 | J. Kent FriedmanChairman of the BoardJoint Appointment - City and CountyOriginally appointed 08/31/2003 Term expires 08/31/2009 |
Mr. Friedman is the Vice Chairman of the Board and General Counsel of MAXXAM, Inc., a publicly traded holding company with diverse interests ranging from real estate development in Palm Springs, Scottsdale and Puerto Rico to a timber company in Northern California and horse and dog tracks in Texas. He grew up in Biloxi, Mississippi, where he was President of the Mississippi Association of Student Councils. He attended Tulane University on a baseball scholarship, receiving a B.B.A. degree in 1966 and a LL.B. degree in 1967. In addition, he received a LL.M. degree in Taxation from Boston University in 1968. He is married to Dr. Ann Friedman, and has five children, Beth, Alison, Brent, Andrew and Ryan.
Between 1968 and 1982, Kenny practiced law with the firm of Butler, Binion, Rice, Cook & Knapp. On February 1, 1982, he joined with several friends to form the firm formerly known as Mayor, Day, Caldwell & Keeton. He was the firm's managing partner from its formation until 1992, and presided over the firm's growth from inception to over 75 lawyers. His practice has been primarily in the corporate and tax areas, and he has represented a number of highly successful entrepreneurs. When former Mayor Bob Lanier was elected in 1992, he asked Kenny to be the Trustee of the blind trust he established to hold his assets, and for the 6 years Bob Lanier was the Mayor of Houston, Kenny was in charge of running his various business interests.
He is currently the President of the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Internship Foundation, which sends inner-city students to the Holy Land each summer. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Hermann Park Conservancy, the Board of the Harris County Precinct One Street Olympics and the Leo Baeck Education Center Foundation. He is a member of the American, Texas and Houston Bar Associations, and a Fellow of the Houston Bar Foundation.
He has previously served as a member of the Board of Regents of Texas Southern University and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Houston Symphony. In addition, he has served as Chairman of the Board of Friends of Hermann Park, President of the Foundation for Jones Hall, President of the Southwest Region of the American Jewish Committee, Co-Chairman of the Greater Houston Inner City Games and Chairman of the Community Relation Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston. He has also served on the Boards of the Houston Area Women's Center, Houston Interfaith Ministries, Anti-Defamation League and Houston Proud.
Among various awards and honors he has received, The Houston Bar Association Auxiliary in 1999 presented Kenny with the prestigious "Leon Jaworski Award", which is given annually to that member of the Houston Bar Association who is deemed to have made the most significant contributions to the civic and cultural life of Houston.
