Public
Records and the Internet: Oil and Water?
10:15
–
11:30 a.m.
James
“Jay” Sibley is the president and chief executive
officer of Title Data, Inc. (TDI), one of the larger title
plant maintainers in the country, serving a southeastern
Texas population of over 6 million. TDI also licenses
title plant/title production technology to metropolitan
plant maintainers throughout the United States.
Prior
to joining TDI in 1987, Jay spent nine years with two Houston-based
title companies, having moved there in 1978 from Johnson
& Johnson's New Jersey headquarters. A former
Air Force officer, Jay holds bachelor and master degrees
from the University of Connecticut.
In addition to his work with the Association for
Title Information Management (ATIM), Jay has been active
with the Texas Land Title Association since 1980, most recently
as the Legislative Committee member most concerned with
changes to Texas' open records and recording laws.
He currently sits on the state's Electronic Recording Advisory
Committee, chairs the American Land Title Association's
Improvement of Land Title Records Committee, is co-chair
of the Property Records Industry Association's Strategic
Plan Oversight Committee, is a board member of the Freedom
of Information Foundation of Texas and was appointed by
the Texas Attorney General to the state's Open Records Steering
Committee.
Cynthia
Figueroa Calhoun was elected as the Dallas county
clerk in November of 2002; she took office on January 1,
2003.
Prior
to being elected as county clerk, Calhoun practiced law
in Dallas for 12 years. Her practice focused in the
areas of general business representation and litigation,
labor and employment, director and officer liability, large
commercial lease negotiation, bond work, open records/open
meetings law and banking.
Calhoun
received her law degree from Southern Methodist University
School of Law in 1990. She also attended Tulane School
of Law for her first year of law school, where she was awarded
the Tulane Meritorious Service Award by the Student Bar
Association for “best representing the ideal of outstanding
citizenship and for rendering valuable service to the Law
School and its Student Body.”
The Bar Association
named Calhoun “Outstanding Young Lawyer of Dallas” for 1999
in recognition of her “exemplary professional proficiency,
service to the profession and service to the community.”
She served as adjunct professor of law at SMU School of
Law, is a past president of Dallas Women's Lawyers Association,
and the immediate past director of the Texas Lyceum. She
is a new member of the Dallas Assembly and a board member
of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
Gary
Chapman is director of The 21st Century Project
at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the graduate school
of public policy at the University of Texas at Austin.
The
21st Century Project is a research and education program
on science and technology policy, with an emphasis on information
technologies, telecommunications and the Internet.
Chapman is a member of
the faculty at the LBJ School and he is associate director
of the Telecommunications and Information Policy Institute
at the University of Texas at Austin. For ten years he was
an editorial columnist for The Los Angeles Times,
Texas Monthly and the Austin American-Statesman.
In 2000, Texas Monthly named him one of the “25
Most Powerful Texans in High Tech.”
Ann
Manning is an attorney with Underwood, Wilson,
Berry, Stein & Johnson, P.C. in their Lubbock office.
Previously she was a partner in the firm of McWhorter, Cobb,
and Johnson LLP for twenty years. She is board certified
in labor and employment law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
and focuses primarily on school law, labor and employment
law, and health law.
Manning
graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of
Science in education and obtained her J.D. from Texas Tech
University School of Law.
She is a frequent speaker at school, employment and
health law seminars. Manning has served on the board
of directors of the Texas Bar, School Law Section, and served
as chairperson of the Texas Council of School Attorneys.
She was appointed by the Governor and is currently
serving a six-year term on the Texas Judicial Council.
Hadassah
Schloss is the cost rules administrator for the
Office of the Attorney General. Her responsibilities
include developing rules for determining charges for copies
of public information; reviewing and handling governmental
bodies' requests for exemption from the rules; reviewing,
investigating, and resolving complaints of overcharges for
copies of public information; and conducting and publishing
results of the Biennial Open Records Report. She also
co-chairs the Open Records Steering Committee.
Schloss
earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting
from the University of Texas at Austin. During legislative
sessions, Schloss is very involved in open records legislation
and provides testimony as requested by legislators.
She's also a frequent speaker at open government
seminars across the state. Schloss is a recipient
of the FOIFT 1996 James Madison Award and the 2006 Open
Doors Award from the Society of Professional Journalists
– Fort Worth Chapter. In July 2000 she was inducted
in the Millennium Edition (2000-2001) of the “Who's Who
of American Women.”
Dianne Wilson, Ph.D.,
has served as the elected county clerk of Fort Bend County
since January 1983. For over 20 years, Wilson has
been actively involved in legislative issues impacting county
clerks and county government. She piloted the state's
first electronic court filing project in 2003 through Texas
Online and was the third county in Texas to permit electronic
recording of property records.
Wilson
serves on many state and local committees and boards such
as the Texas Electronic Property Recording Task Force, the
Judicial Committee for Information Technology Committee,
and the Public Access to Court Records Committee.
Wilson holds a
doctorate and a bachelor degree in public administration
and is a fellow in the National Center for State Courts
Institute for Court Administration. She was awarded
the 2006 Public Elected Official of the Year Award by the
Houston branch of the National Association of Social Workers
and the 2003 Trailblazer Award from the Texas Association
of Counties Leadership Foundation.
Agenda
Previous
Bio
Next
Bio