Heart House Afterschool Austin

Abe Arevalo, Secretary

(bio coming soon)

Pat Fitzgerald

(bio coming soon)

John Floyd

John Floyd is a native Austinite, although he grew up in Virginia until 1985, when he and his father finally moved back to Austin. He is currently a Regional Sales Manager at Blackboard, Inc., a software company that provides educational software to the higher education, K-12, and corporate markets. John has been volunteering with Heart House since January 2002, and is involved in other local organizations involving recovery from alcohol and drug abuse. He has a passion for helping others reach beyond their own limits, for helping those at a disadvantage realize success, and for sharing his love of life with those around him. He hopes his work on the board will provide a greater level of support for an organization that has meant so much to him, so that it may further extend its outreach in the community, and its benefits across the globe. John received his MBA from St. Edward’s University, specializing in Management Information Systems.

Mary Ann Frishman

Mary Ann Frishman is the president of Frishco, Ltd, an editorial development house she founded in 1995. Frishco, Ltd. focuses on the development of Pre-K through twelfth grade textbooks, and ancillary and supplemental educational materials. Clients include DIBELS, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw, Pearson, Saddleback, Scholastic, and Voyager. Mary Ann received both her BA and MEd from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to managing the development house, she and her husband are raising their two children.

Dee Kurtzer

Dee Kurtzer was born & raised in Texas, with a few years in New Mexico and Michigan. Prior to becoming a full-time community volunteer, Dee worked for Ma Bell as a telephone operator. Before that, Dee spent 10 years as a travel agent. Dee been a volunteer and fundraiser for Heart House since 2003. Dee is a graduate of University of Houston, with a bachelor degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. Dee has taught children since 1989 in Houston, Alief, Austin, Leander, and Round Rock, Texas. Passionate about learning, reading, history, and travel, Dee is enthusiastically greeted by the children when she volunteers with the children and shares her latest adventures.

Laurie Loew

Laurie Loew is the owner and founder of Give Realty, Inc., a philanthropic and socially responsible real estate brokerage, which donates 25% of its commission to the nonprofit of the client’s choice in their name. She is proud to be a strong advocate for both her clients and the community. Her community involvement includes: Heart House Board Member, Bootstrap Austin Member, Co-chair of I Live Here, I Give Here Local Business Council, Austin Independent Business Alliance Member, Austin Women Entrepreneur member and she is an active participant in the Social Entrepreneurship movement taking shape in Austin.

Laurie has been in sales for over 25 years and her personal dream of business ownership has now come to life! Laurie was born in Scottsdale, AZ and is the 9th of 10 children; she moved to Austin in 1994 and is honored to now call it home.

Andy Land

With over 12 years of proven success, Andy Land provides strategic product management and marketing direction for UnboundID. Previously, Andy served as Senior Director of Product Management at Alterpoint, an Austin-based network change and configuration management software company. His responsibilities included product strategy, marketing and direction. Prior to Alterpoint, Andy was Director of Product Management at Sun Microsystems where he helped guide the company's identity products to leadership in the identity-management market. His background also includes broad-based experience in product management and sales at Motive, Vignette, Verizon, and Abbott Laboratories. Andy began his career as a United States Naval Officer and is a veteran of the first Gulf War. Andy earned his bachelor degree in economics from Northwestern University and holds a MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Emily Allen Radstrom

Emily Allen Radstrom moved to Austin in June 2007 from Houston. Prior to moving to Austin, Emily was a front-line investigator for Child Protective Services, and most recently, was Manager of Special Events and Marketing at Goodwill Houston. In Austin, Emily is a full-time volunteer, devoting much of her time to the children at Heart House. In addition to Heart House, she volunteers with Dress for Success, the drug rehab program at Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels, and Catholic Charities. Emily is also a member of Leadership Austin and a Stephen Minister at Riverbend Church. Emily has a strong passion for working with children, especially those at risk, helping them gain the tools needed to be happy and successful.

Alex Rountree

Originally from Virginia, Alex Rountree currently works as a System Administrator for HBMG, Inc, an Austin based technology firm that provides collaborative services for the transportation industry. Prior to this position, he served as the Information Technology Specialist for the Austin Area Urban League, Inc where he acquired his love for non-profit organizations. He gathered a wealth of knowledge about fundraising, program development, and grant-writing while working there. He hopes to help this organization move forward and grow through the use of that knowledge. Alex holds a B.A. in Computer Systems Management from St. Edward’s University.

Thom Singer

Thom Singer is a professional speaker the author of three books on the topic of the power of business relationships and networking. Some Assembly Required, How to Make, Grow and Keep Your Business Relationships (New Year Publishing, Second Edition 2007), The ABC’s of Networking (New Year Publishing, 2007) and Some Assembly Required: A Networking Guide For Women (New Year Publishing, 2008)

He is also the author of The Some Assembly Required Blog, where he discusses a variety of business and networking related topics. Thom regularly speaks to corporations, law firms and professional organizations throughout the United States. Thom and his wife, Sara, are the parents of two highly spirited daughters.

Mike Sutter, CPA, Board Chair

Mike Sutter is a Certified Public Accountant and Manager at the Austin-based audit and advisory services firm of Holtzman, Moellenberg, Panozzo & Perkins LLP (HMPP). Prior to joining HMPP, Mike worked in the Houston and Chicago offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers were he supervised the audits of large, multinational corporations. Mike earned his bachelor degree in Accounting and an MBA from Texas State University. Mike hopes that his work with the Board will further Heart House’s mission to enhance the lives of children throughout Texas. Mike and His wife Jenny are expecting their first child, Emma Diane, in January of 2009.

Maurie Yanta, CPA, Treasurer

Maurie Yanta is a Certified Public Accountant and Manager at the Austin-based audit and advisory services firm of Holtzman, Moellenberg, Panozzo & Perkins LLP (HMPP). Prior to joining HMPP, Maurie worked in the Houston office of Ernst & Young LLP. Maurie earned her bachelor degree in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame. Maurie was first introduced to Heart House through her service to the Notre Dame Club of Austin, who has sponsored various special activities for the Heart House kids. Maurie found the volunteer experience to be fun and a great way to enrich the lives of children in need.

		Diane Cannon, Executive Director 512-929-8187 office dcannon@hearthouse.org Diane Cannon joined the Heart House team in October 2002 as the Site Director. Previously, she had worked for Austin Independent School District with the Community Education Department for 10 years. During this time, she served as one of the first program coordinators for the 21st Century Learning Center at Dobie Middle School for 500+ youth. She designed and implemented classes that offered homework assistance and enrichment, as well as a summer camp program. For the first time, families were offered opportunities for night classes in English as a Second Language, computer and safety classes. During her time with Community Education, Diane supervised eight Prime Time Programs which is a part of the City of Austin in their after school enrichment programs. She has experience working with the Texas Education Agency after school initiative for four years. In all three programs, Diane supervised or was in charge of coordinating their after school programs in the areas of financing, hiring, managing their budgets and being responsible for data and statistical information. Diane has had extensive experience working with community groups such as Travis County Afterschool Network, Safe Kids Coalition, YMCA and the City of Austin to form partnerships in programming. Diane was promoted to be the Executive Director for Heart House in June, 2003. Under her direction, Heart House has become an important focal community center for the Trails at Vintage Creek. Before working going to work with Austin Independent School District, Diane and her husband owned and managed their own business, Hunter Engineering for 16 years. Diane attended Texas A&M College at Kingsville, Texas and University of Texas/Pan American at Edinburg,Texas.

		Monica Armendariz, Program Director 512-929-8187 office marmendariz@hearthouse.org Monica is a graduate of St. Edward’s University where she earned a BA in English Literature and her teaching certificate. She has worked in a variety of schools both inside and outside the Austin area. In the summer of 2004, she spent the summer in Norfolk, VA as a teacher with Breakthrough Collaborative, a national program designed to offer free summer school programming to underserved middle school student populations. Some of her other career experiences include tutoring with the 21st Century After School Programs at Reagan High School and teaching at Sylvan Learning Center, both in Austin. Teaching is Monica’s first passion. She has had opportunities to work with students within a variety of ages, backgrounds, and subject areas. She considers herself an energetic and innovative educator who designs curriculum and activities around the kids’ interests and ideas. She understands the need to form positive and meaningful relationships with youth and strives to accomplish this by creating activities and interactions that foster self-confidence and growth. When Monica is not teaching, she can be found doing other interesting and creative things. She has been writing poetry and short stories since the age of 13, and has been fortunate to have some of her personal poetry published in the St. Edward’s University literary magazine and with a greeting card company. She also LOVES to dance- salsa, swing, hip-hop, anything! She has been known to dabble in karaoke as well.

		Meredith Meisetschlaeger, Site Director, Heart House South 512-292-9400 office mmeisetschlaeger@hearthouse.org Meredith originally came to Heart House as a full-time volunteer in the summer of 2006. Shortly thereafter, she began serving as a Program Leader for 2nd and 3rd grade until leaving to complete her degree in Social Work at The University of Texas. After graduating, Meredith returned to Heart House Austin as a Site Director. Meredith gained much of her experience working with children while serving local community organizations. She spent over 300 hours volunteering in the Child Learning Center at El Buen Samaritano in Austin and nearly 500 hours as a Social Work Intern for The University of Texas Children’s Wellness Center in Del Valle. Both of these experiences have fueled Meredith’s passion for achieving social justice and equality for typically underserved populations, including Spanish-speaking groups. Meredith feels her work is especially inspired by sentimental music, sincere conversation and bad TV shows.

		Shelly-Marie Rios, Volunteer Coordinator 512-929-8187 office volunteer@hearthouse.org Shelly-Marie Rios is a native of Corpus Christi , TX where she studied fine art at Del Mar College in 1992. She started volunteering at 17 as a docent and art teacher at the Art Museum of South Texas . Since then, she has held several volunteer positions in Texas , Michigan and Central America in such areas as education, art, and science. She moved to Detroit , MI in 1995 to attend the College for Creative Studies and studied art education and exhibition design. She worked at the Detroit Institute of Arts from 1997 to 2004 in the education and development departments as the docent coordinator and volunteer coordinator managing a 1000 member volunteer base. Before moving back to Texas in 2007, Shelly-Marie served as Assistant Director for the Community Arts Office of the College for Creative Studies where she helped develop an award winning, benchmark community teacher training program that brought art education to 5000 Detroit inner-city youth through afterschool and Saturday programs. Volunteers: Join the Heart House Facebook Group!

		Jackie Collett, Development Coordinator jcollett@hearthouse.org (512) 929-8187 (512) 573-6033 Cell (512) 857-0488 Fax Jackie graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) with a B.A. in Psychology and began her nonprofit career working in afterschool and summer programs for at-risk youth across the Omaha area. In 2003, she accepted her first development position with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in Omaha and had the pleasure of working alongside the Boomer Esiason Foundation. In 2005, Jackie moved from Omaha to Austin and began working for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). She built their first formal fundraising program from the ground up managing two large special events, volunteer recruitment, grant writing, donor and sponsor cultivation, memorial giving, community outreach, and networking efforts. Jackie is currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Public Administration through UNO’s online program and hopes to graduate in May, 2010. She enjoys running and volunteering for local walks and runs including the Austin Marathon.

Anna Land
anna@hearthouse.org

Anna Land is co-founder and CEO of Heart House USA. In this role, Anna focuses on strategic planning, fundraising, advocacy, and growth and development for Heart House, and leads efforts to create and develop curriculum for the children.

Anna started her advertising and web design firm, Anna Land Design, in 1999. Previously, Anna was the national director of marketing for Transwestern Commercial Services, one of the largest privately held real estate investment and corporate advisory companies in North America. She has over 15 years of both agency and client-side advertising and marketing experience.

Anna's community volunteerism focuses on bringing resources and opportunities to underprivileged communities. Anna is the past chair of the Central Texas Afterschool Network and is currently the Co-President of the Texas Afterschool Association. Anna is an Ambassador Emeritus of the Afterschool Ambassadors, a program of the Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with JCPenney and the Mott Foundation. Anna was selected in 2006 as a Community Sabbatical grantee at the University of Texas Humanities Institute under the director of Dr. Sarah Jane Rehnborg of the RGK Center for Philanthropy, and now serves on the Community Sabbatical Advisory Board.

Suzanne Kiefer
suzanne@hearthouse.org

Suzanne Kiefer is co-founder of Heart House Dallas and has served the organization in a volunteer capacity since its pilot program began in Dallas in September 2000. She is responsible for managing, directing and implementing Heart House policies, programs and operations. Suzanne and the Heart House staff work closely with families, communities and schools to build a strong network that cares and provides for the children and in turn improves the larger community.

Under Suzanne's leadership, Heart House has grown to three locations in Dallas, serving over 200 children in grades K-6 every school-day. In that time Heart House's staff has increased from one to ten and its volunteers to over 200.

In addition to her time dedicated to Heart House, Suzanne works as a paralegal and staff supervisor specializing in intellectual property at the law firm of Haynes and Boone, LLP, where she has been for six years. Prior to that, Suzanne worked ten years as a litigation paralegal in environmental, labor and employment law. She is also a certified mediator.

Suzanne is an active member of the Junior League of Dallas where she participates in projects such as art enrichment, fundraising, juvenile mediation, public affairs, and research and development. Suzanne continues to also stay involved in other community volunteer efforts.