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 in June or July. In 2007, the annual meeting occurred in August. 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 2007
Executive Committee
Hon. Lauro Cruz, President
Adrienne Carter Vice President
Margaret C. Anderson, Recording Secretary
Florence Atiase, CPA, Treasurer
Joseph Frisz, Past President
Mahima Prakash, Member at Large
Lynn Cooksey, Executive Director (Non-voting)
Additional Members
Monica Benoit-Beatty
Susan Dyer
Steven Edmond
Jennifer Fox
Cecilia Galliano
James A. Hall
Barbara Huggins
Veronica Johnson
Margie Kidd
Barbara Shelby Merello
Mortada Mohamed, ex-officio
Judge Harriet Murphy
Leila Sayeh Petratos
Kathy Rock
Aurora Reyes Tames
Ita U. Ufot
Staff Members
Lynn Cooksey, Executive Director, full time
Pam Mohamed, Program Officer, full time
Advisory Committee
Joan Holtzman
Jerry Harris
Hinkel Johnson
IHCA Board and Staff Members
Margaret C. Anderson is a certified Professional Mid-management Administrator and currently serves as an ESL teacher in the Austin Independent School District. She has served in the past as an Assistant Principal and an Educational Consultant including 4 years at the Texas Education Agency.
Florence Atiase, CPA, is on the accounting faculty of the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin
Monica Benoit-Beatty, UT graduate, BBA in Finance, has over 20 years experience in the financial services industry as a business management and customer service expert. She is currently the Managing Director of e-WomenNetwork.com's local chapter. Her international travels began at the tender age of 13 and soon evolved ino a French high school exchange student before progessng to lifelong travels across Noth America, Europe and Israel.
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 currently vice president of IHCA and is the chair International Consular Ball.
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 was elected for the position a third time in August, 2007.
Susan Dyer, diversity trainer in global management and intercultural communication, has lived and worked for 20 years in the Netherlands, as well as Brazil and the Dominican Republic.
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 to be held on November 2 and 3, 2007. 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 is the immediate past president of IHCA.
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.
Barbara Huggins is a retired middle school principal who trains teachers and students in community service. She worked with the Austin Independent School District for 24 years.
O. Hinkel Johnson, an interior designer and retired school principal, is a lifetime IHCA volunteer and former Board President.
Veronica Johnson is retired from IBM. She graduated from the University of Minnesota, then moved with IBM eight times and finally settled in Austin. She is an active community volunteer with Ten Thousand Villages and Campfire USA. She is a past IHCA board member, host family and currently co chair of the International Student Committee. She is a board member of the State and Austin American Association of University Women Branch. She is member of the League of Women Voters and the Pan American Round Table.
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 works as a volunteer at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Barbara Shelby Merello is a retired Foreign Service officer whose has lived in Peru, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. Trained in mediation at the Dispute Resolution Center at the UT School of Law, she has served as a volunteer mediator and conducted mediation workshops in Peru with a partial grant from Partners of the Americas.
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 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 artiles on human rights in periodicals including the Texas Iternational Law Journal. She speaks fluently in French, Arabic and English. She has has a L.L.M. from UT Austin, Certificate of Int'l Business Law from the Hague (Netherlands) Academy of Internional Law and Licence en Droit Prive with Honors from Hassan II School of Law in Casablanca, Morocco. She is a dedicated volunteer for IHCA's International Consular Ball. She has recruited international students and volunteers 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.
Kathy Rock has recently completed her UT MS in Urban Planning . Previously she was VP for Customer Satisfaction Research Manager for Global Securities Transaction Services for Citiban,k NA., New York. Kathy has lived abroad in France and England and has traveled in Asia. She has traveled extensively in Europe and England, as well. She is a dedicated volunteer for IHCA and joined the IHCA Board in August, 2007.
Auroro Reyes Tames is interested in the culinary arts and has recently enrolled in the TexasCulinary Arts Academy, In addition, she is working on her Ph.D. in Philosophy. She holds a B.A. in Philosphy and a B.A. in Government. She has served as a volunteer at the Children’s Hospital of Austin and theWomen’s Symphony League of Austin. She is the daughter of a form Consul General of Nicaragua. She is conversant in three languages, Italian, Spanish and English.
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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Lynn Cooksey, Executive Director, is uniquely qualified for her current role of executive director by virtue of her fiscal, educational, and public affairs experience. She is former executive director of Austin Community Television, fiscal program specialist with the Texas Education Agency, and Economic Opportunity program officer for the Texas Department of Community Affairs. She has also developed continuing education activities in architecture for UT-Austin. She holds a master's degree from UT's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.
Pam Mohamed, program officer, 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 for five years. She also operates a translation service company whose niche is the food industry.
Board of Directors