HBSF BOARD MEMBERS
Board President: Michael B. Higgins (Mike)
Mike has been consulting with major US corporations for 18 years and most recently has been a Principal consultant with Organizational Performance Consulting.
Previously, Mike was an Associate Partner in Oliver Wyman's Manufacturing, Technology and Energy practice area with a concentration in aviation and aerospace.
Mike's clients in aviation and aerospace have included Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Southwest Airlines, Bell Helicopter, Vought Aircraft, NexTec Fabricators, AAI Corporation, Rockwell Collins, BREK, Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies, and Mubadala Development Group...
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In addition to clients in the aviation sector, Mike has worked across a variety of other industries including pharmaceuticals, telecommunication and general manufacturing.
In these sectors, his clients included Ameritech, Johnson & Johnson, Synarc, SCAN Health Systems, Research Dynamics, GoJo Industries, Sabre Holdings, Macquaries Investment Bank, and Citi Bank.
Prior to entering the consulting field, Mike spent 20 years in "corporate America" as a Vice President at Bank One Corporation and as a Director at McDonnell Douglas Corporation.
Mike is Co-Owner of Bentley Farms, Higgins Farms in Iowa and Long Straw Ranch in Texas.
Mike is the past President of the United States Helice Association.
He is a past Board Member of the Dallas Gun Club, member of the Planning Committee for Park Cities Quail in Dallas, and past chair for the State Fair of Texas Youth Livestock sporting clay fundraiser.
Formerly, he was President of St. Louis Skeet and Trap Club.
Mike has represented the U.S. at the World Helice Championships during the 90s, participated in three U.S. Olympic Team selection cycles ('76, '80, '84) and has achieved his "Expert" rifle status with the NRA as a youngster.
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Executive Director: Melinda Branchini
In Memoriam
Melinda was an organizational development and human resources specialist and consultant, and co-owner of Organizational Performance Consulting.
Melinda had more than 35 years experience in organizational and leadership performance and the alignment of corporate strategy, culture and performance behavior.
Her expertise included: developing performance-based organizations, executive team building, leadership programs, executive coaching, organization and individual assessments, workforce planning, succession planning and retention strategies.
Prior to founding OrgPC, Melinda held various positions in a large, global consulting firm, and founded a firm that developed an enterprise-wide human resources technology tool that was then sold to a global HR company.
Melinda also had held various management development and strategic planning positions for a nationally-recognized medical center and senior positions within the McDonnell Douglas Corporation (Boeing) in management development and community relations...
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In her community relations role at McDonnell Douglas, she served as Board Secretary/Treasurer for the McDonnell Douglas Foundation and Employee Community Fund.
Melinda was the co-founder and executive director of the Higgins Branchini Shooting Foundation and co-owner of Bentley Farms, Higgins Farms in Iowa, and Long Straw Ranch in Texas.
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HBSF Secretary/Treasurer: Elizabeth Cook (Liz)
Liz is a compensation and human resources specialist and consultant with more than 25 years experience of consulting and management experience in human resources.
Liz specializes in the areas of compensation including: base and variable pay design and administration, merger and acquisition integration, labor union bargaining and cost analysis, performance management, communications, survey development, project management and implementation.
Previously, Liz has held human resource consulting positions with Towers Perrin (Towers Watson), Coopers & Lybrand, and Watson Wyatt Worldwide (Towers Watson)...
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Liz's corporate experience includes: Tenet Healthcare Corporation, InterFirst Corporation and Texas Commerce Bank.
She has worked with clients in the public and private sectors covering a variety of industries that include: high-tech, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, telecommunications, financial, mortgage banking, oil and gas, education, and municipal.
Her clients include: Celanese Corporation, Dell, Fujitsu, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, GTE/Verizon, Alliance Data Systems, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), DFW International Airport, University of Texas Health Science Center, the University of Texas at Austin, the cities of Austin, Texas, Kansas City, Missouri, and San Antonio, Texas.
Liz has partnered with multiple national and international consulting firms including: Watson Wyatt Worldwide (Towers Watson), Deloitte and Touche, Aon Consulting and Huron/Wellspring Partners Consulting.
Liz has a long history of Not-for-Profit board service and is currently a Docent at the Dallas Museum of Art.
She is also a volunteer for Art Reach, a non-profit foundation helping young victims of war, violence, or natural disasters.
She is also a licensed private pilot.
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HBSF Vice President: Steven P. Wirth
Steve started his career in financial services in 1981 as a research associate with a private capital management firm in his hometown of New Athens, Illinois.
In 1985, Steve accepted a position as an account executive with Dean Witter Reynolds and subsequently joined Shearson Lehman Brothers, which later merged with Smith Barney.
Steve and his wealth management team are now with UBS Financial Services, Inc. in Chesterfield, Missouri.
Steve manages customized portfolios of stocks and bonds for individuals and corporations as a Vice President-Investments and Senior Portfolio Manager at UBS.
He developed and refined his portfolio management strategies and techniques over the last fifteen years and uses the same sophisticated research and trading software once reserved for institutional money managers...
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Steve graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana with a degree in history and dual minors in marketing and economics.
In addition to being an enthusiastic supporter of the St. Louis Symphony, he enjoys hunting, fishing and clay target sports.
He is a past president of St. Louis Skeet & Trap Club and has been an active International Trap competitor for many years.
One of Steve's passions is coaching both high school and collegiate clay target athletes.
He is the International Trap coach at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri and a member of the Collegiate Competitions Committee for the National Rifle Association.
He also is president of the St. Louis chapter of Quail Forever, which donates a portion of the revenue generated by the chapter each year to support youth shooting programs.
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Board Member: Bruce Foster
Bruce is a new addition to the Foundation Board, bringing with him a lifetime of experience in investment banking, accounting, finance, budgeting, financial analysis, derivatives, and foreign exchange.
Bruce has been a financial analyst for Shell Oil Company, researching A/P and A/R differences between Shell and other oil companies with whom they had joint ventures.
He has managed monthly royalty payments of $70 million (1979 dollars).
He has also served as Director of Finance for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, running the administrative and financial operations of the national headquarters.
In this capacity, he worked with BOD and endowment trustees.
He has also managed all budgeting, payroll, insurance, and student loan program — overseeing an annual budget of $3 million and endowment of $50 million (1982 dollars)...
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In his work with Household International, Bruce held various positions in the treasury department and managed mortgage portfolio, issuance of mortgage-backed securities, managed commercial paper portfolio issued directly to institutional investors ($13 bln), bond issuance ($15 bln annually), and oversaw the foreign exchange and derivatives hedging program.
As Managing Director at HSBC, Bruce dealt with corporate CFOs and Treasurers regarding their debt issuance needs and took their deals to market.
On the MBS desk, he worked with CFOs and Treasurers to issue mortgage-backed securities and managed mortgage servicers who serviced transactions in which HSBC held residual interests.
Bruce is married with two grown children and 2 grandchildren. He and his wife like to travel and golf. Bruce also enjoys shotgun shooting and hunting.
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Board Member: Shea Self
Shea's shooting career did not start with shotguns; that came later.
She actually started off as a pistol shooter because that's what her parents did.
Her parents started teaching her to shoot pistols around the age of six or seven, and she became competitive at the age of ten.
Participation in shooting pistol competitions led to the opportunity to shoot for Team Smith and Wesson in the Sportsman's Team Challenge event.
One of the events in the challenge was shotgun, and she had never shot that before.
Her father took her out to the local gun club to shoot skeet and, after that, she was hooked...
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Since then, Shea has been shooting shotgun sports for the past ten years.
During that time, she graduated with an Agribusiness degree with a minor in Russian from Texas A&M.
One of the youngest members of the Board, Shea nonetheless brings a wealth of experience to this position.
Some of her more noteworthy accomplishments include:
- 2016 World Cup Silver Medalist - Helice
- 2015 World Championship U.S. Women's Helice Team Gold Medalist
- 2015 World Championship Ladies Silver Medalist - Helice
- 2015 North American Helice Champion for Women
- 2014 U.S. Women's Team World Championship Gold
- 2014 Women's Helice Texas State Champion
- 2013 National Collegiate Champion in Sporting Clays
- 2012 Texas All State NSCA Team member
- 2011 NSCA member of the All American Team Being a Texas State 4-H Shooting Ambassador
Shea lives in Dallas, Texas.
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Board Member: Mimi Wilfong
Mimi has more than 15 years of experience with clay target shooting organizations and competitions.
She has served as a USA Shooting Team Member, a USHA Team member, and on the board of the United States Helice Association.
In addition, she is involved with educational shooting programs and fundraisers.
Mimi started shooting clay targets when she was 14 in the Texas 4-H program and immediately fell in love with competitive shooting.
During high school and her undergraduate program at Texas A&M, she shot on the USA Shooting team, making the National Team in trap.
She also began shooting helice and has traveled around the world for competitions.
Recently, she has helped to successfully plan and execute the 2017 World Helice Championships at the Dallas Gun Club...
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Mimi now serves as the president of the United States Helice Association and in advisory roles with multiple shooting organizations that promote the shooting sports to women and youth.
She lives in Irving, Texas, where she works as a strategist.
Mimi has a degree in marketing with a minor in communication from Texas A&M, with certificates in retailing and international business, a MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and a Masters in Engineering Management from Southern Methodist University.
Shooting accomplishments:
- 3x Helice World Cup Champion
- 3x Helice World Champion
- 3x Helice European Champion
- USHA National Champion (multiple)
- USA Shooting National Champion - Trap
- USA Shooting National Jr. Olympic Champion - Trap
- USA Shooting National Jr. Olympic Champion - Double Trap
- ACUI National Champion - International Trap
- 3x ACUI National Team Champion - International Trap
- ACUI National Champion - American Skeet
- FITASC World Cup Silver medalist
- 3x World Shooting Championships
- World Shotgun Championships (Jr. Team broke World Record)
- 4x FITASC World Championships Team
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