Dr. Douglas Meffert - John Marshall High School
2007 Pillar of Responsibility
Dr. Douglas Meffert, Marshall Class of '84, environmentalist, has recently been named a Harvard Loeb Scholar and United Nations Advisor (for UNESCO). A rare combination of scientist and community activist, he led the Bring New Orleans Back sustainability initiatives which brought his work to the attention of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy where he will be working next year. He attended University of California at Los Angeles, attended and is a professor at Tulane and Xavier Universities. His dream is to open the RiverSphere, a new riverfront research center and museum. which was sidetracked by Hurricane Katrina. He lives in New Orleans, and his hobbies include cartoon-drawing and running (3 Marathons) including the San Antonio Marathon which he ran with his oldest brother, Jeff.
Greg Meffert - John Marshall High School
2007 Pillar of Responsibility
Greg Meffert, founder of the tech encryption company Logistix, literally volunteered to be the first-ever Chief Technology Officer of the City prior to Katrina and was given the title Deputy Mayor. When the storm hit, Deputy Mayor Meffert and his crew managed the only links the international media had to city officials. Mega-companies from Sony to Microsoft cited the surveillance camera security canopy and wireless network he implemented for the New Orleans Police Department as the number one design in the U.S. Greg's education includes a B.S. in Psychology and Computer Engineering from Baylor University and the equivalent of a Master's degree in Computer Applications from Tulane University. An inventor, he holds numerous patents for internet technology and awards such as Computer World Magazine's 2006 World Premier IT Leader Award.
Sarah Meffert Becher - John Marshall High School
2007 Pillar of Responsibility
Sarah Meffert Becher, an Audio Visual Design Engineer, has rare letters following her name: CTS-I which stands for Certified Technology Specialist - Installation. Only a few people have achieved this highly-regarded credential world-wide and of those, even fewer are women. The InfoComm certification assures Sarah is an experienced AV professional who has passed a rigorous program of study in setting up best-practice audio visual systems that are reliable, structurally safe, and perform to customer specifications. At Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc., in Dallas, she has designed everything from a multi-media auditorium to high-end signage applications. A 2007 Pillar of Responsibility, she went from Marshall High School to Stephen F. Austin University where she majored in Radio/TV Communications and minored in Physics (Electronics).
Col. (Ret) Jeff Meffert, M.D. - John Marshall High School
2007 Pillar of Responsibility
Col. (Ret) Jeff Meffert, M.D. - Marshall Class of '74 - USAF Dermatologist/UTHSC-SA Teacher
Retired Air Force Colonel Jeffrey Meffert is Doctor Meffert to his patients at the Dermatology Center at Texas MedClinic and his students at UT-Health Science Center. He started school at Lackland City Elementary, then his military-connected parents went overseas, eventually returned to Leon Valley, and finished his last two years at Marshall High School. He went to Rice University as a National Merit Scholar, and after three years simultaneously entered medical school at UT-Health Science Center and began a career in the Air Force. Well-known in his specialty - Dr. Meffert's lectures have titles like “Saving Your Skin - Warriors versus The Environment” and “Bugs and the Dermatologists Who Love Them.”
Dr. Lisa Meffert - John Marshall High School
2007 Pillar of Responsibility
Dr. Lisa Meffert, Marshall High School Class of '78, is a Rice University Professor and evolutionary biologist. Her research has been published in cartoon form in Discover Magazine for a science classics series called “Flies in the Face of Everything.” She attended Purdue University and University of Houston - where she became a teacher before moving to Assistant Professor in the Rice Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Most likely to be found wearing a lab coat, Dr. Meffert has managed large grants from National Science Foundation and NASA. As a speaker, her message inspires women to pursue careers in science. She also appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's science special, “Quirks and Quarks,” and is dedicated to saving endangered species.
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