Monday, April 27, 2026 | 12:15 - 12:45 p.m.

Courtney Kelly, MBA, P.E.

Courtney Kelly Books, Author | H.J. Russell & Company, Project Director

Flip the Script: Change the Narrative

"How we talk about who we are as civil engineers and the work that we do has the power to shape the future of our profession in a way that transcends the built environment. Our "script" may have been written for us in the past, but now I'm asking that we flip the script and change the narrative towards one that will drive and direct the perception of civil engineering to match the significance, importance, and respect that should come with the territory that we practice in. Communication plays a big role in this. From how we engage with younger audiences to how we break down technical jargon so that it can be understood in layman's terms, innovation in our approach to how we speak can make all the difference. "

Born and raised in New Orleans, award-winning civil engineer, Courtney Kelly, has made a name for herself both as a well-respected construction management professional and self-published children’s book author. Courtney currently resides in Dallas, Texas where she serves as a Project Director for H.J. Russell & Company, a commercial construction firm.

Courtney holds bachelor of science degrees in civil engineering and math, as well as a master’s degree in civil engineering from Southern Methodist University (SMU). She also holds an MBA from Lamar University. In 2023 she was selected as an Engineering News-Record Texas & Louisiana Top Young Professional. Her self-published children's books, Celeste Saves the City and Celeste Tunnels Underground, have been translated into three languages and sold in over 15 countries. Most recently, she has become an adjunct professor at SMU teaching construction quality management and safety courses.

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 | 12:15 - 12:45 p.m.

Debra Tsuchiyama Baker

Baker • Wotring LLP, Managing Partner | Author

Ms. Baker is a founding and managing partner of the nationally-recognized commercial litigation and environmental regulatory boutique law firm of Baker • Wotring LLP. Ms. Baker has practiced environmental law for more than 39 years and obtained her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she received the Magoichi Kato Scholarship Award for Academic Excellence for Japanese American students. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Maryland.

Ms. Baker’s practice encompasses the full spectrum of environmental issues, with an emphasis on the handling of difficult and complex multi-party environmental cases, Superfund, environmental regulatory counseling and representation in enforcement, permitting, catastrophic release response, compliance and environmental support in corporate/real estate due diligence and transactional matters. She is an author and editor of the First and Second Editions of the Texas Environmental Law Handbook, published in January 1989 and October 1990 and is a co-author of two other books on environmental law. Ms. Baker has also authored and published more than 50 articles on environmental law, has lectured and taught extensively on environmental legal issues, and has testified in a variety of cases as an expert witness on environmental law in the United States and Canada. She is certified as an arbitrator by the American Arbitration Association.

She is active in bar, law school, community and civic activities, and actively promotes issues concerning the environment. The Firm provided the initial capital to underwrite, create and launch the University of Houston's Center for Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Law as an entity dedicated to study and address the complex legal issues at the intersection of environment, energy and natural resources, helping the Center provide a leadership role in addressing global energy and environmental issues. Ms. Baker is the recipient of the Ma’at Justice Award, awarded annually by the State Bar of Texas Women and the Law Section to an individual who has actively addressed the needs and issues of women in the legal profession and the community. Ms. Baker was also awarded the Texas Bar Foundation’s Dan Rugeley Price Award presented to an outstanding practitioner dedicated to the bar and public. She has served as an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Law at both the University of Houston Law Center and the South Texas College of Law and was co-founder and past Chair of the Houston Bar Association's Environmental Law Section.

She was also a founder and Chair of the American Bar Association’s national Environmental Law Group, supervising 10 environmental committees integrating issues of environmental law with real estate, landlord and tenant issues, due diligence, and merger and acquisition transactions. Ms. Baker was the 2008 Chair of the Houston Bar Foundation, the HBA’s 501(c)(3) charitable foundation, and other bar appointments have included serving on the Board of Directors of the Asian American Bar Association and as Vice Chair of the State Bar of Texas Standing Committee on Women in the Profession. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Japan-America Society of Houston and traveled to Japan as a guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as part of a grassroots exchange program for United States business and community leaders. Prior to forming the Baker • Wotring LLP firm, Ms. Baker headed the Environmental Law Practice group for the 120-lawyer firm of Mayor, Day, Caldwell & Keeton, L.L.P. for over a decade and also practiced environmental law in the D.C. and Houston offices of Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P. She is admitted to practice in both the District of Columbia and Texas.