These Houston-area entrepreneurs have something to celebrate this week. Photos courtesy of EY

Four entrepreneurs whose companies are in or near the Houston metro area have been named winners in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year regional competition and now will head to the national competition.

Local winners of the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Central South Award are:

  • Elliott Bouillion, founder and executive chairman of Bellaire-based Resource Environmental Solutions. The company helps clients with environmental mitigation, stormwater management and water quality, and climate adaptation and flood resilience.
  • Blake Brannon, founder and president of Brenham-based Brannon Industrial Group. The company buys and recycles scrap metal, provides waste and recycling services, rents out portable toilets, and offers sustainable printing services.
  • Dr. Juliet Breeze, founder and CEO of Houston-based Next Level Medical, which operates membership-model urgent care clinics.
  • Jamie Welch, president, CEO, and chief financial officer of Houston-based Kinetic Holdings, a midstream oil and natural gas operator in the Delaware Basin of West Texas and northern New Mexico.

Among the criteria used to select the regional winners were purpose, growth, impact, and entrepreneurial spirit.

“Each of these entrepreneurs has exhibited curiosity, ingenuity, and courage, and we are proud to celebrate this outstanding group of leaders and welcome them as valuable members of our Entrepreneur Of The Year community,” says Anna Tallent, co-director of the awards’ Central South program.

As regional award winners, these entrepreneurs will be considered for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 national awards, which will be presented in November. The overall Entrepreneur Of The Year winner at the national level then will move on to the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year program, which will name its top winner in June 2023.

In a news release, Breeze says she’s honored to be given such a prestigious award.

“This award is further validation that at Next Level, we are really on to something. Healthcare needs to be available to patients when and where they need it,” Breeze says.

Aside from the Houston-area winners, here are the other recipients of this year’s Entrepreneur Of The Year Central South Award:

  • CEO Amanda Baldwin and founder and Chairwoman Holly Thaggard of San Antonio-based Supergoop! The company makes and sells sunscreen-based skincare products.
  • Cory Brymer, founder and CEO of Hutto-based BryComm, a provider of technology and security infrastructure services.
  • William Chan, co-founder and CEO of Austin-based Iodine Software, a provider of AI-powered software for the healthcare industry.
  • Todd Dipaola, founder and CEO of Austin-based InMarket, which operates a platform for localized advertising.
  • Dr. David Ferguson, co-founder, president, and CEO of San Antonio-based Celebrate Dental & Braces, which has offices in five states.
  • Mark Floreani, co-founder and CEO of Austin-based FloSports, a streaming service for sporting events.
  • James Garvey, founder and CEO of Austin-based Self Financial, which offers credit-building loans.
  • Tim Heyl, founder and CEO of Austin-based Homeward, whose loans help buyers make all-cash offers for homes.
  • Joel Kocher, co-founder and CEO of Austin- based HumanN, a provider of superfood products.
  • JeVon McCormick, president and CEO of Austin-based book publisher Scribe Media.
  • Thomas Thill, CEO of San Antonio-based AmeriVet Veterinary Partners, an owner and operator of veterinary practices.
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Abbott highlights Texas AI boom, with Houston projects on the horizon

AI investments are booming in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott says. And Houston is poised to benefit from this surge.

At a recent Texas Economic Development Corp. gathering in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Abbott said AI projects on the horizon in the Lone Star State would be bigger than the $500 billion multistate Project Stargate, according to the Dallas Business Journal. So far, Stargate includes three AI data centers in Texas.

Stargate, a new partnership among OpenAI, Oracle, Softbank, and the federal government, is building AI infrastructure around the country. The project’s first data center is in Abilene, and the center’s second phase is underway. Once the second phase is finished, the 875-acre site will host eight buildings totaling about 4 million square feet with a power capacity of 1.2 gigawatts. An additional 600 megawatts of capacity might be added later.

On Sept. 23, Stargate announced the development of another five AI data centers in the U.S., including a new facility in Shackelford County, Texas, near Abilene. That facility is likely a roughly $25 billion, 1.4-gigawatt AI data center that Vantage Data Centers is building on a 1,200-acre site in Shackelford County.

Another will be in Milam County, between Waco and Austin. In conjunction with Stargate, OpenAI plans to occupy the more than $3 billion center, which will be situated on a nearly 600-acre site, the Austin Business Journal reported. OpenAI has teamed up with Softbank-backed SB Energy Global to build the facility.

Abbott said several unannounced AI projects in Texas — namely, data centers — will be larger than Stargate.

“Bottom line is ... when you look at diversification, the hottest thing going on right now is artificial intelligence,” Abbott said.

The Houston area almost certainly stands to attract some of the projects teased by the governor.

In Houston, Taiwanese tech manufacturer Foxconn already is investing $450 million to make AI servers at the 100-acre Fairbanks Logistics Park, which Foxconn recently purchased for a reported $142 million. The park features four industrial buildings totaling one million square feet. It appears Foxconn will manufacture the servers for Apple and Nvidia, both of which have announced they’ll open server factories in Houston.

The Foxconn, Apple, and Nvidia initiatives are high-profile examples of Houston’s ascent in the AI economy. A report released in July by the Brookings Institution identified Houston as one of the country’s 28 “star” hubs for AI.

The Greater Houston Partnership says the Houston area is undergoing an "AI-driven data revolution."

“As Houston rapidly evolves into a hub for AI, cloud computing, and data infrastructure, the city is experiencing a surge in data center investments driven by its unique position at the intersection of energy, technology, and innovation,” the partnership says.

Houston native picked for 2025 class of NASA astronaut candidates

space crew

NASA has selected 10 new astronaut candidates, including one whose hometown is Houston, for its 2025 training class. The candidates will undergo nearly two years of training before they can assume flight assignments.

The 10 future astronauts were introduced during a recent ceremony at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, whose facilities include an astronaut training center. NASA received more than 8,000 applications for the 10 slots.

“Representing America’s best and brightest, this astronaut candidate class will usher in the Golden Age of innovation and exploration as we push toward the moon and Mars,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA Johnson.

NASA’s 24th astronaut class reported for duty in mid-September at Johnson Space Center. Their training will prepare them for missions to the International Space Station and the moon, among other activities. Graduates will become members of NASA’s astronaut corps.

Among the recently selected candidates is Anna Menon, who was born in Houston and considers it her hometown. She’s married to NASA astronaut Dr. Anil Menon, a flight surgeon who completed his training in 2022.

Most recently, Anna Menon was a senior engineer at Elon Musk’s SpaceX, where she spent seven years managing crew operations for the Dragon and Starship spacecraft. Previously, Menon worked at NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, where she supported medical software and hardware aboard the International Space Station.

In 2024, Menon flew into space as a mission specialist and medical officer aboard SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn private spacecraft. A highlight of the low-orbit trip was the first commercial spacewalk.

Texas native Rebecca Lawler, a native of the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Little Elm, is one of Menon’s nine classmates.

Lawler, a former lieutenant commander in the Navy, was a Navy P-3 pilot and experimental test pilot who logged over 2,800 flight hours aboard more than 45 aircraft. At the time she was chosen to be an astronaut candidate, Lawler was a test pilot for United Airlines.

The eight other astronaut candidates in the 2025 class are:

  • Ben Bailey, who was born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia
  • Lauren Edgar, whose hometown is Sammamish, Washington
  • Adam Fuhrmann, who’s from Leesburg, Virginia
  • Cameron Jones, a native of Savanna, Illinois
  • Yuri Kubo, a native of Columbus, Indiana
  • Imelda Muller, whose hometown is Copake Falls, New York
  • Erin Overcash, who’s from Goshen, Kentucky
  • Katherine Spies, a native of San Diego