President-Broker, Hankamer & Associates Brokers, LLC and Southwest Hotel Management, LLC

Ray has been a member of Scenic Houston and of its antecedent organization Billboards, Ltd. for over thirty years. As a hotel and office building developer, he began landscaping city esplanades in the mid-'70's on Richmond Avenue as an amenity to suburban office buildings he developed on that thoroughfare (the trees now are quite large!). He has since seen to it that all real estate developed by his partnerships has been richly landscaped.

As Chairman of the Environmental Committee of the International Hotel Association, he was invited by the Mexican Hotel & Motel Association to suggest a program for hotel owners to show their commitment to the environment. Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas heard Ray’s proposal, "One Tree for Each Hotel Room," which was subsequently introduced all over Mexico. Ray was invited to plant the first tree in Mazatlán, Villahermosa, and other towns.