Berkshire Hathaway, Julia was President and CEO of the Association of Electric Companies of Texas, Inc., (AECT), a trade organization of electric companies in Texas, providing a forum for member company representatives to exchange information about public policy, and to communicate with government officials and the public.

Prior to her joining AECT, Julia served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Greg Abbott in 2015. Julia was previously appointed as Commissioner of Insurance for Texas by Governor Rick Perry in 2013, where she served until 2015.

Julia began her professional career in 1990 with the Texas Senate, directing the Senate Research Center and providing research for Lt. Governor Bob Bullock. In 1998, she worked for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, where she was responsible for long-term planning for air, water and waste issues. In 2001, Julia joined the General Land Office, where she provided research for the Land Commissioner, and staffed the Governor’s Task Force on Homeland Security. Moving back to the Senate in 2003, she assisted Lt. Governor David Dewhurst as Deputy Chief of Staff, where she was responsible for policy development and coordination of the referral and hearing of legislation in the Senate.

Throughout her career, Julia has been responsible for a broad range of issues, touching every aspect of government in Texas. Julia is a native of Liberty, Texas. She holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in the Plan II Honors Program from The University of Texas at Austin, and a law degree from The University of Texas Law School.

She is active with the Settlement Club, a volunteer group of over 450 women who operate the Settlement Home for Children, a quality home for neglected, abused and emotionally troubled children. Julia and her husband, Ross, live in Austin, and have a daughter, Byrn, who recently graduated from The University of Texas at Austin

Previously, Robbins worked for the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (now the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) where he last held the position of Deputy for the Office of Water with broad responsibilities for many of the State’s water programs. Dean has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas. He continues to consult through his company Robbins Advocacy.

He served as Chairman of the Texas Water Development Board from 2013-2015. He also served as Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from 2009-2013. Prior to that appointment, he served as Deputy Executive Director of TCEQ and as Rio Grande Watermaster.

She is the Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Water Foundation and worked previously on groundwater policy and regulation as Executive Director of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts. She has extensive experience with international nonprofits working on water issues.

He’s recently returned to his native Fort Worth after nine years in Austin working for and representing the State of Texas. He served as Deputy Commissioner to Commissioner Toby Baker at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and as an Assistant Attorney General under Attorney General Greg Abbott. He advises clients on state and federal environmental, energy, government, and regulatory matters.

Lori Traweek worked for 27 years at Gulf Coast Authority in various roles including as CEO/General Manager before her retirement in late 2020. Traweek also serves as Chair of the Galveston Bay Foundation and President of the Texas Conservation Fund.  She also served on the boards of the Economic Alliance of Houston – Port Region, the Baytown-West Chambers County Economic Development Foundation, the Texas Water Conservation Association, and the Texas Water Conservation Association Risk Management Fund prior to her retirement. In addition, Traweek represented GCA on the Galveston Bay Council, the governing body of the Galveston Bay Estuary Program, serving since 1999 as both Vice Chair and Chair. In 2008, Traweek was appointed to the Trinity-San Jacinto Rivers and Galveston Bay Basin and Bay Area Stakeholders Committee representing recreational users by the Texas Environmental Flows Advisory Group of the Texas Senate and still participates in that capacity.