JoDee Winterhof, Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs at Human Rights Campaign and Adri Perez, Policy & Advocacy Strategist at ACLU of Texas discussed the state of LGBTQIA+ rights in the US. JoDee Winterhof addressed national LGBTQIA+ issues and initiatives, followed by Adri Perez who focused on the state of Texas. A moderated conversation with Q&A was facilitated by Rev. Troy Treash, Senior Pastor at Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church.

About the Presenters
JoDee Winterhof, a veteran political strategist and respected advocate with over 25 years of experience in navigating the complex intersection between politics, campaigns, messaging and public policy, currently serves as Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs for the Human Rights Campaign. In this role, she leads the organization's federal, state and local legislative, field and legal teams, while overseeing management of HRC’s political action committees and electoral engagement. This includes the launch of HRC Rising, the largest grassroots expansion effort in the organization’s history. Winterhof joined HRC after serving as a Chief of Staff in the US Senate and US House of Representatives, as well as head of advocacy for CARE, an International Non-Governmental Organization. She served as Chief of Staff to former US Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09).  In addition to her work on the Hill, Winterhof has held leadership roles on multiple presidential, senatorial and congressional campaigns including Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. She hails from Walnut, Iowa and is a graduate of Simpson College. She presently resides in Washington, D.C. with her wife and two children. 

Adri Perez is a life-long El Pasoan, UTEP graduate, and policy & advocacy strategist for the ACLU of Texas, where they lead LGBTQIA+ advocacy on the Sexuality & Gender Equality team. Adri represents the ACLU of Texas in statewide coalitions, trains and educates families of trans kids, and advocates at the legislature on bills that affect trans Texans. Adri is an organizer whose intersectional experience motivates their advocacy as a native fronterizx, transgender, queer educator and abortion storyteller. Prior to joining the ACLU of Texas in 2018, Adri started West Fund, the first abortion fund in West Texas. They also co-founded the Fronterizx Fianza Fund that raises money to pay bonds for people in immigration detention. Adri previously worked at Ngage New Mexico, Fund Texas Choice, and YWCA El Paso Del Norte. Adri received the Rising Star Award from the League of Women Voters of El Paso and the “Golden Girl” Award from the El Paso Queer Bar Association in 2019. They were recognized as the Texas Rising 2015 Organizer of the Year while a student at the University of Texas at El Paso.  

Rev. Elder Troy Treash has served for eight years as the Senior Pastor of Resurrection MCC in Houston, TX. For ten years prior to Resurrection as the Executive Director of Reconciling Ministries Network, Troy flew nationally from home base in Chicago, IL to advocate for equality for LGBTQ persons church by church, network by network, and conference by conference within the United Methodist Church. His ordained ministry began in 1991 in the trenches of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Houston, TX as the Director of the Bering Support Network. He is a member of Houston Coalition Against Hate and serves on the Congregational Council for Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston. He shares life with Walter, his husband of 23 years; Michael, their adopted son; one beagle, Tip; and one cat, Spot. He enjoys cooking, reading, weeding, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, oceans, and aspen trees. He struggles at times with teenager parenting, marathon zoom meetings, defeating white supremacy, and balancing life. He relies upon God’s grace.

The Struggle for Equality: LGBTQIA+ Rights 9.8.21

One of the consequential materials industry of the 20th century is facing its most difficult challenge yet, as society expects plastics to provide the same level of comfort and convenience we are used to without harming the environment when we create and dispose of them. The talk will discuss how the industry is responding to these challenges and how innovation within and across the value chain and change in our behavior as consumers can help accomplish this goal.

Kumar Sanketh currently serves as the R&D Director of Functional Polymers product R&D within Packaging, Specialty Plastics & Hydrocarbons (PSP&H) division at Dow Inc. PSP&H is the largest division in Dow with sales of $28B serving Packaging, Infrastructure, Consumer, Transportation and Wire & Cable, markets. In this role, he manages a global team of 120 researchers working on product / formulation innovation in Polyethylene, POE Elastomers, Adhesives & High-pressure copolymers. His responsibilities include talent development, influencing business strategy and driving a robust innovation pipeline.

Prior to this role, from 2015-2021, he held leadership roles in Technical Service & Development (TS&D) for North America region leading teams serving customers across various market segments. In this role, he had responsibility to help deliver the sales plan for the region and monetize the innovation product portfolio. During his tenure, he helped launch new products for caps & closures, pressure pipe, pharma, and other durable applications. Two of the products were also recognized with “R&D 100 finalist” awards. Prior to that, Kumar was leader in material science group, leading efforts in the identification and development of structure property relationships for applications within packaging markets. From 2007 - 2014, Kumar worked as an individual contributor working in area of encapsulation films for solar modules, development of polyurethane dispersions for coatings market as well as understanding fundamentals of scratch and mar behaviour of coatings.

Kumar joined Dow in 2007 after completing his PhD in Polymer Science and Masters in Polymer Engineering from University of Akron. Kumar has published 15+ publications in peer reviewed journals and his work at Dow has resulted in 12+ granted patents and patent applications. Kumar has also received a graduate leadership certificate from Jones school of business at Rice University in 2018. He currently serves on the board of SPE, South Texas Chapter.

Kumar lives in greater Houston area with his wife, Sushma and 2 daughters Siri & Neha. They also have a dog named Oreo. Outside of Work, Kumar enjoys painting, gardening, and cooking.

ART - Kumar N. Sanketh

The Akron Roundtable podcast brings you monthly installments of nationally recognizable figures and local leaders sharing their thought-provoking perspectives on topics that engage, educate, and inspire listeners. These episodes are recorded in full at the Akron Roundtable luncheons and include the audience Q&A session with each guest. To learn more about Akron Roundtable or to attend a luncheon please visit our webpage.

ART - Kumar N. Sanketh

Akron Roundtable

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