Scott Gerhardt
Chair, USGBC Texas Chapter
Director, Central Texas Region

Scott is privileged to serve as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Central Texas Balcones Chapter. This chapter includes 72 Texas counties, extending from the Killeen area south to the Valley, including Austin and San Antonio. The Chapter’s Mission is simply to accelerate the sustainable transformation of land development and building practices in Central and South Texas through innovation, advocacy, education, and partnerships. As Chair, he has overseen the expansion of the Texas Green Building Marketplace; a unique internet based resource for green development and construction.

A long and continuous involvement in the health and productivity of the built environment has marked Scott’s career in Florida and Texas. He has served as President of the International Facility Management Association Sun Coast chapter, and helped found and charter the first U.S. Green Building Council chapter in Florida in 2004-2005. The collaboration of these organizations and others jump started the sustainability movement in Florida, and he continues to build these bridges here in Central Texas. Scott’s current position is Director of Education with CORE USA.

He loves playing music and live music performances, as well as cycling the Hill Country.

Thom Powell
Vice Chair, USGBC Texas Chapter
Director, North Texas Region

Mr. Powell is the Southwest Regional Director for Architects Design Group.  ADG specializes in civic projects that require state of the art thinking in resilient design. Previously, he worked as Director of Sustainable Design at GFF.  Among his recent roles was as Sustainability Consultant for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in collaboration with Morphosis and Executive Architect on the AT&T Performing Arts Center Box Office and Annette Strauss Artist Square in collaboration with Foster + Partners.  Past Sustainability Consultant roles include Park 17, 17Seventeen McKinney Avenue and Nurses Hall and Woodlawn Hall at Old Parkland Hospital. Past Arts District projects also include Project Architect for the Fiedler Atrium at First United Methodist Church of Dallas, Margaret and Trammell Crow Collection of Asian Art and the Hamon Recital Hall in I.M. Pei’s Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. 

Tim Murray
Secretary, USGBC Texas Chapter
Director, Texas Gulf Coast Region

Tim Murray is the Sustainable Design Leader at WHR Architects and has been the Project Team Administrator on 25 LEED certified projects.  He is co-chair of the AIA-Houston Committee on the Environment. He is also active in the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), serving on the South Central Regional Committee, on the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter Board of Directors and on the Texas State Merger Task Force. He previously served as Chair of the USGBC Texas Gulf Coast Chapter in 2006/2007 and served on the USGBC National Chapter Steering Committee and the national LEED Steering Committee during the development of LEED v4. Tim served as Founding Chair of the Greater Houston Partnership, Green Building Subcommittee. He graduated from the University of Houston and serves as Den Leader and Committee Chairman for his sons Cub Scout Pack.

Eloisa Portillo-Morales
Strategy Officer, USGBC Texas Chapter
Director, South Texas Region

Eloisa Portillo-Morales, MBA, EIT, CNU-A, LEED-GA is the Sustainability Planning Manager for the City ofSan Antonio’s Office of Sustainability. She currently serves as the Project Manager for the development of the Community-Wide and Municipal Operations Sustainability Plan as part of the SA Tomorrow Planning Initiative. Eloisa came to San Antonio from the City of El Paso where she served as the Sustainability Program Engineer for the Office of Sustainability developing and implementing their City's Sustainability Plan and Energy Management. Her previous employment includes working for the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality and New Mexico State University. 

Eloisa has 10 years of experience working on a wide range of sustainability initiatives and programs including energy efficiency and conservation, sustainable transportation, green business development, Brownfield redevelopment,environmental compliance, climate adaptation and resilience, sustainable development, policydevelopment, creating consensus among diverse groups, and community engagement. 

Eloisa earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on renewable energy and a Masters in Business from the University of Texas at El Paso. Eloisa is the founder and Interim Chair of the Texas Regional Network for Municipal Sustainability Directors. Eloisa previously served on the USGBC Chihuahuan Desert Chapter Board of Directors and is looking forward to serving on the USGBC Texas State Board.

Paul Brown
Treasurer, USGBC Texas Chapter
Director, Central Texas Region

Paul is a president and co-founder of Bautex Systems, LLC, a Texas based manufacturer of high performance insulated concrete wall systems. He has devoted his career to building innovative start-up companies in a wide range of industries including consumer goods manufacturing, enterprise software, web technologies, and IP telecommunications. Paul received his Bachelor of Arts from the Plan II Honors Program at The University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. 

USGBC Texas Chapter is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 1801 Royal Lane, Suite 400, Dallas, TX 75229