Board

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.

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Fort Worth, TX | Scenic Fort Worth Board President
Judy has been on the Scenic Texas Board of Directors since 1998. She serves as president of the Scenic Fort Worth Chapter that was founded in 1995. Scenic Fort Worth provided leadership in passing city ordinances prohibiting new billboards, controlling business signage, requiring landscaping, and preserving mature trees. The Fort Worth chapter has partnered in public tree planting, city park development, and design of major projects and roads.
Harman is committed to Scenic Texas’ unique mission that leads to a more beautiful state and quality of life in our communities. She also serves on the Downtown Fort Worth Urban Design Committee and Great Places Planning Committee, Fort Worth Urban Forestry Master Plan Committee and is liaison to the city government for the Fort Worth Garden Club, a 650 member organization.
She brings the experience of connecting groups for common purpose. As SFW president, Harman developed four citywide conferences addressing Urban Design, Density, Sustainability, and Transportation. While she has been a teacher and a small business owner, she is a life long community volunteer – founding four nonprofit organizations and creating a celebrity speaker series, women’s issues symposium, an international art exchange, a teen educational drama program, an international conference for women, and converting a 100 year old convent into live/work spaces.

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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!

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Fort Worth, TX | Scenic Fort Worth Board
Margaret Willbern DeMoss, a long-time board member of Scenic Texas, is a co-founder of Scenic Fort Worth and the 1997 recipient of Scenic America’s Stafford Award for Advocacy. Previously a science educator and public health professional, DeMoss has spent decades as a community leader in Fort Worth serving on boards including the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, FWISD Council of PTAs, Scientific Advisory Committee on Birth Defects in Texas, and the Women’s Policy Forum of Tarrant County. In addition to chairing the Fort Worth Zoning Commission, she has served as an appointee on a variety of city committees overseeing landscape and forestry ordinances, and served her neighborhoods by founding and chairing several homeowners’ associations. She has been involved in environmental advocacy, children’s health and safety initiatives, and women’s health services as both a volunteer advocate and consultant. She is a member of the Fort Worth Garden Club, the Fort Worth Lecture Foundation, Leadership Texas, and Leadership Fort Worth. She and her husband owned a general contracting company before retiring a few years ago. They enjoy travel and keeping up with their five grandchildren.

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Fort Worth, TX | Scenic Fort Worth Board, Native of Corpus Christi Texas, Graduate of Texas Woman’s University, B.S./Nursing. Employment: Faculty, Texas Woman’s University College of Nursing, Denton Parkland Memorial Hospital, Emergency Room staff, Dallas Stewardess, American Airlines, Dallas Instructor, American Airlines Stewardess College (now Flight Academy) Staff Nurse, Director of Inservice Education, All Saints Episcopal Hospital (now Baylor All Saints) Owner/Principal, Appleman and Associates (relocation consultants) Chair, Mayfest ’77 Board of Trustees, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth President, Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults, Tarrant County President, Junior League of Fort Worth, Inc. Chair, Committee for the Future of Fort Worth Governor’s Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives, State of Texas Board, First Texas Council of Camp Fire, Inc. Vice–Chair, Young Volunteers in ACTION, Fort Worth Chair, University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing Advisory Council Chair, Mayor’s Task Force on Social Policy Issues, City of Fort Worth Leadership Texas, Class of ’85 Chair, The Volunteer Connection, Tarrant County Vice–Chair, Sesquicentennial Commission, City of Fort Worth President, Beth–El Congregation, Fort Worth Board, United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County Chair, Priorities Committee, United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County Vice–President, Program Development Division, United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County Board, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Member, Downtown Fort Worth Rotary Club Founding Board/Chair of Grants Committee, Community Foundation of North Texas Board of Trustees, The Alliance for Higher Education, Dallas Chair, Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County Trustee, National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver Board of Visitors, Texas Wesleyan University Board, North Texas Public Broadcasting, Inc. Chair, JCPenney Golden Rule Award Panel Streams and Valleys Committee Board, Visiting Nurse Association, Dallas Advisory Board, Texas Woman’s University School of Management Advisory Board, JPMorgan Chase, Fort Worth Advisory Board, TXU Electric Founder/Chair, Women’s Foundation of North Texas Chair, Volunteer Center of Tarrant County Board, Volunteer Center of North Texas Chair, Southwest Parkway Citizens Advisory Committee, City of Fort Worth Chair, Historic Preservation Plan Committee, City of Fort Worth Founding Member, United Way of Tarrant County Women’s Leadership Council Board of Trustees, Tarrant County College District Chair, Board of Trustees, Tarrant County College District Board, Scenic Fort Worth Board, Scenic Texas Board, Workforce Solutions Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. Urban Design Committee Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. Strategic Plan Committee 2033 Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. Partners in Heritage Park

Current Memberships:
Amon Carter Museum Ambassadors Council
Junior League of Fort Worth Inc.
Women’s Policy Forum
Urban Design Committee, Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.

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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 4^th 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. .

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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.

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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..

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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.

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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.

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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.