Board

JASON WILLS

Board Chair
Austin

Austin, TX | Board Chair

President, Lilliput Management Co.
Chief Marketing Officer, American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC)

Jason Wills is the owner and president of Lilliput Management, a real estate company that specializes in the portfolio management of affordable housing communities in Texas.

As chief marketing officer for ACC, Jason is responsible for the marketing and communication strategies at American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC), ensuring the alignment between the brand and the customer experience is always at the forefront. To date, Jason has spearheaded more than 60 ACC developments in more than 20 states, totaling more than 50,000 beds, just shy of 18 million square feet, and valued at more than $3.5 billion in development.

Jason is a frequent speaker on the planning and development of all types of student communities at national conferences like NACUBO, NACAS, NASPA, ACPA, APPA and ACUHO-I. In 2004, Wills was a member of the senior management team that took the company public, making ACC the first REIT focused solely on student housing. Jason has been a board member of Ballet Austin since 2014.

JUDY HARMAN

Vice Chair
Fort Worth

Fort Worth, TX | Scenic Fort Worth Board President

BRENDA WHEELER

Treasurer
Corpus Christi

My name is Brenda Wheeler and I retired from banking in April 2022. I enjoyed a wonderful career of 38 years with The First National Bank of Beeville where I served as the COO until the bank was acquired by Spirit of Texas Bank in 2019 at which time I joined Spirit of Texas as part of the conversion team until my retirement in 2022. I now spend my retirement traveling through Texas and the world, and enjoying my grandchildren!

MARGARET DEMOSS

Secretary
Fort Worth

Fort Worth, TX | Scenic Fort Worth Board

LOUISE APPLEMAN

Fort Worth

Fort Worth, TX | Scenic Fort Worth Board

PHILIP GOULD

Houston

Houston, TX | Treasurer and Executive Committee Senior Proposal Manager, Baker Hughes Philip Gould is a native Texan who has worked for one of the largest corporations in the US, General Electric (GE), for over 10 years and had the opportunity to live and work in locations across the globe like Tokyo, Belfast, Montreal and Dubai. He has held roles in both corporate finance and commercial operations focus on driving efficiency and corporate strategy. One of the exciting initiatives he and his commercial team are currently focused is on building awareness within Oil & Gas to the benefits of the electrification of the frac industry. The turbine technology they offer has the potential to substantially reduce fuel costs as well as the emissions, noise pollution and number of vehicles associated with that industry. It makes sense both economically and environmentally. He is an advance certified scuba diver and a self-described amateur gardener. Several years ago, he ran the Houston Marathon and while extensively training for the event he discovered the local beauty of the extensive parks that run along Houston’s many bayous. These parks provided not only a route for him to train but also a green space that nearby residents could enjoy despite living in the heart of the 4th largest city in the US. Now as a father, he works to foster the same love of the outdoors in his children. He believes it is critical to provide that opportunity to others which is why the mission of Scenic Texas to enhance the visual environment for all Texans, and not just those living in our immediate neighborhoods, speaks so strongly to him. Philip earned a Master of Business Administration from University of Texas in Austin and received a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in German from Southern Methodist University. .

MARGARET KELIHER

Dallas

Margaret Keliher is a practicing lawyer. She is the former Dallas County Judge, charged with overseeing the Dallas County Commissioners Court, and the former Judge of the 44th Civil District Court. 

After her term as Dallas County Judge, she was with the law firm of Locke Lord before being asked to become the Executive Director of Texas Business for Clean Air. Prior to becoming a Judge, Margaret practiced law with Jones Day and was a felony prosecutor in the Dallas District Attorney’s office. Prior to attending law school, Margaret was a CPA with Deloitte.  Margaret holds a JD from SMU’s Dedman School of Law and a BS in accounting from the University of Virginia.

Margaret is married to Lester Keliher and proud mother of three children: Margaret, Joseph, and Alex.

Margaret believes in giving back to the community.  She currently serves or has served, on numerous boards. 

Margaret is a member of the following professional associations: Texas Bar, Dallas Bar Association, American Law Institute, and Texas Society of CPAs.

Margaret is a Past President of Executive Women of Dallas, International Women’s Forum-Dallas, and Charter 100.

She is the first, and only, female to serve as Dallas County Judge in the history of Dallas County. She is the recipient of the Vision of Hope Award, and the recipient of various awards in connection with her work for Clean Air throughout the North Texas region. She is also the recipient of the Rosewood Award.  

COOKE KELSEY

Houston

Houston, TX | Scenic Houston Board

Lawyer with Parker & Sanchez

Equally comfortable in federal court in Houston and South Texas, Cooke Kelsey focuses his practice on civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense. His experience spans issues as varied as financial fraud, international contract disputes, civil forfeiture, cross-border white collar criminal defense, real estate disputes, federal civil rights class actions, wrongful termination, FLSA, legal malpractice defense. Whatever the issue, Cooke works hard to achieve great results without ego or fanfare..

RICHARD METZGER

Houston

ADRIANNE KARTACHAK

Austin

Over the last 10 years Adrianne has called east Austin home. When she first arrived in Austin, she worked for the nonprofit Keep Austin Beautiful, and led environmental education, community engagement and events. She has a background in wildlife biology from Penn State and landscape architecture from UT. She enjoys bringing people together to collaborate and practices as a landscape architect here in town. She enjoys being with friends, hiking, reading, learning and exploring always.

GARETH HARRIER

Fort Worth

Gareth Harrier holds two degrees from Texas A&M University including a Masters in arboriculture. After graduating, he went to work for the Bartlett Tree Expert Company where he has over the last 18 years moved from tree worker and plant health care specialist, to arborist representative, and ultimately to local manager. In 2019, the Dallas and Southlake offices split and Gareth became manager of the Southlake office, overseeing the western half of the metroplex, including his hometown of Fort Worth.

He has been an ISA Certified Arborist since 2005, an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist since 2011, and holds the Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. He is a longtime executive board member of the Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council where he is currently past-president, and sits on the Urban Design Commission for the City of Fort Worth where he advises on matters regarding the city’s tree ordinance.

Gareth also helps manage several local research projects under the direction of the Bartlett Tree Research Lab in Charlotte, North Carolina, and teaches several courses of the Citizen Forester training and ISA Certified Arborist prep course each year. He lives in Fort Worth with his wife and seven-year-old son.

MEREDITH ENTROP

Austin

Meredith is a landscape architect and editorial project consultant based in Austin, Texas. Since earning her MLA from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013, she has worked as a landscape architect in Austin and New York City on a range of project types, including civic, hospitality, commercial, corporate, residential and landscape restoration projects across the country. As an editorial project consultant, she has helped design studios tell the stories of their practice, team, and projects.  Meredith’s interests in writing, design, and nature were ignited by early travel abroad and camping trips throughout the American West, including her native New Mexico. It was this exposure to both city and wilderness, and her fascination in the intersection of natural and built systems, that led her to pursue a career in landscape architecture.  She enjoys working collaboratively across disciplines to advocate for environments that bolster native ecologies, impart beauty, and elevate the human experience by inviting people to connect with nature and each other.
Sealy

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Harlan Crow (Dallas)

Albert “Boo” Hausser (San Antonio)

Christopher M. Harte (Austin)

Karen Huber (Spicewood)

Jodie L. Jiles (Houston)

Mavis Kelsey (Houston)

Ann Lilly (El Paso)

Perry Lorenz (Austin)

Janette Monear, President/CEO Texas Trees Foundation (Dallas)

Margaret Lloyd (Houston)

John L. Nau, III (Houston)

Mary Wallace (Blanco)

houston

EMERITUS BOARD MEMBERS

Carroll Shaddock (Houston, TX)
Scenic Texas Founder

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