Hall of Fame

Phil joined GTCR in 1992 and is currently a Managing Director of the firm. Phil previously worked in the Corporate Finance department of Kidder, Peabody & Co. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BBA in finance with high honors from the Business Honors Program at the University of Texas.

Phil has served in many leadership positions during his years at GTCR including heading the firm’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications Investment Team, chairing the firm’s Investment Committee and serving as GTCR’s Managing Partner. Phil has played a leadership role in a number of past investments including AppNet, CellNet, DigitalNet, Rural Broadband Investments, Solera, Sorenson Communications, Transaction Network Services and Zayo

Phil is a member of the Polsky Center PE Council for the University of Chicago and also serves on the United States Olympic and Paralympic Foundation’s Trustee Council. At the University of Texas, the Business Honors Program at the McCombs School of Business was renamed the Canfield Business Honors Program in recognition of a generous gift from Phil and his wife. The University has recognized Phil as a Lifetime Leader and he serves on the McCombs School of Business Advisory Council.

Antonio Garza serves as Counsel in the Mexico City office of White & Case LLP, one of the world’s leading global law firms with 42 offices in 28 countries. Additionally, Ambassador Garza is Chairman of Vianovo Ventures, a management consultancy with a focus on U.S./Mexico cross-border business development.

Drawing on decades of high profile, political, legal, and business experience, Garza serves as a strategic counselor to CEOs, investors, and entrepreneurs. He is acknowledged as one of the top experts on U.S.-Mexico relations and on the business and political environments of both nations and currently advises a number of companies and investors active in Mexico.

Ambassador Garza, a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Governance and Board Leadership Fellow, currently serves as a director to Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) and Chairman of its subsidiary Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM), a rail-based transportation company and MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI), a global money transfer company. Mr. Garza also serves as an independent director to Grupo ODH, a privately held Luxemburg domiciled holding company, focused on the ultra-deep water drilling industry in Mexico. Mr. Garza formerly served on the boards of Basic Energy (NYSE: BAS), BBVA Compass and the U.S. holding companies of BBVA (NYSE: BBVA).

Mr. Garza is a member of the Board of Trustees of Southern Methodist University, the Development Board of the University of Texas at Austin, The Economic Advisory Council to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, and formerly served as chairman and President of the Texas Exes, the alumni association of The University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, the Ambassador is a director of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, member of the Council on Foreign Relations and COMEXI, the CFR’s Mexican counterpart, and has been honored with the “Aguila Azteca” or Aztec Eagle, the Mexican government’s highest honor bestowed upon a foreign national.

From 2002 to 2009, Garza was the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. Prior to that time, Mr. Garza served as chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, first elected to statewide office in 1998. During that same period, Mr. Garza was appointed Vice Chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, which represents the governors of 30 member and 8 associate states in the development of comprehensive energy and conservation policies. Mr. Garza is a past partner at Bracewell & Patterson (now Bracewell) and served as Secretary of State of the State of Texas and Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor of the State of Texas from 1994 to 1997, and as Cameron County Judge from 1988 to 1994.

Garza holds a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Southern Methodist University School of Law and has been honored as a distinguished alumnus at both institutions. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the District of Columbia Bar and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Garza is married to Dr. Liz Atkinson Garza.

Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison was sworn in as the Permanent Representative of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on August 15, 2017.  From 1993-2013, she served as a U.S. Senator from Texas and was also elected to a Senate leadership position.  Ambassador Hutchison gained extensive international experience and developed a deep understanding of NATO as a Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.  She also served as Chairman of the Military Construction Subcommittee and as a Member of the Defense Subcommittee on the Senate Appropriations Committee.  She served two terms as Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Prior to assuming her duties, Ambassador Hutchison was a prominent attorney at Bracewell, LLP, an established international law firm in Dallas, Texas. Ambassador Hutchison also served in the Texas House of Representatives, as the Texas State Treasurer, and as Vice Chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

Ambassador Hutchison earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas and a degree of Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law.  She calls Dallas home and has two children.

Niloufar Molavi leads PwC’s Global and U.S. Energy practice comprised of over 6000 professionals serving Global energy clients in the oil and gas industry.  She is responsible for all client services – assurance, advisory and tax. 

From 2011 to 2016 she served as the Greater Houston Market Managing Partner for the geographic markets of Houston, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and New Orleans.  From 2009 to 2011 she served on PwC’s leadership team as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer.   In that role she oversaw the firm's diversity strategy and all of its related programs and initiatives.  From 2007 to 2009 she led the US Energy tax and Houston Federal tax practices. With 28 years of experience with PwC, Niloufar has served a wide range of energy companies both in the U.S. and abroad, advising clients on international and U.S. tax structuring, mergers, acquisitions and potential public offerings. 

Niloufar began her career with PwC in 1991 and was promoted to partner in 2001.  She joined the firm’s U.S. Leadership team in 2009.  She earned her degree in Accounting as well as a Masters in Professional Accounting with a concentration in Taxation from the University of Texas at Austin.  She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the McCombs School of Business and Accounting Advisory Council at the University of Texas.  She serves as the Chair of the board of trustees of Awty International School and serves on the board of Central Houston.  She is a licensed CPA in Texas and resides in Houston with her husband and two children.

Marc Myers is President of Myers & Crow Company, Ltd., a Dallas based commercial real estate development company established in 1994.  Prior to that time, Marc was President of the Dallas Industrial Division of Trammell Crow Company and a member of the Management Board.  During his 48 year career, Marc was responsible for over 37 million square feet of office, retail and industrial development with a value exceeding $2 billion.

Marc joined the McCombs School Advisory Council in 1997 and was Chairman when Dr. George Gau was Dean. Marc is a member of the Hermes Society and was a member of the Commission of 125. Marc and his wife, Jan, have endowed 2 Presidential Scholarships in Business at the McCombs School. He has served on the Board of Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, where he is a member of the Bradford Society and he is a current member of the Baylor Foundation Board. Marc has been active in a number of real estate organizations, including the Dallas Real Estate Club, the National Association of Office and industrial Parks and is a 2015 inductee into the Dallas Real Estate Developers’ Hall of Fame. Marc is a co-founder and 2012 Board Chairman of Special Camps for Special Kids (Camp John Marc), a facility for chronically ill children named in honor of his late son, John Marc.

After graduating from UT, Marc served as an Infantry Officer in the 71st Airborne Brigade of the US Army Reserves. Marc is married to Jan Willoughby Myers (also a UT graduate), has 3 grown children and triplet grandchildren. Marc’s son, Russell, received an MBA from the McCombs School in 2017 after serving nine years as a US Marine Corps helicopter pilot.

Kovid Gupta is an author, screenwriter, and filmmaker. In 2010, he received his BBA, BA, and BS from The University of Texas at Austin and in 2015, graduated with an MBA from Cornell University. In 2017, he was featured by Forbes Magazine on the Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 List, along with receiving the Glorious India Award for successful Non-Resident Indians. As a screenwriter, he has written over 1,000 episodes for some of India's most successful television shows including Balika Vadhu and Bade Acche Lagte Hain. He was also the assistant director of the box office hit film “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” and served as the head of business development for Vinod Chopra Films and Film Companion. Kovid is also the author of two bestselling non-fiction books, “Kingdom of the Soap Queen: The Story of Balaji Telefilms,” published by HarperCollins, and “Redrawing India: The Teach For India Story,” published by Random House. In 2018, he founded Kovid Gupta Films with the mission of creating path-breaking cinema and television.

Lance Loeffler serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Halliburton. In this role, he leads the Company's financial strategy as well as its financial functions, including financial planning and analysis, accounting and financial reporting, tax, internal assurance, treasury, corporate development, and investor relations.

Mr. Loeffler joined Halliburton in 2014 as Vice President of Corporate Development, with global leadership responsibilities for the Company's strategic merger and acquisition activities. He then served as Vice President of Investor Relations and was responsible for the development and implementation of Halliburton communication strategies for the investment community.

Prior to joining Halliburton, Mr. Loeffler held director positions at Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., and UBS Investment Bank, where he focused on the firms' oil and gas clients.

Mr. Loeffler holds an MBA with concentrations in finance and accounting and a bachelor's degree in finance from Red McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.

Carlos Whitaker is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse in the Global Markets division, based in New York City.  Within Global Markets, he is Head of New York Equities Advisory Sales and manages a team that distributes primary and secondary equities to institutional clients.  Mr. Whitaker is responsible for developing strong client relationships, profitably growing revenues, selling initial public offerings (IPOs) and secondary offerings, as well as cross-selling the bank’s other products and services.  His clients are predominantly large sophisticated hedge funds that employ a myriad of investment strategies including long/short equity, event driven, risk arbitrage, and global macro.  In 2010, Mr. Whitaker was awarded the Investment Banking Outstanding Achievement Award by Credit Suisse for his skill in leveraging the bank’s resources to complete a large transaction that was outside of his geographic and product coverage area for one of the bank’s key clients. 

Mr. Whitaker began his career at Credit Suisse in 2000 as an Analyst in the Investment Banking division.  He is a core part of the bank’s recruiting team for the Analyst and Associate programs, and has served on the promotion committees for Vice President, Director, and Managing Director level candidates. 

Mr. Whitaker graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his Bachelor of Arts from the Plan II Honors Program, Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, and Master of Professional Accounting.  Mr. Whitaker currently serves on the New York for McCombs board and on the Rising Stars Capital Management board, which is a Houston based nonprofit organization focused on increasing African American representation in the finance industry.