directors + advisors
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Elizabeth (Betsy) A. Healy
President 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.
Jay M. Vogelson
Vice President
Mr. Vogelson is a Dallas lawyer with Stutzman, Bromberg, Esserman & Plifka, P.C. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a former board member of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, and has represented the American Bar Association at the United Nations and serves on the United States Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on International Law. He formerly was chairman of the ABA's Standing Committee on World Order Law and its International Law Section. He is on the adjunct faculty of SMU's Dedman School of Law, teaching public international law. He has served in other federal and state government positions.
Derrick Batts
Director Mr. Batts is a public school administrator for the Dallas Independent School District and an adjunct professor for the Dallas County Community College. Prior to becoming a school administrator Mr. Batts has volunteered for a number of Dallas area nonprofit agencies including Proyecto Adelante and the Dallas School Administrator Association.
Serena Simmons Connelly, LMSW
Director and Chair of Development & Public Relations Committee Ms. Connelly is one of the co-founders of Human Rights Initiative. She is the Director of the Harold Simmons Foundation, and currently serves on the boards of the Foundation for the Education of Young Women and the Dallas Zoological Society. She was named Social Worker of the year by the Dallas Chapter of National Association of Social Workers in 2001. She is a member of the League of Women Voters, Amnesty International, Women's Funding Network, and Harvard's Women Waging Peace Program.
Gwen Gash
Director and Chair of the Audit / Finance Committee Ms. Gash is the Semiconductor Accounting Manager with Texas Instruments (TI). She has had extensive finance and audit experience internationally in places such as Australia, Korea, Singapore, and domestically in Alaska, and Texas. While in Singapore, Gwen was the TI Asia Regional Manager for TI's Corporate Audits Organization. She is also the former co-chair of the American Chamber of Commerce Professional Women's Committee - Korea, and member of the Chambers Executive Oversight Committee.
Cindy Patrick
Director and Secretary to the Board Ms. Patrick is a Senior Program Officer with the Meadows Foundation in Dallas. She is a member of the National Peace Corps Association and serves on the community grants review committee for the March of Dimes, North Texas Division. Ms. Patrick is also a member of the program committee for the Conference of Southwest Foundations and serves on the Community Advisory committee for the Texas Association for Mental Health and the Advisory Council of Transition Resource Action Center, which is a service collaborative for youth aging out of foster care.
Linda Wassenich, CFRE, LMSW-AP
Director and Chair of the Governance Committee Ms. Wassenich is Vice President, Public Relations, League of Women Voters of Texas. She is Vice President of the Board for Community Council of Greater Dallas and past President of the Women's Council of Dallas County, Inc. Ms. Wassenich is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in Social Work award, 2002, by the National Association of Social Workers, Dallas.
Cannon Flowers
Ex-Officio Director Chief Executive Officer
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 Liddell & Sapp, 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 Paul Bass
Chairman Kenneth Z. Altshuler, M.D.
Steve & Barbara Durham
Honorable Lisa Hembry
Ambassador Swanee Hunt
Ann Margolin
Michael Meadows
Caren H. Prothro
Lekha Singh
Harold & Annette Simmons
Jimmy Westcott
Carolyn Williams
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