Alfred B. Henson, Ph.D., is a professor and urban planner in the Houston Metropolitan Area. He is a native Houstonian who has studied architecture, construction technology, urban planning, and environmental policy. He attended the University of Houston and Texas Southern University where his coursework led to professional, academic, and civic service in the Houston Metropolitan Area.

Alfred Henson has provided community development support for public and private land planning activities for over 30 years. He has worked with the TxDOT plans, housing programs, residential design, community engagement, and development feasibility at the private, public, and institutional capacity. He has over a decade of disaster recovery experience and has provided geospatial services for government-funded housing plans and programs.

Alfred Henson has contributed to community service, business development, city management, and academia. His tenure as a business developer, as well as a GIS Manager at the City of Houston advanced design and planning software applications to assist decision-makers with addressing problems and communicating best practices with solutions. He currently practices as a Principal Planner with AB Land Planning and provides planning and development consulting, with technological and innovative support for state agencies, local government, local agencies, and Houston’s communities within Houston’s super neighborhoods.

One of Alfred's most continuous contributions to society is motivating and training students to utilize emerging technology and data science as tools to answer questions from the local perspective to the global perspective.

He’s currently an Assistant Professor at TSU's Transportation Studies Department, and most recently worked as an Instructional Professor at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering. His teaching focuses on transportation and GIS logistics for maritime transportation and supply chain logistics. He's also taught as Visiting Professor at Prairie View A&M and as an Adjunct Professor at Texas Southern University in construction science, community development, and urban planning programs.

Yvonne “Rita” Setser is a dredging coordinator for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Maritime Division. She holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and master’s degree in resource management from Texas State University. After college she thoroughly enjoyed her time as a park ranger at Guadalupe Mountains National Park and as a field scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Not ready to sit behind a desk, she transitioned to a field geologist position at Arcadis installing monitoring wells with drilling crews and managing remediation projects across Texas. Most recently she has worked as an environmental project manager for state agencies. In her down time, she runs, listens to music, and plays fiddle.

William Busey is Vice President of Technical Sales at NORBIT Subsea and brings more than 20 years of experience in coastal geophysics and bathymetric surveying. He currently serves as Chairman of the Houston Chapter of the Texas Hydrographic Society and works closely with ports, dredging contractors, and survey professionals to deploy next-generation sonar technologies in challenging sediment environments. At NORBIT, Bill focuses on enabling reliable access to true 3D data of the navigable bottom, particularly in fluid mud conditions through advanced multibeam systems and automated subsurface detection.

Providing strategic advisory support to clients on topics such as policy, energy infrastructure, resilience, business strategy, and technology innovation. Dan advises private and public sector clients on their strategic objectives, collaborating to promote business partnerships and optimize strategic development and innovation objectives. Skilled in Energy Infrastructure, Strategic Development/Delivery, R&D, Implementation, Project Management and Business Development, he currently leads on the North American Growth Strategy with a focus on Canada, US and Caribbean advisory services.

Josh Ley has over 28 years of global experience in electric powertrain technology. A former executive at Danfoss Editron and UQM Technologies, he specializes in scalable electrification, electric machines, power electronics, and production ready system development.

Sharon currently serves as an Independent Director for BWC Terminals, a portfolio company of the Infrastructure Investments Fund.

Sharon has worked with both domestic Fortune 500 companies and international organizations. Most recently, Sharon was Managing Director for Vopak Americas. She began her career as a pipeline and project engineer for various companies, including The Williams Companies, Sun Pipeline, Delhi Gas Pipeline, and P66 (formerly DCP Midstream).

Sharon earned a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Tulsa. Sharon’s achievements were recognized by the Oil & Gas Diversity Council in 2020, awarded “Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Oil & Gas”, in addition to the Houston Business Journals, “Women Who Mean Business in Energy” in 2020.

She has served on various industry boards and is currently a board member of Rice Business Partners at the Jones Graduate School of Business, and a former Chair for the Executive Advisory Council for Port of Houston Partners in Maritime Education, a former board member of the Greater Houston Port Bureau, and International Liquids Terminal Association

Martin founded Curtin Maritime Corp. (CMC) in 1997. Martin is a tugboat captain by trade, but his knowledge of the marine landscape is much broader than the view from the wheelhouse. The evolution and growth of CMC is the direct result of Martin’s vision and vast industry knowledge. Over his 28-year career, Martin has successfully designed and executed projects of all kinds. From complicated tows, large and small vessel salvage, deep water work, subsea cables and pipelines to dredging, Martin brings needed innovation to existing practices. This constant evolution of process and creativity captures efficiencies and drives value for the customer.

Shaun has a proven track record originating successful LNG projects across the value chain, including several FSRU projects while at Excelerate Energy and NextDecade. Those FSRU projects include: Israel, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. His LNG project development experience also includes: Cove Point, Rio Grande LNG & Rio Bravo pipeline in Brownsville, and small-scale LNG development in Texas City. Shaun has over 30 years’ experience in the energy industry focusing on pipelines, underground storage, LNG terminals and LNG shipping. He also has proven abilities in strategic planning, regulatory & permitting, project management and business development.

Jonathan Cook has served in Executive Management positions at Excelerate Energy LLC, TMS Cardiff Gas LTD, Flex LNG LTD, where he was responsible for the development and execution of Corporate, Marketing, and Business Development strategies. In addition, he has directed the implementation of sophisticated operational and technical innovations across a broad range of LNG shipping initiatives.

Jonathan is currently CEO of Navergy Infrastructure Partners LLC.

Navergy in partnership with Seapath Goup is developing a small-scale LNG terminal dedicated to providing LNG fuel for the maritime sector in the Houston, Galveston region.

As one of the founders of Excelerate Energy LLC, Jon served as COO where he was directly involved in the pioneering of LNG Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU), providing construction oversight, and directing fleet operations. He also managed the commercial negotiations for the long-term charter contracts for eight FSRUs.

Prior to his LNG activities Jon managed the Chartering and Voyage Operations teams at The Coastal Corporation, coordinating all petroleum shipping requirements for both crude supply and product marketing.

Jon has over thirty (30) years’ experience in the LNG, marine transportation, and energy sectors, and has a wide range of skills in strategic planning, contract negotiations, market analysis, resource management, and operations.

Jon graduated from Texas A& M University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Transportation, has over eight (8) years sea going experience, and earned a USCG Unlimited Master Mariner’s license.

Brian Hill serves as the U.S. Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Director of the Western Gulf Gateway Office based in Houston, Texas, since late 2011. As MARAD’s Western Gulf Gateway Director, Brian’s area of responsibility includes all the ports, waterways, and intermodal connections and corridors in Texas and Oklahoma. In this position, the Gateway Director works with local Texas and Oklahoma ports and other intermodal industries and responsible agencies, to improve and strengthen the U.S. marine transportation system. Brian retired as a Coast Guard Commander and brought a diverse maritime transportation, port security, regulatory, planning, and maritime/admiralty law background to the U.S. Department of Transportation and MARAD.

Brian’s most recent position prior to MARAD with the U.S. Coast Guard was as the Chief of the Eleventh Coast Guard District’s Ports, Waterways and Coastal Security Section from 2006 to 2011. In this position, he oversaw overall planning for the port security mission in all ports in California, including Los Angeles/Long Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco/Oakland. His duties also included ensuring waterside security protection for military outload vessels loading equipment in California ports in support of the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and planning with DOD and federal partners for joint operations.

Brian is also an experienced maritime law and Coast Guard (JAG) attorney. Among other positions, he served as a Coast Guard attorney in their Seventh District Office in Miami where he worked in maritime law cases, environmental crimes, and maritime security issues. Brian also worked several years as a Maritime and Admiralty Law attorney with a large law firm in Miami. During this time, he became one of only 56 attorneys in Florida that is Board Certified by the Florida Bar as a Specialist in Admiralty and Maritime Law. After a few years with the law firm representing shipping and port facility interests, he returned to active duty with the Coast Guard until his retirement.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Government from Florida International University, a law degree (J.D.) from the St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami, and a master’s degree in Security Studies (Homeland Defense and Security) from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.