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- (L-R): Keith Belcher, Ellon Ferrantello, Patricia McNutt, Diane Cooper, Sue Francis, Louise Ogden, Manuel DeBusk, and Jean DeBusk – February 24, 1992
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- February 28, 2000
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- May 20, 2013
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- June 22, 2015
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- June 20, 2016
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- June 20, 2017
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- June 26, 2018
Timeline of DF Board Members 1979-2020
Dr. Miranda Bennett
President
Dr. Miranda Henry Bennett serves as Associate Dean for Collections at the University of South Carolina Libraries. Educated at Rice University (B.A.), University of Virginia (M.A. and Ph.D.), and Indiana University (M.L.S), she began her career at the University of Houston Libraries, where she worked from 2005 to 2017. She is active in several professional associations, including the American Theological Library Association and the American Library Association, and has participated in a number of national leadership development programs for librarians and higher education professionals. The granddaughter of Manuel DeBusk’s second wife, Jean Henry DeBusk, Miranda worked with DECATS in Houston while in college and is delighted to steward her grandmother’s rich legacy of love for learning by serving on the DeBusk Foundation board. Miranda has been married to Micah Bennett since 2006, and they are the proud and tired parents of three energetic young sons.
J. Michael (Mike) Tibbals
Vice President
Mike Tibbals was educated in Texas public schools and graduated from Baylor University with a Law degree. He is a partner in the law firm Snell, Wylie, Tibbals. Mike serves on the Board of Advisors of Baylor Law Alumni Association. Memberships include American and Texas Bank, Dallas Mortgage Bankers Association, Texas Association of Bank Council, College of State Bar of Texas and Texas Land Title Association. He has had various speaking engagements.
Keith Belcher
Treasurer/Secretary/Finance Chair
Mr. Belcher was educated in Missouri public schools and graduated from Southern Methodist University with degrees in Business Administration and Economics. Upon graduation in 1982 he entered the banking field with InterFirst Bank in Dallas and subsequently moved into the management and resolution of distressed real estate debt with the Federal Asset Disposition Association. He later held numerous senior management positions with J.E. Robert Company over a 22 year career with a focus on the investment, management, and disposition of real estate assets and portfolios.
Dr. Janette Boazman
Grants Chair/Board Member
Dr. Janette Boazman serves as Associate Professor of Education at University of Dallas. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, and a Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology. In both of her advanced degrees, Dr. Boazman specialized in gifted education and the needs of gifted individuals. Her research centers on the personal and psychological well-being of the gifted and she readily presents her research and publishes her work nationally. Before joining the DeBusk Foundation Board of Directors, Dr. Boazman taught in both the Junior and Senior DECATS programs in Dallas. In addition to the work she has done as a teacher in the DECATS programs and is doing as a DeBusk Foundation Board of Directors member, she holds leadership positions in the National Association for Gifted Children and is the representative for gifted learners on the National Catholic Education Association’s Exceptional Learner Council. She is married to Michael Boazman and is a mother of a gifted son who is a Roman Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. She is an advocate for all gifted individuals.
John Barone
Liaison to Programs/Board Member
John Barone received his B.A. in Education from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, and his M.A. in Private School Administration from the University of San Francisco. He has extensive background in child and adolescent development, gifted education, teacher training and teaching students with neurological differences. John has served as a DECATS mentor and Program Director since 1994. He currently serves as the Director of The Learning Resource Center at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory. He is the author of A Place for All: Ministry for Youth with Special Needs and is co-author of The Adaptive Teacher: Faith-based Strategies to Reach and Teach Learners with Disabilities.
Dr. Diane Cooper
Advisory Board
Dr. Diane Cooper received a BA in English and Education at St. Joseph College, an M.Ed. at the University of North Texas, and an Ed.D. in private school administration at the University of San Francisco. She was a secondary English teacher and department chair for 10 years, and then served as Head of School/Principal for 38 years at five different schools (two in Dallas, TX, one in Vero Beach, Fl., one in Columbus, OH, and most recently in St. Louis, MO). She also served as Director of Clinical Education and as an Assistant Professor of Education at Webster University, St. Louis, MO. Though retired, she currently works part-time as an adjunct Associate Professor at Webster University, supervising student teachers in the field. Diane founded DECATS (DeBusk Enrichment Center for Academically Talented Students) in 1988 at the Immaculate Conception School in Grand Prairie, Texas. She was a frequent speaker on gifted education at educational conferences. The National Catholic Education Association honored her as a National Distinguished Principal in 1990. In 1991, the US Department of Education also honored her as National Distinguished Principal. She served on the Executive Board of the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA), and on the Executive Board of the Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS), and as President of the Ohio Association of Independent Schools (OAIS). She currently serves on the Principals Panel of the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) in Washington, DC. Diane has been married to her husband Charles Cooper since 1968. They have a son and a daughter, and three grandchildren.
Dr. Marty Webb
Advisory Board
Dr. Marty Webb received her Ed.D in private school leadership from The University of San Francisco. She holds a BS in special education from the University of Michigan and an M.Ed. in educational administration from Houston Baptist University. She has been a special education teacher, private tutor, consultant, college instructor and principal. Dr. Webb served for 17 years as principal of Corpus Christi Catholic School in Houston, a United States Department of Education Blue Ribbon School. She is the Founder of The Monarch Institute in Houston, which serves individuals with neurological differences and includes a therapeutic day school, diagnostic clinic, therapy services, training center, replication program and transition services (monarchinstitute.org). She and her deceased husband Eugene, are the parents of four grown children and sixteen grandchildren.
