Joining the Harris County Flood Control District in 2004 as the District’s first

meteorologist is one of many precedents set by Jeff Lindner. In his primary role

as Director of the District’s Flood Operations Program, Jeff implements regular

communication with the National Weather Service and the Harris County Office

of Emergency Management (HCOEM) during times of flooding while monitoring

154 rainfall and stage gages and collecting data at over 450 bridges. Jeff has

developed multiple presentations and preparedness materials on hurricane

impacts, flooding, and drought and how to prepare and respond to these weather

episodes. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology from Texas

A&M University. He is a member of the national and local chapters of the

American Meteorological Society and of the Texas Gulf Coast Emergency

Managers Association, the National Hydrological Warning Council, Texas Flash

Flood Coalition, and ALERT Users Group.

Mr. Melvin G. Spinks, P.E. is President/CEO of CivilTech Engineering, Inc. and has over 30

years of professional experience in the management and engineering of civil engineering

projects throughout the United States. Mr. Spinks is a national subject matter expert in

water resources engineering and has served as a testifying technical expert on flooding

cases in federal, state and local courts. Mr. Spinks has been in responsible charge for the

technical management and project management for hundreds of civil engineering projects

over his 30-year professional career and authored numerous professional and technical

papers related to flood and economic studies. Mr. Spinks is a distinguished member of

several professional and technical professional organizations, including ASCE and ACEC.

Mr. Spinks earned a Bachelor of Science Degree and Masters of Science Degree in Civil

Engineering with a specialization in Water Resources Engineering from Texas A&M

University. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the states of Texas, Louisiana, and

Oklahoma, and a Certified Floodplain Manager. Mr. Spinks serves on numerous

professional and technical advisory groups and boards.

Steve is an engineer with a background in flood control and drainage. His first job in

Texas was with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Galveston.  He co-founded Costello,

Inc. in 1991, a Houston civil engineering and surveying firm named repeatedly as one of

the “Best Places to Work” by the Houston Business Journal. He served as president of

the local and state chapters of the American Council of Engineering Companies and was

named “Engineer of the Year” in 2014 by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers.

Steve served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council for six years from

January 2010 to December 2015. In May of 2016, Mayor Turner appointed Mr. Costello

as the city’s chief resilience officer. His primary task is to focus on the flooding and

drainage issues facing the city, thus his “Flood Czar” label.

Steve is currently an active board member of Family Houston, a 114-year old nonprofit

providing case management and counseling services to families in need. He also has

served on the boards of the Memorial Park Conservancy, SER Jobs for Progress, and

Marathon Kids.

Steve is a longtime runner and triathlete. He and his wife Debbie raised two sons in

Houston and are now proud grandparents to three granddaughters.

John Blount is a 1984 graduate of the University of Houston.

After college he served as an Army Corps of Engineers officer on both

active and reserve duty, achieving the rank of captain while being

stationed in the United States, Republic of Germany and the Republic

of Honduras. He has worked in the civil engineering field for thirty-

three years and is a Registered Professional Engineer (WI) (TX) as well as a LEED

Accredited Professional. He has been employed with Harris County for over thirty

years starting as an Inspector and advancing to Director of the Engineering

Department. He currently holds the position of County Engineer. He serves on the

National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Joint Wastewater Committee and was

previously Chairman of the Texas Onsite Wastewater Research Council appointed

by the governor. John is a leader in green infrastructure and sustainability practices.

Having been an engineer at Walter P Moore since 1980, Charlie is widely recognized for his contributions to the

profession and his advancements in research and education related to storm water management, storm

preparedness, and flood risk mitigation. Throughout his career, he has managed complex projects spanning large

campuses and municipal districts, emphasizing sound master planning, community collaboration, and low-impact

development (LID) strategies. Charlie specializes in hydraulic design, hydrologic analysis, flood protection, and LID,

and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Texas, Kentucky, and Illinois.

It is perhaps because of this specialized expertise that Charlie is regularly sought by a variety of professional,

industry, and educational organizations — both across the United States and in Europe — to share and expound on

critical topics such as flood protection design, flood risk, and emergency preparedness. He regularly guest lectures

at Rice University, speaking on the topics of floodplain mitigation, Low Impact Development and Storm Surge

Barrier Design. Charlie also teaches the Civil and Environmental Department’s Senior Design class at Rice.

Charlie has served on the Harris County Flood Control Low Impact Development Guidelines Committee and the

Houston Land and Water Sustainability Forum. He has also been active on the Board of the Houston Water

Authority Corporation, the American Council of Engineering Companies, the Environmental Committee of EWRI,

and is a member of the SSPEED Center research collaborative at Rice University.

Steve Albert, P.E., CFM serves as the Principal for the Houston office of Sherwood Design Engineers. For the second half of his 40 years of experience in civil engineering practice, Steve has focused on Low Impact Development (LID) and sustainable site design at a variety of scales including residential land developments, commercial buildings, college campuses, and major city parks. Steve facilitates collaboration between the members of the design team including architects, landscape architects, ecologists, and environmental consultants to create integrated design solutions that minimize capital and operating costs while minimizing the use of water and energy within the constraints of existing code requirements.

Steve specializes in project site design with challenging natural features by utilizing innovative approaches like LID. On these projects, Steve has also developed extensive experience in land development, water and sanitary sewer systems, and stormwater management design and modeling. Steve is an expert at applying this approach to reduce stormwater runoff and enhance the quality of water resources. Specifically, his project experience includes project management and detailed design for Memorial Park in Houston, a major new City Park in Oklahoma City, the Hermann Park Master Plan in Houston, and multiple projects for Harris County including their new Precinct 4 Service Center and 911 Emergency Call Center.

Steve stays abreast of the latest design and technology innovations for site development and resource conservation. As a current advisor to the Houston Land/Water Sustainability Forum and a previous advisor to the Conservation Foundation in Naperville, Illinois, he frequently speaks to municipal and professional groups on cost-effective implementation of LID methods.

Johnson Development was founded in 1975 by Larry D. Johnson who still serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company. During his distinguished career, Mr. Johnson has played an active role in the development of more than 100 master-planned golf course, townhome and condominium communities, retail shopping and entertainment districts, office buildings and mixed-use commercial centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Mr. Johnson is a past recipient of the Houston Business Journal’s prestigious Landmark Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to Houston’s real estate industry.

Andy joined Lionstone in 2011 and manages the investment process on all new acquisitions,

including sourcing, pricing, bidding, and closing. He is responsible for oversight of the

Acquisitions team, managing communication with brokers and operating partners, and he

assists with sourcing capital for current and future funds. He became a partner at the firm in

2016. Prior to joining Lionstone, he worked in the Real Estate Investment Banking group at

Goldman Sachs where he helped execute various strategic advisory transactions and capital

raises with a combined value of over $9 billion for clients in the real estate and lodging

industries. Previously, he worked in the Acquisitions group at LaSalle Investment Management,

where he helped acquire over $4 billion in real estate assets on behalf of institutional investors.

Andy is a graduate of Dartmouth College and received his MBA at The University of Texas.

Simmi is a Senior Vice President in JLL’s Retail Brokerage Services Division. She leads the Retail Land Practice for JLL in Houston and is building a world class team to service our growing land clients. She assists clients with the acquisition and disposition of land with a consultative, strategic approach to ensure they are maximizing their value. She also represents Buyers across all business lines with their land acquisitions needs and is an expert in site and trade area analysis. Prior to joining JLL in 2014, Simmi was with CBRE for 21 years. While at CBRE, Simmi had successfully closed more than $650 million in sales throughout the greater Houston area. She analyzes each real estate transaction, formulating ideal use strategies for the property and proactively manages her clients needs. Simmi is well know throughout the real estate community and recognized as a top performer who brings a wealth of knowledge to each transaction. Simmi earned a degree from The University of Houston – Clear Lake, a licensed real estate sales person in the state of Texas and is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Additionally, she was named a 2017 Houston Business Journal Heavy Hitter and a Top Gun in JLL for 2016.

Darrell L. Betts, CCIM is a Principal with the Capital Markets group of Avison Young and is in charge of the representation for dispositions of investment properties owned by financial institutions, pension funds, REIT’s and private investors. Darrell began his commercial real estate career over 30 years ago and was recruited by Avison Young in 2010 to lead the company's Capital Markets practice in Texas and the Southwest U.S. Over the past three decades, Darrell facilitated over $5 billion worth of real estate transactions.

Numerous times throughout his career, the Houston Business Journal named Betts a "Heavy Hitter of Commercial Real Estate, including 2017." Among other awards, Darrell was listed in Commercial Property News’ 2005 Hot Brokers of America and Top Producer for another leading firm for eight years. Darrell was Avison Young's 2011 top producer in the U.S. for Capital Markets and has been presented with the Circle of Excellence award recognizing the top producers globally for 2017.

Credentials

Education and Designations

Graduate Texas A&M University - Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance with an emphasis in commercial real estate

State of Texas Real Estate Broker License

Of the approximately 150,000 commercial real estate practitioners nationwide, Mr. Betts is one of only 9,000 professionals (6%) who have earned the highly recognized CCIM designation through the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute, an affiliate of the National Associate of Realtors.

Mr. Betts is involved in various civic affairs and is currently active in such organizations as the Houston Association of Realtors and the Houston/Gulf Coast CCIM Chapter. He has taught in the Junior Achievement Program at local high schools and is a board member of the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, TX.

As Managing Director/Counsel-Texas Operations, Randy’s primary responsibilities are to establish offices in Houston, Dallas and Austin and to oversee AmTrust’s organic growth across the State. In his four-decade career filled with banking, legal, real estate and entrepreneurial experience, Randy has focused on commercial real estate transactions, complex creditor-debtor relationships, start-up ventures and business planning/strategy.

Houston Real Estate Developer for 61 years. Chairman of Welcome Group, landlord to

4,000,000 square feet of Manufacturing and Industrial Facilities in 87 locations in Texas.

First projects in the 1950s and 1960s were Master Planned Communities, Jamaica

Beach and Tiki Island in Galveston County, both of which are now separate cities. He

later developed apartments, retail centers, hotels and three downtown office buildings.

Honors include: Inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame, Receiving the Lifetime

Achievement Award from the Houston Business Journal and Awarded an Honorary

Doctor’s degree from the University of Houston, where he was a BBA grad in 1949.

Of note, he received the UH Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1970, the UH Bauer

College of Business Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996, the Distinguished Alumnus

Award in 2005 from Texas Southmost College and the Distinguished Alumni Award

from the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley in 2018.

In the past, he was Chairman of the Board of two Houston banks, was Chairman of an

American Stock Exchange company and was on the Board of Directors and owned 10%

of the Houston Astros baseball team. In March 2018, he celebrated his 90 th birthday.

He was a long-time Chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of Houston,

Chairman of its Drive to Tier One and is now Chairman of its Political Action Committee.

He is a Director Emeritus of the Greater Houston Partnership, having served a long time

as its Higher Education Chairman.

In the 50s and 60s he served in the Executive Office of the President under Presidents

Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy as. He witnessed the Atom bomb test in

Nevada and the Hydrogen Bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

In 1958, he was awarded the Arthur Fleming Award as One of the Ten Outstanding

Young Men in Federal Service. Out of 600 who received this award since 1948,

Wikipedia lists him as a “notable” twenty along with Astronaut Neil Armstrong (moon

landing), Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Senator Elizabeth Dole, Senator Daniel

Patrick Moynihan, Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and TV network’s John Chancellor.

He was invited and spoke to a joint session of the New Mexico Legislature. He was

appointed Special Ambassador to Nicaragua by President Lyndon Johnson. After

World War II, he served for two years as a Naval Officer in Japan, having graduated first

in his class in officer’s school.

He married his college sweetheart on the day he graduated from UH, 69 years ago.

They have 5 kids, 16 grandkids and 16 great-grandkids, one of whom is in college.

Welcome Wilson Jr. is president and chief executive officer of Welcome Group, a real estate development firm specializing in single-tenant office buildings and industrial buildings including lab, warehouse and manufacturing facilities. He has extensive experience in industrial development, residential subdividing, office buildings, and retail centers. He is also the joint venture partner in Kingham ∙ Dalton ∙ Wilson Ltd., a Design/Build construction affiliate of Welcome Group and is a director of River Oaks Financial Group, Inc.

Welcome currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Alamo Endowment in San Antonio, and serves as Chairman of the Alamo Trust. He was recently appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to serve on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in Austin. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Trellis Company and the Trellis Foundation in Austin, the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, the Board of Directors of the Texas Business Hall of Fame. In addition, he is also Chairman of the Board of the Southwest Houston Redevelopment Authority and by appointment of the Mayor of Houston is Chairman of Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #20 (TIRZ # 20).

Welcome W. Wilson, Jr. is the former Vice Chairman of the University of Houston System Board of Regents, he is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Houston Realty Business Coalition and has served in the past as Vice Chairman of the Houston Food Bank, Chairman of the End Hunger Network, a Director of the Houston Chapter of the American Lung Association, Director of the Houstonian Club in Houston, and President of the Kinkaid School Alumni Association.

Wilson, who is a native Texan, is married and attended the University of Denver.