Board of Directors
Leadership
Dick Weekley
Chairman of the Board
Dick Weekley is a native Houstonian, businessman and philanthropist. He founded Weekley Properties, a commercial real estate brokerage firm, in Houston in 1973.
Emerson Hankamer
Vice Chairman of the Board
Emerson Hankamer is the CEO at Vacations To Go, Inc., a Houston-based travel agency, where he has worked for 25 years.
Lee Parsley
President & General Counsel
Lee Parsley has worked with TLR since 2002, and now serves as its President and General Counsel. Lee leads a team of attorneys who help identify and research solutions to the challenges facing Texas’ legal system. Lee’s background in civil and appellate law has given him firsthand experience in navigating Texas’ courts.
Mary Tipps
Executive Director
Mary Tipps has been with TLR since 2003 and currently serves as executive director, managing the day-to-day operations of the organization and its advocacy efforts.
Alan Hassenflu
Board of Directors
Alan Hassenflu is the co-founder and CEO of Fidelis Realty Partners Ltd., which provides comprehensive services to its commercial real estate portfolio. Since its founding, Fidelis’ portfolio has grown from one million square-feet in the greater Houston area to over 11 million square-feet, including properties in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana and Tennessee.
Fred W. Heldenfels IV
Treasurer, Board of Directors
Fred W. Heldenfels IV is president and CEO of Heldenfels Enterprises Inc., a manufacturer of precast/prestressed concrete structures for the highway, industrial, commercial and sports construction markets with plants located in San Marcos and Corpus Christi.
Steve Oden
Steve Oden co-founded OHT Partners along with Craig Hughes and Eric Taylor. Under their leadership, Steve, Craig and Eric have grown the firm not only into one of the leading developers of multifamily communities in Texas, but also one of the largest multifamily builders in the nation.
Board of Directors
Joe Popolo
Board of Directors
Joe Popolo is the Founder and CEO of Charles & Potomac Capital, LLC, a
private investment firm focused on investments in technology, healthcare,
media, energy, and real estate.
Jeff Shellebarger
Board of Directors
Jeff Shellebarger is chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 23rd World Petroleum Congress (WPC) to be held in Houston in December of 2020. He also serves on the Board of the Greater Houston Partnership and is a member of the Kinder Institute Advisory Board.
Danny Signorelli
Board of Directors
Danny Signorelli is the founder and CEO of The Signorelli Company (TSC), a vertically integrated real estate development firm he founded in 1994. Headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, the company focuses on developing master-planned communities across the state, with expertise in land development, retail, multifamily, and homebuilding.
TSC has grown to become one of the largest privately held developers in Texas.
Marc Watts
Board of Directors
Marc Watts is president of The Friedkin Group, an umbrella company overseeing various business interests that are principally automotive-related, including Gulf States Toyota Inc., a wholesale distributor of Toyota vehicles and products.
Michael Weekley
Board of Directors
Michael is the owner and CEO of Eagle Point Solutions, a Texas-based interior finishes company that has offices in Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio.
Hugh Rice Kelley
Ex Officio
Hugh Rice Kelly is a co-founder and an ex officio board member of Texans for Lawsuit Reform. He authored TLR’s original legislative agenda, most of which was enacted in 1995.
Staff
Kathleen Bashur
Communications Director
Will Bashur
Assistant General Counsel
Will joined TLR’s legal team in 2024, after working in the Texas House of Representatives and handling legal research and legislative analysis in the private sector. His work on legislative drafting, legal research and analysis play a key role in TLR’s advocacy efforts to improve Texas’ legal system.
Ryan Dumais
Chief of Staff to Dick Weekley
With a background in political fundraising and grassroots, Ryan facilitates TLR’s outreach to the business and political communities and oversees Dick Weekley’s public policy engagement in a variety of issue areas.
avery harrington
Director of Operations
Avery joined the TLR team as administrative manager in the Austin office in 2022. In addition to keeping the office running efficiently, assisting in planning special events and meetings, coordinating the hundreds of bills that are reviewed by TLR’s staff and attorneys during the legislative session and helping manage TLR’s interns, Avery helps research and coordinate special projects related to Texas’ legal system and lawsuit reforms, as well as TLRPAC.
Glenda Hovey
Administrative Director
Glenda Hovey has been with TLR since 2000 and serves as administrative director. Glenda works behind the scenes to keep operations running smoothly by ensuring the day to day administrative duties are done. She also works closely with Kristie Vazquez to maintain TLR’s vast database.
Drew Lawson
Political Consultant
Drew Lawson served as director of TLRPAC from 2009 to 2017 and is now the PAC’s lead consultant, overseeing the strategic distribution of the PAC’s election cycle budget and consulting on some of the highest profile campaigns in the state. He also serves on the TLR lobby team during the legislative sessions, advocating for principled, common-sense tort reforms that have been a critical building block of Texas’ thriving economic environment.
Buckley Morlot
Director of Advancement
Kevin Reddington
Assistant General Counsel
A former litigator and outside counsel for small businesses, Kevin brings firsthand courtroom experience to TLR’s legal team, which is critical to helping develop well-crafted legislative solutions to complicated real-world legal issues. His background in legal research and writing is integral to the development and drafting of TLR’s common-sense legislative proposals.
Kristie Vazquez
Director of Supporter Services
Kristie Vazquez has been with TLR since 2000, and serves as data manager in the Houston office. She also manages TLR’s Speaker’s Bureau program, which connects TLR volunteers with organizations interested in learning more about how lawsuit reform has helped strengthen our state economy and keep our courts fair and efficient.
