Mayor and Mrs. Bill White

Mayor Bill White is currently serving his second term as Mayor of the City of Houston.   His parents were both schoolteachers in San Antonio where he was born.   He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in economics from Harvard University.   He received his law degree from The University of Texas, where he was elected editor-in-chief of its law review and graduated with highest honors.

He began his career with the Houston law firm of Susman Godfrey, LLP in 1979, where he practiced business litigation and anti-trust law.   In 1993, he was appointed U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy by President Bill Clinton.   He founded Frontera Resources, was president of WEDGE Group, and was chairman of the Texas Democratic Party from 1995 to 1998.

Mayor White has just been named the recipient of the 2007 John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award for marshaling the resources and good will of his city to provide refuge and essential services to hundreds of thousands of people who fled the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Andrea White - attorney, author, voracious reader, mother of three, and almost-lifelong Texan   -- grew up in Houston and attended Memorial High School.   After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas, she attended the University of Texas Law School and went on to become the second female partner at the law firm Locke Liddell.

As Houston's First Lady, she continues her years of work as an advocate for children, and a champion of progressive public school reform.

Her publisher, HarperCollins, released her book for pre-teens, Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083 , in April of 2005.   She is currently at work on her second book.  

Mayor and Mrs. White have three children: Will, Elena, and Stephen.   They all love hiking and camping.

Jodie Lee Jiles and Sonceria (Sonny) Messiah-Jiles

Jodie Lee Jiles and, Sonny Messiah-Jiles are one of Houston's most dynamic couples.   He is a managing director of RBC Capital Markets, an international corporate and investment bank, serving clients through over 75 offices in 14 countries.   She is the publisher of the Houston Defender Newspaper, Houston's leading Black newspaper.

Mrs. Messiah-Jiles has received many prestigious awards, including Phenomenal Woman Award, National Newspaper Publishers Association Publisher of the Year, American Civil Liberties Freedom of Speech Award, and YWCA Outstanding Woman of the Year.   She has been named by EBONY Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans.   She is the first African-American female board member of the Greater Houston Partnership and she currently serves on the Advisory Board of J.P. Morgan Chase-Houston, United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast, Center for Houston's Future and the M.D. Anderson Board of Visitors.

Mrs. Messiah-Jiles has an undergraduate degree from the University of Houston and did postgraduate work at Texas Southern University and Rice University.

Mr. Jiles serves on the Board of Directors for Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital and The University of Texas Health Science Center Development Board, The Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau, the One Hundred Club, the Charter Schools Policy Institute and the Center for Reform of School Systems.   He is a director of the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and was recently appointed by Governor Rick Perry as a commissioner to the 24-Member Texas Tax Reform Commission.

He has won numerous honors and awards, including:

• Red Rose Community Service Award, University of Houston Downtown
• Selected as one of Houston's most influential leaders by Sheltering Arms
• Alumnus of the Decade from Texas Southern University's Jesse H. Jones School of Business
• Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award, from the NAACP

Mr. Jiles has a BBA from Texas Southern University and master's degree in professional accountancy from The University of Texas at Austin.