Rice University elects 3 new trustees to board

Business leaders Donald Bowers, Bart Broadman and Holli Ladhani have been elected to the Rice University Board of Trustees. Each will serve a four-year term that starts July 1.

“We’re excited to welcome Donald, Bart and Holli to the Rice University Board of Trustees,” said Board Chairman Bobby Tudor. “With expertise ranging from banking and investing to energy industry leadership and community engagement, they bring valuable perspectives as the board focuses on the university’s Vision for the Second Century, Second Decade (V2C2).”

“We are adding three talented people with a great diversity of experience and perspectives,” Rice President David Leebron said. “We look forward to working with Donald, Bart and Holli and tapping their expertise as we execute our new strategic plan for the university.”

Donald Bowers

Bowers is vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ Houston branch. He has executive responsibilities for the Dallas Fed’s Industry Outreach Program and the community engagement, corporate secretary and law enforcement functions at the Houston branch. His career at the Federal Reserve Bank began in 1990 when he was a student intern in the Research Department. He joined the bank’s Management Development Program in 1991 and supported the Facilities and Accounting departments and served as manager of the Human Resources Department, as operations officer and as assistant vice president before being appointed vice president in 2015.

A former president of the Association of Rice Alumni Board of Directors, Bowers served on the executive planning committees for ARUBA (Association of Rice University Black Alumni): Blueprint for Excellence Centennial Celebration in 2012 and the yearlong celebration of 50 years of black undergraduate life at Rice in 2016. A graduate of United Way’s Project Blueprint Leadership Development Program, Bowers has demonstrated his sincere interest in the community and education by serving on the boards of the American Leadership Forum, Children at Risk and Houston Area Urban League.

Bowers has a B.A. in managerial studies from Rice, where he lettered in football, and an MBA with a concentration in banking and finance from Sam Houston State University. He is a senior fellow of the 29th Class of American Leadership Forum Houston Gulf Coast Chapter.

Bart Broadman

Broadman is founder and chief investment officer of Astignes Capital Asia, an investment management firm based in Singapore. Its investment team focuses on alternative strategies, primarily in fixed income and currencies, in Asia.

Before starting Astignes this year, Broadman co-founded Alphadyne Asset Management in 2005 and served as chief investment officer for Asia. Before that, he spent 16 years in Asia with J.P. Morgan, most recently as vice chairman of Asia and head of markets (credit, rates and equities) in Asia. He was a member of the Global Management Committee of the Investment Bank. He joined J.P. Morgan (New York) in 1989 and moved to Asia in 1991.

Prior to his career at J.P. Morgan, Broadman was an assistant professor of finance at Arizona State University. He earned his MBA and a Ph.D. in financial economics from the University of Southern California. He was a member of the board of DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and Singapore’s Central Provident Fund. He served as a member of the Nanyang Technological University’s investment committee. Broadman has a son who is a Rice University alumnus and a son and daughter who are currently students at Rice.

Holli Ladhani

Ladhani has been CEO and president of Select Energy Services Inc., a Houston-based company that provides water and chemical solutions to oil field operators in all major unconventional basins in the U.S. and Canada, since late 2017, when the company merged with Rockwater Energy Solutions Inc. At Rockwater she served as president, CEO and chairman after holding various positions since the company’s formation, including executive vice president for chemical technologies and chief financial officer. She previously held senior leadership positions with Dynegy and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Ladhani serves on the board of directors of Noble Energy Inc. and also on the board of Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas.

A certified public accountant, Ladhani has an MBA from Rice and a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Baylor University.