UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant VP, Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Foundation Accountant
- Foundation Accountant, Development Foundation
Job Titles:
- Coordinator, Gift Compliance, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Accounting Clerk III, Advancement Services, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant III
Job Titles:
- Coordinator, Events and Publications, Donor Engagement
Tony Ridout is a founding shareholder of Ridout Barrett, which opened in 1986 and today boasts over 50 employees with offices in Austin and San Antonio. His firm has been named one of San Antonio's Top Workplaces by the San Antonio Express-News five years in a row and is among San Antonio's 15 biggest accounting firms in terms of the number of certified public accountants. Several Bobcats have interned at the firm over the past three decades, and currently, there are eight Texas State alumni on staff. In 2019, the Texas Society of CPAs (TXCPA) awarded him the Meritorious Service Award.
Ridout received his bachelor of business administration in accounting from Texas State University in 1979. In 2018, he established the Anthony and Karen Ridout Scholarship Endowment, which supports scholarships for accounting students. Mr. Ridout is a member of the Visionary Society.
Brad Westmoreland began his career in Texas politics in 2004 in the Texas House of Representatives. After several years of service in the Legislature with increasing roles and responsibilities, he joined the private sector as part of the State Government Affairs team at Genentech Inc., a member of the Roche Group. In this role, he represents one of the largest biopharmaceutical manufacturers before governors, state legislatures and agencies, delivering results to advance public policy and ensure access to treatment for Genentech's patients.
He currently serves as chairman of the board of directors of Makarios International and as a member on the board of directors of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute, the Missouri Biotechnology Association and the Advisory Board of the McCoy College of Business Administration at Texas State University.
Westmoreland and his wife, Jill, are graduates of Texas State University and reside in Austin with their four children.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Executive Director at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
Brian Francis is the Executive Director at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Prior to his appointment, Francis served as the department's deputy executive director. He previously served as the Texas Real Estate Commission's assistant administrator and a senior securities analyst at the State Securities Board. He started his public service at the Texas Savings and Loan Department. Francis is a full-time public servant and part-time poet and writer, having published several books of poetry and even two albums of spoken word poetry. He has been to the finals of the National Poetry Slam both as a poet and a coach.
Francis graduated from Texas State University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance. While at Texas State, he was a football team member and was a 1987 "T" Association award recipient. He was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity and an Order of Omega honorary. He received his Master of Business Administration degree from St. Edward's University with a concentration in financial management.
He is also a graduate of the Governor's Executive Development Program and an alumnus of the Transformative Leadership Program at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs. Brian also served on the Leadership Council.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- President and Chief Executive Officer of the Better Business Bureau
Carrie A. Hurt is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving the Heart of Texas with offices in Austin, Bryan, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Midland, San Antonio and Waco. She joined the BBB Austin team in 1995 as Communications Director and was named Vice President in 1998. In March 2003, Hurt was named President and CEO by the Board of Directors. She currently serves as a director on the Council of Better Business Bureau's (CBBB) Board of Directors and served previously from 2006 to 2011.
Hurt has received numerous awards including being named the best small business CEO in Austin, Texas, by the Austin Business Journal in 2016. She received the 2013 AT&T Executive Leadership Award from the Austin Chamber of Commerce and in 2011, she was named a Woman of Influence by the Austin Business Journal. Additionally, she was honored with the "Yellow Rose of Texas" award from Texas Governor Rick Perry in 2009, which recognizes outstanding Texas women for their significant contributions to Texas.
In 2013, Hurt was presented an Alumni Achievement Award by the Texas State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a Stelos Award for outstanding leadership from the Stelos Alliance. She is a Texas State Alumni Life Member and remains very active with the university's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Chi Omega Sorority, Strutters and the Stelos Alliance.
Hurt graduated from Texas State University in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. She also served on the Leadership Council.
Trustee, Plano A Texas State University graduate, Garcia earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance in 2004. He has since been a financial advisor and owner of a private wealth advisory practice at Ameriprise Financial. He earned the Certified Financial Planning TM practitioner designation in 2009 and provides ongoing financial advice and wealth management to individuals and businesses. Garcia is married to Stephanie, a graduate of the University of North Texas in Denton.
Job Titles:
- Executive
- Business Development Executive for Bridge Partners
Mitchell is a business development executive for Bridge Partners, a Seattle-based management consulting firm that helps large organizations drive growth, adapt to change and create enterprise value.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Executive Account Manager for Medtronic
Christian Rundberg is an executive account manager for Medtronic, the world's largest stand-alone medical equipment development company. He has previously served as a senior account manager for General Surgical Products at Covidien and as a territory manager and sales trainer for Progressive Medical.
He received his bachelor of business administration in marketing from Texas State University in 2001. During his time as a Bobcat, he was president of Students in Free Enterprise. He also attended Nido de Aguilas in Santiago, Chile, from 1991 to 1995.
Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, Rundberg now lives in New Braunfels with his wife, Richelle (Chelle), a high school English teacher at Canyon High School, and their six children.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Chief Financial Officer and Security Officer of Fuquay, Inc
Dauphen Jackson is the chief financial officer and security officer of Fuquay, Inc., and has been with the company for nearly twenty years. Fuquay is a leader in infrastructure rehabilitation, underground utility construction, road and concrete construction, erosion control, sediment containment, and trenchless technology products. They provide services providing real-world solutions for the assessment, maintenance, rehabilitation, protection, and asset life extension of vital water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. Prior to Fuquay, he was a CPA with Bruhl & Huckaby CPAs.
Job Titles:
- Systems Support Manager, Advancement Services, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Business Manager
- Business Manager, Development Foundation
Job Titles:
- Teacher, Advisor and Expert
Dr. Sergio Garcia is a teacher, advisor and expert in the fields of econometrics, finance and economic analysis. Dr. Garcia previously served as a U.S. Diplomat and has experience in real estate, derivatives, and investments.
Dr. Garcia received his Bachelor of Arts in Spanish with a minor in business administration from Texas State University in 2000. He received his Master of Business Administration in 2002 and Doctorate in Finance from the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley in 2015.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant II, Gift Compliance, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair
- Community Advisory Director of Wells Fargo Bank
- Honorary Lifetime Member
- Member of the Texas State University Communication Studies Advisory Board
Nash is a community advisory director of Wells Fargo Bank in San Marcos. She also has served as chair of the City of San Marcos Ethics Review Commission and as a sustaining member of the Junior League in San Marcos.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate, Prospect Development
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant III
Pendergast received a Bachelor of Science from Canisius College in accounting and his Doctor of Law from the University of Tulsa.
On the Board of Directors of CHR Solutions, Pendergast co-founded and served as CEO of Fiber America Inc., a facilities-based broadband fiber optic network serving Austin and San Antonio. In 2002, he successfully merged the company with El Paso Global Networks.
At San Marcos Telephone Company for 20 years, Pendergast held the positions of general counsel, vice president of finance and accounting, and president and CEO. In 1993, he facilitated the merger of San Marcos Telephone Company with Century Tel.
Pendergast later served as president and CEO of the Austin Community Foundation.
Trustee, Dallas Bradshaw has made a career in higher education in both medical research and health care administration for the past 35 years in Houston and Dallas. He has extensive start-up experience at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Rice University, and Baylor College of Medicine. He also held the position of chief administrative officer for the School of Nursing at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, the oldest nursing school west of the Mississippi. Currently, he serves in the president's office at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Much of his experience in these institutions included the design and construction of not only brick-and-mortar facilities, but also long-range planning and fundraising. He had the distinction of being the first employee of the Institute of Molecular Medicine at UT-Houston with operations housed in a single office. Today, known as The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, the Institute now resides in its own 230,000 square foot research facility in the heart of the Texas Medical Center. A great deal of the success of the Institute and other similar entities was a direct result of philanthropy. A 1983 graduate of Texas State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in management, Bradshaw is a native Texan descending from a pioneering Hays County family. He maintains an active interest in the family ranching activities in Kyle, which in 2018, marked 170 years of continuous operation along the Blanco River.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Senior Wealth Advisor at Trusted Capital Group
Jay Horn is a Senior Wealth Advisor at Trusted Capital Group in Austin in their private wealth division and a guest lecturer on Personal Finance courses at Texas State. He is a double graduate from Texas State, with an undergraduate degree in Business Management and Entrepreneurship, and his MBA as well.
Since graduation, he has remained closely connected to the university as an engaged alumni, serving as current Chair of the Recent Alumni Council, Past Chair for the Young Alumni Council, and a mentor in many capacities. He lives in Kyle with his wife, Alicia (a fellow Bobcat), and their children, Kai and Kennedy.
Job Titles:
- Development Associate, Donor Engagement
Trustee, Fort Worth Villegas is an attorney with Cohen Villegas PLLC where he specializes in wills, trusts, probates, and immigration. He also has experience as a litigation attorney with Counsel on Call, as a law clerk with Community Legal Aid Society, and was a legal intern with Villanova University and West Virginia University. Prior to receiving his law degree, he was an athletics trainer and teacher for Fort Worth and Mansfield Independent School Districts. Villegas received his bachelor of arts in Spanish and bachelor of exercise and sports science degrees from Texas State University in 2002. He went on to receive his doctor of jurisprudence degree from Villanova University in 2011. He is a lifetime member of the Texas State Alumni Association.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Executive Director of the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation
Treviño is currently the Executive Director of the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation in South Texas. He has over 25 years of experience in the public and private sector including municipal government planning, economic development, marketing of engineering services, business development, and governmental relations.
Job Titles:
- Director, Gift Compliance
- Director, Gift Compliance, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Director of Development and Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Director, Donor Relations and Events, Donor Enagagement
Job Titles:
- Director, Foundation Engagement
Lee Doughtie received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas State University in 1979 where he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity and Order of Omega.
Upon graduation, he started his banking career in Austin with First City Bank and has been with Frost Bank since 1993 where he was the Downtown Austin Market President. He is presently the Director of Business Banking Administration at Frost Bank's headquarters in San Antonio. Doughtie served on the McCoy College Institute for Global Business Advisory Council and has been on several other Boards in Austin including Westminster Manor, People's Community Clinic and The Salvation Army-Austin Area Command.
His wife, Dawnelle, is a 1982 graduate of Texas State University and they are members of The Bobcat Club and the Texas State Alumni Association. They are proud parents of three children, Elizabeth, Phillip and Wynn.
Leslie Fossler is an Austin, Texas interior designer with over 38 years of commercial and residential interior design experience. She is the founder and owner of LFI which she established in 1982. She is a 1976 graduate of Texas State University, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences. Fossler has branded numerous award-winning restaurant concepts, crafted luxury hotel interiors and managed large scale multi-family residential projects. She is invested in the advancement of interior design education and accreditation at the University level and has been involved in the Interior Design program at Texas State as a juror and mentor. Fossler recently pledged to establish the Leslie Fossler Endowed Scholarship for Texas State interior design students who are minoring in business. This is the first endowed scholarship dedicated to the Interior Design Program in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences. She has served on numerous Boards in her career and has been a dedicated Board member of the Metropolitan YMCA of Austin since 1997.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant II, Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Development
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Development, Wittliff Collections
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Data Analytics
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Development Communications Specialist, Development Communications, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Business Manager, Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Committee ( S ) : Board Development Committee, Chair - Boerne
Job Titles:
- Database Associate, Advancement Services, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Vice President
- Executive Director, Development Foundation
Job Titles:
- Digital Communications Manager, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Administrative Financial Analyst, University Advanacement
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Gift and Estate Planning
Job Titles:
- Senior Strategic Business Analyst
Trustee, Bastrop Florez began his career as a purchasing buyer at Valley Baptist Medical Center while he attended Texas Southmost College. He then transferred to Texas State University in 1982 to study marketing and received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1984. Supporting the launch of a new paper store concept, Florez joined Western Paper Company as a trainee in Austin. The operation quickly transformed into a wholesale paper distributor, and Florez went on to serve in a variety of roles over the course of 20 years. Florez purchased Western Paper Company in 2000 with partner, Kevin Jerger, making it the largest Hispanic-owned wholesale paper distributor in the United States. He became president of the company in 2003. Western Paper was sold to Japan Pulp & Paper Ltd. in 2011 but Florez continues to serve as executive vice president of Western BRW/Bosworth, a division of JP Gould of New York.
Job Titles:
- Systems Analyst I, Advancement Services, Donor Engagement
After 37 years in public school education, Ronnye Cowell retired in 2020. The final 15 years of her career, she served as a school administrator at the secondary level. Prior to her experience in school administration, Cowell was a dance team director for 23 years in Brazosport ISD. During this time, she received the Secondary Teacher of the Year Award from Brazosport ISD, Director of the Year Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Dance Educators Association (TDEA). In addition to her role as an educator, Cowell is a past president of both the Texas Association Teachers of Dancing (TATD) and TDEA where she has served as the TDEA Scholarship Chairman since 1996. She remains actively involved as a contest adjudicator and an adjudicator for the Dance Educators Assessment of Learning. Cowell established two endowed scholarships for the dance program and dance students at Texas State University. She also recently funded the lighting renovation project in the Jowers Center Dance Studio. Cowell graduated from Texas State in 1983, where she was President of Delta Zeta, a Gaillardian, member of Student Foundation and the Bobcat mascot. She lives in Houston with her husband, Chip. They have 3 children and 1 grandchild.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Athletic Director, Development
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Development
Job Titles:
- Associate VP, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Certified Public Accountant
Trustee, Houston With more than 25 years of public accounting and industry experience, Irvine, a Certified Public Accountant, is the managing partner of ABIP, P.C. His public accounting experience has been with large local CPA firms as an auditor and consultant. Irvine's audit experience has an emphasis in privately held companies, manufacturing, construction, real estate, technology and numerous service providers. As a consultant, he has worked with businesses in numerous industries to increase profitability, analyze cash flow, streamline accounting processes, assist in software implementations, secure financing, general business consulting and best practices implementation. In 1999 Irvine departed from public accounting to be controller and chief financial officer of a privately held software company with revenue in excess of $50 million. During his tenure, he was responsible for all financial aspects of the operation and assisted with the acquisitions and mergers of other software companies. Irvine graduated magna cum laude from Texas State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting. He is a member of the Houston Chapter of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
Job Titles:
- Director, Advancement Services, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director, Advancement Services, Donor Engagement
Job Titles:
- Associate Athletic Director, Development
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Development
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Partner With the Maxwell Locke
Steve Harvey is a partner with the Maxwell Locke & Ritter, LLP accounting firm in Austin Texas. Harvey is also the lead partner and Registered Investment Advisor representative for Maxwell, Lock & Ritter's (ML&R) investment management practice, ML&R Wealth Management, LLC. He was one of the founders of the wealth management practice which was started in 1997.
Harvey graduated from Texas State University in 1992 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting. Harvey earned professional credentials as a Certified Public Accountant, and a Certified Financial Planner.
Harvey has been active in numerous charitable organizations in the Austin area including the Center for Child Protection, CAC of Texas, Inc. Lake Travis Education Foundation, United Way, Junior Achievement, and Meals on Wheels.
Harvey and his wife, Kristin (a Texas State University graduate) reside in Lakeway, TX with their two daughters.
Job Titles:
- Coordinator, Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Associate Managing Director, Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Coordinator, Business Operations
Job Titles:
- Associate VP, Development
Job Titles:
- Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director, Development / Administration
Job Titles:
- Executive
- Principal at HillCo Partners
Luna is currently a principal at HillCo Partners in Austin, Texas where she directs the firm's Appropriations Practice. She draws on her years of legal and legislative experience to focus primarily on issues involving state budget and revenue, health care policy and finance, and other general government issues.
Job Titles:
- Trustee - Sulphur Springs
Job Titles:
- Assistant Athletic Director, Development
Job Titles:
- Development Associate, Annual Giving, Alumni Engagement