directors + advisors

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Robert D. Graham
Board Chair

Mr. Graham is a Vice President of Contran Corporation. In his current position, Mr. Graham has responsibility for legal and other matters for certain companies within the Contran organization, including serving as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Kronos Worldwide, Inc. and Vice President and General Counsel of NL Industries, Inc. Mr. Graham previously was a member of the Board of Directors, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Software Spectrum, Inc., a global business software and technical services provider. Prior thereto, Mr Graham was a partner with Locke Purnell Rain Harrell in Dallas concentrating on corporate and securities law. Mr. Graham is the recipient of the 2008 Robert H. Dedman Award For Ethics and Law from the Texas General Counsel Forum.

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Laura J. O'Rourke
Chair Elect

Ms. O'Rourke is a Dallas lawyer with Baker & McKenzie, LLP in the Securities Litigation group.  She has been actively involved in pro bono services throughout her legal career and is currently Co-Chair of the Dallas Office (Baker & McKenzie, LLP) Pro Bono Committee.  She has also been an avid supporter of Humans Rights Initiative of North Texas since she started practicing law in 2002.  She currently is a member of the HRI Pro Bono Attorney Liaison Committee.  Ms. O'Rourke is also an active supporter of various civic endeavors in the Dallas community such as: Lawyers in the Classroom, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Girls, Inc., Habitat for Humanity, Susan G. Komen, Salvation Army, and others.  

Serena Connelly
Board Secretary

Ms. Connelly is one of the co-founders of Human Rights Initiative. She is a social worker and serves as Vice President of the Harold Simmons Foundation, assisting nonprofits with funding.  She has served on the boards of Dallas Women’s Foundation, Foundation for the Education of Young Women, Dallas Zoological Society, TCU’s Institute of Child Development, Texas Association for the Protection of Children, and UNT’s Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute. 

Elizabeth (Betsy) A. Healy
Director

Ms. Healy was instrumental in founding Human Rights Initiative in 1999, and served as Executive Director for the organization until November 2005. Betsy remains firmly committed to the agency's mission and now leads the Board of Directors. Prior to her years with HRI, she was an associate with Cowles & Thompson, PC. She also completed a judicial clerkship at the Dallas Court of Appeals.

Betsy is currently a Program Officer with the Harold Simmons Foundation, Dallas, TX.

James C. Ho
Director

James C. Ho is a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. An experienced appellate, business, and constitutional litigator, Mr. Ho has briefed, argued, and won cases in diverse areas of law in courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has over a decade of government experience, most recently as Solicitor General of Texas, the State's chief appellate and Supreme Court litigator. Mr. Ho has also served in all three branches of the federal government. On Capitol Hill, he served as chief counsel to Senator John Cornyn and to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on the Constitution and Immigration. At the Justice Department, he was the second highest political appointee at the Civil Rights Division. He also worked at the Office of Legal Counsel, advising White House and other senior officials on constitutional and other complex legal issues. In addition, he served as a law clerk for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stephanie Erwin Hunt
Director

A native of Dallas, Texas, Stephanie Hunt attended the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1990 with a BBA in Finance. After graduation, Hunt studied at Sotheby's in London and subsequently worked in the Dallas office. Two years later, Hunt joined the energy research group of the investment bank Wasserstein Perella, continuing her financial work until 1997. She then moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming as co-owner of The Gun Barrel Steakhouse.

In 2009, Hunt and her husband co-founded the Institute for Engineering and Humanity within SMU's Lyle School of Engineering. The Institute is dedicated to bringing technology-driven solutions to improve the lives of those in extreme poverty, and to developing a new generation of engineers who will apply their talents to the challenges facing the global poor.

Hunt currently serves on the boards of the USA for UN High Commission on Refugees; Human Rights Initiative in Dallas providing free legal representation and social services to refugees; and The da Vinci School, specializing in early childhood education. Hunt is the immediate past chair of the AFI DALLAS International Film Festival and continues her support of film preservation through the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Hunt attended NYU's summer filmmaking boot camp in 1999 and is a passionate supporter of documentary filmmaking.

Hunt resides in Dallas with her husband, Hunter, and their six year-old triplets. 

Hind Jarrah PhD
Director 

Hind Jarrah is co-founder (2005) and former President (2005-2009) of Texas Muslim Women's Foundation TMWF, a non-profit, educational, philanthropic, outreach and social service organization dedicated to empowering Women and their Families.

Dr Jarrah has been engaged in the promotion of understanding and respect for multicultural diversity since 1982, when she co-founded the Arabic Heritage Society, a non-profit, educational organization. After Sept 11 the widespread misconceptions about Islam and Muslims resulted in her becoming a frequent guest speaker ontopics  such as  the fundamentals of Islam, the peoples and cultures of the Muslim world, Women in Islam, Muslim NonMuslims relations. She has organized as well as participated in Interfaith Dialogue presentations and Panel Discussions in schools, colleges, churches, Rotary, Lions’ Clubs and International Societies; and  recently the pioneering ISNA/URJ Muslim–Jewish Dialogue in DFW. 

Dr Jarrah was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Palestinian parents.  She graduated from the American University of Beirut with a B.Sc. in Pharmacy (1974) and aPhD in Pharmacology from Univ. TX Health Science Center in Dallas (1980). She received her Masters in Neuroscience and Cognition from UTD in 2000.

Dr Jarrah is the Current Executive Director for TMWF. She served on the Faith and Feminism Committee at the Dallas Women’s Foundation and on the Board of Trustees from 2006-2009. In 2005, the widespread prevailing misconceptions about Islam and Muslim Women in particular lead her and 30 Muslim Women in North Texas to co-found TMWF; it is noteworthy that on its launch in August of 2005, 300 Muslim women attended from 29 different countries and 22 different careers!

Dr Jarrah was featured in What's Missing: Inspiration for Women Seeking Faith and Joy in Their Lives by Rena Pederson.

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The Rabbi Asher Knight
Director

Rabbi Knight serves as a rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas. In addition to his pastoral, pulpit, and teaching duties, he oversees the congregation's commitment to social justice and environmental sustainability. He was ordained in 2007 from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Named as one of Dallas' "40 Under 40," Rabbi Knight is a clergy leader of Dallas Area Interfaith, serves on the Pastoral Care Advisory Committee of Children's Hospital and the convention committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Rabbi Knight works closely on Temple Emanu-El's efforts with the Dallas Area Interfaith, Jill Stone Elementary, the Vickery Meadow Neighborhood Alliance, North Dallas Shared Ministries, Jewish Family Service, International Rescue Committee, and the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance.

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Julie Lowenberg
Director

Ms. Lowenberg has served as president of the League of Women Voters of Dallas, the League of Women Voters of Texas (LWV-TX), National Council of Jewish Women Greater Dallas Section (NCJW), and Women's Council of Dallas County. Currently, she co-chairs NCJW's Services to Immigrant Families initiative, serves on an NCJW national task force on violence against women, teaches ESL civics at Vickery Meadow Learning Center and is Program Chair for Women's Health for LWV-TX. Ms. Lowenberg holds an LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School. She is the recipient of several awards, including the "Women Helping Women" (Maura) Award.

Tina E. Patterson
Director

Ms. Patterson is a Proposal Manager with Worldwide Information Network Systems, Inc (WINS) and owns a business providing mediation, arbitration and facilitation services. Ms. Patterson has served in leadership and volunteer capacities for nonprofit agencies including Habitat for Humanity, Dallas Reads, United Nations Association Dallas Chapter and National Capital Area Chapter, US National Committee for UNIFEM. She currently serves on the Montgomery County Maryland Human Rights Commission.

Almaz Woldeab, CPA

Director

Almaz has been a supporter and volunteer of HRI since 1999, and had a profound passion for the vision and mission of HRI.  Almaz is an Accounting and Finance professional currently at Texas Instruments, Inc. a leading technology and manufacturing company based in Dallas.   Almaz has a BS from University of Texas in Dallas and a MBA from Southern Methodist University.  She is also a Texas Certified Public Accountant. A native of Ethiopia, Almaz came to the United States as a refugee in 1985 at the height of a political turmoil and civil war in her home country. Almaz has also served on the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Grant Panel from 2005-2007.

The Following are Lifetime Members of the HRI Board of Directors

Don M. Glendenning
Past President

Mr. Glendenning is an experienced corporate and securities lawyer and a Partner at the Dallas office of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell L.L.P. He serves a number of nonprofit organizations as a director or trustee, including the Dallas Zoological Society and the Thanks-Giving Foundation.

Patricia Cook MD, FACP
Director

Dr. Cook has been one of the longest serving member of the HRI Board of Trustees. In February 2006 she completed her service as an active member and also retired from UT Southwestern Medical School. Dr. Cook has faithfully guided the organization during her tenure and provided much of her time and financial support to making HRI successful.

Advisory Board

Kenneth Z. Altshuler, M.D.
Cecilia Boone
Steve & Barbara Durham
Lauren Embrey
Honorable Lisa Hembry
Honorable Ambassador Swanee Hunt
Honorable Ann Margolin
Michael Meadows
Sarah Losinger
Caren H. Prothro
Lekha Singh
Harold & Annette Simmons