BOARD MEMBERS AND STAFF
The IHCA Board meets once a month--third Tuesday from January through December.. Elections to fill vacancies are held at each annual meeting which occurs during the summer. In 2009, the annual meeting occurred in October. The Board is racially and ethnically diverse; 14 are women, and 9 are men, including our ex officio members. Their professions include government, business, labor, law, and education.
Board Of Directors 2008
Executive Committee
Adrienne Carter President
Cecilia Galliano, Vice-President
Open, Secretary
Monica Benoit-Beatty, Treasurer
Mahima Prakash, Member at Large
Joseph Frisz, Member at Large
Victoria Lippman, Executive Director
Lauro Cruz - Past President
Additional Members
Margaret Anderson
Steven Edmond-ex-officio
Jennifer Fox
James A. Hall
Margie Kidd
Mortada Mohamed, ex-officio
Judge Harriet Murphy
Leila Sayeh Petratos
Ita U. Ufot
Lateefa Neal
Estuardo Robles
Karin Kelvie
Full time Staff Members
Victoria Lippman, Executive Director
Pam Mohamed, Program Officer
Advisory Committee
Geoff Connor
Frank Cooksey
Lynn Cooksey
William "Bill" Cryer
Terri Givens
Larry Graham
Joan Holtzman
Jerry Harris
Hinkel Johnson
IHCA Board and Staff Members
Margaret C. Anderson recently retired from 28 years in public school administration and teaching in the areas of bilingual education and ESL, having taught at all levels from kindergarten through the university level. She and her husband have J. Robert Anderson Landscape Architects in Austin where she is presently working. Margaret has traveled all of her life, having lived or traveled to five continents.
Florence Atiase, CPA, is on the accounting faculty of the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin
Monica Benoit-Beatty is currently the Executive Managing Director for eWomenNetwork. She also has 20+ years experience in the financial services industry. Monica is also a proud graduate of Leadership Austin and an Austin Business Journal Profiles in Power award recipient. As Chair-Elect of the Better Business Bureau of Central, Southwest and Coastal Texas, Monica continues to influence and oversee ethical and trustworthy business activities across 60+ counties. Through her 15+ years of local community involvement, she has evolved as a strong community connector who thrives on matching people with needed resources in all echelons. That work continues today and is now reaching across borders to help people around the world.
Adrienne Carter was a founder and executive board officer of the World Congress on Information Technology 2006, which was held in Austin in 2006. She has over 20 years at Texas Department of Transportation and is a senior System Analyst and is also President of Solution Nation, LLC consulting in business, international and technology. She is the president of IHCA.
Lauro Cruz, former Texas State Representative from Houston, is director of the Innovation Leadership Training Program, which is co-sponsored by the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He has served as President of IHCA in previous years, 2002, 2004 and 2007.
Stephen Edmond is a professor of business at Huston-Tillotson College. He also heads the International Studies Program, recruiting international students as well as assisting students to study abroad.
Jennifer Fox is a graduate of UT's LBJ School of Public Affairs and is employed by the State of Texas' Legislative Budget Board. She is the key planner of Austin's and IHCA's Citizen Diplomacy Summit. Jennifer serves as co-chair of the protocol committee of the International Consular Ball. She joined the board of IHCA in August, 2007.
Joseph Frisz is a retired general manager of Procter & Gamble who managed business units in several Latin American countries. He has lived in Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, and Puerto Rico. He was president of IHCA in 2005 and 2006.
Cecelia Galliano, a native of Costa Rica, chairs the architectural review board for the City of Pflugerville Central Business District and has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Economic Development Committee.
James A. Hall was political advisor to the NATO forces in Sarajavo. He was the Science Attachee at the American Embassy in Tokoyo. He has also served as the first chief of the Hanoi office thus being their first diplomatic liaison.
Jerry Harris, partner with the Brown McCarroll law firm, represents clients in land development permitting before the Austin City Council, city staff and committees, and the Travis County Commissioners Court.
Joan Holtzman, a founding member of IHCA, helped organize the original Host Families program. In 1995 she received the Yellow Rose of Texas Award from then-Gov. George Bush for her work with international students.
O. Hinkel Johnson, an interior designer and retired school principal, is a lifetime IHCA volunteer and former Board President.
Margie Kidd is a long time community advocate for international interests. Among her many accomplishments, she succeeded Joe Neal as Director of UT’s International Office. Upon her retirement, she and her husband, Richard, took a world cruise in their own boat over a 5 year period, then settled back in Austin and built a new home. She serves as co-chair of the International Student Committee. Her many volunteer interests include Tuesday morning coffee with families of international students. She was also NCIV's 2008 Volunteer of the Year, Lorrain Emery Award.
Mortada Mohamed is the regional director for Europe, Africa and the Middle East for Economic Development and Tourism with the Governor’s Office, capping a 20-year career as an international business specialist. He is also an adjunct professor with the International Business Institute at Austin Community College.
Harriet Murphy is a retired Austin municipal judge and Presiding Judge and continues to work part-time as an attorney at law and part time as a Justice of the Peace. She has traveled to many European, African, Carribean countries and to Mexico. She served two years on the African Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of State. She has received numerous awards in organizations throughout the community as well as Nationally. She currently servies on the Executive Committee of Spellman College and on the board of the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association. She has been a board member of IHCA since 1995.
Leila Sayeh Petratos is originally from Tunisia, she has distinguished herself in the international legal profession through her extensive background in monitoring international and local cases, worked in International conferences, written amicus briefs in cases of significance to women, arbitrated and negotiated legal disputes and published essays and articles on human rights in periodicals including the Texas International Law Journal. She speaks fluently French, Arabic and English. She hold an L.L.M. from UT Law School, Certificate of Int'l Business Law from the Hague (Netherlands) Academy of International Law and J.D with Honors. She is a dedicated board member, who served as vice-chair of the International Consular Ball for the past few years and volunteered for many IHCA programs.
Mahima Prakash, a native of India, teaches Hindi in an outreach program at The University of Texas. A former school principal and college instructor, she has been the director of the Indian Community Center in Austin.
Ita Ufot, an environmental engineer, works as the Fuels Specialist in the Technical Analysis Division the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission. She is a United Nations volunteer for the TOKTEM program and serves the Central Texas community through a number of organizations including Sister Cities.
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Victoria Lippman, - Executive Director
Appointed Executive Director of the IHCA in 2008. She is a first generation American born to Haitian parents. The former international flight attendant is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Social Work. Formerly the Executive Director of the Round Rock Volunteer Center and Vice President of the Texas Association of Volunteer Centers. She is a member of the Pan American round table, is currently a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Volunteer and serves on the Seton Williamson Hospital Development Board.
Pamela-Jean Mohamed, Director of programs, joined IHCA in 2000. A graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in education, she taught French in grades 7-12 in Canada. In 2002, she received the National Council of International Visitors' award for excellence in programming.
Board of Directors