Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/674404
t m c » p u l s e | m a y 2 0 1 6 28 28 Q | It sounds like you're really working to make a difference for your community. Can you tell us what you would consider to be one of the most significant moments of your career? A | I would say graduating from the American Leadership Forum, the ALF. It's a 12-month program, and what it did was allow me to get into a circle of individuals that I otherwise would have never known. The ALF is a leadership training program that brings together nonprofits, CEOs from major corporations and influential political or business folks. It's a major self-development program and it teaches you what teamwork and respecting differences can do. My wife is a senior general counsel for NRG Energy, so she was tapped and went through it as well. In terms of profes- sional development, I would say creating the Seniors Minor Home Repair Program. It really changes lives. Q | What about challenges in your career? Can you tell us about some of the things that have been most difficult? A | The biggest challenge is to be able to work with the different levels of the government to support the needs of the communities. I don't play politics when it comes to quality of life. Q | How would you like to see continued collabora- tion with the Texas Medical Center? A | That's a great question. What I would like to see is continued expansion outside the medical center. Non-emergency clinics. Say, for example, with Texas Children's. They set one up near my church off Post Oak so the residents don't need to tie up the emer- gency room for minor injuries. I would like to see more of that. And of course, outreach for employment opportunities. Q | You're on the Super Bowl Host Committee. Can you tell us how you're planning to leverage this opportunity to help the community? A | Well, it's a big opportunity for Houston. On the economic side, jobs will be created. But one of the biggest things is that the Super Bowl will not be in the downtown or Galleria area only. It's going to be out in the communities. So we'll have events in all 11 differ- ent council districts. I'll ask each council member to provide us with a local park in their district, then we'll have a Hall-of-Famer or a retired NFL player host an event in one of the 11 districts in the morning. Then at noon they'll all leave from each park, 400-plus kids, and go to a restaurant in the neighborhood. Your local coffee shop or hamburger shop or pizza shop in the community will all benefit. So the economics are stay- ing in the communities and the kids are getting to be a part of it since not everybody can get downtown. Q | What is your biggest hope for the future of Houston? A | The future of Houston is bright—very bright. We are close to becoming the third largest city in the country. It's amazing every time you talk to someone and you ask them where they're from, you may be lucky to get one out of five from Houston. People like our economy, they like our weather and the quality of life here in Houston. In working with Mayor Sylvester Turner, one thing I do want to address is the number of homeless people we have in our city. We need to make certain that we encourage them to use the vacant rooms that are available for them, the psychiatric services, and all of that. My understanding is that there is a bed for every homeless person, they just don't all take advantage of it. But we also have to address the underlying issues—why they're homeless or why they're here in the first place. That's a big problem I'd like to help solve. I want to make certain I'm known by the results of my efforts as a public servant, not a politician.