Board Of Directors
Douglas Hidalgo, CPA, CCIFP – Board President
Douglas Hidalgo is an equity director with LaPorte CPAs & Business Advisors, a regional firm with offices located in Texas and Louisiana. Mr. Hidalgo is an audit and assurance director and leader of the firm’s Houston office. Prior to LaPorte’s 2010 merger with Hidalgo Banfill Zlotnik Kermali, PC, he was a principal in the former Houston firm. LaPorte is a Top 200 public accounting firm with over 175 employees.
Mr. Hidalgo has more than 25 years of experience in public accounting, providing services to closely held companies and a broad range of industries. A certified public accountant, Mr. Hidalgo earned his bachelor of science in accounting from the University of Houston. He is also a Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional.
Mr. Hidalgo has always been active in the Houston community. In addition to his commitment to Healthy Houston, he is chairman on the Board of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, on the Finance Committee of St. Cecilia Parish; AND former Board chair and current member of the Advisory Board of Santa Maria Hostel. Mr. Hidalgo has a number of professional affiliations as well, including serving on the Board of the Houston chapter of the Construction Financial Management Association and previously serving on the Board of the Houston chapter of the American Subcontractors Association. He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Douglas earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting, University of Houston
Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, M.D. – Vice President
Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is a physician and public servant who has devoted her professional life to caring for patients, teaching medical students and residents, serving the public, and helping people in need. She served as the U.S. Congressional Representative of Texas District 22 from 2006 to-2007 and was first female physician to vote as a regular member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Prior to that, Dr. Sekula-Gibbs served three terms on the Houston City Council, At-Large Position 3. There she helped increase the number of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the Houston area from two to eleven clinics. She successfully voted to reduce property taxes three times and helped to push through an ordinance that eliminated smoking in restaurants and public places.
In 1985, Dr. Sekula-Gibbs opened Bay Oaks Dermatology clinic in Clear Lake and in 2011 opened a second clinic in Baytown. She and her associates treated thousands of patients and provided training and jobs for dozens of people in the Clear Lake-Southeast Houston area.
Dr. Sekula-Gibbs graduated summa cum laude from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. She completed medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and residencies in Family Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and in Dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She served as president of the Texas Dermatological Society and the Houston Dermatological Society and on the American Academy of Dermatology Leadership Advisory Board, and the AAD Advisory Board Executive Committee. She was chairman of the Houston Dermatological Society/American Cancer Society Skin Cancer Screening Committee for five years and is a member of numerous professional and charitable organizations.
Dr. Sekula-Gibbs led a mission to the St. Lazarus Dermatological Institute in Mexico for treatment of Hansen’s disease. She worked with the Save Our ERs coalition and the Emergency-Trauma Care Policy Council to find solutions to emergency room overcrowding. A major part of that answer was to increase the number of FQHCs that serve the uninsured and underinsured in Houston/Harris County. This moved Dr. Sekula-Gibbs and her husband to establish the Healthy Houston Foundation that provides financial support to clinics that care for uninsured patients.
Robert W. Gibbs, Jr. – Secretary/Treasurer
Robert W. Gibbs, Jr. is a lawyer with over 30 years of experience in law, governmental relations, and business. Mr. Gibbs is lead partner of Robert W. Gibbs, Jr. Law Firm, which provides services in business law, probate and estate law, and mediation to its clients. Mr. Gibbs has provided personal and corporate legal representation for clients in the Houston, Texas, and Gulf Coast regions for over 30 years. He is committed to excellence in the practice, and he maintains the highest degree of loyalty to his clients.
Mr. Gibbs has also been deeply involved in community and grass roots organizations. As former president of the Reliant Resources, Inc. Foundation, he developed a strong community presence for the organization.
With his wife Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, he established the Healthy Houston Foundation. In addition to serving as secretary/treasurer for Healthy Houston, Mr. Gibbs also holds several other community leadership positions. These include serving as a director of Christus Foundation for Health Care, on the board of the Sam Houston Area Council Boy Scouts of America, and as a commissioner on the Houston Clean City Commission. He is a lifetime director and member of the Houston Livestock Show, and a life member in the Houston Farm and Ranch Club.
A native of Texas, Mr. Gibbs holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and a Juris Doctor from the Houston College of Law (formerly South Texas College of Law) in Houston, Texas.