Right this moment, there are more than 2,000 excited Gators, looking forward to their graduation on Friday, Dec. 12, at NRG Arena.
UHD will hold two ceremonies for its 79th Commencement, featuring two dynamic guest commencement speakers. During the first ceremony at noon, graduates of the College of Public Service and Marilyn Davies College of Business will hear from Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones. The guest speaker for the second ceremony at 4:30 p.m., honoring graduates of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Sciences and Technology, is Khori Dastoor, General Director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera (HGO).
Lesley Briones, Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 4, will bring her extensive experience as a teacher, attorney, judge, advocate, county commissioner, wife, and mother to the words of wisdom she will share with UHD graduates during the noon ceremony. A Laredo native whose parents both taught school, Briones graduated from Harvard University and returned home to teach in underserved public schools. She then decided to pursue a law degree at Yale University to become a stronger advocate for systemic change. After law school, she joined the law firm Vinson & Elkins in Houston, falling in love with the grit, energy and possibility of the city she now calls home.
Briones went on to serve as General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer of the Laura & John Arnold Foundation. She entered public service as judge of Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4. During her tenure, she earned the highest ratings in the 2019 and 2020 Houston Bar Association Judicial Polls. In 2022, she became the first woman to lead Harris County Precinct 4 and the first mother elected to Commissioners Court. In just her first term, she has delivered real results — securing hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure, investing in public safety and flood mitigation, creating jobs, and expanding health access. Briones lives in Houston with her husband, Adán, and their three daughters.
Khori Dastoor, who has served as the General Director and CEO of HGO since 2021, will be the guest speaker for the 4:30 p.m. ceremony.
Named one of Houston’s Most Admired CEOs by the Houston Business Journal (2023) and honored as one of the city’s 50 Most Influential Women by Houston Woman Magazine (2022), Dastoor has secured the largest philanthropic gifts in HGO history since assuming leadership of the company. She also spearheaded HGO’s new partnership with Apple Classical, expanding its reach and sharing its world-class artistry with audiences across the globe, and oversaw the launch of the company’s new Houston Grand Opera record label.
Recent HGO achievements under her leadership include nominations for both Company of the Year at the 2025 International Opera Awards and a 2026 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording for Jake Heggie’s “Intelligence,” a 2023 HGO-commissioned world premiere opera.
Dastoor is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for OPERA America. Additionally, she serves on the Greater Houston Partnership Board and the Board of The Sullivan Foundation. She leads industry efforts to identify young talent as a judge for the Richard Tucker Awards, the Sullivan Foundation, the Marian Anderson Awards, the International Zenith Opera Competition, the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, and the Paris Opera Competition.
Dastoor is a frequent guest lecturer at Yale University, the National Opera Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the New England Conservatory, the Juilliard School, the Music Academy of the West, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, New York’s LaGuardia Performing Arts High School and Houston’s Kinder High School for the Performing Arts.
Prior to HGO, Dastoor enjoyed an international singing career and was a member of foundation leadership at the Packard Humanities Institute and the Wadhwani Foundation before being named General Director of Opera San José. She received her bachelor’s degree with academic honors from the New England Conservatory of Music and completed her graduate studies at UCLA. She and her husband are the proud parents of two young daughters.
Soon-to-be graduates are sure to be inspired upon hearing from these two accomplished speakers. The moment of celebrating our students’ successes as they cross the stage, diplomas in hand, will be here before we know it. Congratulations to our 2025 Fall graduates!