The nine members of the Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute External Advisory Board met to discuss the progress and development of the Institute Tuesday, November 14, 2017.
Convened by Ioannis Kakadiaris, Ph.D., director of the BTI Institute, the EAD is composed of public leaders with significant expertise in border and coastal security, immigration and trade issues. They serve to assist the Institute’s leaders in planning, research, technology and market development.
The discussion revolved around the vision of the Institute and the greatest impact that the Institute can have to inform public policy and business operations at the borders.
The needs of the operators must be known, and then research leads to developed technology that can meet those needs, said Kakadiaris.
The EAB members are David Aguilar, former acting commissioner of U. S. Customs and Border Protection; Alan Bersin, chairman of the EAB and former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Gustavo Mohar Betancourt, former undersecretary for Migration, Population and Religious Affairs at the Interior Ministry in Mexico; Maria Luisa Boyce, former senior advisor for CBP to the Commissioner for Trade and Private Sector Engagement; Dane Egli, Ph.D., former director for Counterterrorism & Global Counternarcotics with the National Security Council staff for the White House; Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez, chairman of the Southwest Border Sherriff’s Coalition; Luc Portelance, former president of the Canada Border Services Agency; Jon Spaner, retired U.S. Coast Guard Captain and former sector commander of the Port of San Diego; and Julie Myers Wood, former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Borders, Trade and Immigration Institute is a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence led by the University of Houston. We are problem solvers that partner the Nation’s finest researchers and scientists with experienced subject matter experts to develop innovative solutions to operational issues and concerns.

The members of the Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute External Advisory Board. (L-R) Gustavo Mohar Betancourt, David Aguilar, Alan Bersin, Dane Egli, Ioannis Kakadiaris, Maria Luisa Boyce, Luc Portelance, Jon Spaner, Sheriff Jose Francisco. Julie Myers Wood (not picture) joined by phone