Applications for the 2026 appointment process have been closed.

Felix Mira (founding member)

Felix Mira serves Chief Operating Officer of Newstream Companies, where he oversees the company’s restaurant, hotel and real estate operations. Mr. Mira is a licensed Realtor, and together with his wife Lori, also a licensed Realtor, owns Mira Partners, Inc., a residential Real Estate business.

In addition to serving on the Chief’s Advisory Council, Mr. Mira serves on Keller Independent School District’s Career and Technology Education Advisory Board, KISD’s Bond Oversight Committee, as Vice Chair of the City of Keller Parks and Recreation Board, as Charter President and a member of the Golden Triangle Rotary Club, and as a Parish Council Member, Acolyte and usher for Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church.

Mr. Mira is also a 4th Degree Member of the Knights of Columbus and serves on the Spokes 4 Hope charity advisory board and the Mount Gilead Cemetery Association board of directors. Mr. and Mrs. Mira live in Keller with their three children: Isabella, Joey and Sophia.

Bodie Carroll (KISD Ex Officio Member)

Bodie Carroll serves as the Director of Career and Technical Education (CTE) at Keller ISD. With an impressive 12-year career in education, he has spent eight of those years dedicated to Keller ISD, starting as a teacher, then moving up as a coordinator, and finally reaching the position of director. In his current role, Bodie's leadership is focused on helping students prepare for college and career readiness. This is achieved through various initiatives, including 34 CTE programs of study, internships and apprenticeships, industry certifications, and fostering essential soft skills and workforce readiness.

Bodie's connection to Keller ISD runs deeper, as he and his wife Lauren, who have been married for 12 years, both grew up just south of the metroplex and obtained their degrees from Texas A&M University. Their shared roots reflect their commitment to the community they serve. Furthermore, Bodie and Lauren are proud parents of three children, Leyton, Parker, and Breck, all of whom either attend or will soon attend schools within Keller ISD.

Beyond his professional and family commitments, Bodie is an active member of Milestone Church, where he regularly attends services and contributes through volunteering and service.

Jay Patel 

Dr. Jay Patel is a practicing surgeon in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He is the founder and managing partner of one of the largest surgical groups in the Metroplex, North Texas Surgical Specialists. His scope of practice includes trauma/acute care general surgery, surgical oncology, and bariatric surgery. North Texas Surgical Specialists, and it's 15 surgeons, are involved heavily in the area by running and administering the three Level 3 Trauma Centers immediately adjacent to Keller. These include Medical City North Hills, Medical City Alliance, and Texas Health Harris Methodist Alliance.

Jay is involved in several hospital leadership roles. These include him being the Chairman of the Department of Surgery and the Medical Director of Robotic Surgery at Medical City of Fort Worth. He is also a member of the Medical Executive Committee at that Facility. Dr. Patel's professional memberships include the American College of Surgeries and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

During his free time, Jay enjoys spending time traveling with his friends and family. He and his wife Sheela, have two young kids that attend Carroll Elementary School. They have been living in the Keller community since 2016. 

Roy Samuel

Originally from the Northeast, Roy Samuel lives in Keller with his wife and two children having relocated in 2017.

Roy's career has spanned multiple Fortune 500 companies across the technology, financial services, and telecom sectors over the last 20 years. In addition, Roy serves as one of the Elders at Bear Creek Bible Church in Keller.

Roy is a graduate of NYU's Tandon School of Engineering with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. In his downtime, Roy enjoys spending time with his family, playing sports, traveling, and discovering new culinary experiences.

Jason Miller

Jason Miller has lived with his family in the Fort Worth area since 1987 where he has raised 2 adult daughters and is currently raising a third daughter who attends Westlake Academy.  He and his wife have lived in Keller since 2023 and have found it to be the perfect community to stay close and connected with their extended family, owing much to the quiet suburban to rural atmosphere with easy access to the larger metropolitan area.

Jason has 25 years’ experience in enterprise information technology leadership and currently manages the cloud infrastructure for a Dallas-based logistics firm, where he leads a team of top notch engineers to provide cost-effective, reliable service.  This experience, along with his time as a Chaplain's Assistant with the Texas Army National Guard has taught him to avoid snap judgements, listen and collect information, and consult with experts to find durable, customer-focused solutions.

Kathy Boyle

Kathy Boyle is a former CPA and Consultant. In addition to big 4 accounting firm experience, she was a partner in two separate Texas-based consulting firms that she and her partners built and sold to larger national firms. Kathy and her husband David, an executive, reside in Keller and are shareholders in a number of small businesses. Originally from Arizona, she has been in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 1988 and Keller since 1997. She graduated cum laude from the University of Texas at Arlington in December of 1993 with a BBA in Accounting, and passed the Texas CPA exam in May of 1994.

After being raised in Keller, her son is now a police officer in her home town of Prescott, AZ and her daughter is in the orthopedic trauma division of a large medical device company in Flagstaff, AZ. Kathy has fostered, transported and adopted a number of dogs through organizations such as Animal Advocates of North Texas, Citizen’s League for Animal Welfare, and DFW Lab Rescue. Her current dog was adopted from the Keller shelter in 2019.

Through one of her prior consulting firms, she was a member of Entrepreneurial Foundation of North Texas (EFNT). She was a member of the UTA Department of Accounting Advisory Board from 2012-2022, and is currently a member of Alder, an organization dedicated to generational leadership.

Alex Leonard

Alex Leonard lives in Keller and is a Human Resources professional at Google. He has previously worked in HR in the healthcare and financial services industries supporting employees and advising leaders.

Alex is a graduate of the University of South Carolina Moore School of Business and the University of Texas at Arlington Graduate College of Business.

A native of Fort Worth, Alex and his family chose to move to Keller after relocating back to DFW because of the city’s excellent schools, public safety and high quality of life.

Alex enjoys spending time with his children, traveling to new places, and spending time in the great outdoors. He attends White’s Chapel Methodist Church.

Donna Courtney

Donna Courtney resides in Keller with her husband after moving back to the area in 2022.  She is a retired executive of Southwest Airlines and is enjoying an active life in the Metroplex where she lived for most of her life. 

Donna grew up in Euless, graduated from Trinity High School then earned a degree in Criminal Justice from Tarrant County College.  After pursuing a career in law enforcement, she changed paths to the airline industry in 1977 and joined Southwest Airlines.  In a challenging and rewarding career, she held senior and executive leadership positions and assisted in the growth of the company. At Southwest she was responsible for airport operations, Leadership and Cultural development, and a member of the Executive Planning Committee reporting to the CEO.  She managed all ground operations and flight attendant personnel and ensured the hiring of the right people to meet the standards and culture of the company.

She retired from her position as Executive Vice-President Customer Service after thirty-one years.

After retirement, she and her husband relocated to New Mexico for a few years and then decided it was time to move back to Texas.  First to Georgetown where she was a member of the Transportation Committee for the city and  attended the Citizen Police Academy. Then the decision to be closer to family brought them back to the Metroplex and Keller almost three years ago.  With grandchildren in Bartonville and Colleyville, Keller is the perfect location.  

Chip Burns

Chip Burns and his family have lived in Keller since 2004. He has been a Professor of Criminal Justice at Texas Christian University (TCU) since 1997 and is the author of ten books and more than 75 scholarly articles on a wide range of criminal justice topics, with law enforcement being one of his primary areas of specialization. He has taught four different law enforcement courses and has served as a department chair and president of the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice.

Chip earned his degrees from the University of South Carolina and Florida State University. He has spent his entire professional career at TCU, where he remains actively involved in teaching, research, professional service, and academic writing. He also provides leadership training to local law enforcement agencies and is a member of several criminal justice-focused organizations.

Outside of his professional activities, Chip enjoys spending time with his family, taking long walks, traveling, and cycling.

Joseph McLaughlin

Joseph has spent most of his life in Texas and grew up in Wichita Falls. He and his family moved to Keller in 2016. His two oldest children are graduates of Keller High School, and his youngest currently attends Indian Springs Middle School. The Keller community has become an important part of his family’s life, both through his wife’s career as a Keller ISD educator and their involvement in the community. Joseph values Keller’s strong sense of community, family-focused atmosphere, and civic pride.

Joseph brings more than 20 years of combined military and civilian public service experience. He currently serves in the Texas Army National Guard and works as a Senior Security Specialist with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Throughout his career, he has developed extensive experience in leadership, strategic planning, operations, conflict resolution, mediation, and organizational decision-making. His military and federal service have required him to work with people from diverse backgrounds, evaluate complex issues, balance competing priorities, and make fair and well-informed decisions.

Joseph is a graduate of the University of North Texas, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science, a Master of Science in Instructional Design, and a Master of Education in Teaching. His combination of education, military leadership, and government service has shaped an approach centered on professionalism, cooperation, accountability, and respect for others.

Joseph is committed to serving the community he and his family call home and contributing his experience, judgment, and perspective to the continued success of Keller.  

Sal Valdez

Sal Valdez is a longtime Keller resident, U.S. Army veteran, community volunteer, and insurance professional. He currently serves in a leadership role with Zurich North America, managing a team of marine claims professionals and handling complex claims, investigations, risk analysis, and decision-making. His experience has strengthened his ability to evaluate facts objectively, consider different perspectives, and find fair and practical resolutions.

Prior to his career in insurance, Sal served in the United States Army as a medic, where he developed a strong commitment to service, accountability, and teamwork.

Sal has been actively involved in the Keller community for nearly a decade, including work with local nonprofits focused on enhancing family-oriented community amenities and supporting local families and youth.

His interest in public safety is rooted in a belief that residents should feel heard, respected, and confident in the systems that serve them. He believes strong relationships between law enforcement and the community are built through communication, transparency, accountability, and mutual respect.

Sal and his wife Courtney are raising their family in Keller and have chosen to make the community their long-term home. In his free time, he enjoys watching his children compete in club soccer and gymnastics, traveling with his family, and serving the Keller community.  

Jennifer Whitten

Jennifer Whitten serves as a Transformation and Governance Executive for global firms across North Texas, bringing years of strategic leadership and organizational expertise to her work. She and her family have called Keller home since the early 2000s, putting down deep roots in the community they love.

Jennifer is married with two adult sons, both of whom came up through the Keller ISD school system, giving her firsthand insight into the community's schools, families, and neighborhoods. She holds a degree in Organizational Leadership from the University of Oklahoma, where she graduated with a 4.0 GPA, focusing her studies on transformation and governance.

Outside of her professional life, Jennifer enjoys baking, spending quality time with her family, and caring for her three "fuzzy kids".