Every new semester brings the Strategic Foresight Program new students each with unique backgrounds and interests that help bring the field and more depth and understanding. Our new students this year are Abdullah Al-Buraiki, Hilary Hetzel, Kevin Mulvaney, Brian Otero, Jeff Chamberlin, Nina Frankowski, Brent Heilman, and Iris Stein. The profiles presented here are just a brief glimpse into the backgrounds of our new students.
After getting his Bachelor’s in Air Transport engineering Abdullah worked as a maintenance planner for Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies where he reviewed airworthiness directives, service bulletins, and engineering orders. He later handled maintenance of the Gulf Air fleet for SR technics. Now he works as a development engineer for Oman Royal Flight and manages a precision tune auto care in Saham, Oman. 
 
Hilary went to Texas A&M for undergraduate in Information Systems and later SMU for an MBA with a concentration in Marketing. Her first job was as a Business Analyst at IBM and over the years she has worked for American Airlines, 7-Eleven, TXU Marketing and product development, and Mary Kay in Strategy.
She was drawn to the Futures program after being intrigued by a professional futurist and becoming curious about the profession. Since her husband was interested too, they are now in the program together. Her personal interests are reading, learning, exploring new places and foods, supporting their kids’ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu aspirations.
Kevin earned a Bachelor of arts in Political Science at Clemson University and has worked in an array of fields since graduating.  He worked as a director of marketing, and advancement at companies like Advantage media Group, American Institute of Architecture Students. Later he worked as Vice President of Marketing and Communications for companies including the Vinyl institute and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Most recently he’s been the Senior Director of the American Chemistry Council working in responsible care and Value Chain outreach. He’s also currently the creative director and strategist for Hixon Design consultants.
Brian is returning to UH where he originally earned his Bachelor’s in Finance from the C.T. Bauer College of Business. During his education he focused in Risk Management, Business Finance, and Entrepreneurship.  He also became a mentor in the Ted Bauer leadership program and volunteered with the University around the city of Houston. Before his Bachelor’s Brian worked as an instructor for the US Space and Rocket Center in Alabama, and also as a manager at Ross Stores inc. Brian’s also an experienced photographer of about 4 years.
Jeff lives in the Reno/Tahoe area and received his MBA from University of Nevada, Reno. Jeff has worked in hotel management for the past 25 years for companies like Hyatt, Destination Resorts, and Wyndham Resorts. His favorite position was at the famous “Riot Hyatt” in Hollywood where he had the opportunity to take care of many top music and movie industry legends. He is currently the Vice President of a small Tahoe-based hospitality and property management company. Jeff got his undergrad in Journalism at Ohio State University, where he also competed on the Cross Country and Track Teams. When not working, studying, or spending time with his family, Jeff is an amateur actor with more than 50 shows under his belt.
Nina is a strategist by title, but really just a curious soul with a passion for psychology, technology and culture. She has an endless thirst for understanding human behavior, trends and the impacts on our changing society. Her objective is to help people and organizations envision and create better futures using scientific research (data), original thinking and a dash of imagination. She went to Webber International University to study Business Management and got a Dual MBA in International Business, and eCommerce.
She has well rounded strategic experience in the advertising industry, working in an array of roles for companies including Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Toyota, Mercedes, Johnson & Johnson, AAA, Nestle, Gerber, Kraft, Universal Music Group, Kia, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and others.
After serving in the US Army Brent went to Warner University to study organizational management. More recently he got a certificate in Project Management from Boston University, and now he’s working on an MBA in Finance from Florida Institute of technology as well as the certificate from the UH Foresight program. Over the years Brent has been an IT worker for Sumter Electric Cooperative, a site administrator for a Florida hospital, a support engineer for Veritas Technologies, programs manager for Symantec, director of product and programs at frontier communications and finally as a support account manager at ServiceNow, one of the fastest growing cloud based software companies.  
With over 15 years in the trenches, Iris combines her experience in competitive intelligence and strategy formation in her determination to help forward-thinking organizations achieve the agility and flexibility needed to succeed in today’s business world. Over the past 4 years Iris has been focused on helping companies using artificial intelligence technologies gain a better understanding of their industries and build strategic business plans.
After attending a strategic foresight workshop, Iris decided that she would like to pursue further studies in Strategic Foresight and signed up to study at the University of Houston with the goal of being able to assist organizations establish future oriented goals. Iris has an M.Sc. in Communications from Clark University. Her personal interests include reading and hula hooping – but not simultaneously!
We look forward to seeing how our new students will contribute and shape the Strategic Foresight field throughout their careers.