Advisory Council
Mission and Priorities
The LLILAS Advisory Council is dedicated to strengthening the core activities of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies by
- Advising on LLILAS programs, drawing on council members’ experience and expertise related to Latin America;
- Serving as a bridge between LLILAS and the broader communities and sectors to which the Advisory Council members belong;
- Advising on and assisting with the development goals, specifically, providing feedback on fund-raising strategies, identifying potential donors, and conceiving specific fund-raising activities.
Officers
Chair: Leo Muñoz
Vice-Chair and Chair-Elect: Information to come
Immediate Past Chair: Mariann Scott Dwight
Leo Muñoz, Chair
Director of Governmental Affairs, Comcast NBCUniversal, Washington, D.C.
Leo Muñoz has over 20 years of experience in politics, public policy and campaigns. Currently, he is the Director of Governmental Affairs for Comcast NBCUniversal, where he is responsible for shaping Comcast NBCUniversal’s positions on legislative and regulatory matters impacting all lines off business including telecommunications, broadcast, internet, theme parks, and the Spanish-language network Telemundo. He serves on the Comcast NBCUniversal Hispanic Partnerships Council, a working group of executives across the company’s brands focused on promoting and enhancing products and services developed for the Hispanic community and engaging Hispanic advocacy groups, including NCLR, LULAC and the US Hispanic Chamber. Prior to his current position, he served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Charlie Gonzalez in Washington D.C. when Gonzalez was Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He spent ten years working in the Texas Legislature on issues related to higher education and economic development.
Photo Credit.
Sergio Alcocer
Creative Leader
Austin, Texas
Sergio Alcocer is one of the most progressive multicultural marketers in the U.S. From 1999 until October 2015, he led LatinWorks a Cultural Branding Agency that was named five times Multicultural Agency of the Year in the United States and one of the Top Ten advertising agencies in the country according to Advertising Age. With an advertising career that expands more than 25 years Sergio has worked in Mexico, South America, the Caribbean and New York before making his home in Austin in 1999. During his career Sergio has won every national and international award there is including eight Cannes Lions, he has been a Jury in dozens of international advertising festivals and is a constant speaker in the main creative stages around the world. He holds an EMBA from the Berlin School of Creative Leadership and sits on the Board of the Art Directors Club in New York and the Advisory Council of the Ransom Center.
Photo Credit.
This caption describes the image above.
Marianne Scott Dwight, Chair
Austin, Texas
A native of South Texas, Marianne Dwight is a licensed attorney who has worked in both the public and private sectors on issues related to healthcare, housing, financial transactions, and the creation of financing mechanisms to support water projects in Texas to the year 2060. She worked with the author of the legislation that created the State Water Implementation Fund of Texas, where the voters approved the dedication of $2 billion to support water projects in Texas. As general counsel for the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company, Ms. Dwight has personally analyzed, negotiated, and approved more than 300 funds in which the Trust Company has invested, representing all asset classes including private equity, real estate, hedged equity, and fixed income. In her private life, Ms. Dwight currently serves as an Austin City Council appointee on the Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force. She is a founding board member of the Firefly Fund, created to fund and support education and research toward a cure for rare neurodegenerative genetic diseases that affect children. Ms. Dwight also serves as a member of Affordable Central Texas, a charitable organization that supports affordable workforce housing for the Central Texas area. She holds a BBA in accounting, with honors, from Texas A&M University; a JD from Southern Methodist University; and a Master in Liberal Arts, with honors, from St. Edward’s University, where her studies focused on water and its impact on the global economy.
Dr. Sergio Alcocer de Martínez
Civil Engineer, The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Mexico City, Mexico
Dr. Alcocer served as Under-Secretary for North American Affairs at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations. In the public sector, he has previously served as Under-Secretary for Energy Planning and Technology Development at Mexico’s Ministry of Energy, and as a research director for the National Center for Disasters Prevention at the Ministry of Interior. Dr. Alcocer has also been Secretary-General-Provost, Coordinator for Innovation and Development, and Director of the Institute of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). As an academic, he is a member to the National System of Researchers since 1994. He is the president of the Academy of Engineering of Mexico and a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences as well as various technical societies.
Photo Credit.
Marianne Scott Dwight
Strategic Business Adviser
A native of South Texas, Marianne Dwight is a licensed attorney who has worked in both the public and private sectors on issues related to healthcare, housing, financial transactions, and the creation of financing mechanisms to support water projects in Texas to the year 2060. Ms. Dwight helped create a real-estate management platform focusing on affordable housing and now serves on a nonprofit board that manages a for-profit real estate fund providing affordable workforce housing in Central Texas. She worked with the author of the legislation that created the State Water Implementation Fund of Texas, where the voters approved the dedication of $2 billion to support water projects in Texas. As general counsel for the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company, she has personally analyzed, negotiated, and approved more than 300 funds in which the Trust Company has invested, representing all asset classes including private equity, real estate, hedged equity, and fixed income. In her private life, Ms. Dwight currently serves as an Austin City Council appointee on the Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force. She is a founding board member of the Firefly Fund, created to fund and support education and research toward a cure for rare neurodegenerative genetic diseases that affect children. Ms. Dwight also serves as a member of Affordable Central Texas, a charitable organization that supports affordable workforce housing for the Central Texas area. She holds a BBA in accounting, with honors, from Texas A&M University; a JD from Southern Methodist University; and a Master in Liberal Arts, with honors, from St. Edward’s University, where her studies focused on water and its impact on the global economy.
Photo Credit.
Vidal Garza Cantú
Senior Advisor and Consultant in Economy, Strategic Analysis and Public Affairs
Monterrey, Nuevo León, México
Dr. Garza is an economist, attorney, and academic with over 25 years of experience in strategic analysis, regulatory affairs, and sustainable development. He advises public and private institutions across Latin America, aligning corporate strategies with dynamic policy environments. As founder of Fundación FEMSA and the Graduate School of Public Administration at Tecnológico de Monterrey, he has led initiatives benefiting over 47 million people. He created FEMSA’s Strategic Regulatory System (SER), a global benchmark for regulatory adaptation, and received the CK Prahalad Sustainability Award and Brazil’s Medalha da Inconfidência for his impact in water access and social investment. He holds degrees from Harvard and UT Austin, and has published extensively on sustainability, competitiveness, and inclusive development.
Photo Credit.
Pamela M. Giblin
Attorney at Law and Partner, Baker Botts LLP
Austin, Texas
Pam Giblin is a partner in the Austin office of Baker Botts. She received her JD from the University of Texas School of Law in 1970. Ms. Giblin has practiced environmental law since then and has had extensive experience in advising clients on a broad array of environmental issues, particularly in the area of energy projects. She has served on the EPA's Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and is listed in the environmental law section of The Best Lawyers in America. She is the first woman to receive the Distinguished Lawyer Award from the Travis County Bar Association. She is past-president of the American College of Environmental Lawyers. Her practice focuses on helping multi-national companies navigate complex environmental regulations, including working successfully with regulatory agencies and NGOs.
Photo Credit.
Robert Greenblum
Founding Partner, UGO Strategies +
Washington, DC
Robbie Greenblum is an active Founding Partner at UGO Strategies, where he provides representation and counsel to businesses, individuals, and nonprofit entities in their efforts to more efficiently and successfully interact with local, state, and federal governmental entities. Previously, he served as Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro. Prior to that, he worked as City Attorney for the City of San Antonio, Texas, serving as Chief Legal Advisor to the City Council, City Manager, and all city departments. Robbie began his employment with the City of San Antonio as Chief of Staff to then Mayor Julián Castro where he served as the mayor’s top advisor, as well as the chief liaison for the mayor’s office with city staff and the community. Mr. Greenblum entered the ranks of municipal government following a successful 18-year legal career during which he handled immigration issues, including federal class-action impact litigation and political asylum cases, as well as domestic and international business matters. Prior to that, he served as the staff attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of Texas, and as staff attorney at the Refugee Assistance Council in his hometown, Laredo, Texas. He earned a JD and a BA (Plan II) from the University of Texas at Austin.
Photo Credit.
George Kauss
Managing Partner, Group CMK LLP
San Antonio, Texas
A former Ronald Reagan Presidential Appointee as Assistant Secretary of the United States department of Commerce in Washington D.C., Mr. Kauss is an experienced international entrepreneur with extensive involvement in the corporate and start-up arenas. With a strong base of experience that includes a concentration in international business development, Mr. Kauss has been heavily involved in multiple successive company startups such as Group CMK, an international development partnership with former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros; Vantage Bank Texas, a San Antonio and South Texas based financial institution; Actium Biosystems, a novel hyperthermia cancer treatment purchased by Endomagnetics in London, England; The Vulano Group, an inventive technology wildcatting company; Vesuvius, a technology development company sold to Qualcomm; and ICG Mexico, a satellite communication venture in Mexico purchased by British Telecom.
Photo Credit.
Myra Leo
Principal, Husch Blackwell Strategies (HBS)
Austin, Texas
Myra Leo is a government affairs adviser at HBS and currently represents a variety of clients in navigating Texas’s legislative and regulatory arenas. She has advised corporate clients, professional associations, and nonprofit organizations in areas such as energy, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, higher education, financial services, telecom, and vehicle franchise matters. Ms. Leo currently sits on the board of the Senate Hispanic Research Council (SHRC),; the Zach Theatre Emeritus Board; the KLRU-PBS Executive Board; and is a founding member of the Seton Angels Giving Group as well as the Aguila Alliance Group, inspired by the Office of the Mexican Consulate in Austin. She serves on the Public Affairs Committee and the Hispanic Alumni Advisory Committee of Texas Exes, the alumni association of The University of Texas at Austin, and on the University of Texas President’s Development Board.
Photo Credit.
Joe R. Long
Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Foundation
Austin, Texas
Joe R. Long, born in San Antonio, Texas, is a well-known Austin lawyer and banker. He received his BA in 1951 from the University of Texas, with a major in government and a minor in history and anthropology. He also completed his ROTC training there, and upon graduation was called immediately into the service during the Korean War. He graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in August 1958 with a JD degree. Over the next twenty years, he worked as a sole practitioner and as a member of several partnerships, ultimately organizing his own firm. In 1968, he began working in the banking industry as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First State Bank. He served in that position until 1998, when the bank was sold to Norwest Corporation. Since then, he has overseen his private business affairs and has spent much of his time in philanthropic activities with several colleges and universities in Texas, as well as with several nonprofit corporations. He and his wife, the late Dr. Teresa Lozano Long, were each honored for their philanthropy by the University of Texas System Board of Regents in 2018 with the Santa Rita Award, which has supported myriad cultural, community, and educational initiatives and programs, including LLILAS and LLILAS Benson.
Photo Credit.
Melinda Machado
Director, Office of Communications and Marketing, National Museum of American History
Washington, D.C.
An award-winning strategic communicator, Melinda Machado brings creativity and innovation to her museum leadership position at the National Museum of American History, where she is responsible for developing and executing the strategy of the museum’s Office of Communications & Marketing. Melinda has extensive experience in private-sector and non-profit communications, including work for Edelman Public Relations Worldwide and Porter/Novelli Public Relations as well as health-care marketing. Her client responsibilities included Microsoft, PBS, HBO, the Federal Accounting Standards Board, AT&T, Merck and the Cancer Research Foundation of America. Hispanic marketing is another area of expertise. A native Texan, Melinda began her journalism career at the Kerrville Daily Times and served as a legislative assistant for the first Mexican American woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives. She earned both a Bachelor of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts in Government and International Relations, with a focus on Latin America, from the University of Texas at Austin. Her Master of Arts is from George Washington University in Government/Legislative Affairs. She is of Cuban and Mexican American descent.
Photo Credit.
Photo Credit.
Janet Roberts
Philanthropist
Austin, Texas
Janet Roberts was born in Lima, Peru, to American parents. After residing in Lima for over 17 years, she and her family moved to San Antonio, where she lived until her move to Austin in 1982. She now happily calls Austin home. Professionally, Roberts has been most closely associated with the hotel industry. She worked as a sales director, and later, marketing director, for the Four Seasons Hotel Corporation. She has served on the advisory boards for both the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas and the Texas Historical Commission. For the last 30 years she has been an active member of the Pan American Round Table, Austin Table. In addition to serving as Table Director, she has chaired numerous committees. Roberts’s lifelong passion has been Arabian horses. She has shown in both the United States and Canada, where she won several national championships. She is a graduate of the Baypath College in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
Photo Credit.
Gordon Dee Smith, Immediate Past Chair
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Strategic Insight Group (SIG)
Fort Worth, Texas
Gordon Dee Smith is a CEO, producer, writer, and specialist in intelligence, foreign policy, and global change. He works professionally in the areas of transactional intelligence, geopolitical and change risk analysis, and media and cultural production. He has worked in over 100 countries and served as an adviser for more than US $120 billion in investment transactions. He is founder, principal, and CEO of Strategic Insight Group (SIG), where he manages its global intelligence services for a client base of investors, operating companies, and law firms. Smith is creator, executive producer, and host of the Real Vision Television documentary series on global change, A World on the Brink, which since 2018 has been broadcast on the PBS in over 40 media markets around the United States. He has worked as an international venture capitalist active in Latin America and Europe, and before that, was a founder and president of InterCultura, an international NGO. Currently, Smith is a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) (New York); a member of Chatham House (London); a member of the Board of Directors and of the High Level Working Group on Inter-American Relations of Global Americans (New York); a member of the Bretton Woods Committee (Washington, D.C.); past president and a member of the board of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations (DCFR); and a member of the Advisory Board of the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations (HCFR).
Photo Credit.
This caption describes the image above.
David Wells, Vice-Chair and Chair-Elect
Prosek Partners
New York, New York
David Wells is partner at leading communications firm Prosek Partners, with many years of experience in establishing and executing financial communications strategies. His expertise is in handling strategy, operations, reputation management, media and investor relations, as well as special situations. Prior to joining Prosek, Wells was chief marketing and communications officer for the Consumer and Investment Management Division at Goldman Sachs. Prior, he worked as head of marketing and communications at J.P. Morgan Chase, where he was responsible for overseeing marketing and communications activities in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Wells began his career as a journalist, serving in several editorial capacities at the Financial Times. In addition, he has contributed as an analyst for the radio program Marketplace and made appearances on leading news networks, including CNN, BBC and CNBC. He is a member of the Morgan Library and Museum’s Modern and Contemporary Collectors Committee. Wells holds a master's degree in Latin American Studies from The University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor's in Political Science from Texas Christian University.