Board of Directors

2023  Board of Directors

Approved November 12, 2022

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Board President

Dominic Etienne, QPA, QKA

Pension Sales Division, American National Insurance Company; 2019 President of United Way Galveston 

 

President-Elect (2024 President)

Dawn McCarty, Ph.D., LMSW, ACUE

The University of Houston-Downtown, Professor of Social Work

 

Vice President

Abe DeAnda Jr., MD, FACS, FAHA

Professor and Chief, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Vice-Chairman Faculty Development, UTMB

 

Secretary and Co-Founder

Ginger Turner

Head Operational Excellence & Data Management; Director Life & Health Business Management, Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, Zurich, Switzerland

 

Treasurer

Christal G. Burnett Sánchez, Ed.D

Associate Professor of Bilingual Education and Chair, Department of Urban Education, University of Houston-Downtown

 

Immediate Past Board President

Elizabeth Beavers, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor of Special Education, University of Houston - Clear Lake 

 

Director and Co-Founder 

Mark Greenwalt  

Professor of Art, College of the Mainland; Artist, Hooks-Epstein Gallery; Past President Texas Association of Schools of Art

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Directors

Veronica Hugger (served as President 2011 through 2015, VP 2021) 

Accounting Assistant, Edward J. Walsh & Associates, CPA

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Laura Hughes 

Associate Legal Counsel, American National Insurance Co.

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Christina Koch

NASA Astronaut, Physics and Engineering

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 

Suzanne La Forte, MD, FAAP 

Pediatrician, UTMB

Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

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Elizbeth Lien-Rodriguez, MD

Pediatrician, UTMB

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Associate Program Director, Pediatrics Residency Program

 

Kathy Machol, LCDR, MSC, U.S. Navy (Ret)

Retired Social Worker, U.S. Navy and UTMB

 

Steve Mataro, Disaster Recovery Specialist  

DSW Synergy, Systems, Solutions 

 

Martha Montenegro Norris 

Physicians’ Assistant, UTMB Teen Health Clinic at Ball High

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​2022 Board of Directors

 

Board President

Elizabeth Beavers, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor of Special Education, University of Houston - Clear Lake 

 

 

Vice President 

Suzanne La Forte, MD, FAAP 

Pediatrician, UTMB

Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

 

Secretary and Co-Founder

Ginger Turner

Head Operational Excellence & Data Management; Director Life & Health Business Management, Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, Zurich, Switzerland

 

Treasurer

Heidi Coggeshall, MBA

Managing Director (Retired), BNP Paribas; Board President for Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research Foundation

  

Co-Founder 

Mark Greenwalt  

Professor of Art, College of the Mainland; Artist, Hooks-Epstein Gallery; Past President Texas Association of Schools of Art

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Christal G. Burnett Sánchez, Ed.D

Associate Professor of Bilingual Education and Chair, Department of Urban Education, University of Houston-Downtown

​

Veronica Hugger

Accounting Assistant, Edward J. Walsh & Associates, CPA

​

Laura Hughes 

Associate Legal Counsel, American National Insurance Co.

​

Christina Koch

NASA Astronaut, Physics and Engineering

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

​

Kathy Machol, LCDR, MSC, U.S. Navy (Ret)

Retired Social Worker, U.S. Navy and UTMB

 

Steve Mataro, Disaster Recovery Specialist  

DSW Synergy, Systems, Solutions

 

Dawn McCarty, Ph.D., LMSW, ACUE

University of Houston-Downtown, Professor of Social Work

 

Martha Montenegro Norris 

Physicians’ Assistant, UTMB Teen Health Clinic at Ball High

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Dominic Etienne, QPA, QKA

Pension Sales Division, American National Insurance Company; 2019 President of United Way Galveston 

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Abe DeAnda Jr., MD, FACS, FAHA

Professor and Chief, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Vice-Chairman Faculty Development, UTMB