Executive Office
Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., Executive Director
A native Texan and licensed psychiatrist, Dr. Martinez is the fifth Executive Director to lead the foundation since its creation in 1940. He oversees the vision, mission, goals, strategic planning and day to day operations of the foundation. Learn more about Dr. Martinez.
Contact: (512) 471-7625, Hogg-ED@austin.utexas.edu
Alisha Camacho, Executive Assistant
Alisha is the Executive Assistant to the foundation’s Executive Director. Prior to joining the foundation in 2016, she served for five years on the staff of Texas Law at The University of Texas at Austin. Alicia is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin.
Contact: (512) 471-7625, alisha.camacho@austin.utexas.edu
Grant Initiatives
Vicky Coffee, Program Manager
Vicky, who has been with the foundation since 2007, has committed more than 30 years to increasing awareness, offering services, and enhancing systems to support individuals, youth and families living with mental health conditions in Texas. Learn more about Vicky.
Contact: (512) 475-7057, vicky.coffee@austin.utexas.edu
Stephany Bryan, Program Officer and Consumer & Family Liaison
Stephany joined the foundation in 2007. She serves as Program Officer and Consumer and Family Liaison, representing the perspectives of consumers of mental health services and their families in the foundation’s strategic planning, grant making, programs and policy activities. Learn more about Stephany.
Contact: (512) 471-7628, stephany.bryan@austin.utexas.edu
Tammy Heinz, Program Officer and Consumer & Family Liaison
Tammy serves as Program Officer and Consumer and Family Liaison for the foundation. She represents the perspectives of consumers of mental health services and their families in the foundation’s strategic planning, grant making, programs and policy activities. Learn more about Tammy.
Contact: (512) 471-7635, tammy.heinz@austin.utexas.edu
Rick Ybarra, Program Officer
Rick joined the foundation in 2007 where he serves as Program Officer and leads the Integrated Health Care Initiative. Learn more about Rick.
Contact: (512) 471-9154, rick.ybarra@austin.utexas.edu
Public Policy
Colleen Horton, Director of Policy
Colleen joined the foundation in 2010. She leads the mental health policy unit and manages policy-related grants and activities. Learn more about Colleen.
Contact: (512) 471-2988, colleen.horton@austin.utexas.edu
Shannon Hoffman, Policy Fellow
Shannon joined the foundation in 2018. She assists the policy unit in providing education on mental health topics to elected officials, advocates, state agencies, and other stakeholders. Learn more about Shannon.
Contact: (512) 471-7627, shannon.hoffman@austin.utexas.edu
Tanya Lavelle, Policy Program Specialist
Tanya joined the foundation in 2018 as the Policy Program Specialist. In this role, she supports the policy unit by working to educate legislators, advocates and community members about a variety of mental health topics. Learn more about Tanya.
Contact: (512) 471-9150, tanya.lavelle@austin.utexas.edu
Strategic Learning and Evaluation
Emily Bhandari, Strategic Learning and Evaluation Program Officer
Emily joined the foundation in 2018 as the Strategic Learning and Evaluation Program Officer. In this role, she facilitates the foundation’s learning objectives, designs research and evaluation priorities, and educates about community-level interventions that support resiliency and well-being in everyday life. Learn more about Emily.
Contact: (512) 471-2982, emily.bhandari@austin.utexas.edu
Communications
Kate Smallwood, Communications Manager
Kate joined the foundation in 2017. As Communications Manager, she leads the foundation’s communications team and strategy. A native Texan, she has worked in Austin’s nonprofit and higher education sectors in the areas of communications, community relations and fund development. Learn more about Kate.
Contact: (512) 471-7631, kate.smallwood@austin.utexas.edu
Ike Evans, Public Affairs Representative
Ike has served as the Public Affairs Representative at the foundation since 2012. His roles include marketing communications, media outreach and assisting with implementing the foundation’s overall communications strategy. Learn more about Ike.
Contact: (512) 471-4804, imani.evans@austin.utexas.edu
Veronica Rodriguez, Digital Content Strategist
Veronica joined the foundation in 2018 as the Digital Content Strategist. In this role, she manages the foundation’s digital platforms and contributes multimedia content to help educate and mobilize communities in their efforts to promote mental health. Learn more about Veronica.
Contact: (512) 471-9142, v.rodriguez@austin.utexas.edu
Finance and Operations
Crystal Viagran, Assistant Director of Finance and Operations
As Assistant Director of Finance and Operations, Crystal oversees the foundation’s fiscal operations including grants management, accounting, procurement and endowments, and works with IT services, archives and office management. Learn more about Crystal.
Contact: (512) 471-7634, crystal.viagran@austin.utexas.edu
Margarita Alvarez, Operations Associate
Margarita joined the foundation in 1990. As Operations Associate in Finance and Operations, she coordinates travel and manages the front office. Previously, she served as a Grants Associate in the foundation’s grants management unit. Learn more about Margarita.
Contact: (512) 471-5041, margarita.alvarez@austin.utexas.edu
Lexi Arons, Grants Coordinator
Lexi has served in a variety of roles with the foundation since 2009. As Grants Coordinator, she facilitates applicant and grantee processes and is the go-to for questions about the foundation’s grants management system, Fluxx. Learn more about Lexi.
Contact: (512) 475-7089, lexi.arons@austin.utexas.edu
Mary Capps, Cross Unit Liaison
Mary serves as Cross Unit Liaison for the foundation, working across teams on a variety of projects with an eye toward process optimization and strengthening cross-unit collaboration. Learn more about Mary.
Contact: (512) 232-6287, mary.capps@austin.utexas.edu
Krystal Mullins, Operations Associate
Krystal joined the foundation in 2017 as Operations Associate. In this role, she handles procurement duties, as well as event and meeting coordination. Learn more about Krystal.
Contact: (512) 475-7083, krystal.mullins@austin.utexas.edu
Edward Reed, Senior Systems Administrator
Ed serves as Senior Systems Administrator for the foundation. For more than ten years, he has provided server, network and database support. Ed is partial to cooking and healthy eating, and enjoys the view from his office very much!
Contact: (512) 475-7050, ed.reed@austin.utexas.edu
Elizabeth Stauber, Archivist and Records Manager
Elizabeth serves as Archivist and Records Manager for the foundation. In this role, she collects, assesses, organizes, preserves and provides access to historically significant records produced by the foundation over the last 75+ years. Learn more about Elizabeth.
Contact: (512) 471-2811, elizabeth.stauber@austin.utexas.edu