Event Materials
Read our report which highlights our findings from our six-month learning journey here!
Check out the PowerPoint from the event!
In an effort to improve our impact and enhance our relationships across different industries, we embarked on a journey to listen and learn from our communities of how we can strengthen collaboration, cross-sector engagement, and community engagement.
Our goal through this process was to reassess our work, create opportunities to effect greater change and capacity building, and leverage new and old initiatives in an enhanced manner. We are eager to share the insights that we gathered through this process.
Join LISC Houston for a full day as we collectively envision a future where our communities thrive through collaborative efforts and shared solutions. We hope to foster open conversations about the systemic issues impacting our neighborhoods and create cross-disciplinary, cohesive solutions.
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas – Houston Branch
1801 Allen Pkwy, Houston, TX 77019
January 10, 2024 Agenda
8:30 a.m. Registration & Breakfast
9:00 a.m. Welcome
- C.J. Hager, Episcopal Health Foundation
- Donald Bowers, Federal Reserve
- Laura Jaramillo, LISC Houston
- Michael Pugh, LISC
9:30 a.m. Dialogue on the State of the Economy
- Jesse Thompson, Federal Reserve
10:20 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m. Dialogue on Learnings from the Field
- Rushka Tcholakova
12:00 p.m. Lunch
- Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ruth Simmons
1:00 p.m. Dialogue on Economic Development
- Panel Discussion – Business Development
1:40 p.m. Dialogue on Economic Development
- Panel Discussion – Family Income & Wealth
2:20 p.m. Break
2:30 p.m. Dialogue on Community Development
- Panel Discussion
3:10 p.m. Dialogue on Housing Development
- Panel Discussion
3:50 p.m. Closing, Strategic Priorities
- Joe Horiye, LISC
4:00 p.m. Adjournment
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Networking Reception
Meet Our Keynote Speaker!
Dr. Ruth J. Simmons
Ruth J. Simmons is a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Rice University and Adviser to the President of Harvard University on HBCU Initiatives. She served as President of Prairie View A&M University until March 2023. Prior to joining Prairie View, she was President of Brown University from 2001-2012 and President of Smith College from 1995-2001. Under her leadership, Prairie View was reclassified as an R-2 Research University and Brown made significant strides in improving its standing as one of the world’s finest research universities.
A French professor before entering university administration, President Simmons held an appointment as a Professor of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies at Brown. After completing her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard, she served in various faculty and administrative roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College before becoming president of Smith College, the largest women’s college in the United States. At Smith, she launched a number of important academic initiatives, including an engineering program, the first at an American women’s college.
Simmons is the recipient of many honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship to France, the 2001 President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund, the 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, the 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, the Foreign Policy Association Medal, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the Centennial Medal from Harvard University. She has received over forty honorary degrees from universities around the world, including Oxford University, Ewha Women’s University in South Korea, and The American College in Greece. Simmons is a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the boards of The MacArthur Foundation, Morehouse College, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Holdsworth Center, and Hines Global Income Trust. She received the Brown faculty’s highest honor: the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal in 2011 and was honored by the Prairie View faculty in 2022. In 2012, she was named a ‘Chevalier’ of the French Legion of Honor.
Meet Our Other Speakers!
Michael T. Pugh, Chief Executive Officer
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
Michael T. Pugh became CEO of LISC in October 2023. Michael has more than 30 years of experience in banking, with a particular focus on expanding access to capital for underserved families, businesses, and communities. He spent more than a decade at the Harlem-based Carver, leading the nation’s largest publicly traded African American-operated bank, with more than $720 million in assets. Earlier in his career, Michael was a senior vice president at Capital One, N.A., where he oversaw 75 banking centers and $3 billion in deposits in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware. Prior to that, he was a senior vice president at Citizens Financial Group, leading retail banking in Michigan and Indiana and overseeing 67 banking centers. A native of Detroit, Michael graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree in health care administration. He first became interested in community finance and helping connect people with access to capital while working as a bank teller to support himself in college. In recent years, Michael has volunteered his time on boards and in organizational leadership positions, including with The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, The New York Bankers Association, The Economic Club of New York, the Community Development Bankers Association, and the Society for Financial Education & Professional Development.
Donald Bower
s, Vice-President
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston Branch
Donald Bowers is Vice President at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In this role, Donald oversees the Dallas Fed’s Industry Outreach program. He also serves as secretary to the Houston Branch Board of Directors and leads the Community Engagement and Business Continuity functions at the Houston Branch. As a native Houstonian, Donald demonstrates a sincere interest in his community and in education. He currently serves on the board of the American Leadership Forum, Children at Risk, the Houston Area Urban League, and he is a trustee at Rice University. Donald and his wife, Shawn, are the proud parents of two outstanding young men. One is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and is a Lieutenant in the United States Navy. The other is a graduate of Texas State University and is a special education instructor and coach in Pearland ISD. Donald received his bachelors’ degree from Rice University and M.B.A. from Sam Houston State University with a concentration in Banking and Finance.
Jesse Thomp
son, Senior Business Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston Branch
Jesse Thompson serves as senior business economist at the Houston Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Thompson, who joined the Bank in 2010, performs research and analysis on issues affecting the Houston and Gulf Coast economy. In particular, he studies issues surrounding area hydrocarbon industries. He also collects information for the Dallas Fed’s Beige Book summary of current economic conditions. He is author of the monthly Energy Indicators, the Houston Economic Indicators, and contributes to the quarterly publication Southwest Economy. Thompson earned an MA in economics, with emphasis on empirical microeconomics, and BA in philosophy and economics from the University of Houston.