SUPER PLAYERS

SALLIE SARGENT
President and CEO of Houston Super Bowl Host Committee

Sallie Sargent’s long and prestigious career is an amazing example of what hard work, intelligence, and determination can do for you, especially as a woman in an executive position usually filled by men. Her special event management background with sporting events includes five Super Bowls, the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the 100th anniversary of Ford Motor Company and the 2012 Centennial Celebration of the State of Arizona. Prior to the tradeshow and convention industry, Ms. Sargent served as Director of Marketing and Promotions for America West Airlines (now US Airways) after her successful negotiation on behalf of America West with the NFL for the official airline sponsorship of Super Bowl XXX.

Sargent’s knowledge and experience with the NFL’s premiere event resulted in her appointment in 2013 as the Executive Director for Houston’s efforts to secure Super Bowl in 2017. Since that time, she has been retained in the same position to develop the strategic plan for the Houston Host Committee to stage Super Bowl LI. It is our honor to feature this fiercely intelligent business woman who is not only in charge of managing the Houston Super Bowl, but also responsible for some of the most important political, governmental, and sporting events in the last decade. Like fellow visionary, Ella Williams, Sallie lives by the writer’s words, “Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it.”

 

RIC CAMPO
Chairman of the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee and CEO of Camden Property Trust

Since 1993, Ric Campo is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Camden Property Trust. Mr. Campo began his real estate career after graduating from Oregon State University in 1976. After working for a private Houston real estate company, Mr. Campo co-founded Camden’s predecessor companies in 1982 and has spent almost thirty years building a company of top tier staff that are renowned for their management proficiency, their development and construction capabilities and their savvy in the areas of technology, training and marketing. Success to Ric is improving people’s lives one experience at a time and creating jobs for the people of Houston.

Ric serves as Chairman of the Board of the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee, and is one of the pioneers who brought the famed games to Houston. Mr. Campo serves on the Board of Directors of several organizations that focus on the economic development, business outlook and future growth of Houston, including Central Houston, Inc., the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the Greater Houston Partnership and is an Executive Advisory Board Member for the University of Houston, C.T. Bauer College of Business. Mr. Campo also served as the Chairman of the Houston First Corporation for 12 years, which is a local government corporation that facilitates the city’s economic growth through the business of conventions and the arts. He is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) where he serves on the Executive Board, the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) where he serves on the Executive Committee and was past chairman and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

 

MARK A. WALLACE
President and CEO of Texas Children’s Hospital

Mark A. Wallace was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Texas Children’s Hospital in 1989 at the age of 36. Under his leadership, Texas Children’s has grown into one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive pediatric and women’s health care organizations, garnering more than 3.3 million patient encounters annually and achieving international recognition as a referral center. In 2014, Texas Children’s Hospital was ranked 4th among all children’s hospitals nationwide by U.S. News & World Report. When asked what he looks for when bringing on new team members, Wallace says “A positive attitude, strong work ethic and the heart of a servant.” During Mr. Wallace’s 25-year tenure, he has led Texas Children’s successful completion of numerous capital and expansion projects, representing a significant investment in the future of pediatric health care.

Mr. Wallace currently serves on the Board of Directors of the CHI St. Luke’s Baylor Medical Center. In May 2015, Mr. Wallace received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities in Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine. His plans to expand Texas Children’s Hospital to other cities in the next few years is his passion and the children and parents that live or travel hundreds of miles to Houston for treatment, continually thank him for his service, as well as for his leadership and contributions to health care excellence.

 

DEANDRE HOPKINS
Wide Receiver of the Houston Texans


Suit by Tom Ford | Shirt by Giorgio Armani | Coat by Burberry | Available at Neiman Marcus

A man of few words, DeAndre Hopkins is stoic and quiet during his portrait session. Between training for games, press conferences, interviews, and researching and collecting vintage cars, DeAndre found time to sit in front of our camera and give us insight into his world. South Carolina native, Hopkins enrolled in Clemson University, where he played for the Clemson Tigers football team from 2010 to 2012. Hopkins, along with junior quarterback Tajh Boyd and wide receiver Sammy Watkins, combined to make one of the most prolific passing offenses in college football and broke many individual and career school records.

Hopkins left Clemson, and his home state of South Carolina, with the career record for receiving yards and career touchdown grabs with at least one score in each of the last 12 games. On January 10, 2013 Hopkins decided to forgo his senior season at Clemson and enter the NFL draft. He was drafted 27th overall in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans, just the second time in franchise history that the Texans drafted a wide receiver in the first round. DeAndre Hopkins is a star of the Houston Texans and represents the athleticism and effortless style that we all strive for, and that Houston takes pride in.

 

RICHARD FLOWERS
COO of The Events Company


Suit and shirt by Giorgio Armani, tie by Zegna | Available at Neiman Marcus | Watch by Cartier 

Richard founded his own events firm, Richard Flowers & Associates, and began his enterprise with the task of handling many of the production aspects of the 1990 Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations. Richard’s reputation for creating and producing exceptional events quickly came to the attention of the movers, shakers and decision-makers in the city, state and nation. His attention to detail, creativity and complete knowledge of the industry have afforded him the opportunity to work not only with leaders in government, but also in public and private sector businesses, non-profit organizations and private clientele.

He has produced exquisite galas for all of the charitable organizations in Houston and in other cities in Texas. He and his team have worked for leaders in the fashion industry, and Richard has traveled nationally and internationally to produce events for his private clientele. From birthday celebrations to high profile weddings and social events in various locations from coast to coast, and internationally, in locations like Paris, Mexico and Puerto Rico, Richard is frequently engaged to ensure that every detail is in place.

Richard joined forces with the Landry’s organization in 2003, as the CEO of The Events Company. He has assembled a strong creative and production team, armed with extensive creative resources, who share Richard’s passion for producing an exceptional event, every time. Richard’s six- and seven-figure mega events — the ones in Cabo, Telluride and Nantucket — have earned The Events Company honcho premiere honors as one of an elite group of wedding advisors to Town & Country magazine. He joins the coterie of famed party/wedding planners that includes Colin Cowie and Mark Ingram of New York and LA’s Mindy Weiss.

SYLVESTER TURNER
Mayor of Houston, TX

Sylvester Turner was born on September 27, 1954 in Acres Homes, Texas. His mother was a maid at the Rice Hotel and his father, a commercial painter. Turner was raised with eight brothers and sisters. In 1973, he graduated as the valedictorian of Klein High School. Four years later, Turner received his B.A. degree in political science from the University of Houston, after which he attended Harvard Law School, where he received his J.D. degree in 1980.

Turner was hired at the Houston-based law firm Fulbright & Jaworski. After three years, Turner left and formed his own law firm with partner Barry M. Barnes. Barnes & Turner specialized in corporate and commercial law. In 1984, Turner ran for a Harris County Commissioner seat, but he lost to El Franco Lee. In 1988, he won the seat in the Texas House of Representatives for District 139, a mostly minority district. Turner also taught at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University, the South Texas College of Law, and at the University of Houston Law School’s continuing legal education program. He ran for the mayor of Houston twice, once in 1991 where he lost in a hotly contested race, and again in 2003, where he lost to Bill White.

Turner touts his 26 years in the Legislature – a tenure that includes a decade as a key author of the state budget and as one the state’s most powerful Democrats, retaining influence amid Republican supermajorities – as evidence of his readiness to tackle big problems. Turner has picked up endorsements from the city’s police, fire and municipal unions and many political bigwigs. This long history and his many alliances, however, have led opponents to paint him as a career politician whom voters have spurned twice before when he sought the mayor’s office, in 1991 and 2003.

Photography by Dustin Mansyur | Art Direction by Louis Liu | Produced by Marc Sifuentes | Copy Edit by Benjamin Price