Leadership & Advisory Panel
Dr. Marilyn Parker, LPC-S, NCC, TF-CBT, Founder/CEO
Dr. Parker is the Founder/CEO of The Wise Pearl Foundation where she provides community education primarily for children and families. Dr. Parker is a Texas and Louisiana State Board Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) Supervisor, Texas and Louisiana State Board Certified Superintendent, Principal, School Counselor, Teacher, and Public Speaker/Trainer. Dr. Parker is the owner of Counseling Network Group Professionals, LLC where she practices as a licensed therapist serving those in need of mental health services, career coaching, and clinical supervision for LPC interns. Dr. Parker is an eclectic public school leader with over 20 years of expertise in developing highly qualified classroom teacher leaders, holistic and accelerated academic and social development of students, and serving as a school community liaison optimizing resources and support for student diversity, equity and inclusion.
Dr. Parker obtained her doctorate in Professional Educational Leadership from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas where she also received her LPC supervision certification. She received her masters’ degrees in Curriculum and Instruction, Counseling, and Educational Administration as well as her undergraduate degree in Finance and Psychology from Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas. She is a continuing education provider/trainer for the Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors, Texas Board of Social Workers Examiners, and the Texas Education Agency.
Dr. Parker has received numerous awards and recognition, including the D-MARS Top 50 Professionals & Entrepreneurs of Houston, YMCA Minority Achievers’ Award, and the Houston Police Department Youth Police Advisory Council (YPAC) Recognition. She serves as an instrumental mentor to children and young adults in Houston, Texas and its surrounding areas. She is a member of the Texas Counseling Association, Louisiana Counseling Association, National Association of Professional Women (NAPW), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), HAABSE, and an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Advisory Panel
Janna W. Shepherd - MBA, MSIS, Managing Partner, Elite (ERP) Consultants of Texas, Inc.
Janna W. Shepherd - MBA, MSIS, Managing Partner, Elite (ERP) Consultants of Texas, Inc.
Janna W. Shepherd is an accomplished Tax, Accounting and Information Technology Project Manager with over 25+ years of work experience. She has served since 2003 as a Managing Partner at Elite ERP Consultants of Texas, a boutique Global ERP Tax Technology consulting firm providing services to Fortune 100 companies. Her previous positions include working for a Big 4 Consulting Firm and Oil & Gas companies to implement tax accounting software packages. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Julia F. Thompson, Inc, The Wise Pearl Foundation and the Girls & Boards Prep Academy. She earned a BS degree in Accounting at Southern University, MBA in Finance at Texas Southern University, MS in Information Systems and University of St. Thomas and a Project Management Certification at Stanford University.
Melissa Morris - Managing Partner, The Morris Law Firm
Janna W. Shepherd - MBA, MSIS, Managing Partner, Elite (ERP) Consultants of Texas, Inc.
Melissa Morris is an accomplished criminal and family attorney for the states of Texas and Arkansas. Attorney Morris is a pillar in the Houston, Texas community known for her activism for diversity, equity and inclusion for all. Attorney Morris believes in transforming the lives of others by empowering them to "change the narrative" for greater outcomes.
Attorney Morris obtained her juris doctorate degree from Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall Law School. She completed her undergraduate study at Prairie View A&M University obtaining a BS in Political Science.
Tarique J. Rashaud - BSME, Principal Consultant, Xemplar Power & Energy
Tarique Rashad comes with extensive commercial expertise in Sustainability Finance and Carbon Offset strategies. Tarique's 30 years of experience in Energy spans from Nuclear to Solar Power Development and Co-Generation technology. With diverse client portfolios which included MIT, Hawaii Electric Company, and the City of Farmington NM, he 's spearheaded aftermarket Business Development for some of the world’s largest German, Sweden, and US based OEMs.
In his current role as Xemplar Carbon & Capital's CEO/Chief Strategy Officer, he now spearheads
Strategic Partnerships, Investor Engagement and Carbon Offset Strategies for driving global
strategy for developing Tech-based and Nature-based Carbon Offset Projects at the Food-Water-
Energy Nexus.
Key market facing leadership foci:
1) Develops cross-sectoral collaborations necessary to afford clients the greatest opportunity to maximize decarbonization, generate
revenue, and optimize socioeconomic impact and 2) Expands existing Strategic Partnerships with
Carbon Market Investors to provide our clients access to the much-needed capital required to fund their decarbonization, sustainability, resilience, and circularity projects -- at scale.
● Board of Directors of the American Climate Club focusing on developing Internationally
Transferable Outcomes (ITMO's) under Paris Agreement Article 6.
● Houston Advanced Research Center's Community Advisory Council
● Executive Committee of the US Business Council for Sustainable Development focusing
on Equitable Energy Transition and Nature Based Decarbonization Solutions
(2021-2023)
● United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Roster of Experts.
● Smart Grid Research Council Board of Directors - Prairie View A&M University.
In previous commercial roles, he's : *Advised large Commercial & Industrial property owners on methods to secure long-term sustainable energy project financing. *Augmented and preserved clients CAPEX budgets, while increasing project IRR and post-commissioning cash flow via subsidies, RECs, offsets and/or private and blended
finance structures. *Designed Sustainability & Resilience Solutions to facilitate municipal level planning, development and execution of initiatives around SDG’s, ESG’s, Climate Action, Environmental Justice, and Green
Economy Capacity Building. *Coordinated and Structure collaborative engagements to facilitate broad and deep decarbonization strategies. *Developed cross-sectoral P3 partnerships to create and execute large scale commercial and ESG projects. Previously, as a private consultant, he provided leadership on C&I projects in
Energy Procurement, Energy Efficiency, Solar Project Development, and 3rd Party Verification. His community commitment enabled his firm to secure utility energy efficiency grants and incentives to provide free services to
LMIC customers.
Within the spheres of Academia and Outreach, he gave an address at the United Nations COP27 first ever Climate Equity Pavilion and sits on the Industrial Advisory Board of both Prairie View A&M University’s Engineering Dept., and Texas A&M's National Science Foundation funded Louis Stokes Advancement of Minority Participation Program. He's also a Subject Matter Expert contributor to The Biomimicry Institute, and served on EVolve Houston's Equity Task Force on EV Infrastructure. He has a patent-pending Personal Protective Aerosol Technology, and has also Co-Authored a paper on controlling Nitrous Oxide Emissions “OPERATION EXPERIENCE
WITH ALSTOM POWER’S GT10 GAS TURBINE AND ULTRA LOW NOX COMBUSTION CONTROL” resulting from collaborative research with Alstom Power, Sweden and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
Zachary Jones - Lead International Space Station (ISS) Environmental and Thermal Systems Group, NASA
Zachary Jones - Lead International Space Station (ISS) Environmental and Thermal Systems Group, NASA
Zachary Jones is an administrative leader in developing project engineers in the field of national aeronautics and space at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Mr. Jones is an exemplary leader in STEM implementation and production.
Mr. Jones obtained his MBA from the University of Houston C.T. Bauer College of Business and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University.
Ashley Davidson - Lead STEM Lab Educator, Public School System
Zachary Jones - Lead International Space Station (ISS) Environmental and Thermal Systems Group, NASA
Ashley Davidson - Lead STEM Lab Educator, Public School System
Ashley Davidson is a leader in her educational career and community. As a former Teacher of the Year and Technology Integration Specialist, she volunteered to participate in a STEM Lab Pilot program and helped to shape the curriculum for classrooms in her district. She currently teaches an interactive elementary STEM lab to grades K-5 and coordinates a coding and robotics club for students.
Mrs. Davidson is a proud Cougar having earned her BS degree in Education from the University of Houston. She attended the Logo Institute, Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy and has earned multiple LEGO Education certificates. Mrs. Davidson mentors high school students in support of STEM college and career readiness.