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Welcome

Speakers Speaker Bios

Speakers

Speaker Bios

Ellen Zentner

Chief US Economist at Morgan Stanley,
Managing Director,
Member of its Research Diversity and Inclusion Council

She joined the firm in 2013 from Nomura Securities International. From 2003 to 2011, Ms. Zentner worked for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as its Senior US Economist. Before joining BTMU, she worked for five years in the Revenue Estimating Division at the Texas State Comptroller on a range of economic development and impact studies, including monitoring the fairness of the tax system in the state. Ellen currently serves on the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC), as well as the Economic Advisory Panel for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the American Bankers’ Association. She is a former member of the Academic Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, past Chair of SIFMA’s Economic Advisory Roundtable, Director of the National Association for Business Economics as well as the NABE Foundation, and is a past president of NABE’s New York chapter (NYABE). Ms. Zentner is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Trustee of the Graduate Center Foundation of the City University of New York (CUNY). In 2018 and 2020, Ellen’s team received the Lawrence R. Klein Award for the most accurate economic forecasts over the past four years. Ms. Zentner holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Colorado Denver.

Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour

America’s First Black Female Combat Pilot
Former Marine & Cop
Author, Zero to Breakthrough
and Consultant to Business

Combat tests you. Being a beat cop tests you. Life tests you. Three brothers and being the only girl...tests you. Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour has been tested her whole life. A gutsy trailblazer, her resume is an impressive collection of “firsts” including America’s first Black female combat pilot. She served two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine. She was also a diversity liaison officer to the Pentagon for Headquarters Marine Corps. After her military service, FlyGirl revved up her career in the private sector as an entrepreneur, consultant to business, and author of Zero to Breakthrough, The 7-Step, Battle-Tested Method for Accomplishing Goals that Matter. As a speaker, FlyGirl unleashes hard-hitting advice and amazing anecdotes from her adventures on the battlefield and in business. She helps individuals and organizations Get Gutsy and build a sustainable inner force and conviction, that results in accomplishing significant goals.
In 2007, FlyGirl launched VAI Consulting & Training, LLC. Through that work, she helps individuals and organizations make gutsy moves and create breakthrough results by applying her “Zero to BreakthroughTM” Success Model – a mindset that helped to propel her career and kept her safe in air combat. FlyGirl regularly takes her message to premier meetings and conferences worldwide and is a Gutsy Confidence Mentor for elite senior executive Women in Tech. As her newest business venture, in 2020 FlyGirl started FlyGirl Construction, a General Contracting Firm in the Atlanta, GA area.
As a Black gay woman and single mom, FlyGirl brings vital experience to her role as a member of the Forbes School of Business & Technology Board of Advisors and COMCAST/NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Council. FlyGirl has two honorary doctorates and has received numerous awards as a pioneering pilot, including honors for her commanding role in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour’s story has been featured in the media including on CNN, MSNBC, The View, FOX News, Oprah Winfrey and many more, along with being a running back for the San Diego Sunfire professional women’s football team and two-time title holder of Camp Pendleton’s Strongest Warrior Competition. She is currently working on her next book, The Gutsy Move.
VERNICE “FLYGIRL” ARMOUR – HISTORICAL FLIGHT PATH
How did it all start? Vernice was born in Chicago, IL in 1973, and moved to Memphis, TN after her parents divorced when she was three. By the age of four, she knew she wanted to be a police officer that rode a horse downtown. She received her first pony as a gift on the Christmas day following her fourth birthday and her dream quickly started to have a foundation in reality. In 1991, she graduated from John Overton High School for Creative and Performing Arts where she was very active in the music program, class vice president, a member of Mu Alpha Theta (mathematics honor society), and The National Honor Society.
In 1993, the future combat pilot enlisted in the Army Reserves and joined the Army ROTC program while at Middle Tennessee State University. During an Army ROTC career day, the seed of becoming a pilot was planted when Vernice saw the image of a young Black female in an Army flight suit. “Now why didn’t I think of that!” was her first thought!
In June of 1996, after a brief stint as a Nashville Sheriff’s Department correctional officer, Vernice took a break from college to accept an invitation to the Nashville Police Academy. She graduated in December 1996 – and later became the first woman of color on the Nashville Police Department’s motorcycle squad. She graduated from MTSU in December of 1997 with her B.S. in Physical Education: Emphasis in Exercise Science. With the aviation seed in full bloom, Vernice was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps on December 12, 1998 and on her way to flight school. When Vernice finally earned her wings in July 2001, the ambitious pilot ranked No. 1 out of both her class of 12 and of the last 200 to graduate. She made the Naval Air Station’s prestigious Commodore’s List, received the Academic Achievement Award, was the top graduate in her class, and went on to make history as the Marine Corps’ first African American female pilot.
After flight school, Vernice was stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton near San Diego, CA, piloting the AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter. While there she was Camp Pendleton’s “Female Athlete of the Year” and two-time titleholder in their “Strongest Warrior” Competition.
Deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, Vernice was recognized by the Department of Defense as America’s first African American female combat pilot. Vernice flew above the deserts of Iraq in her missile-equipped attack helicopter, engaging the enemy and scouting the roads from her cockpit, making sure they were safe for her fellow Marines and soldiers on the ground. Upon leaving the military after the completion of two tours in Iraq, Vernice launched VAI Consulting and Training, LLC. She now resides in Atlanta, GA with her daughter Noah...her gutsiest move yet.

James Hernandez

Senior Counsel, Public Finance
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe

James practices in the Public Finance Section in the Houston office of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. He has been a lawyer for over 25 years with experience working as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriters’ counsel on a wide range of public finance transactions for cities, counties and special authorities throughout Texas.
Over his career, James has developed significant experience working on major infrastructure financings for roads, bridges, toll roads and other transportation projects, as well as financings for water, sewer, flood mitigation and electric utility projects. James has also worked on numerous economic development projects, including financings for hotels, convention centers, reinvestment zones and sports venues, among others. James also has experience working on corporate and securities and real estate matters.
James has also worked extensively on legislative initiatives that impact the issuance of bonds and public finance transactions in Texas, including legislative initiatives to facilitate infrastructure improvements and public/private development projects throughout the State. He has been inducted into the American College of Bond Counsel and is a founding member of an industry advocacy group in Texas called the Coalition for Responsible Infrastructure Finance. James is from Brownsville, Texas.
Education:
Columbia University School of Law JD, 1995
University of Texas at Austin BA, 1991
Memberships and Affiliations:
American College of Bond Counsels
KIPP Academy, Houston Region Board of Trustees
Coalition for Responsible Infrastructure Finance, Director
Center for Houston’s Future
State of Texas Bar Association
Hispanic National Bar Association
Houston Bar Association

Bennett Sandlin

Executive Director of the Texas Municipal League

Since October 1 of 2010, Bennett Sandlin is Executive Director of the Texas Municipal League. Prior to that, he was General Counsel of the League, where he helped cities primarily in the fields of tax, economic development, budget, and finance issues, including the municipal hotel occupancy tax and the economic development sales tax. Bennett authored the Revenue Manual for Texas Cities, and was an instructor in Public Funds Investment Training. Bennett is a 1993 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and has previously worked at the Municipal Affairs Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

Peter Zeihan

Geopolitical Strategist,
Author of: "The Absent Superpower and The Accidental Superpower",
"Disunited Nations", and "The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization"

Peter Zeihan is a geopolitical strategist, which is a fancy way of saying he helps people understand how the world works. Peter combines an expert understanding of demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security to help clients best prepare for an uncertain future.
Over the course of his career, Peter has worked for the US State Department in Australia, the DC think tank community, and helped develop the analytical models for Stratfor, one of the world’s premier private intelligence companies. Peter founded his own firm — Zeihan on Geopolitics — in 2012 in order to provide a select group of clients with direct, custom analytical products. Today those clients represent a vast array of sectors including energy majors, financial institutions, business associations, agricultural interests, universities and the U.S. military.
With a keen eye toward what will drive tomorrow’s headlines, his irreverent approach transforms topics that are normally dense and heavy into accessible, relevant takeaways for audiences of all types. Peter is a critically-acclaimed author whose first two books — The Accidental Superpower and The Absent Superpower — have been recommended by Mitt Romney, Fareed Zakaria and Ian Bremmer. His latest third title, Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World became available in March 2020. Peter’s fourth book, The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization, becomes available in June 2022.

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