Biography
Lalla V. Morris, Esq. is Legal Counsel and Manager, Data Privacy & Records Management at CenterPoint Energy where she drives the business by providing support in all aspects of data privacy, cybersecurity, and records management compliance with applicable legal, regulatory, contractual, and organizational requirements.
Prior to joining CenterPoint Energy in September 2022, she served as the Assistant Director of the City of Houston’s Office of Business Opportunity. As a member of OBO's Executive Leadership Team, Lalla directly oversaw the Certification and Contract Compliance Divisions and provided strategic and operational leadership and oversight on all department matters, including business development programming, and capacity-building initiatives. She also lead business process re-engineering and improvements throughout the department, including technology initiatives. Additionally, she served as a liaison to the administration, City Council, other City departments, government agencies, and the private sector.
From 2013 - 2019, Lalla served as Director of Operations and Legal Counsel at Families Empowered where she led the organizations support areas of finance, human resources, information technology, data management, in addition to supporting expansion and community engagement efforts. She previously worked as a Senior Associate of Institutional Sales and Client Service at Neuberger Berman and Lehman Brothers Asset Management in New York, NY, where she marketed managed investment funds across asset classes to institutional public and Taft-Hartley pension plans.
Lalla holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Howard University, a Juris Doctor and Graduate Diploma in Comparative Law from Louisiana State University, and a Nonprofit Finance Certificate from Rice University. Lalla is also a graduate of the inaugural cohort of Leadership ISD – Harris County.
Committed to serving her community, Lalla has volunteered as a Street Law teacher and speaker on pathways in the legal profession at various high schools, tutored local high school students in Language Arts. Lalla is serving her third term as a Board Member of the Region 4 Education Service Center (Region 4 ESC), a position appointed by the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, and serves as a Board Member for Collective Action for Youth. Previously, she served on the boards of the Houston Lawyers Association, ProUnitas and DiscoverU. She also served as the Region 4 Representative for the Howard University Alumni Association and as the Vice President and Corresponding Secretary of the Howard University Alumni Club of Houston. Lalla is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., initiated in Alpha Chapter, and is the Technology Committee Chair, International Trends Facet Co-Chair, and former Corresponding Secretary for the Missouri City (TX) Chapter of The Links, Inc. In 2018, Lalla was the recipient of the Woman of Excellence Award from Rare Pearls, Inc. for her legacy of service. She has also served as a guest speaker at several national conferences, including SXSWEdu in 2019.
In her spare time, Lalla likes to spend time with family and friends. She also enjoys traveling, visiting museums and historical sites, trying new restaurants, and she's never met a pool she didn't love.
