BIOGRAPHIES OF PANEL WITNESSES
AT THE TEXAS FORUM ON INTERNET REGULATION
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY, BUSH SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC SERVICE
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
OCTOBER 21, 2014
The Honorable Donna L. Nelson, Chairman, Texas Public Utility Commission, Austin, TX
Donna L. Nelson was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Public Utility Commission on
August 15, 2008 and named chairman on July 26, 2011.  Prior to her appointment, Nelson served as a
special assistant and advisor to Governor Perry on energy and telecommunication issues.  She also
assisted the Governor’s Competitiveness Council with the preparation of the Texas 2008 State Energy
Plan.  She previously served as director of the PUC’s telecommunications section and as legal advisor to
the PUC chairman.  Chairman Nelson sits on the Board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and is
the President of the Southwest Power Pool Regional State Committee.  She is active with the National
Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, where she is a member of the Committee on Energy
Resources and the Environment and the Task Force on Environmental Regulation and Generation.  
Nelson is a member of the Texas Bioenergy Policy Council and the Texas Broadband Task Force.  She is
also on the Advisory Board of the Annual Baseline Assessment of Choice in Canada and the United
States (ABACCUS).
Additionally, Nelson is a former assistant attorney general of Texas, where she specialized in
antitrust law.  She also worked as a Legislative Assistant to a United States Senator.  Nelson is a licensed
attorney and a past member of the Texas Council on Autism and Pervasive Developmental Delays.
Nelson received a bachelor’s degree from Black Hills State College and a law degree from Texas
Tech University. She resides in Austin with her son, John.
Edward Henigin, Chief Technology Officer, Data Foundry, Austin, TX
Edward Henigin is Chief Technology Officer of Data Foundry, which provides retail and
wholesale data center outsourcing, Internet bandwidth, and managed services.  The company serves
thousands of enterprise customers across a variety of industries including energy, technology, healthcare
and financial services.  He joined Data Foundry as employee #1 at its inception in 1994 as a Texas-based
ISP named Texas.Net.  He has written numerous publications on various topics, including an article on
how data centers can help oil and gas companies meet their high-performance computing needs.
Mr. Henigin received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Bradley University.
Robert Hunt, Vice President, GVTC (Guadalupe Valley Telephone Cooperative), New Braunfels, TX
Robert Hunt is the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Business Operations of GVTC,
which provides telecommunications services in south and central Texas.  In July 2009, Governor Rick
Perry appointed Mr. Hunt to serve on the board of the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Texas
Broadband Taskforce, which promotes broadband deployment and adoption in the Lone Star State.  He
also serves on the boards of the Texas Telephone Association, and USTelecom Association.
Prior to joining GVTC in 1993, Mr. Hunt provided engineering and consulting services to the
telecommunications industry.  He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Texas at Austin.
Chelsea McCullough, Executive Director, Texans for Economic Progress, Austin, TX
Chelsea McCullough is the Executive Director at Texans for Economic Progress (TEP), a
statewide non-profit advocacy group driven by a core belief that greater access to technology is critical to
job creation, innovation and prosperity for the State of Texas.  Before joining TEP, Ms. McCullough
served as the marketing director for MPOWER Labs, a research and development incubator, and
participated in the launch of several entrepreneurial companies, including NewsTaco, FlashValet, and
Vidamerica.  She also served in the Economic Development and Tourism Division of the Governor’s
Office, where she participated in the launch of initiatives including TexasOne, a program designed to
attract businesses to Texas.
As a graduate of the Leadership Austin program, Ms. McCullough received the 2013 Ascendant
Award for demonstrated leadership in her community.  She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees
in advertising from the University of Texas at Austin.
Joe Portman, President and Founder, Alamo Broadband, Inc., Elmendorf, TX
Joe Portman is the President and Founder of Alamo Broadband Inc., a fixed wireless Broadband
service provider that primarily serves south central Texas.
In the early 90s he founded Alternate Access Inc., one of the most successful locally owned and
operated ISPs in the Seattle/Tacoma area, as well as PDGT.COM a CLEC dedicated to lower costs for
ISPs in that area. He retired from that life in 2000 and moved back to Texas where, prior to founding
Alamo, he performed consulting and software development work for a vast array of companies, including
Keystroke Financial, Schlumberger and many others.
Stewart Youngblood, Ambassador, Dallas Entrepreneur Center, Dallas, TX
Stewart Youngblood is an Ambassador for the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, which focuses on
stimulating job creation and economic growth in Dallas.  He previously served as Program Director for
Tech Wildcatters, a Forbes Top 10-ranked seed fund and technology accelerator providing resources and
mentorship to business-to-business startups, where he focused on raising capital, connecting startups with
mentors, and building resources and support for the Dallas startup community.
Mr. Youngblood received a bachelor of business administration in finance as well as a bachelor
of arts in psychology from Southern Methodist University.