Franci Neely is an American philanthropist based in Houston. Before becoming a philanthropic volunteer, she had a long and successful career in corporate litigation. Neely’s successful corporate litigation career spanned more than two decades, during which time she had numerous successful negotiations and became partner at the well-respected firm Gusman Godfrey, LLP. Before passing the bar and entering corporate litigation, Neely earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. She graduated among the top in her class, then passed the bar. Since she left corporate litigation, Neely’s invested herself in nonprofit organizations. In particular, she’s involved with arts organizations around Houston. Neely is one of the founding members of the Houston Cinema Arts Society. She’s a board member with the city’s Museum of Fine Arts and co-chairs the subcommittees Film of Islamic Worlds and the Arts of Islamic Worlds. She’s particularly interested in these areas, as part of her dream for the arts community is to reach a more diverse audience. Other organizations that Neely is involved with include Moody Center for the Arts, Baker Institute of Public Policy, and the Menil Foundation. She’s on the board of both the Moody Center and the Baker Institute. In addition to volunteering, Neely spends a significant amount of time traveling. She’s been to nearly 200 countries, including Cuba, India, Kuwait, Morocco, and Qatar, and she hopes to eventually visit each country in the world at least once. Neely has many pictures from her travels, as photography is one of her hobbies.
