Jack Ewing is an adjunct professor of economics at the University of Houston, Houston Community College and North Harris College. He is the former Executive Director of the Japan-America Society of Houston. He has been actively involved in the Houston international business scene through trade consulting with Houston International Affairs and as President of Vuepoint-Texas, a pioneering computer-based training company. He was one of the early developers of The Greater Houston Partnership where he was responsible for international trade development: managing inbound and outbound trade missions, promoting trade development strategy and infrastructure, and assisting Houston companies expand imports and exports.

Prior to joining the Greater Houston Partnership, he founded and managed his own trading company after a seventeen-year career with Gulf Oil Corporation and Chevron. There he held a variety of positions with Gulf Oil Asia, Corporate Business Development, and Gulf Oil Trading Company, where he headed the company's Strategic Planning and Business Development Department. He was also a professor at the University of Maryland's Far East Division in Japan where he taught in the Political Science and Economics Departments. He has also served in a variety of positions in the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Information Agency, and the U.S. Senate. He holds a Master's in International Affairs from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History from the University of Mississippi.

Mr. Akard, is a solo practice Attorney-C.P.A. who is "of Counsel" to the law firm of Mason, Coplen, & Banks, P.C. He is licensed by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy, admitted to practice by the State Bar of Texas, United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After receiving his B.B.A. in Accounting from Texas A & M University in 1988, Mr. Akard worked as a senior staff auditor with Arthur Andersen & Co. While there, his clients included SEC regulated, publicly traded companies and small start-up businesses primarily in the telecommunications, regulated utilities and high-tech industries. He subsequently received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Texas Tech University. Mr. Akard is a member of the State Bar of Texas and its Bankruptcy and Real Estate, Probate & Trust Sections, the Houston Bar Association ("HBA"), and its Estate Planning and Probate and Bankruptcy Sections, the American Association of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants ("AAA-CPA"), the Houston Estate and Financial Forum, the Texas Society of CPAs and the Houston Sigma Chi Alumni Chapter. Mr. Akard currently serves as Treasurer and Director of the AAA-CPA and is Treasurer for St. Mary's Episcopal Church Cypress, Texas. He also previously served as President of the Texas Chapter and Director at Large for AAA-CPA, President and Treasurer of the Aggie Sigma Chi House Corporation (a non-profit corporation), Chair of the HBA Law Library Committee and President of the Dallas Sigma Chi Alumni Chapter.

Kathleen Kelly founded International Protocol Advisors in 1993 to assist corporations in establishing and maintaining a positive working relationship with foreign government officials. Drawing on a unique background of political risk analysis and protocol, Mrs. Kelly handles the nuts and bolts of these interactions through a variety of services from market intelligence and positioning to briefing papers and organizing visits of senior (ambassador level and higher) foreign government leaders to training and protocol. Clients include international energy companies, business organizations and not-for-profit organizations specializing in international development.

Before forming her company, Mrs. Kelly headed the Houston International Protocol Alliance where she acted as Chief of Protocol for the City of Houston for more than five years. Operating under contract to the City of Houston, the Protocol Alliance was responsible for greeting international visitors of ambassador rank and higher, promoting the city's relationship with international business and civic associations, liaison with the 54 member consular corps, and international visitors. She created a Consular Task Force in 1992 to systematically encourage consular representation in Houston. During her tenure there, Mrs. Kelly played an active role in the organization of the G-7 meeting in Houston, the Republican National Convention in Houston and the visit of such important dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth II, and heads of state and government from more than 50 countries.

Prior to joining the Protocol Alliance, Mrs. Kelly acquired a strong background in international business relations through her work at Business International Corporation, an international business publishing, consulting and training firm. She then worked for United Energy Resources doing risk analysis for their European investments and as Manager of Special Projects International for their UK subsidiary. Later, Mrs. Kelly formed Interisk, Inc., to develop country risk analyses for clients with interests in oil producing countries.

Mrs. Kelly serves as Honorary Consul for New Zealand in Houston, appointed by The Honorable James Bolger, Prime Minister of New Zealand in 1995. She is also active in the community and serves on a number of boards including the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations, the Houston World Affairs Council, Theotokos and the Bolivian Charity Foundation. She is a past secretary and member of the Executive Committee of the Consular Corps of Houston. Mrs. Kelly is the first (and to date only) woman to have served as chair of the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations. She is also a member of the Business Council for International Understanding.

Mrs. Kelly has received a number of professional recognitions over the years for her work. Among them, she was has been presented with special certificates of merit from the government of Bolivia, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Secretary of Treasury, U.S. Secret Service and several special merit awards for her work at Amoco. She has lectured widely and has been a guest on a number of television programs. She has also been featured in a number of articles in newspapers (Houston Chronicle, Houston Business Journal) and magazines (Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Greater Houston Partnership At Work). She appears in the 2001 edition of Who's Who in the World.

Her parents, Drs. Edward W. and Beatrice F. Dennis were physicians at the Texas Medical Center. Mrs. Kelly previously served on the Institutional Review Board of Park Plaza Hospital and is active in the annual Edward W. Dennis, M.D. Lecture Series in Cardiology at Baylor. She holds a BA in History and European Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She also studied at the Université de Strasbourg, France.

Mr. Scharar is the Senior Portfolio Manager of Commonwealth's Australia/New Zealand, Japan, Global and Real Estate Securities Funds. Mr. Scharar is President and Director of FCA Corp, based in Houston, Texas, and has primarily worked in this capacity during the past several years.

Mr. Scharar earned a Masters of Business Administration and a Juris Doctorate from Northeastern University, a LLM (masters of law) in Taxation from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Science Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Florida. Previously, he has served as an accounting professor at Bentley and Nichols Colleges.

Mr. Scharar is a member of the Florida and Massachusetts Bars; and is a Certified Public Accountant (Florida). Mr. Scharar is a Director and past President of the American Association of Attorney-CPAs. He is a Director of Blantyre Hotels Corp., NICO Holdings Corp., and a Manager/Director and/or Officer of Vintech Investors LLC, Africap LLC, FCA Investments Co., First Commonwealth Holdings Corp., First Commonwealth Mortgage Trust, Holly Mortgage Trust, Ivy Realty Trust, Scottsdale Canal Project LLC, Heights of Tampa, LLC, and other closely held FCA advised entities and non-FCA related entities.

Steve has more than 30 years experience in general financial management, corporate development, strategic planning, corporate finance, and investment management.

Since 2004, Steve has served as the Chief Compliance Officer of Commonwealth International Series Trust.  During this period, Steve has organized and led the compliance function of the Funds in a changing regulatory environment. 

Prior investment management experience includes:

• Chairing the investment committee of the pension fund, acting as treasurer of the U.S. affiliate and assistant treasurer of banking of an international oil company, where he directed the investments of multi-billion dollar money market and fixed income portfolios and foreign exchange positions;
• Serving as vice president of another international oil company, Steve served as chairman of the pension committee which included defined benefit pensions and 401(k) plans;
• Serving as vice president of business development and treasurer of a chemical company, where he directed the investment activity of corporate liquidity as well as serving as the principal financial planner of the firm’s pension committee. 

Steve has an MBA from the University of Kentucky.