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Chair:
Directors:
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An internationally experienced high-tech executive, Donna Van Fleet now
shares her experience and insight to help develop others, especially
females, for careers in science and technology through her roles as
mentor, advisor, speaker and director on several boards.
Vice president of development at the time of her retirement, during her 30-year career with IBM Donna managed the development of mission-critical computer systems ranging from mainframes to UNIX servers. In 1996, she was selected by the editors of the McGraw-Hill companies as one of the Top 100 Women in Computing. In 1988, she was recognized by the YWCA's Tribute to Women and Industry.
Donna chairs the board of GENaustin, and she is also a director on
the boards of the Girl Scouts Lone Star Council, the Austin chapter of
Women In Technology International (WITI), Ballet Austin, and the Advisory
Board to the Graduate School of Management at St. Edward's University.
Donna is also a member of the Prime Ministers Cabinet of Zachary Scott Theatre's
Project InterAct, which is staging "Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter", a brand new
play for young audiences, celebrating the empowerment of girls and all people.
Donna received her B.S. in mathematics from Muhlenberg College in
Pennsylvania, where she was also editor of the college's newspaper.
Donna and her husband of 32 years, Jim, are the parents of a 21-year-old
son.
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Kellie M. Bailey has been practicing law for over ten years, starting her own
criminal law practice right out of school. With law degrees from both St. Mary's University in
San Antonio and the University of Texas, Kellie is a legal expert who
has worked in a variety of
arenas ranging from private practice to the Texas Supreme Court. Currently a staff attorney at
Brown McCarroll, L.L.C. and a proud mother, Kellie Bailey also lends her time to GENaustin, previously
leading the resource development committee and now as the co-chair of the agency's growing Speaker
Series and policy-determining Strategic Planning committee.
Throughout her career, her dedication to women has remained constant. Kellie has served on the
board of Texas Democratic Women and was president of Capitol Area Democratic Women. She has
served on several bar committees that have focused on training attorneys and lay people and
community outreach. Kellie Bailey came to GENaustin determined to facilitate young women's
growth into leadership roles with more ease than what preceding generations have gone through.
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Becca Bruce has more than eight years of experience
in affordable housing financing and development with an emphasis on obtaining
financing for nonprofit sponsors. Becca runs her own consulting business - Vacri
Development and Consulting – that provides services primarily to nonprofit
organizations to develop affordable housing. Prior to consulting on her own,
Becca was a Vice President at Diana McIver & Associates, a housing
consulting firm that works nationwide and more recently worked for Foundation
Communities, a local nonprofit that owns, manages and develops affordable
housing communities in Austin. Becca has also recently joined Southwest
Strategies Group, as a Commercial Real Estate Agent. Southwest Strategies is a
full service commercial brokerage firm that also provides real estate investment
and planning services.
Becca is currently in the 2003-04 Class of Leadership
Austin. Becca has served as the Zoning Chair for the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood
Association, as a Big Sister for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Texas, and
as the Alumni Coordinator for NEXUS – the University of Texas Planning Program
Alumni newsletter. Becca holds a Masters Degree in Community & Regional
Planning from the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture and a BA
from Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
Becca currently serves on the Board of Directors of GENaustin as
co-chair of the Volunteer Committee and is also a member of the
Resource Development Committee.
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Ruth Carrasco serves as the Treasurer of GENaustin. She has an MBA from the University of Texas and more than 18 years of financial experience with IBM in various capacities including Pricing Manager, Business Planning/Financial Manager and Business Unit Chief Financial Officer.
Ruth is currently the Director of Global Offerings for IBM's Technical Training Services Unit. IBM's Technical Training Services Unit is the largest technical training company in the world, delivering a full range of training services to millions of students in more than 65 countries.
Currently Ruth is also Vice President of Communications for Palmetto Inn
Properties, Inc., a family owned business in South Texas.
She is the proud mom of Kurtis Carrasco-Beyer, a student at the University of Texas, who seems to be following in his mom's footsteps.
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Personal Coach Jane Chambers spent 18 years as part of the management team of a Fortune 500 Company. This experience gave her expertise in the areas of people management, team development, coaching, project management, mentoring, leadership and organizational development. She is the author of a monthly electronic newsletter, "Food For Thought" which features principles of coaching and encourages the reader to implement the suggested path to goal attainment and overcoming the obstacles that we create. Uniquely, each newsletter concludes with a favorite recipe and the encouragement to try something new, even in the kitchen!
Jane received her coaching training at Coach University, America's foremost leader in personal coach training, and at Corporate Coach University Inc. She is a member of the International Coach Federation and works with a mentor coach. Additionally, Ms. Chambers earned a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Sociology at Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania and a Bachelors of Science Degree in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. She has been a volunteer for many non-profit associations throughout her career. She and her husband reside in Austin.
One client described the benefits of professional coaching as "Jane Chambers gave me strength, courage and the ability to open up my eyes to see that I am capable of doing so many things.". Another client remarked, "Both at work and at home, my stress level is down, my skills for dealing with life have improved. Jane Chamber's wisdom taught me a great deal. I really appreciate having been able to learn from her." Yet another client said, As a Personal Coach, Jane has the gift of knowing what it takes to help someone understand their true potential and the tools and techniques that one can use to reach that potential"
According to Jane, professional coaching services can help a client discover inner values, strengths, interests, and beliefs that contribute to an authentic, happy life. She adds, "I believe that our possibilities are limited only by our vision of ourselves and our fears. I support my clients by providing them with the tools, structure, focus, support and accountability that helps them to accomplish more in many areas of their lives."
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Robyn Frohlin is a Senior Associate in the Litigation section of Jackson Walker. Her practice areas are diverse and include representing Plaintiffs and Defendants in class action litigation, appellate litigation and general commercial litigation.
Robyn’s civil commercial litigation practice includes prosecuting or defending lawsuits; asserting various civil causes of action including breach of contract, common law fraud, and D.T.P.A. violations. Her practice also includes representing clients at trial. She also has experience in securities, tax and derivative shareholder litigation.
Other groups that Robyn is involved with include the State Bar of Texas and Habitat for Humanity.
Robyn received her B.A. degree, cum laude, from Villanova University and her J.D. degree, cum laude, at Southern Methodist University.
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Margaret Garcia’s involvement in GENaustin began in the summer of 2001. She was responsible for 2001’s 3M half marathon and has served as the Speaker Series Committee Chair since 2002.
This is Margaret’s second stop in Austin. She was born in New York, raised in Arizona and has lived all over America (NY, NJ, AZ, CA, CT & TX) but also crossed the ocean and lived in France for a while. She graduated with a degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Arizona.
Margaret has career experience in engineering, sales and marketing. Currently she is employed at Praxair Inc., where she has worked since 1985. Margaret has held many positions in her career including Internal Work Process Consultant, E-Business Business Development Director and Sr. Account Manager.
In her spare time Margaret enjoys travel, cooking and most water sports. She also gives her time to the Ronald McDonald House in various volunteer roles.
Margaret also enjoys spending time with her husband, Robert, and her stepson, Jacob.
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Celia Israel is the founder and owner of Mission Resources, a consulting firm based in Austin, Texas. Mission Resources is a legislative and government affairs consulting firm representing a wide array of clients including the Association of Electric Companies of Texas and Unisys Corporation.
Celia was raised in El Paso, Texas whereupon she had the foresight to attend the University of Texas at Austin. It was there that she fed and nurtured her political brain, which was put to good use working as a field coordinator and volunteer coordinator for the Ann Richards Campaign in 1989-90. She worked in the Appointments Division for Governor Ann Richards and later was Legislative Director for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.
Other groups that Celia has been involved with include: Austin Women’s Political Caucus; City of Austin, Police Department Citizen Review Panel, Capital Area Food Bank and University YWCA.
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Aili Jokela is general manager, senior vice president and partner for the Austin and San Antonio offices of Fleishman-Hillard, an international marketing communications company. In addition to managing two offices in Texas, Ms. Jokela is co-chair of Fleishman-Hillard's Social Marketing Practice, which specializes in social issues and consumer advocacy campaigns, health prevention and education programs, cause marketing and corporate philanthropy.
Ms. Jokela’s experience includes 19 years of marketing communications work, of which 12 years has been focused on issues advocacy campaigns with a specific focus on health and wellness, public education, public affairs and branding. She has more than seven years experience in the advertising field.
Before moving to Texas, Ms. Jokela worked as vice president of marketing and communications for the Steve and Jean Case Foundation on behalf of a national program called PowerUP, which built 250 technology learning centers in under-served communities nationwide.
Prior to that, she was a senior vice president for Fleishman-Hillard in Washington, DC where her experience spanned consumer marketing, social marketing, health care, public affairs and interactive marketing. Some of her clients included MasterCard International, AOL, the Newspaper Association of America and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's "National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign" – the largest social marketing campaign ever sponsored by the federal government. Ms. Jokela managed the interactive component of the Anti-Drug Campaign for more than two years. Currently, she works on the Anti-Drug’s corporate outreach team.
Ms. Jokela has won numerous awards during her career, including a Silver Anvil and several southwest region press association honors. She studied professional writing at the University of New Mexico and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Colorado College.
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David Karlsson is a senior associate at Maxwell, Locke & Ritter, LLP,
a professional services firm located in Austin, TX. David has spent much of his career
providing audit and consulting services to non-profit organizations in the central Texas area
such as Ballet Austin, Central Texas Blood and Tissue Center and the Ex-Students Association
of the University of Texas.
A native of the Bay Area, David received his bachelor's of science in accounting from Saint
Mary's College of California in Moraga, and started his career in public accounting
in San Francisco before moving to Austin in 1997.
He currently resides in Wimberley, Texas with his wife Penny and their children Mia and
Chase.
David brings to GENaustin the belief that everybody has something to contribute, and that it is our
duty to speak up for ourselves, a philosophy he'd like to encourage more girls to share.
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It's fortunate record stores haven't taken all that "women in rock" hype seriously enough to create a separate section for female artists. Austin, Texas recording artist Trish Murphy would certainly be misfiled, having more in common with straight shooters and storytellers like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. A Houston, Texas native, Ms. Murphy officially launched her music career after receiving a B.A. in philosophy and quitting her college job at The Wall Street Journal. Her discography includes four solo albums, three of which she recorded and released on her own label. She tours throughout the U.S. and Europe and has appeared on the Lilith Fair tour and many nationally syndicated radio programs. Trish has lived in Austin since 1996 where she has been involved in many Texas-area fund raising projects, including the annual Transplants for Children benefit in San Antonio, the Children's Miracle Network, and the Sims Foundation.
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MariBen Ramsey is what some might call a super-volunteer. She has been a valuable
asset to so many local and international non-profits that it's hard to list them all. Throughout the years,
MariBen has used her time and talents to serve on the board of a diverse array of organizations including
the Junior League of Austin, Habitat for Humanity, United Way, SafePlace and the Austin History Center Association
just to name a few.
MariBen is a lawyer by trade, with a law degree and an undergraduate accounting degree from the University
of Texas at Austin. She is currently associate director and legal counsel at
the Austin Community Foundation.
The Austin community has taken notice of MariBen awarding her numerous accolades for her extensive
volunteerism. She received the "Silent Samaritan" award and the Girl Scout's Lone Star Council's prestigious
"Women of Distinction" award and was even named the city's "Best Volunteer" by the Austin Chronicle in 1998.
MariBen joins GENaustin with a desire to focus her energy on empowering girls.
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The oldest of four girls, Kim Soechting has always
had a passion to empower young women! Developing GENaustin, along with Teresa
Kelly in 1996, helped enrich her desire to provide positive resources for young
women. At one time, she served as Board of Directors for GEN and is now a
returning board member as of 2001. She is co-chair for clubGEN.
Kim is an avid athlete, she plays volleyball, tennis, and golf. She has coached girls’ volleyball since 1993. She is also an investor, and manages the family portfolio.
Driven with an entrepreneurial spirit, Kim has taken on many ventures. Her latest involves owning a local wine store with her husband Greg - The Austin Wine Merchant.
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Alexa Lange Wesner, a board member since 2000 is co-chairperson of the Resource Development Committee.
As founder and president of HireTECH Inc., Alexa has put together a dynamic team of recruiting professionals that specialize in executive placement, strategy and process implementation for emerging growth, high-tech companies.
Before founding HireTECH in 1997, Alexa was Director of Recruiting at Trilogy Software. From the ground up, she founded, developed and implemented Trilogy's now renowned College Recruiting Program. She also founded and managed "Trilogy University", a three -month training program for new college hires. Through her college recruiting efforts, as well as her management of the industry recruiting initiative, Alexa grew the company from 40 to 450 people.
Alexa received her B.S. in Biology from Stanford University and is very active in the Austin community, serving on several boards and committees which serve, women, children, and the arts. Alexa is an amateur triathlete and a "product design" enthusiast.
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Elsa Zambrano, is the Sr. Director of Global Staffing and College Programs for Applied Materials, headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Elsa has more than 15 years of human resources management experience, and has spent her career in varying roles in the HR function. She has spent the majority of her career within different business sectors of Applied Materials, such as Manufacturing and in several technical product groups. Elsa has developed and implemented several key programs in HR, such as new graduate training programs, compensation reward systems and start-up benefit programs. Most recently, she has responsibility for the corporate staffing function at Applied Materials. This includes recent efforts in branding the company's website, implementing an Applicant Tracking System worldwide, and providing recruitment capability to the organization.
Elsa obtained her M.S. in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco and her B.S.B.A in Human Resources from San Jose State University. She is also a Certified Compensation Professional from the American Compensation Association. Additionally, she serves on the Texas Engineering and Technical Consortium (TETC) Advisory Committee, the Seton Compensation Committee, and serves as a member of the company's internal University Partnership Committee and the Austin Area Community Affairs Committee.
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This site was last updated on 11/24/2004.
Copyright © GENaustin, Inc. 2001. All rights reserved.
GEN, GENaustin, and GENaustin logos used and displayed herein are registered and
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office@genaustin.org.
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