Past Speakers

Fall 2016

Niel Golightly

Niel Golightly| B.L.A.
Vice President
Shell Oil Company

Niel Golightly is Vice President, Energy Transition Strategy for Shell Oil Company, Royal Dutch Shell’s American subsidiary. His current focus is on Shell’s energy transition and climate change engagements and strategies in the U.S.

Previously he served as Shell’s Vice President of External Relations for the Americas and before that Vice President for Downstream Communications and Sustainable Development, based in London. He has also served on the Board of Directors for the Houston Technology Center.

Niel joined Shell in July 2006, after a 13-year career at Ford Motor Company, where his positions included Director, Sustainable Business Strategies; Vice President, Public Affairs for Ford of Europe; and Director of the Chairman’s Office.

Before joining Ford, Niel served on active duty with the U.S. Navy, first as a fighter pilot then as a Pentagon speechwriter for General Colin Powell.

Niel received a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Cornell University in the U.S. and later studied at the University of Konstanz in Germany as a Navy Olmsted Scholar.

Rossanna

Rossanna Salazar | B.S.
Vice Chairman
Texas State University System Board of Regents

Managing Partner
ROSS Communications

Vice Chairman Rossanna Salazar, appointed to the Board of Regents in 2011, is founder and managing partner of ROSS Communications, Inc., an Austin-based public affairs and strategic communications firm with a local, state, national, and multi-national clientele. She is a member of the Texas Association of Business Executive Committee and the Austin Chamber of Commerce. She is also private sector chair of the Clements Legislative Study Program and a past volunteer with the Con Mi Madre College Preparatory Program.

She served as press secretary and chief speechwriter to Governor Bill Clements for several years during his second term of office, press secretary to the successful 1993 U.S. Senate campaign of Kay Bailey Hutchison, and she served as a formal advisor to Friends of Tony Garza and Texans for Rick Perry.