The Greater Houston Partnership celebrates our members making important announcements and sharing news about their operations and impact in our community. Learn more about some of those announcements over the last month below.

In a $1.3 billion acquisition, BP purchased Ohio-based TravelCenters of America, the nationwide operator and franchisor of the TA, Petro Stopping Centers and TA Express travel center brands.  The deal will add approximately 280 sites across 44 states to BP's portfolio. 

Houston Grand Opera welcomed a $22 million gift - the largest gift in its 68-year history - from Sarah and Ernest Butler, an Austin-based couple who have been subscribers for 35 years and attendees for even longer. The company also announced its training program for young artists has been renamed the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio.

Houston Methodist recently granted $6.8 million to local non-profit organizations as part of the Community Benefits Grant Program. This year, these nonprofits will give access to health care services to more than 188,000 individuals in underserved communities in the Greater Houston area.

Kingwood-based human resources service provider Insperity Inc. broke records in 2022, the company said during its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings report. Insperity reported full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $325.29 million, an increase of 17.6% from $254.94 million in 2021 and a new record.

NASA and its international partners have approved the crew for Axiom Space’s second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2). The Ax-2 crew will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and travel to the space station. Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend 10 days aboard the orbiting laboratory implementing a full mission of science, outreach, and commercial activities.

Rice University announced that its Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, or Lilie, has established a new startup accelerator program called the Summer Venture Studio. The accepted students will work full-time with Lilie's one-on-one mentorship, programming, and up to $15,000 in equity-free funding per team — all provided in a dedicated coworking space.

New York-based Skanska USA Commercial’s 1550 on the Green project has officially topped out, marking an important milestone for the closely watched 28-story office tower adjacent to Discovery Green downtown. When it is completed later this year, the 375,000-square-foot building will feature 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. 

Texas Southern University is asking the Legislature for almost $1 billion to correct decades of underfunding to the historically Black university, amongst the high number of requests from higher education institutions hoping to receive a share of the state’s $33 billion budget surplus. The budget request — for amounts beyond the state’s allocation to TSU based on credit hours — includes $414 million for new academic programs, including a Thurgood Marshall Advanced Legal Studies Institute and a Consortium for Biomedical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences.

The Children's Museum received a $2.5 million grant through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative for a religion-themed exhibit opening in 2024. The exhibit, which has been named the Faithful Friends exhibit, will feature six faith traditions when it opens the summer of next year. The exhibit will remain in the museum's cultural gallery for two years and join a rotation of five cultural exhibits at the museum afterward.

University of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business has teamed up with semiconductor chip manufacturer Intel Corp. to provide training in artificial intelligence. The new artificial intelligence program features a standalone business certificate with two specialized courses; the first course launched in January. Bauer also plans to offer non-degree certificate programs in AI, such as the AI Certificate for Entrepreneurship and AI Certificate for Executive Education.

Wells Fargo plans to grow the number of people on its commercial team throughout the year to meet the increasing demand for services. Whitney Wall, commercial banking market executive states that she plans to "find the right fit for the team with the right focus and the emphasis on growth and supporting our clients and our communities, including having a focus on our (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives.”

If you are a member and want us to help communicate news about your organization, please send a press release or information about the announcement to member.engagement@houston.org and we will share it with our content team for possible inclusion in an upcoming roundup. Learn more about Partnership membership.