GHP names energy exec as new president and CEO

taking the lead

Steve Kean will transition from leading Kinder Morgan to assuming the role of president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership later this year. Photo courtesy of the GHP

A longtime energy executive has been named the next president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership. He'll take on the new role this fall.

The GHP named Steve Kean, who currently serves as the CEO of Kinder Morgan Inc., to the position. He's expected to transition from CEO to board of directors member at Kinder Morgan on August 1. Kean will then assume his new position at GHP no later than Dec. 1.

Dr. Marc L. Boom, GHP board chair and president and CEO of Houston Methodist, made the announcement at a press conference June 21.

“Steve brings incredible business acumen and leadership skills to the organization," Boom says in a statement. "Coupled with an extraordinary passion for Houston, he will build on the Partnership’s momentum to continue to advance greater Houston as a region of extraordinary growth and opportunity.”

The GHP's outgoing president and CEO, Bob Harvey, announced his retirement earlier this year, and will remain in his position until Kean is onboarded. Kean was selected via a search committee established by 2022 board chair, Thad Hill. The committee was chaired by Marc Watts and included Boom, Thad Hill, Paul Hobby, Gina Luna, Eric Mullins, Armando Perez, and Ruth Simmons. The process, which looked at over 70 highly-qualified Houston leaders, also included the services of Spencer Stuart to manage the search.

“This last decade has been a dynamic time for Houston and the Partnership," Harvey says in a statement. "As a life-long Houstonian, it has been an honor to focus my efforts on supporting Houston’s continued growth and working with the business community to create opportunities for all Houstonians. This is an exciting time for Houston. I am very pleased that Steve is enthusiastic about leading the Partnership, and I look forward to the organization’s continued success under his leadership.”

With decades in the energy industry, Kean joined Kinder Morgan in 2002 and has served as COO, president of Natural Gas Pipelines, and president of Kinder Morgan Inc. before rising to CEO. He received a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University and his law degree from the University of Iowa.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve our region in this role," he says. "I look forward to building on what Bob, the Board, members, and staff of the Partnership have accomplished. I know first-hand the opportunities that a vibrant business sector can create for people and communities. I look forward to expanding those opportunities further.”

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Houston Methodist has been recognized in two different awards programs. Courtesy of Methodist Hospital/Facebook

Houston hospital system recognized for patient care and technology

Industry standard

Houston Methodist has a couple new feathers in its cap. The hospital system was recognized with two different awards recently.

Houston Methodist was the only hospital system to have four hospitals receive a 2019 Vizient Bernard A. Birnbaum, M.D., Quality Leadership Award, a recognition that praises hospitals for demonstrating quality and care. The Vizient Quality and Accountability Study has been conducted every year since 2005.

Houston Methodist Hospital was recognized in the in the comprehensive academic medical center category, Houston Methodist Sugar Land received an award in the specialized complex care medical center category, and both Houston Methodist Willowbrook and Houston Methodist The Woodlands were selected for the complex medical center category.

"Having four of our hospitals on this list is extraordinary. Receiving such national recognition is an honor, but I'm most proud that the reason for these awards is our concerted focus on quality patient care," says Marc L. Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, in a news release.

This year was slightly different from years prior, and 349 participating hospitals were divided into four cohorts for the Vizient Quality and Accountability Ranking. Among some of the assets considered were safety, mortality, clinical effectiveness, efficiency and patient centeredness. The announcement was made last week during the 2019 Vizient Connections Education Summit in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the hospital system was also recently recognized for being among the "Most Wired" in the United States. For the 12th consecutive year, Houston Methodist received the 2019 HealthCare's Most Wired recognition from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, or CHiME. The award recognizes hospital systems for their innovation, adoption, and optimal use of information technology.

New this year was CHiME's ambulatory facilities recognition, which Houston Methodist received for outstanding technical accomplishments, earning a Certified Level 8 Quality Award.

Innovation has an increased focus at Houston Methodist since premiering its Center for Innovation — a group of leaders charged with finding new technologies for the hospital system for patients, physicians, and staff — under the leadership of Roberta Schwartz. She is the system's executive vice president, chief innovation officer, and chief executive officer of Houston Methodist Hospital.

After 17 years at Houston Methodist, Schwartz says she's seen the evolution of tech and is taking note of where the industry is going.

"I think we're an industry that is transforming itself. We're either going to be disrupted or we're going to do the disruption ourselves," Schwartz tells InnovationMap in a previous article. "There's nobody who knows health care better than we do, so if we're going to transform the industry, I want that transformation to come from the inside."

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Houston universities rack up rankings in reports on top schools for entrepreneurship

5 years running

Rice University and the University of Houston have once again scooped up accolades for their entrepreneurship programs.

For the fifth consecutive year, Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business has been ranked the No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program by The Princeton Review, a provider of education services, and Entrepreneur magazine.

“Our close ties to Houston as well as national startup ecosystems give our students unique opportunities to pitch to and connect with angel investors, venture capitalists and corporations,” Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance, says in a news release. “These connections allow for mentorship, as well as launch points for new ideas, not only for our students but also for the city and surrounding communities.”

The list identifies 50 undergraduate and 50 graduate programs that boast the best entrepreneurship offerings based on factors such as coursework, experiential learning opportunities, and career outcomes. The ranking measures more than 40 data points about the schools’ entrepreneurship programs, faculties, students, and alumni.

Also for the fifth consecutive year, the University of Houston’s Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship in the C.T. Bauer College of Business has been named the No. 1 undergraduate entrepreneurship program by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.

“We believe in entrepreneurship, we believe in free enterprise, and we’re in the number one city for entrepreneurship,” Dave Cook, executive director of the Wolff Center, says in a news release.

“When we put students into this entrepreneurial mix,” he adds, “and we introduce and reinforce free enterprise values, our intent is to change students’ lives and to create the next generation of business leaders with the highest integrity who are going to go out and create their own cultures, their own companies and their own futures.”

The University of Texas at Austin is the only other school in the state to make the top 10 of either the graduate ranking or undergraduate ranking. UT captures the No. 6 spot on the graduate list and No. 2 spot on the undergraduate list.

Aside from The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur honor, Rice climbed four spots in Poets&Quants’ annual ranking of the world’s best MBA programs for entrepreneurship.

Last year, Rice’s graduate school for business landed at No. 7 on the list. This year, it rose to No. 3, behind the first-ranked Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis and second-ranked ESTM Berlin.

This is the fifth annual ranking of MBA programs for entrepreneurship from Poets&Quants, a website that focuses on graduate-level business education.

“MBA programs are increasingly sought after in today’s environment, and our focus on entrepreneurship sets us apart,” Peter Rodriguez, business dean at Rice, says in a news release. “The entrepreneurship classes emphasize a combination of mindset and skill set and focus on multiple stages of the entrepreneurial process, preparing our students for any industry and climate.”

Poets&Quants relies on 16 data points collected through an annual survey to come up with its ranking. Among those data points are:

  • Average percentage of MBA students launching businesses during their program or within three months of graduation between 2018 and 2022.
  • Percentage of MBA elective courses with all of the curriculum focused on entrepreneurship or innovation during the 2022-23 academic year.
  • Percentage of MBA students active in the business school’s main student-run entrepreneurship club during the 2022-23 academic year.
  • Square footage of incubator or accelerator space available to MBA students during the 2022-23 academic year.

America's labor shortage crisis: Local Houston company’s solution for a thriving future

A Brighter Future

The labor shortage crisis gripping America is not isolated to a particular region; it's a challenge that reverberates from coast to coast.

CNN Business projects that this issue could cost the nation a staggering $1 trillion, while the Manufacturing Institute predicts that 2.1 million jobs will go unfilled. To address this pressing concern, a local Houston company called Innovapptive and its connected workforce platform stands as a beacon of hope to improve productivity and capacity, while also upskilling the digital native worker.

Innovapptive is a provider of a “mobile first '' AI-connected workforce SaaS solution to help companies manage labor shortage by empowering front-line workers with digital tools to boost productivity.

The platform’s integrated suite of apps for both the front-line workers and back-office staff closes the loop between people and assets to eliminate inefficiencies. By connecting the front-line workers and back-office with critical information in real time, and harnessing the potential of generative AI and cutting-edge AI/ML technology trends, Innovapptive is enhancing productivity and upskilling workers for some of the world’s largest brands.

Solving the labor shortage by focusing on productivity

The labor shortage crisis has left industries scrambling for solutions. Rather than simply trying to fill the void with more labor, the focus should be on optimizing the existing workforce.

By enhancing the productivity of front-line workers, companies can not only meet the demands of the market but also reduce the need for additional labor. A connected workforce platform can improve the productivity of the front-line workers by 10% to 20% to help companies do more with less.

Empowering front-line workers with real-time connectivity

Innovapptive's connected workforce platform brings front-line workers, back-office, and assets together by providing them with the right information at the right time.

Operators can simply execute their inspections, rounds, and raise issues. These issues automatically convert into an ERP notification and get pushed to a maintenance technician to close out the open compliance issue, while keeping the operator in the loop in real-time. At the same time, the warehouse is alerted in real-time on the work order priorities and criticality to ensure spare part kits are ready for the technician’s pick up.

This effective communication and collaboration between operators, maintenance, and warehouses is a game-changer for asset intensive companies nationwide. Workers can access essential data and insights instantly, leading to smarter decision-making, quicker problem-solving, and improved operational efficiency.

Recently, Sabert, a sustainable packaging company, launched Innovapptive’s solution and is seeing dramatic improvement in productivity. Click here to watch the video.

Harnessing generative AI and cutting-edge AI/ML technology trends to upskill workers

To achieve dramatic productivity improvements upwards of 20%, companies need to leverage the power of generative AI and AI/ML technology trends.

Innovapptive's platform has launched a beta version of its generative AI capabilities, automating the creation of paper-based inspections, SOPs, and work instructions. Furthermore, the company recently launched a computer vision-based AI/ML inspection solution in partnership with Deloitte.

The solution allows an operator or an inspector to simply take an inspection image and the image is instantly analyzed to predict the condition of the equipment, criticality, and use generative AI to describe the problem to their maintenance teams. By converging technology trends such as cloud, mobile, generative AI, and AI/ML, Innovapptive is streamlining processes and eliminating bottlenecks, resulting in substantial productivity gains.

Furthermore, Innovapptive is expected to launch a video AI/ML technology in FY-24 to rapidly upskill workers. This trend allows employees to access on-demand training materials and instructional videos, reducing the learning curve and increasing proficiency. By facilitating continuous learning and development, companies can adapt to changing demands more effectively.

A brighter future for asset-intensive industries

The labor shortage is a nationwide concern that requires a unified approach. Rather than relying solely on more labor, companies can take advantage of Innovapptive's connected workforce platform to empower front-line workers, connect them in real time, capture critical information efficiently, and harness the power of generative AI and cutting-edge AI/ML technology trends.

This holistic approach not only dramatically improves productivity by 10% to 20% but also reduces the need for additional labor. By embracing video AI/ML technology, businesses can rapidly upskill their workers, ensuring they remain agile and adaptable in the face of evolving challenges. Together, we can build a brighter future for American industries and address the labor shortage crisis more effectively.

Some of the world's largest brands rely on Innovapptive's technology, platforms and software, including:

  • Shell Oil
  • Hess
  • Chevron Phillips Chemical
  • Dominion Energy
  • Jemena
  • Loudoun Water
  • Newmont Mining
  • AkzoNobel
  • Pluspetrol
  • EDF Renewables
  • Sabert
  • LiftOne
  • Par Pacific

Innovapptive is headquartered in Houston with offices across the globe in India, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. To learn more and see what Innovapptive can do for your company, visit here.

Houston park opens new facility amid major transformation project

next step

The latest project from a Houston park that's got an ongoing transformation project underway has revealed its latest new feature.

Memorial Park, Houston’s most popular destination for runners and one of the best trails in Texas, has unveiled its new, state-of-art running complex on November 4. The new facility was first announced in 2019 as a part of the park's master plan redevelopment project, which includes the innovative Land Bridge that opened earlier this year.

Encompassing years in planning and constructing, this new complex features the 400-meter Roy H. Cullen Timing Track, a viewing decks, an event plaza, several gathering spaces, trails, and more. More than a simple running track, the complex is designed to be a central gathering spot for all Memorial Park visitors, notes Memorial Park Conservancy executive director Shellye Arnold. The complex will also serve as new gateway to the park’s Bayou Wilds trails.

This new complex is meant to bring more park visitors to multiple areas of the park, Arnold notes, as well as improve track conditions for the thousands who use it, including Houston Astros and Texans players and Olympians. (Olympic legend Carl Lewis is a frequent user.)

“The old timing track in the park is just worn down and not really that accurate, and it has strange turns and corners,” Arnold tells CultureMap. “The running complex is very fitting for the park and for Houston.”

Credit goes to the game-changing Ten-Year Plan, which turned the Memorial Park Master Plan marathon into a sprint with an accelerated set of projects via catalyst gift from the Kinder Foundation and various donors. Partners include the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Uptown Development Authority, and Kinder Foundation, and the City of Houston Mayor’s Office.

That mean a new experience not just for runners, joggers, and walkers, but all visitors.

“It’s a microcosm of the park, a place where a lot of people go and train at four or five in the morning,” adds Arnold. “But it’s a gathering place in the woods. If you think about Memorial Park, part of the whole experience is being immersed in nature. And so this particular timing track is really much more nature immersive than the old timing track.”

Community access is also a priority, for adults and kids.

“There are a lot of schools in Houston that don’t have access to a high quality track — or a track at all,” Arnold says. “And so now, their runners can come out and use the track. It won’t be used for meets, because we won’t close it off to the public very often at all. But it’s all about accessibility. Any school in Houston that wants to use it will be able to bring their students out and enjoy it.”

So while running may be the draw, really, it’s the complex is yet another chance to enjoy Memorial Park’s 1,500 acres and 25 miles worth of trails.

“There are places to hang out,” says Arnold. “There will be a cafe that will open up nearby in the first half of 2024 and an event plaza that’s also opening that will be a place to gather or just hang out with a group. Those are some of the many of the reasons that we did this. All the things that we do is to build community and foster a sense of connectedness — and this track will do that.”

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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