President
TONY L. COUNCIL
P. E.
Mr. Council was appointed to the Board of Directors on April 20, 2011 by Houston Mayor Annise D. Parker and represents the City of Houston. Mr. Council received his B. S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. Mr. Council is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas, and in 2001, Mr. Council founded TLC Engineering in Houston which provides a myriad of professional engineering services to both the public and private sector. Mr. Council is a published author with articles in the “Oil and Gas Journal” July 2000 issue, “Pipeline and Gas Journal” May 2000 issue, and “UK Energy Journal” 2001. Mr. Council also serves on the Board of Directors of Greater Sooner Holdings (a Texas Corporation), Internal Hydro (a Florida Corporation), and Greater Houston Partnership. Mr. Council is also active in numerous professional, civic and community organizations and resides in Houston.
1st Vice President
DOUGLAS E. WALKER
Mr. Walker was appointed to the Board of Directors on December 1, 2010 by Governor Rick Perry and represents Chambers County. Mr. Walker received his B. S. in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University and a Masters of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University. Mr. Walker retired from ExxonMobil after 34 years of service where he held several key positions, including Site Manager of the Baytown Olefins Plant and Manufacturing Director of the Singapore Chemical Plant. Mr. Walker is active in numerous civic, professional, and faith-based organizations including the Rotary Club of Baytown (past President), Ducks Unlimited, East Harris County Economic Development Foundation (past Director), Baytown Chamber of Commerce (past Director), the Baytown YMCA Board (past Director), and the Lee College Foundation (past Director). Mr. Walker currently serves as a Director for the Bay Area Rehabilitation Center and currently resides in Beach City with his wife, Inta.
2nd Vice President
GITI ZARINKELK
P.E., F. SAME
Ms. Zarinkelk was reappointed to the Board of Directors on October 5, 2016 by Houston Mayor Sylvestor Turner after serving 6 years under former Houston Mayor Annise D. Parker and represents the City of Houston. Ms. Zarinkelk holds a B. S. degree in Civil Engineering, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas. Ms. Zarinkelk is a Fellow of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). Ms. Zarinkelk was the first ever woman President of the Houston-Galveston Post of SAME. Ms. Zarinkelk is Founder and President of Zarinkelk Engineering Services, Inc. located in Houston. She served on the Board of Directors for four years for the Houston Council of Engineering Companies. Among numerous awards she has received include the Distinguish Member of the Year award for SAME, the TEXOMA Regional Vice President’s Medal for her outstanding service to the Society, the Post and the Region and the APWA SE Texas Branch Stewardship Award. She is married and has a son and two grandsons.
Secretary-Treasurer
JOSEPH G. SOLIZ
Mr. Soliz was appointed to the Board of Directors by Mayor Sylvester Turner in 2016 and represents the City of Houston. In 1994-1995, he previously served on the Board of Directors as an appointee of Governor Ann Richards and represented Harris County. Mr. Soliz is a 1976 graduate of Texas State University and a 1979 graduate of Harvard Law School. He is the managing attorney of The Soliz Law Firm, P.L.L.C. Mr. Soliz is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is Board Certified in Oil, Gas and Mineral Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He also teaches as an Adjunct Professor at Lone Star College – North Harris and has previously taught as an Adjunct Professor at South Texas College of Law and San Jacinto College – North. Since its inception in 1996, Mr. Soliz has served as a member of the Board of Directors of SER Niño’s, Inc. d/b/a SER Niño’s Charter School, and open-enrollment charter school operating in the Gulfton area of Southwest Houston. He has previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Energulf Resources, Inc., the Executive Service Corps of Houston, the Harris County Private Industry Council, the Houston Hispanic Forum, the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston, the Houston Young Lawyers Association, and SER-Jobs for Progress of the Texas Gulf Coast, Inc. He has also previously served on the City of Houston’s Civil Service Commission, as an appointee of Mayor Annise Parker, as well as the Strategic Planning Committee and the Shared Decision Making Committee of Houston I.S.D.’s The Rice School/La Escuela Rice. He is a graduate of Leadership Houston (Class XVIII) and United Way of Greater Houston’s Project Blueprint (Class II). In recognition of his volunteer community service in the Greater Houston area, Mr. Soliz is a recipient of a 2016 Comcast Hispanic Hero Award. A native of Corpus Christi, Texas, he has lived and worked continuously in Houston since 1979. Mr. Soliz is married, has two children, and a granddaughter.
Assistant Secretary-Treasurer
JON M. “MARK” SJOLANDER
Mr. Sjolander was appointed to the Board of Directors on November 13, 2018 by Governor Greg Abbot and represents Liberty County. Mr. Sjolander is the owner and president of Sjolander Resources & Development, LLC. He is a director of the Liberty County Apprasial District Board of Directors, a director of the Liberty County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, and a member of the Trinity Valley CCA Board of Directors. Mr. Sjolander received a Bachelor of Arts from Stephen F. Austin State University.
Director
THOMAS A. “TOM” REISER
Mr. Reiser is Chairman of Upstream Brokers, in addition to being a Director of Allegiance Bancshares, Inc., which he co-founded in 2007. He is also managing partner of Fenchurch Oil and Gas, LLP. He received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Coast Guard. Additionally, he is a member of Independent Insurance Agents of Texas. Reiser received a Bachelor of Arts from College of William and Mary.
Director
DANIEL G. “DAN” HUBERTY
Dan Huberty is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Partner of Moak Casey, LLC. Moak Casey, LLC is the largest education and economic development consulting firm in Texas. Mr. Huberty spent over 30 years in various roles supporting the parking and real estate industry, most recently he was President of The Parking REIT, which owned and developed over $400 million in parking assets across the country.
Mr. Huberty is also active in political affairs, serving as a State Representative for Texas House District 127 from 2010-2023, retiring after the 87th legislative session. Mr. Huberty also served as a Trustee for the Humble Independent School District from 2006 to 2010, serving as its President from 2009-2010. As the Chairman of the Public Education Committee from 2017-2021, Mr. Huberty oversaw numerous education reforms in Texas over the last decade. He is most proud of the passage of HB 3 in 2019, which provided $6.5 billion of new money into the public education system, revised the funding formulas, and provided the largest property tax cut at the time.
Mr. Huberty was appointed by Houston Mayor John Whitmire as a Board Member of the Coastal Water Authority on August 21, 2024, and represents the City of Houston. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Be an Angel Fund, which is a non-profit board that supports profoundly deaf and disabled children in Texas. Mr. Huberty is also Chairman of the Board of Bookmarked, which is an EdTech Platform that focuses on literacy in the State of Texas. Mr. Huberty graduated from Cleveland State University with a degree in Business and has his MBA from the University of Phoenix.