47th Annual Scholarship Awards Program
We invite you to support Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association of Greater Houston’s 47th Annual Scholarship Awards Program in 2021 as we award college scholarships to over 65 outstanding graduating seniors. This year, we are replacing our annual scholarship dinner with a special pre-recorded scholarship program, as we do not yet know what social restrictions Spring of 2021 may bring.
Since 1972, our Association has actively promoted and recognized academic achievement in the Houston area. In 2020, despite the cancellation of the 46th Annual Scholarship Awards Dinner due to COVID-19, the Association was able to fulfill its commitment and sixty-four outstanding seniors from high schools in the greater Houston area were awarded $4,000 scholarships.
Aubrey Meyer Farb
Sept 26, 1922 – Jan 19, 2020
Outstanding Phi Beta Kappa Alumnus
This year, the Association will honor the late Aubrey Meyer Farb, elected to PBK as a junior at Rice (Institute) University and who graduated in 1942 at the age of 19. Selected by the U.S. Marine Corps for the Navy Japanese Language School at the University of Colorado, he proudly served in WWII as a Japanese language officer stationed at Guam and Iwo Jima. Farb went on to earn his Masters degree in accounting from Columbia University and had successful career in business, real estate and investments. A valued Association member and supporter for decades on the local and national levels, Farb was the epitome of the Greatest Generation whose calling cards were love of family, educational excellence, philanthropy, hard work, and the highest degree of ethics.
The long-time Houstonian applied his business acumen to invest his time, talents, and resources to support many local causes, serving on the Houston boards of Planned Parenthood, Family Service Center, YWCA, San Jacinto Girl Scouts, Child Builders, Houston Symphony, Boys & Girls Clubs, Congregation Emanu El, and our Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association.
Aubrey M. Farb, Class of ’42, proudly holds his diploma from Rice University, which was then Rice Institute
Outstanding Contribution to Education Honoree Kathy Heinzerling
Kathy Heinzerling has been an active educator in many roles for over 40 years. She started as a teacher with an experiential school in Boulder, Colorado, where she spent 2 years with young people who were taking a year off after high school before starting college. Her next role was as co-director of the Chinquapin Preparatory School near Houston from 1883 – 2009, where she and her husband Bill worked with high-achieving, underserved students in 6th – 12th grades, making sure that each of them had the academic support and guidance to make it to and through college.
She has been the Executive Director of Breakthrough Houston since her departure from Chinquapin in 2009.
At Breakthrough Houston, Kathy has served as Program Director as well as Executive Director, has been responsible for growing the program from one location to three, and has pushed the program into independent 501c3 status.
Kathy has a B.S. and an M.S. in Biology from the University of St. Louis and has taught science in her various roles as an educator, alongside her administrative work. She has four sons, all of whom have graduated from college and live in various parts of the country. She enjoys her time travelling and visiting her six grandchildren.
R. Cullen Powell
Honorary Chairman
R. Cullen Powell will serve as our Dinner Chairman. Cullen is chief executive officer and a director of Legacy Trust Company, N.A. Prior to his time at Legacy, Cullen spent 13 years with Wells Fargo’s Commercial Real Estate Group. Cullen received his B.A. degree from Northwestern University with a double major in history and international studies. He received his MBA from McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin with a concentration in real estate finance. Cullen is a member of the Urban Land Institute as well as serving as an advisory board member for the Powell Foundation.
Please consider supporting the Scholarship Awards program. Students across our area are working hard to realize their college hopes. Your generous contribution at the $3,500 level or above will directly help those students move forward to grasp their dreams.
Chairmen Anna and Brad Eastman
Anna Eastman has been an active member of the Houston community since moving to the Houston Heights with her family twenty-one years ago. She represented the 148th district in the Texas House of Representatives in 2020.
Anna served on the Houston Independent School District Board of Education from 2010–2017. During her tenure, she served as Board President and Chair of the Internal Audit Committee. She, with her colleagues, was instrumental in college access initiatives across the District.
Anna is a fighter for students—from working to ensure district funds were spent at the campus level by high quality leaders to supporting policies designed to ensure all children are educated to their fullest potential.
Anna currently serves on the Breakthrough Houston Board of Directors; The Woods Project Board; Holocaust Museum Houston’s Education Committee; and the board of the Houston Grand Opera’s education and community outreach arm, HGOco. She also consults with a variety of organizations as an educational researcher and policy analyst.
In 2002, Anna co-founded the 11 ½ Street Foundation, which recognizes outstanding veteran teachers and awards college scholarships to at-risk children who have graduated from Heights and Northside High Schools. She received the 2012 GLBT Caucus Eleanor Tinsley Distinguished Community Ally Award, was the 2015 Ally Grand Marshall for Houston Pride, and was named the National Association for Social Workers 2016 State Elected Official of the Year. She served on the Teach for America Houston Region Board and the board of Undies for Everyone.
Anna and her husband, Brad, have three children who either attend or have graduated from schools in the Houston Independent School District. All of the Eastmans have a deep love of education, the outdoors, and the arts.
Brad Eastman manages RigNet’s legal function, serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. He brings more than 25 years of legal experience focused on providing corporate, securities, and general legal advice to public companies with operations across the globe. Most recently, Brad served as General Counsel of the Cameron Group of Schlumberger Limited following Schlumberger’s acquisition of Cameron International in 2016. Prior to the acquisition, Brad acted as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Cameron International. Before his role at Cameron, Brad held the positions of Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Input/Output, Inc. and Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel of Quanta Services in Houston, Texas. Brad began his legal career as a law clerk for the Western District of Texas before joining the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City as an associate in the firm’s corporate group and later joined the law firm of Brobeck, Phelger & Harrison in Austin, Texas.
Brad received his J.D. cum laude from Harvard University and his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin’s Liberal Arts Honors Program (Plan II), where he was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Brad is a trustee of the Houston Grand Opera, a member of the Advisory Board of Holocaust Museum Houston, and enjoys music and reading history.
