The board provides valuable insight to the Office of Alumni Relations on its engagement efforts.The board also represents Rice alumni in meetings with university administrators and other senior officials, and supports the mission of the ARA to provide a continuing relationship between Rice and its former students.
Hassin is an energy technology entrepreneur and global startup leader. He is co-founder and CEO of Third Derivative, a joint venture between Rocky Mountain Institute and New Energy Nexus that finds, funds, hones and scales the most promising climate technologies around the world. Passionate about aligning economic value with social value, he is also a founding director of givewatts.org, which deploys solar energy resources to schools and clinics throughout East Africa. Previously he has led several global startups including Smart OES, Poken, R7 Solutions and Antmachine. He received his Master of Business Administration degree with honors and leadership distinction from IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has a master’s in computer science and undergraduate degrees in computer science and electrical and computer engineering from Rice, where he played football for the Owls. He is married to Katie Barrett (Lovett '04), with whom he co-chaired Rice's Centennial Homecoming and Reunion committee.
Shankle is a legal consultant in the energy industry and has worked for various corporations including Texaco, Enron, Technip and Chevron. She graduated from Rice with a bachelor's degree in political science and earned a Master of Education degree from Texas Southern University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Houston. She has volunteered with the Rice Alumni Volunteers for Admissions and served as a member of Rice University Business and Professional Women, including on its nominations committee. She is active with the Association of Rice University Black Alumni and is a co-chair for the Class of 1986 Reunion Giving Committee. Additionally, Shankle has dedicated her time to many local organizations in various capacities over the years.
Delgado has a bachelor's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from Rice. After graduating, he worked as a health care quality and risk analyst for Legacy Community Health before serving as the senior project coordinator and research assistant on a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute award focused on patient decision-making regarding artificial organs at Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy. He earned a master's degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, during which time he worked with Texas Court Appointed Special Advocates’ public policy and legislative advocacy division during the 85th session of the Texas Legislature and interned in Washington, D.C., with then- U.S. Rep. Gene Green of Texas. In his current role at the Austin Community Foundation, Delgado oversees the day-to-day operations of the Hispanic Impact Fund, which supports the economic security and advancement of Hispanic Central Texans through community partnerships.
Der Garry holds a bachelor's degree in managerial studies and psychology, a Master of Business and Public Management degree and a Master of Accounting degree from Rice. She is a certified public accountant, licensed in Texas and California, and has 35 years of professional experience. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, and is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA), a global consulting firm that performs multijurisdictional corruption and fraud investigations as well as forensic accounting, eDiscovery, litigation support and compliance consulting services. Prior to FRA, she was an associate director at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations in D.C. Previously, she was a managing director at FTI Consulting in the forensic and litigation consulting group, and prior to that she worked at RSM McGladrey, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Arthur Andersen and Cooper Industries.
Gustafson is a natural resources industry executive and founder of Parliament Energy Capital LLC, as well as a former investment banker and corporate and securities attorney based in Houston. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1989 from Rice — where he met his wife and former ARA board member Sofia Adrogué '88 — and his law degree in 1992 from the University of Houston. Gustafson has three children, the youngest of which, Stefan, served as the Rice baseball bat boy for seven years. His daughter Schuyler is a student in Rice's Class of 2022. In addition to serving on the Rice University Athletics Committee, Gustafson also serves on the boards of the RBI Club, the Owl Club, the Rice Center for Career Development and the Rice Initiative for the Study of Economics, and served on the Rice University Initiative for Students Cabinet.
McNeely is head legal counsel at MGM Studios. At Rice, she serves on the School of Social Sciences Advisory Board and is on the Annual Fund Reunion Giving Committee. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Rice in 1979 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas at Austin in 1982. McNeely has one son, Avery “AC” Christopher Plum ’22, a member of Lovett College studying in the School of Humanities who pitches for the Rice baseball team. A Rice Associate, McNeely is a member of Rice Family Fellows and the Parents Leadership Council.
Prasad is counsel at Exxon Mobil Corp., primarily focused on advising on intellectual property matters. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Rice and a law degree from the University of Houston. From 2014-19, she served on the board of directors for Rice Engineering Alumni and was president of the group from 2017-18. In 2018, she was awarded the young alumni Builders Award in recognition of her volunteer service to Rice.
Simmons is the environmental and permitting manager for the Gulf Coast Growth Venture for Exxon Mobil Chemicals. Previously she was the water, waste and state regulatory manager for the Central Safety, Security, Health and Environment Organization of Exxon Mobil. She has led global teams as a supervisor responsible for environmental and regulatory issues in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Australia and Europe. From 2007-12, she worked and lived in Lagos, Nigeria, with her family. She has a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Oklahoma, a master's in environmental engineering from Rice and a Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from Texas Southern University. She has worked for Exxon Mobil for 20 years. Simmons holds professional memberships with the Society of Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Petroleum Engineers. At Exxon Mobil she is an active participant on the Black Employees Success Team (BEST), serving as the organization’s "immediate past president" and the global BEST vice president. She and her husband, Philip, have been married 25 years and have two children, Jonathan and Jacquelyn.
Yuen received his Master's in Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in addition to a master's degree from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree from Rice (Jones ’89). He retired as a partner at SPO Partners & Co., an investment group that managed over $8 billion in capital, where he led the firm’s investments in wireless towers, offshore drilling contractors and oil and gas producers. Earlier in his career, he worked at McKinsey & Company. Yuen has served on the Stanford Graduate School of Business Management Board, the Harvard University China Advisory Board and the University of California, San Francisco Foundation Investment Committee. He currently serves on the advisory board of Rice's School of Humanities, the Menlo School Board of Trustees and the Making Waves Foundation Board of Directors. He and his wife, Dr. Sandra Tsai (Brown College ’91), are the parents of three boys.