Leadership
Homelessness Summit Leadership Group
Andy Brown
Travis County Judge
Since taking office, Judge Brown has significantly increased resources to historically underserved communities, including a mass COVID-19 vaccination effort prioritizing communities of color east of I-35 and during winter storm Uri directing food, water and utility support to the hardest hit areas in Travis County. Before taking office Judge Brown helped create the Sobering Center for intoxicated people as an alternative to the emergency room or jail, ran a successful law firm, and served on numerous boards and commissions. He grew up in Austin, is a lawyer, past legislative aide to former Texas Speaker of the House Pete Laney, previous campaign manager for Congressman Lloyd Doggett, past finance director and senior advisor to Senate and Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, past Travis County Democratic Party Chair 2008 – 2013.
Ann Kitchen
City of Austin-Council Member District 5
Ann was elected to Council in January 2015 and re-elected in January 2019. She is currently the Chair of the Water Oversight Committee. The intergovernmental committees she serves on are the Psychiatric Services Stakeholder Committee, Capital Metro Board of Directors, and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO).
Ashton Cumberbatch
Equidad ATX / McGinnis Lochridge, LLP / Agape Christian Ministries
Ashton Cumberbatch, Jr., special counsel at McGinnis Lochridge, LLP, also serves the region in diverse ways, including as executive pastor at Agape Christian Ministries, and President of Equidad ATX, a catalyst for holistic, transformative, sustainable and equitable redevelopment of Austin’s Eastern Crescent.
Bill Brice
Downtown Austin Alliance
Bill Brice joined the Downtown Austin Alliance staff in October 2003 and is currently the Vice President of Investor Relations. The Downtown Alliance has been working to address the issue of homelessness since its inception in 1993, and Bill has been the staff lead on this issue ever since he joined the organization. The Downtown Alliance’s homelessness efforts center around advocacy for improved policy and planning, leading and participating in collaborations, and directly funding new programs and housing projects such as Community First Village, The Terrace at Oak Springs, the Salvation Army’s Rathgeber Center, and a Healthcare for the Homeless partnership with Integral Care. Through its direct services team – the Downtown Ambassadors, the Downtown Alliance, for more than 17-years, has provided full-time employment opportunities for people with barriers to stable employment with a specific emphasis on employing people experiencing homelessness.
Chas Moore
Austin Justice Coalition
Chas Moore is the founder of Austin Justice Coalition, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and grassroots, activist-led organization aimed at demanding criminal justice reform and building community at the local, state, and national levels. An advocate for the underserved, Chas champions efforts that deliberately meet community needs. Chris Harris, Texas Appleseed’s Criminal Justice Project / People United for Mobility Action (PUMA)
Chris Harris
Director of Texas Appleseed’s Criminal Justice Project
Chris Harris is a native Texan, proud son, pro basketball fanatic, hip-hop head, and passionate advocate working to transform the criminal legal system. He currently serves as the Director of Texas Appleseed’s Criminal Justice Project, as a representative on the City of Austin’s Reimagine Public Safety Task Force, and as a board member for People United for Mobility Action (PUMA). He previously served the City of Austin on the Public Safety Commission and the Police Oversight Working Group, and Travis County on the Indigent Legal Services Working Group.
Dewitt (De) Peart
Downtown Austin Alliance
Dewitt Peart became the President and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance in February 2015. The Downtown Alliance is engaged in dozens of projects and issues that contribute to the quality development, mobility, safety, cleanliness, and attractiveness of downtown Austin for investors, businesses, employees, residents, and visitors. He guides the Downtown Alliance’s vision and strategy, ensures the organization’s fiscal health and represents a board of directors consisting of 48 private and public sector leaders focused on the creating, preserving and enhancing the value and vitality of downtown Austin.
Diana Maldonado
Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Diana Maldonado the President & CEO of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GAHCC). As the first Latina elected to represent Williamson County in the House of Representatives, she advocated for education, business, and safe communities. In this role, she authored/co-authored 88 bills and was named “Freshman of the Year” by her colleagues. Through her collaboration with key stakeholders, she secured nearly $16 million for education, $10 million for road expansion, and additional funds for renewable energy initiatives and walking trails in parks. She served as Secretary for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, Defense & Veterans Affairs, and State Affairs committees.
Dianna Grey
City of Austin-Homeless Strategy Officer
Dianna Grey serves as Homeless Strategy Officer for the City of Austin. With two decades of experience in housing and social policy, Ms. Grey’s previous positions include director of the Texas office of Corporation for Supportive Housing, regional program director for Enterprise Community Loan Fund, and Executive Director of Neighborhood Services of Austin. Prior to joining the City of Austin, she worked as an independent consultant
advising a wide public agency, housing providers, and other nonprofit organizations.
Fang Fang
Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce
Fang is the CEO of the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce with a diverse background in journalism and government. She has previously served as a partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau and before that she was an entrepreneur, founding ZFF International LLC, a media company producing blogs and podcasts on culture, news, and travel. She was also a co-founder of Austin e-commerce startup Big Plan Inc. and has worked at
marketing and public relations consulting firm Edelman and government news service Voice of America. Fang is a board member of Visit Austin, the Community Action Network, and the Network of Asian American Organizations.
Gus Cardenas
Community Leader
Senior executive with 30+ year record of demonstrated achievement and success while providing leadership in highly competitive markets. Tenacious in building new relationships, improving team performance, supporting regular training programs, securing stakeholder loyalty, and forging strong relationships with external nonprofit/public/private sector partners both domestically and internationally. Program Management and Operations experience in support of local and nationwide programs. Experience with expense budgets, P/L’s, investments, forecasting, and acquisition analysis. Experience working with US Embassy Commercial Service offices worldwide. CEO/President/Principal Co-Founder of the Austin Healthcare Council.
Kathie Tovo
City of Austin-Council Member for District 9
Ending homelessness is Kathie Tovo’s top Council priority. She has led the Council on initiatives to support that goal, from passing the Action Plan to End Homelessness and the Pay for Success permanent supportive housing plan, to supporting creation of the Sobering Center and the Homelessness Outreach Street Team, to successfully advocating for more funding across multiple budgets for EMCOT, the Rathgeber Center for Families, the Shelter for Women and Children, the Downtown Salvation Army, the ARCH, the Passages childcare program to name a few. She chaired ECHO’s Membership Council from 2017-18 and served as Mayor Pro Tem from 2015-18. Tovo holds a Ph.D. from UT Austin.
Laura Huffman
Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
Laura Huffman is president and CEO of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit membership organization that facilitates the creation of a prosperous regional economy and advocates on behalf of its members and the broader business community. Laura is dedicated to solving complex problems with a spirit of collaboration, innovation and creativity.
Notley HomeFront Fund
Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
Lawton Cummings is a Partner at Notley and President of Notley’s HomeFront Fund, a nonprofit organization she co-founded with Dan Graham to bring private sector innovation and funding to alleviate Austin’s unhoused homelessness crisis. Prior to joining Notley, Lawton led Austin100 and engaged in the full-time practice of law at Jackson Walker, LLP, where she remains Senior Counsel. Lawton’s diverse legal career included complex commercial litigation, teaching legal ethics as an Associate Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School, and serving as a legal analyst on the Fox News Channel. She currently co-teaches a class on Ethical Artificial Intelligence at Penn State Law School.
Lynn Meredith
MFI Foundation (Chair)
Lynn Meredith, President of MFI Foundation for the past 22 years, has participated in many community impact initiatives primarily in Austin. With her strategic planning and organizational development lens, she has chaired and served on numerous non-profit boards and capital campaigns. She works collaboratively to invest in and change lives for the better in the Austin community.
Lyric Wardlow
Lived Experience
Lyric Wardlow works in partnership with a wide variety of organizations who work to end homelessness in the nation for youth and adults. From her own personal experience as a homeless youth for almost 9 years, she now consults service providers on best practices for working with people who have lived experience. Working together to push new programs, policies and legislation that will further support people who are homeless. Every day she strives for transparency, compassion and innovation to make our world a better place for future generations to come.
Mandy Chapman Semple
Clutch Consulting Group (Facilitator)
Mandy Chapman Semple, Founder and Managing Partner of Clutch Consulting Group, is a nationally recognized social systems transformation expert with skill in building working partnerships across housing, healthcare, employment, government, philanthropy, and other essential services in pursuit of collective impact goals. Mandy served as Houston’s first Special Assistant to the Mayor for Homeless Initiatives for three and half years under two Houston Mayors and was responsible for designing and co-managing the implementation of Houston’s nationally recognized homeless system transformation, resulting in a 60% reduction in homelessness in four years.
Matt Mollica
ECHO
Matt Mollica is the Executive Director of the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO. Austin ECHO plans and implements community-wide strategies to end homelessness in Austin and Travis County. ECHO works closely with nonprofits and government agencies to coordinate assistance and housing for people experiencing homelessness. Prior to joining ECHO Matt served as the Vice President of Housing Assistance for the Colorado
Coalition for the Homeless. He has also worked in San Francisco as a Housing Coordinator for the San Francisco Department of Public Health on the Direct Access to Housing Program and at Brilliant Corners. Matt uses his background in business administration and experience working in social service agencies to create efficient and community focused housing and service programs.
Nuria River-Vandermyde
City of Austin, Deputy City Manager
Nuria River-Vandermyde, Deputy City Manager for the City of Austin, oversees departments and projects focused on Government that Works for All and will advise the City Manager in carrying out City Council policies. An attorney by profession, she brings over 20 years of executive experience in both the public and private sectors. She earned her B.A at Amherst College and her J.D. from New York University School of Law. Prior to entering the public sector, Rivera-Vandermyde’s experience included international consulting specializing in judicial and regulatory compliance, oversight of the correctional system in Puerto Rico as Deputy Commissioner, CEO of a non-profit healthcare corporation charged with providing healthcare services to over 14,000 inmates, and private practice experience as a corporate litigator in Boston, MA.
Quincy Dunlap
Austin Area Urban League
Quincy Dunlap is the President and CEO of Austin Area Urban League. He is an innovative and enterprising leader with a history of building programs and services that the community value, driving advocacy initiatives that succeed, developing messaging that inspires and delivering communications that builds bridges. He is sought after for consistently demonstrating strategic vision and effective follow through. He has a track record of efficiently and effectively managing projects and special initiatives, establishing lasting partnerships, growing the organization’s visibility and capacity. Extensive experience in the development, growth, team building and leadership of staff and volunteer personnel. Passionate servant leader and advocate, respected spokesmen, skilled marketer, and effective communicator.
Robert Lee
Pearlstone Partners
Robert is CEO of Pearlstone Partners with more than 35 years of commercial real estate and entrepreneurial experience. Robert has been responsible for over $500 million in transactions overseeing the development, construction, and sale of product types ranging from single-family, multi-family, condo, office, and light industrial. Robert has previously served as chair of the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce and has been active in the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Robert currently serves on the board of Austin Habitat for Humanity, the Network of Asian American Organizations, and the Asian Real Estate Association of America.
Spencer Cronk
City of Austin-City Manager
Spencer Cronk is the Austin City Manager, guiding and directing day-to-day operations on a broad range of services to the citizens of Austin. Prior to Austin, Mr. Cronk played a similar role in Minneapolis as their City Administrator, and also served as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Administration. He was selected to join the inaugural Young American Leaders Program at Harvard Business School and served as President of the National Association of State Chief Administrators.
Stephen Roberts
Downtown Austin Alliance, Clark Hill Strasburger
Stephen Roberts is the Chair of the Downtown Austin Alliance Homelessness Task Force and an attorney with the law firm of Clark Hill Strasburger.
Steve Adler
City of Austin Mayor
Steve Adler is Austin’s 52nd Mayor, having won re-election in 2018 by 40 points in a field of 8 candidates. His top priorities include mobility, affordability and equity for all Austinites. Adler is a Trustee of the United States Conference of Mayors, Past Chair of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) policy board, and Vice President of the National Council of Democratic Mayors.
Steven Brown
Medtronics
Clinical Specialist in Neuro and Spine Surgery. As a clinical consultant, he works with neurosurgeons to determine best practices in extracting brain tumors and other medical procedures using enabling technologies. Steven is a community leader involved in serving Austin people experiencing homelessness since he was in high school. Texas State graduate, serves on the board of ECHO and the Black Leadership Coalition. He was the recipient of the First Humanitarian Award given by HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) Healthcare in recognition of those who demonstrate a caring and commitment to improving human lives. Proud alumnus of Austin Community College and Huston-Tillotson University.
Summer Wright
Lived Experience
Summer Wright is a young adult with lived expertise in homelessness. She has worked in the third sector in Pittsburgh, Greater Manchester, and Austin and is a fierce proponent of the decriminalization of survival. Summer has specific interest in mitigating stigma and raising awareness of issues relating to homeless people, trans people, addicts, immigrants, and the sex and troubled teen industries. She currently serves as a member of the Young Adult Leadership Council, the Austin Youth Collective, the Austin Continuum of Care Membership Council, and as a researcher with the VOICE Project.
Tam Hawkins
Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce
Tam Hawkins is the President and CEO of the Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce, where she previously served as the Vice President of Corporate Engagement & Membership. Her background includes corporate sales & marketing management roles for some of the nation’s most admired companies. Although well versed in large corporate space, her personal entrepreneurial experience with commercial real estate development has left her well-versed in the needs of small- to medium-sized business owners.
Tyson Tuttle
Silicon Labs
Tyson Tuttle currently serves as the CEO at Silicon Labs (NASDAQ:SLAB) which was founded in 1996 in Austin focused on silicon, software and solutions for a smarter, more connected world. He is a leader in the Austin community, promoting STEM education, transportation and social equity issues.