AROUND CAMPUS
Trustee Matters John B. Beckworth and Frances Hopper Jeter will be transitioning from Trustee to Life Trustee. Many thanks to our departing trustees Henry J. Lartigue and Teresa Ong Lee for their commitment to our school. Meet our new trustees: Mr. Cowan is Vice President for Acclaim Energy Advisors one of the nation’s fastest growing energy management firms. He is responsible for the firm's public sector activities, including government and education. Mr. Cowan has advised clients in a range of industries—including banking, consumer goods, high tech, and industrial—but his core area of expertise is in the public sector. In 1986, he Ken Cowan earned a BSBA in Management from the University of Nebraska – Omaha and later received his MBA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas, Houston. Aside from his professional career, his community involvement includes serving on the boards of Houston’s Ensemble Theatre, Houston Alumni Association of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and passionately supports the efforts of Mission Lazarus and the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Cowan and his wife Sandie have held several volunteer positions at Kinkaid over the past years. His wife has taken a leadership role with Birthday Boosters, Holiday Decorations and assisted in New Student Open House. They are the parents of Kenneth II (Casey) ‘14 and Taylor J. ’16. Mr. Doggett is a Kinkaid lifer and graduated in the class of 1975. He received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from The University of Texas - Austin in 1980. He is the founder and CEO of Doggett Industries & Doggett Equipment Services Group. His company is composed of two divisions: Division I – FE and CE Heavy Equipment deals with John Deere Forestry and Construction Equipment Dealerships; Leslie Doggett Division II is material handling equipment which deals with Toyota Industrial Equipment Dealerships. Aside from his professional life, he is affiliated with various organizations including the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) & World Presidents Organization (WPO), Texas Brangus Breeders Association, and the board of the Rienzi - Museum of Fine Arts Houston - Acquisition Committee. He and his wife Ann are parents of two Kinkaid alums William ’05 and Amy ’10.
Mr. Mehta is a graduate of the University of Houston with a degree in mechanical engineering. He also has a Master of Business Administration from Rice University. After graduation he started his career in the oil and gas service industry. He founded Case Services. Under his leadership Case Services became an industry leader in the petroleum production and automation sector. His products monitor the Jay Mehta operation of almost all of the producing on-shore oil wells in the United States. The company was later purchased by Weatherford International. After the purchase Mr. Mehta served as product line vice-president with Weatherford for four years. As a director at the Mehta Family Foundation, he is involved in supporting the multiple education initiatives of the Foundation. He also serves on the board of Pratham Houston, an international organization dedicated to the largest educational movement in India. At Kinkaid, Mr. Mehta served on the Upper School Principal Search Committee and on the Tomorrow’s Promise Campaign Committee. His wife, Mamta, has been a project coordinator for the 8th grade Day of Service, a team mom for the New Family Buddy Program, and has participated in many other volunteer positions for creative writing, and volleyball. The Mehtas are parents of Jinal ’12 and Jeel ’15. Mr. Montgomery is a Managing Director of Quantum Energy Partners and is a member of Quantum’s Executive and Investment Committees. He is actively involved in the setting of the firm’s strategy and is responsible for originating and overseeing investments in the oil and gas upstream, midstream, and oilfield service sectors. Prior to joining Quantum, Mr. Montgomery was a Partner in the Investment Bill Montgomery Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. where, during his tenure, he headed the firm’s Natural Resources Group as well as its Houston office. He currently serves on the board of Apache Corporation. He has also been an active civic leader, chairing the boards of the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the St. Francis Episcopal Day School. He is also a member of the board of trustees for the St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System (where he serves as Finance Chair), The Kinkaid School Endowment and Houston Country Club. Bill earned his BBA from the University of Texas and his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife Kelly have three children William ’11, Caroline ’12 and Katherine.
MIDDLE SCHOOL NJFL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DEBATE BRIEFS Contributed by MS Debate Coach Kyle Morris The Middle School Debate team competed at the National Junior Forensics League national championship tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana recently. The teams of Sam Richey ’17 /Anirudh Suresh ’16 and Sita Yerramsetti ’16 /Alex Kalai ’16 both won their semifinal rounds, thus closing out finals to become National Policy Debate Champions. Sita and Alex defeated the top team from the Capitol Debate cooperative out of D.C., while Sam and Anirudh defeated the top team from The Harker School out of San Jose, CA. Furthermore, three of our students won speaker awards: Anirudh Suresh (fourth overall), Sita Yerramsetti (ninth overall) and Sam Richey (tenth overall). This was Kinkaid's first NJFL national championship in policy debate. Anvi Nandish ’17 carried a
4-1 record to advance to Octofinals in Lincoln Douglas debate. She had notable wins over some of our in-town rivals at Knox MS and Sidney Lanier MS. Five Kinkaid students advanced to the final round of Congressional Debate: Austin Karkowsky ’17, Anirudh Suresh ’16, Alex Kalai ’16, Zubair Mukhi and Sita Yerramsetti ’16. Additionally, Sita won third place overall in Congressional Debate. As a result of the collective success of our students, Kinkaid was named a National School of Debate Excellence for the third consecutive year. This distinction was given to the top five debate schools at the tournament. It is highly prestigious and winning it again places our program in the top tier as one of the most
competitive teams in the nation. Kinkaid was one of three schools from Houston recognized as a National School of Debate Excellence. Houston is the most competitive region for middle school debate in the nation. Many of the judges at our tournament commented on how they believed that the MS students they saw in outrounds were as good or better than many of the high school students that they had observed during their time in debate.
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