Who We Are
Staff
Amy Averett
Executive Director
Amy is the founding Executive Director of Austin Voices. Prior to starting Austin Voices, Amy worked at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), where she provided training and technical assistance to schools throughout the southwest United States to help them build strong school, family, and community partnerships. She also developed and co-authored a number of research-based publications and toolkits on school-community connections. Amy is an alumnus of the Teach for America (TFA) program, where she served as a second grade teacher in rural North Carolina. Amy currently serves as a community representative on the Austin ISD District Advisory Council and as a tri-chair of the Superintendent’s Taskforce reviewing Austin ISD’s progress implementing their strategic plan. Contact Amy.
Tim Eubanks
Lead Community Organizer
Tim coordinates and develops the community organizing, advocacy and critical thinking skills of high school students through our Youth Action for Educational Change and High School Redesign initiatives at Garza, Reagan and Johnston High Schools. He instructs students in ways to apply the lessons of social justice movements of the past and present to today's struggle for educational justice. Currently, he is coordinating efforts with the Ready By 21 Coalition to establish a Youth Council to improve social service delivery and leadership opportunities for young people in the Austin area. Tim was recently awarded the Barbara Jordan Public Service award from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the “Si Se Puede” Cesar Chavez award from PODER. He is a graduate of Antioch College. Contact Tim.
Daniel Garza
Community Organizer
Daniel works to engage parents and students in the process of improving their high schools, as well as organizing neighborhood events to raise visibility about the issue of high school dropout. On a monthly basis, he shares student and parent writings, and the results of these neighborhood meetings at AISD Board of Trustee meetings. Daniel also serves as lead organizer of Austin Voices’ annual youth STAND UP rally, where students highlight barriers to high school graduation for elected officials and other community leaders, through spoken word, music, and other forms of creative expression. Daniel is an active parent volunteer at Oak Springs Elementary School and Kealing Middle School, where he was recently honored as parent volunteer of the year. He also serves as a spiritual leader through his church, performs as a hip-hop and spoken word artist, and is pursuing his Associate’s degree at Austin Community College. Contact Daniel.
Rose Gabriel
Director of Operations and Finance
Rose is the director of Operations and Finance who joined Austin Voices in September 2008. Rose directs Austin Voices Human Resources, performs accounting duties coordinates daily office functions and serves as a liaison between the Austin Voices staff and board. She has worked for various Austin nonprofit organizations for the past 15 years which include: Meals on Wheels, Family Eldercare, Austin Groups for the Elderly, Family Connections, and the Texas Association of Partners in Education. Rose received her Bachelors degree in Business Communications from the University of North Texas. She is heavily involved in her daughter’s school PTA and is committed to ensuring that students and parents have a voice in the public education system.
Contact Rose.
Sarah Stone
Director of Special Projects
Sarah coordinates, supervises and evaluates several of Austin Voices’ programming and projects. Her professional interests include relational cultural theory, community building as it relates to strengthening public education and school equity issues, and positive youth development. She is involved in multiple community collaborations including Ready By 21 Coalition and the Austin Community Education Consortium. She is a proud graduate of AISD public schools, the University of Texas and the University of Michigan. Contact Sarah.
Alice Geaccone
Program Assistant
Alice is a graduate of the Stand Up
Amanda Aguirre
Executive Assistant
Amanda is a junior at The University of Texas pursuing a dual major in Sociology and Government. She is a previous intern for Austin Voices where she helped create the School Inequities Project, identifying disparities in resources in order to enhance opportunities for our community’s high school students. She recently completed an Internship with the Children’s Defense Fund doing community Health outreach in South West Houston. She hopes to continue working with non-profits with particular interest in community organizing, children’s health and educational inequalities.Contact Amanda.
Youth Consultants
Paula Rideau
Youth Consultant—Youth Merchandise
Paula Rideau has worked for Austin Voices throughout the years since November of 2005. She is a persistent young lady who loves to spend time with her friends and family. She was recently pursuing a radio broadcasting degree at Huston Tillotson University. That dream was put on hold so that she could take up nursing classes at ACC. She feels more stable being able to provide for her family and have a career while studying in school. In her spare time, she likes to sketch, create beats, and create lots of new ideas. She loves her new position at Austin Voices as Merchandising Consultant because it gives her the opportunity to express myself and encourage others to express their concerns in their community. She believes that she can help take this position to different heights with her ideas and creating new merchandise to better expose the Austin Voices’ image.Contact Paula.
Board of Directors
Robert Franco 
Senior Vice President for Business Banking , Bank of America. As a business leader and parent, Robert has played an active role in the Austin community. He has served on Campus Advisory Councils and PTA’s at his children’s schools and as an instructor for Junior Achievement for 10 years. Robert currently serves as the Chair of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Austin ISD Middle School Education Taskforce.
Roger Gordon 
Senior Associate, Bovey & Bojorquez, LLP. Roger heads up the litigation section at Bovey & Bojorquez, a firm specializing in municipal law. In his job, Roger works on behalf of towns and small cities throughout Central Texas. Roger is a graduate of Baylor Law School and Texas A & M University where he was active in Bonfire and served as student body president. He has been involved as a volunteer and fundraiser for a variety of nonprofit organizations and political campaigns.
The Honorable Sherri Greenberg 
Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. Sherri Greenberg served for 10 years as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, including two terms on the House Appropriations Committee. Now a professor at the LBJ School, Sherri teaches courses in public financial management, policy development, and public administration; and is a Fellow of the Max Sherman Chair in State and Local Government. In 2006, she received the Joan Fiss Bishop Award for Women in Public Service from the American Society of Public Administration.
Karrie League 
Co-Owner, Original Alamo Drafthouse. Karrie, along with her husband Tim, is the founder of the highly successful Original Alamo Drafthouse movie theatres in Austin. The Drafthouse has received national recognition for its innovative programming and has quickly become one of Austin’s favorite icons. In 2008 Tim and Karrie were recognized by Texas Monthly Magazine as two of the “35 People Who Will Shape Our World.” A longtime supporter of Austin Voices, Karrie also serves on the Boards of the Austin Film Society and Austin School of Film, and as a regular volunteer at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Mike McCarthy 
Vice President, IBM Global Technology Services. He is responsible for worldwide business strategy for IBM Middleware Services. Mike earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Michigan State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Duke University. Mike is a new Board member of Austin Voices for Education and Youth. He and his wife Jeanne have 4 children ranging in ages from 6-18 years. They have lived in Austin for 6 1/2 years. Before moving to Austin, Mike and his family lived in Wake Forest, North Carolina and Madrid, Spain.
Sinead O'Carroll 
Partner, Reeves & Brightwell, LLP. Sinead is a civil litigator representing corporate clients in commercial litigation. Before joining the firm of Reeves & Brightwell, Sinead served as a briefing attorney for Justice Harriet O’Neill of the Texas Supreme Court. Prior to attending law school at the University of Texas, Sinead served as a Teach for America middle school teacher in the Rio Grande Valley and as a kindergarten teacher at Blackshear Elementary in east Austin. She is an active volunteer at her son’s elementary school, in addition to serving on the Austin Voices Board.
Dr. Charles Buddy Owen
Medical Director, Emergency Department, Austin Heart Hospital. Buddy is an emergency room physician at the Austin Heart Hospital. As an active parent leader in AISD, he has served as the co-chair of the Austin ISD District Advisory Council and has been a member of both the AISD Budget Taskforce and AISD Strategic Planning Panel. He recently completed the University of Texas alternative teacher certification program to become a certified science teacher.
Melodie Zamora Summersett 
Community Volunteer. As an active community and parent volunteer, Melodie has been involved in her three childrens’ schools and a variety of community organizations. She serves on the Board of the National Instruments Foundation and on the Advisory Council for the UT Natural Sciences Center.
Melodie has had a long-term interest in creating opportunities for young people, especially in the field of science and technology, since her early career as an engineer at National Instruments.
Seth Winick
Partner, HRWK, Inc. As a founding partner of an Austin-based government and public affairs consulting firm, Seth provides advocacy strategy and communications advice to organizations involved in education, emerging technologies, affordable housing and health care. Prior to starting HRWK, Seth served as Managing Director of National Field Operations for the American Cancer Society. He also previously served as a staffer in the Texas Legislature, serving members of both the House and Senate.
Alissa Ziemianski
Marketing Director / Young Filmmakers Program Director, Austin Film Festival.
Proudly serving the social sector for the past decade, Alissa's current responsibilities are to inform the Austin community of the unique cultural events and services offered by AFF and to engage AISD students in the art and craft of screenwriting and filmmaking by exploring their creativity and increasing verbal and written communication skills. Prior to AFF, Alissa served the as the Senior Training and Resources Specialist with OneStar Foundation and the Director of Educational Initiatives with Greenlights for NonProfit Success – organizations focused on a macro approach to addressing social challenges through building the capacity of nonprofits and the nonprofit sector to increase impact – consulting, facilitating and designing training and technical assistance programs for nonprofits across the state. In addition to the Austin Voices Board of Directors, Alissa serves as the Vice President of the Austin Coed Soccer Association.