BIO OF ROGENE GEE CALVERT - University of Houston



BIO OF ROGENE GEE CALVERT

Rogene Gee Calvert is a native Houstonian of Chinese descent. She has seen Houston’s Asian American community grow from a close knit, primarily Chinese enclave where “everyone knew everyone else” to a sprawling, internationally diverse, pan-Asian populous, among the top 10 cities in the country with the largest Asian American population.

She has been involved in the non-profit field for over 30 years. She began her career with the Community Welfare Planning Association, then the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast and served as the first executive director of the Child Abuse Prevention Network. She was a founder and interim executive director of the Inter-Ethnic Forum, followed by the Asian/Pacific American Heritage Association. Rogene has worked as an organizational consultant, specializing in non-profit board and management issues and starting up new projects and organizations. Among her startup programs and organizations are the COST Coalition, which stands for Children’s Out of School Time, a Diabetes Awareness and Education Project (DAEC) in the Asian American community, the Asian American Family Counseling Center and the Asian American Health Coalition/HOPE Clinic.

Her foray into politics occurred when she managed Martha Wong’s first political campaign in 1993, which resulted in Ms. Wong being the first Asian American ever elected to Houston City Council. She served as the Chief of Staff for Gordon Quan from 2000-2004, the first Asian American elected city-wide to Houston City Council and the first Asian American Mayor Pro Tem. She most recently completed her public administration career as director of personnel and volunteer initiatives program appointed by Mayor Bill White.

In June of 2009, she joined the Asian Chamber of Commerce as its president, where she combined business education, training and networking to assist Houston’s Asian American communities to thrive and prosper. She left in September and is currently a director for Outreach Strategists, LLC, a certified 8(a),MBE, SDB public affairs, political and communications messaging firm based in Houston.

Rogene is an active community volunteer serving as immediate past president of the Friends of the Texas Medical Center Library and the Asian American Health Coalition/Hope Clinic (a Community Health Center). She is also on the boards of Houston 80-20 Asian American Political Action Committee, Blueprint Houston, the Asian American Giving Circle, the Gee Family Assn. Education Fund, Care for Elders and the OCA-Greater Houston Chapter. She is also a member of the advisory boards of the University of Houston Hobby Center for Public Policy and the Asian American Studies Program, VN Teamwork and the Asian American Family Services.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Rogene resides in Houston with her husband, mother-in-law, son , daughter-in-law and daughter, 2 dogs and 2 cats. In her spare time, she enjoys relaxing with her family and friends, watching movies, and taking part in community activities.

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