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About NTX 2050: Our Next Imperatives Series
Our Metroplex is growing and thriving. However, the shaping forces of a pandemic, evolving technology, leadership transitions, politics, demographic changes, legislative direction, and economic and environmental changes impact the potency of prior planning and compel our attention to identify the refinements and next regional imperatives to be addressed.
Regional challenges require solutions brought from collective thought, unified goals and sustained action. These sessions will be the beginning of an ongoing structure to execute the plans needed to enrich and empower our region to thrive for generations.
To support this effort, key programmatic support by NCTCOG, NTC, and ULI has been secured. A structure of underwriting sponsors is needed to defray execution, communication, and convening expenses.
You can read our leader sent to every North Texas Leader by NTC and NCTCOG below.
The original NTX 2050 Plan created in 2000 by NTX Leaders can be found here.
NTX 2050 Series Sponsors
Moderator for Forum 3: Infrastructure: Transportation and Water
Dr. Cullum Clark
Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative
Dr. Cullum Clark is Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative and Adjunct Economics Professor at SMU. Cullum’s work focuses on creating prosperous, high-opportunity cities as a path to improving economic mobility in America and advancing the Bush Institute principle of private markets humanized by compassionate government. He co-authored the 2021 book The Texas Triangle: An Emerging Power in the Global Economy. Cullum’s work has appeared in City Journal, Real Clear Policy, and numerous other publications, plus the Freakonomics Radio podcast. He recently published an extensive report on the role of universities and academic medical centers in local and regional economies and is currently working on a report on housing supply and affordability in U.S. cities. Cullum worked in investments for 25 years, founding two firms. He serves on the Board of the Texas charter school network Uplift Education and on several foundation and endowment boards. He earned a B.A. in History from Yale, a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in Economics from SMU.
Forum 3: Infrastructure: Transportation
Dan Kessler
Assistant Director of Transportation | NCTCOG
Dan Kessler serves as the Assistant Director of Transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Dallas Fort Worth Area. He joined the staff of the Council of Governments in 1981. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development from Purdue University, and Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois. Dan oversees the activities of the NCTCOG Transportation department staff in areas including grant management, transportation, land use, demographic forecasting, energy, environmental, and military program initiatives. Dan resides in Fort Worth, Texas.
Michael Morris
Director of Transportation | NCTCOG
Michael Morris is the department director in the Transportation Department of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Metropolitan Planning Organization serves the region by developing transportation plans, programs and projects that address the transportation needs of the fourth largest region in the country.
Mr. Morris received his Masters in Civil Engineering from State University of New York at Buffalo in 1979 and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas. Several groups have recognized him, including being the recipient of the Ron Kirby Award in 2021. He previously served as the Chairman of the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and a National Associate of the National Academies.
Jeff Neal
Senior Projects Manager | NCTCOG
Jeffrey C. Neal is a Senior Projects Manager with the Transportation Planning Team for the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the 12-county Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. Mr. Neal has been employed with NCTCOG since 1999, gaining extensive transportation planning experience through work with multiple teams and disciplines. With an emphasis on streamlined project development and delivery on behalf of local governments, stakeholders, and regional transportation providers, since 2018 Mr. Neal has led or coordinated numerous efforts to integrate and optimize environmental data/analysis resources, enhance stakeholder collaboration and equitable mitigation initiatives, expand asset management and resilience capabilities, and conduct advanced technical assistance/programming for USDOT competitive grant proposals.
Forum 3: Infrastructure: Water
Simone Kiel
Water Planning Engineer | Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Simone Kiel is a professional engineer and Associate at Freese and Nichols, Inc. She is also the Project Manager for Region C, the regional water planning region for the greater Metroplex. Ms. Kiel has vast experience in water planning and water rights permitting. Over the past 25 years, she has worked in seven of the state’s 16 planning regions. She was the Freese and Nichols project manager for Regions A, B, C, F, and I. This experience across the state provides unique insight regarding water issues in Texas.
Ms. Kiel was the Project Manager for the permitting of Bois d’Arc Lake, the first reservoir constructed in Texas in over 30 years. She is currently working with the City of Wichita Falls on the permitting for Lake Ringgold, another critical new water supply source. Her experience also includes water rights permitting and Section 404 permitting, water management planning, reservoir operation studies, lake operations, rate studies, carbon footprint analysis, groundwater and surface water availability evaluations, environmental and general civil engineering. She has worked on a variety of projects throughout the continental United States and the United Kingdom.
Kevin Ward
General Manager | Trinity River Authority (TRA)
In his role as the chief executive officer, Ward oversees the largest river authority in Texas and the largest wholesale provider of wastewater treatment services in the state. With the support of eight staff groups and more than 500 employees, Ward drives the implementation of board policy for the operation and development of four water treatment facilities, five wastewater treatment facilities and one recreation project, plus water sales from four reservoirs – all serving more than 50 wholesale customers including cities, municipalities and districts throughout the 18,000-square-mile Trinity River basin. Ward manages an annual budget of more than $490 million and the Authority’s assets in excess of $2.6 billion.
Ward previously served as executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board from May 2002 to February 2011, and in various other capacities at that state agency from 1987 to 2002.
Ward is active in several organizations. He is a member of the Region H Water Planning Group, the Trinity and San Jacinto River Basins and Galveston Bay Basin and Bay Area Stakeholder Committee, and the Tarrant Regional Water District Customer Advisory Committee. He also serves on the board and executive committee of the North Texas Commission, as well as on the executive committee of the Texas Water Association (formerly TWCA), where he chairs the River Authority Panel.
He is a past president and a board member of the National Water Resources Association and most recently served as chair of the Region C Regional Water Planning Group.
Additionally, he also served as the public member of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers Board of Trustees and a visiting member of the Texas A&M University Lehrer Chair Advisory Council. He recently became a member of the American Society of Engineers Industry Leaders Council. Ward also served two terms on the board of directors for the National Waterways Conference, an organization representing national interests related to water supply and waterways transportation.
Ward was honored in 2011 with the Water Environment Association of Texas Outstanding Public Official Award, and in 2012 with TWCA’s President’s Award.
