Brenda Hellyer, Chancellor, San Jacinto College

Brenda Hellyer, Ed.D., was named the fifth chancellor of San Jacinto College in 2009. Prior to her appointment as chancellor, she served in a variety of roles at the College including executive vice president for Resource Development, vice chancellor for Fiscal Affairs, and executive vice chancellor.

Brenda has helped San Jacinto College become one of the top two community colleges in the nation as recognized by the Aspen Institute. She is a champion for all students and employees, ensuring that students can complete what they start at San Jacinto College. Since 2014, the College has seen a 47.5% increase in the number of degrees and certificates awarded. Brenda serves and has served on a variety of community boards and committees, including chambers of commerce, economic development councils, city and county government, and nonprofit organizations. She has also served and chaired various associations and commissions at the regional, state, and national levels.

As a trusted partner in the community, Brenda has been recognized with various awards, including the Pasadena Livestock Show & Rodeo Education Champion of the Year, South Belt-Ellington Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, Association of Community College Trustees Western Region CEO of the Year, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, League City Regional Chamber of Commerce Athena Award nominee, and is a recipient of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership’s Quasar award.

Prior to joining San Jacinto College, Brenda worked in the corporate world in accounting and as a small business owner. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Fort Hays State University, and an MBA and an Ed.D. in Community College Leadership from the University of Texas at Austin.

Brenda and her husband, Rusty, have three children and six grandchildren.

Mike Miles, Superintendent, Houston Independent School District

Mike Miles has dedicated his life to public service – first as a soldier, then as a diplomat, and for the past thirty years as an educator. Most recently, Superintendent Miles served as founder and CEO of Third Future Schools, a school transformation system based on fundamentally different principles of operating schools, and committed to preparing students for a Year 2035 workplace.

Prior to this latest work, Mike served three years as the Superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District and six years as the Superintendent of the Harrison School District in Colorado Springs.  Under his leadership, both districts implemented ground-breaking initiatives, established a high-performance culture, and experienced significant growth in student achievement.  As an instructional leader and professional developer, Mike has also helped teachers and administrators in school districts across the nation improve instruction and raise achievement. 

Superintendent Miles has also served the public interest as a soldier and statesman. He served his country as an officer in the Army’s elite Ranger Battalion and as a Company Commander.  Miles then joined the U.S. State Department as a Soviet analyst and member of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.  He then served as a diplomat to Poland and Russia at the end of the Cold War, finishing his service in the State Department as the Special Assistant to the Ambassador to Russia, before returning to the United States with his wife and children.

Superintendent Miles holds degrees from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the University of California at Berkeley, and Columbia University.

Juliet Stipeche, Executive Director, Gulf Coast Workforce Board
Director of Human Services, Houston-Galveston Area Council

Juliet K. Stipeche serves as Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Workforce Board and Director of Human Services at the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), where she oversees workforce development, economic mobility, and aging services across a 13-county region serving over 7.2 million residents.

A valedictorian of Houston’s High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, she earned her magna cum laude degree from Rice University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. Juliet began her career in medical malpractice defense and civil litigation before co-founding and leading Nagorny & Stipeche, P.C.

Elected to the Houston ISD Board of Trustees in 2010, she represented District VIII, serving as Board President in 2014 and Audit Committee Chair for three years. She also served as Associate Director of Rice University’s Tapia Center, advancing equity and career pathways in STEM. In 2016, she was appointed the City of Houston’s first Director of Education, where she launched the nationally recognized Hire Houston Youth program and provided strategic leadership through Hurricane Harvey and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since joining H-GAC in 2022, Juliet has led the integration and modernization of key public services through the Gulf Coast Workforce Board, Workforce Solutions–Gulf Coast, and the Houston-Galveston Area Agency on Aging. She oversees the largest regional workforce investment portfolio in Texas, drives innovation in service delivery, and champions strategies to strengthen career pathways, support employers, expand training opportunities, and improve quality of life for families across the region. Under her leadership, the agency is aligning workforce, education, and human services systems to meet the demands of a dynamic labor market and foster long-term regional prosperity. 

Iris Tian, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Analytics, Assessment, and Reporting
Texas Education Agency

Iris Tian is a Cabinet-level leader at the Texas Education Agency, where she serves as Deputy Commissioner of Analytics, Assessment, and Reporting. She leads statewide initiatives to define and measure educational success, expand access to high‑quality, usable data, and strengthen performance management. Her portfolio includes the state’s assessment and accountability systems, data governance and strategy, and research, analysis, and performance management functions.

Iris has a deep commitment to public education. She began her career as a high school math teacher and, prior to joining TEA, was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, where she focused on education and social impact work. Iris holds a Master’s in Educational Leadership from the Broad Center, a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College.

David Troutman, Deputy Commissioner, Academic and Workforce Initiatives,
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Dr. David Troutman serves as the Deputy Commissioner for Academic and Workforce Initiatives at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), where he provides executive leadership for five divisions: Academic and Health Affairs, Workforce Education, College and Career Advising, Student Success and Institutional Partnerships, and Data Management and Research. In this capacity, Dr. Troutman leads statewide efforts to strengthen alignment between postsecondary education and workforce needs, enhance student outcomes, and modernize the state’s higher education data infrastructure to support policy development and decision-making.

Dr. Troutman serves as the executive lead for the Texas Tri-Agency Data Team, advancing coordination across the state’s K–12, postsecondary, and workforce sectors to facilitate data sharing and inform longitudinal research. He is currently spearheading several major statewide initiatives, including the development and ongoing refinement of the Credential of Value methodology — which measures the return on investment of postsecondary credentials through earnings outcomes, workforce demand, and advancement opportunities — that underpins Texas’ new Community College Outcomes-Based Funding model, as well as the comprehensive review and modernization of the state’s general education requirements for public higher education.

At the national level, Dr. Troutman is the founder and chair of the Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Coalition, a multi-state partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau that integrates education and workforce data to measure the economic outcomes of postsecondary credentials and inform policy and practice across the country.