Events

Jennifer Battle, MSW

Jennifer is the Vice President of Community Access and Engagement at The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD in Houston, Texas.  Jennifer is proud to help support Harris County and the surrounding region’s mental health by overseeing operations of 988 for 49 Texas counties and 24 hour Crisis Lines for 7 Texas Local Mental Health Authorities. Jennifer led the development of the first of its kind in the nation 911/Behavioral Health co-located response system in partnership with Houston Police and Fire Departments and the Houston Emergency Communications Center.

Jennifer’s team offers a robust mental health and suicide prevention training portfolio to individuals, universities, businesses, faith communities and non-profits as well as coordinates and delivers information and awareness about behavioral health in culturally appropriate and community centered ways across the county.

In addition to these projects, Jennifer serves in several national roles including the Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for the National 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. She also serves on the Clinical Advisory Council for Crisis Text Line, the Board of the National Association of Crisis Center Directors and the Board of the Texas Alliance of Information and Referral Systems.

Join us to Celebrate our $2MM Giving Milestone to The Rotary Foundation! Spouses are welcome.

Brandin is a seasoned professional with a diverse background in education, data analysis, and community outreach. His experience spans over several years, holding various strategic roles within the Houston based non-profit, OneGoal, where he currently serves as the Senior Director of Data & Learning. Parallel to his role at OneGoal, Brandin also serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Team Catapult, a non-profit organization that seeks to facilitate a lifestyle of health and fitness for physically challenged individuals. At Team Catapult, Brandin works tirelessly to connect these individuals with opportunities, training, education, accessibility, and funding, enabling them to compete at various levels of athletics, demonstrating that disabilities are no limit to an individual's capabilities. Brandin is the vice-president of Freaks Run Club, the largest running group in Houston, who meet every Friday night at a different brewery or bar around Houston, supporting local businesses and introducing people to new places. Brandin mobilizes the run club's large member base to give their time, talent, and treasure to community organizations throughout Houston each quarter.

Prior to his current roles, Brandin amassed a wealth of experience in the education sector, serving as a College & Career Readiness Advisor at Familypoint Resources and as a teacher in Spring Branch ISD and Houston ISD. These roles, combined with his current responsibilities, demonstrate Brandin's dedication to fostering educational and personal growth, both in the classroom and the wider community. With his diverse experience and commitment to service, Brandin continues to make a significant impact in the lives of many. 

And in his spare time he is running every single street in Houston. 

Running every part of it, learning its history, people and places and giving back to it through local non-profits.Brandin is a seasoned professional with a diverse background in education, data analysis, and community outreach. His experience spans over several years, holding various strategic roles within the Houston based non-profit, OneGoal, where he currently serves as the Senior Director of Data & Learning. Parallel to his role at OneGoal, Brandin also serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Team Catapult, a non-profit organization that seeks to facilitate a lifestyle of health and fitness for physically challenged individuals. At Team Catapult, Brandin works tirelessly to connect these individuals with opportunities, training, education, accessibility, and funding, enabling them to compete at various levels of athletics, demonstrating that disabilities are no limit to an individual's capabilities. Brandin is the vice-president of Freaks Run Club, the largest running group in Houston, who meet every Friday night at a different brewery or bar around Houston, supporting local businesses and introducing people to new places. Brandin mobilizes the run club's large member base to give their time, talent, and treasure to community organizations throughout Houston each quarter.

Prior to his current roles, Brandin amassed a wealth of experience in the education sector, serving as a College & Career Readiness Advisor at Familypoint Resources and as a teacher in Spring Branch ISD and Houston ISD. These roles, combined with his current responsibilities, demonstrate Brandin's dedication to fostering educational and personal growth, both in the classroom and the wider community. With his diverse experience and commitment to service, Brandin continues to make a significant impact in the lives of many. 

And in his spare time he is running every single street in Houston. 

Walter Hughes is a White House Champion of Change. He earned Rotary’s
Vocational Service Leadership Award and Rotary Foundation’s Citation for
Meritorious Service. Walter’s team provides clean water and sanitation to 917,277
people in Africa. Walter is a member of the Salem, Virginia Rotary Club in District
7570. Our team’s goal is to reach 1 million lives changed by 2024. Our team
partners with 321 Rotary Clubs in 78 Rotary Districts in 32 U.S. states, 5
Canadian Provinces and 14 countries including Ghana, Mexico, India, Australia,
Switzerland, Taiwan, England, South Sudan, Pakistan and South Africa. He also
partners with Fondation Coup de Couer and many
non-profit organizations. His personal items are in
Smithsonian Museum collections and highlighted
at Rotary International Conventions. His team
built ten schools in Ghana. Lives are impacted by
clean water improved sanitation with Microflush
toilets, new medical equipment and stronger
schools. We are empowering communities to
dream and lead. Micro-credit loans for wells,
toilets, farms and businesses are increasing the
long-term impact of communities in Ghana.
Walter has 20 years’ experience working in Africa. Our early Rotary projects
located wells in communities with the highest incidence of Guinea worm disease in
Ghana and South Sudan partnering with the Carter Center. The World Health
Organization certified Ghana as free of Guinea worm disease in 2014. He traveled
to South Sudan in 2013 and again during the civil war in November 2015 to inspect
Rotary’s clean water project there. Rotary is close to eradicating both Guinea
worm disease and polio from the world.
He worked as the Director of Strategic Technology at America Online. He served as
a New Hope Methodist Church pastor. He’s a long-term missionary. His mission
team built 18 churches in Ghana and Uganda. They’ve baptized over 1,100 people.
Walter and his wife, Lisa, live in Callaway, Virginia. They have six children and three
grandchildren together. Walter and Lisa are members of Franklin Heights Church in
Rocky Mount, Virginia. He enjoys tennis, gardening, hiking and changing lives.
Walter’s Cell: 540-493-4715 Email Address: walterkhughes@gmail.com
Recent Videos of Water, Sanitation, Disease Prevention & Economic Development
Keeping Promises 2023:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTC_pBBnsfg
Rotary Grant 23-38088:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdK64ynpRFw
Rotary Grant 22-29944: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxeHJz7HrAQ
Rotary Grant 21-18484:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK6MqaGQvzg
Rotary Grant 20-11510: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yQrfn3NSEI Done.
RI Video on our Clean Water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8U3_PgtuV4
Tenis Ses Promesses 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQpNxo8ohoA (French)
Région est du Ghana du projet 21-18484: https://youtu.be/S3rNJ5ayj3U (French)

Joe Barnes is the Bonner Means Baker Fellow at the Baker Institute. Since
coming to Rice University in 1995, he has written extensively on
international economics, with a focus on the geopolitics of energy. In
addition to numerous institute studies, Barnes’ work has also appeared in
The New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, Survival, Oil and Gas Journal,
Energy Markets, the Newsletter of the Royal United Services Institute, the
SAIS Policy Forum Series and the National Interest. He is a contributor to
three volumes: “Energy in the Caspian Region” (Palgrave Press), “United
States Tax Reform in the 21st Century” (Cambridge University Press) and
“Natural Gas and Geopolitics from 1970 to 2040” (Cambridge University
Press).
Barnes is also faculty advisor to the Baker Institute Student Forum. From
1979 to 1993, he was a career diplomat with the U.S. State Department,
serving in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. His last
assignment in the State Department was with the Policy Planning Staff.
Barnes is a graduate of Princeton University.

Eileen J. Morris As Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Eileen has produced over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and over 70 regional premieres. Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by Houston Press. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 USITT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include The Piano Lesson, Chicken & Biscuits, Brother Toad, Love & Southern Discomfort, Single Black Female, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, I, Too, Am America, More Than Christmas, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play and Freeda Peoples to name a few.  A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the August Wilson Ten Play Century Cycle! www.ensemblehouston.com Eileen J. Morris As Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Eileen has produced over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and over 70 regional premieres. Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by Houston Press. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 USITT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include The Piano Lesson, Chicken & Biscuits, Brother Toad, Love & Southern Discomfort, Single Black Female, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, I, Too, Am America, More Than Christmas, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play and Freeda Peoples to name a few.  A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the August Wilson Ten Play Century Cycle! www.ensemblehouston.com 

Eileen J. Morris As Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Eileen has produced over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and over 70 regional premieres. Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by Houston Press. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 USITT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include The Piano Lesson, Chicken & Biscuits, Brother Toad, Love & Southern Discomfort, Single Black Female, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, I, Too, Am America, More Than Christmas, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play and Freeda Peoples to name a few.  A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the August Wilson Ten Play Century Cycle! www.ensemblehouston.com Eileen J. Morris As Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Eileen has produced over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and over 70 regional premieres. Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by Houston Press. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 USITT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include The Piano Lesson, Chicken & Biscuits, Brother Toad, Love & Southern Discomfort, Single Black Female, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, I, Too, Am America, More Than Christmas, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play and Freeda Peoples to name a few.  A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the August Wilson Ten Play Century Cycle! www.ensemblehouston.com 

Tommy McClelland assumed duties as Rice’s Vice President and Director of Athletics on August 14, 2023, coming to South Main from Vanderbilt where he has served as Deputy Athletic Director at Vanderbilt since 2020.
At Vanderbilt, McClelland provided oversight of the transformational Vandy United campaign. The largest athletics fundraising campaign in school history, Vandy United raised over $300 million to support the construction of new and renovated athletic facilities at the university.
McClelland comes to Rice as the Owls embark on a historic new chapter as members of The American Athletic Conference, a role he knows well having guided Louisiana Tech’s transformational entry into Conference USA as the Bulldog’s Director of Athletics from 2013 to 2020.
Louisiana Tech thrived under his leadership, underpinned by his philosophy of building champions on the playing fields, in the classrooms, and in life.

McClelland earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern State in 2004 and completed his master’s degree in sports administration in 2005. He walked on to the Demons football team and eventually earned a scholarship. He also competed in the javelin for the Northwestern State track and field team.  McClelland is also a 2012 graduate of the Executive Program of the Sports Management Institute and attended instruction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

McClelland is married to the former Jessica Stokes of Garrison, Texas. They have two sons, Lawson and Grayson.

Nathan Tollett serves as Vice President, Citywide Convention Sales at Visit Houston where he is responsible for creating long term strategies to maintain Houston’s position as a premier meeting and convention destination. Most recognized for his creative client experiences, Nathan believes in providing targeted and customized solutions for all potential opportunities.

Tollett began his hospitality career as an event manager at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center in 2002. He was the primary point of contact for the facility, assisting many major conventions in hosting and executing successful events. Following that, Tollett accepted a job as a national account executive with Visit Houston, where he booked a variety of significant meetings and conventions in the corporate and association market.

Completing his first tenure at Visit Houston, Tollett then spent nearly two years as a national sales manager for the Las Vegas property, The Golden Nugget. That experience helped him round out the “hospitality trifecta”—giving Tollett the background from the facilities, destination and hotel perspective to better understand all of the aspects of the convention sales process.

Tollett rejoined Visit Houston as Director of Sales in 2009 and for the last eleven years has overseen the daily operations of the citywide sales team.

Meeting News honored Tollett as "Ones to Watch: 30 under 30” and he was also recognized in Connect Magazine as “Future Leaders of the Meeting Industry, 40 under 40” in 2011, and received the 2015 Maritz Global Events Supplier of the Year award.

Tollett holds a bachelor's degree in speech communications from Texas A&M University.