Board

Robert Hughes is a Partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP. He joined V&E after attending the University of Texas School of Law, where he graduated with honors and served as a member of the Texas Law Review. His practice focuses on representing private equity firms, other financial sponsors, and a variety of public and private businesses in connection with a range of strategic transactions and spans a variety industries, including energy, infrastructure, renewables, telecommunications, and technology. Robert attended the University of Texas for his undergraduate degree, majoring in government, and worked in politics prior to beginning law school.

Nancy F. Atlas is a former United States District Judge in Houston, Texas, with a long and distinguished career in litigation, mediation, and judicial service. She was born in New York City and obtained her undergraduate degree at Tufts University and a law degree at New York University School of Law. She was instrumental in introducing mediation to Houston courts and lawyers, enjoying a robust mediation practice prior to her appointment to the federal bench in 1995.

While a federal judge, Nancy handled thousands of criminal and civil cases largely involving the United States constitution and federal laws. She served on many judicial and bar association committees to improve court policies and law practice in the U.S. District Courts locally and nationally. She also served on and chaired the federal judiciary’s national Committee on Judicial Security, the local court security committee, and the local Court’s Automation Committee. Through the Federal Judicial Center, Nancy served as a mentor judge and taught various subjects to newly-appointed and experienced federal district judges. She co-founded the Intellectual Property Inn of Court in Houston, which now bears her name and in which she remains an active advisor. Nancy has been a frequent speaker on a wide variety of law-related programs.

Erinn Kelley-Siel joined Friends of the Children in January 2016. Erinn is leading the Friends of the Children national expansion and scaling efforts, with a plan to be in 40 locations by 2025. Driven by our $100M expansion goal, Erinn is working to build awareness of Friends’ innovation and impact, and also supporting leaders across the network to cultivate strategic partnerships with local, state and national policy thought leaders and public agencies. Before joining Friends, Erinn’s career focused on human services and healthcare policy and administration. She served as Director of the Oregon Department of Human Services for four years and before that was the Assistant Director of Children and Family programs. In that time, she led several major reforms, including the safe and equitable reduction of children in foster care and the streamlining of program service delivery. Focusing on system innovation and shared accountability for results, Erinn has dedicated her career to helping individuals and communities reach their full potential through aligned partnerships with schools, employers, community leaders, Tribal nations, and faith-based organizations. Erinn’s past experience includes serving as Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski’s Health and Human Services Policy Advisor, working as an attorney at Stoel Rives, LLP, and clerking for the Oregon Supreme Court. She holds a B.A. in psychology from Texas A&M University, and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Arielle Y. Smith, CPA, is a certified public accountant with a Masters of Business Administration with Accounting emphasis and a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, TX. Prior to joining the Extension Foundation as Comptroller, she founded AYWS Enterprises, LLC, and also served as an Accounting Manager at Easter Seals of Greater Houston, United Way of Greater Houston, and as a Senior Auditor for Harper & Pearson Company.

Dorian Cockrell, is the Vice President and Central Program Officer in Global Philanthropy with JPMorgan Chase covering Houston, Central Texas, and Oklahoma markets. He sets the strategic direction, as well as, oversees Chase’s philanthropic investments in these regions.

Prior to joining JPMC, he was the Workforce Operations Manager for Houston-Galveston Area Council. As operations manager, Dorian was responsible for providing strategic planning and direction for the workforce investment board that serves the 13-County Houston-Galveston region. He also worked at United Way of Greater Houston as Senior Manager for Workforce Development. During his time at United Way, he led United Way THRIVE’s workforce efforts to help hard-working families improve their incomes, build savings, and acquire assets to help them secure better futures.

Dorian serves on several statewide education and workforce advisory councils in Texas to advance workforce and racial equity.

Dorian is a prestigious Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40 Honoree, and an American Leadership Forum, Senior Fellow of Class 55.

Dorian earned both his Master of Public Administration and Bachelor’s Degree from University of Texas at Arlington.

Suzanne Sklar McCarthy is a native Houstonian, currently working as a private dyslexia therapist. Prior to the world of education, Suzanne spent seven years working in marketing/advertising and brand development; ending that career as an account supervisor at Leo Burnett in Chicago. Upon her return to Houston, she worked in fundraising and marketing at the newly privatized Houston Zoo.

Suzanne has volunteered her time to early education and literacy organizations here for the last 22 years. She served on the School Literacy & Culture Project Advisory Board from 2007- 2018, the Collaborative for Children Board of Directors 2011-2014, Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University from 2018- present and is currently on Neuhaus Board of Trustees from September 2020- present. She has logged many hours at the Houston Food Bank and various family charities over the years with her two daughters.

Suzanne graduated from Kenyon College in 1995 with a B.A. in Sociology and received a M.Ed. in Reading and Writing from SMU Simmons School of Education in 2016. She is married to James McCarthy, an emergency physician and Chief Physician Officer, EVP of the Memorial Hermann Hospital System. They have two daughters, ages 17 & 19.

Gayatri (GG) Garg is an accomplished professional with over a decade and a half of experience in operations, management, and strategy. Currently, she serves as the Managing Director of Performance Analysis at the Office of County Administration for Harris County where she is focused on driving performance and operational transparency. She manages the development, capture, and analysis of performance measures for departments in the county and has managed the launch of a new budget software to provide ongoing fiscal and performance reporting while centralizing budgeting for departments. She also helped developed the multiyear budget process, managed the budget development process, and provided operational support to tackle the criminal case backlog in the county.

Prior to this role, Gayatri worked at Bain & Company where she specialized in Private Equity spearheading the creation, marketing, and delivery of the new digital X-ray product for Diligence. She worked on a wide swathe of other projects as well, including strategic integration support to the C-suite of a privately held technology company for their $60 billion acquisition and leading pro-bono projects for a menstrual hygiene-focused nonprofit based out of India, to name a few.

Gayatri also worked as a Senior Manager of Operations at Jindal Intellicom in New Delhi, India, where she customized and developed customer service processes and a CRM platform, managed 170 people across sales, collections, back office, and customer service verticals. She also transitioned four new lines of business with two new clients increasing revenues by ~20% for the business.

Gayatri holds a Master of Business Administration with majors in Marketing, Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management from the University of London.

She is an active member of the community, serving as a co-chair of the strategic planning committee and a board member of the Consulting Club at Texas Medical Center. She also hosts a yearly fundraiser for local and international charities.

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A native New Yorker, Marvin Pierre began developing 8 Million Stories during his year as a The New Teacher Project (TNTP) Bridge Fellow. Before that, he served as the Assistant Principal at KIPP Polaris Academy for Boys in Houston, Texas.

Prior to joining KIPP Polaris, he served as the Dean of Students at Excellence Boys Charter School in Brooklyn, New York. He was an Assistant Dean of Students at Summit Academy Charter School, and has also served as Director of Student Life at Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn, New York. Marvin also worked in the Investment Banking (Municipal Finance Group) at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Marvin holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut) and a Master’s in Education Administration and Supervision from the University of Houston. He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and desires to pursue opportunities in community development and co-found a K-8 school for young boys of color in Houston.