Rice U. Mexico expert to testify before Congress

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Rice U. Mexico expert to testify before Congress

HOUSTON – (July 20, 2015) – Tony Payan, director of the Mexico Center at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, will testify before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere at 2 p.m. EDT July 23 in the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Payan will provide an oral statement and take questions from the subcommittee for its hearing on “Pursuing North American Energy Independence: Mexico’s Energy Reforms.”

Who:  Tony Payan, the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the Mexico Center at Rice’s Baker Institute.

What: Hearing: “Pursuing North American Energy Independence: Mexico’s Energy Reforms.”

When: 2-5 p.m. EDT Thursday, July 23.

Where: Room TBD, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Also testifying before the subcommittee will be Carlos Pascual, senior vice president at IHS Inc. and former U.S. ambassador to Mexico; Thomas Tunstall, director of the Center for Community and Business Research at the University of Texas, San Antonio; and Eric Farnsworth, vice president at the Council of the Americas and Americas Society.

Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., chairs the subcommittee, and its ranking member is Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J.

Payan will be available after the hearing for one-on-one media interviews.

Payan is also an adjunct associate professor at Rice University and a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.

He has authored two books, “Cops, Soldiers and Diplomats: Understanding Agency Behavior in the War on Drugs” and “The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration and Homeland Security.”

Payan has served on several boards, including the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority in El Paso, Texas, and the Plan Estratégico de Juárez in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. He is a member of the Greater Houston Partnership’s Immigration Task Force and Mexico Energy Task Force.

He received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and classical languages from the University of Dallas and his MBA from the University of Dallas Graduate School of Management. He received his doctorate degree in international relations from Georgetown University in 2001.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Payan, contact David Ruth, director of national of national and broadcast media at Rice, at david@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.

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