2012 Board of Directors

Elected Positions

President – Rebecca Gough

Rebecca is the President overseeing all Chapter activities and initiatives. She has been a member of PRSA-Austin since 2006 and has served on the executive board in a variety of positions, including treasurer, secretary and professional liaison for Texas State University-San Marcos, her alma mater. Prior to graduating from Texas State University-San Marcos, Rebecca was an active member of the university’s PRSSA chapter for two years, serving as PR chair and President. Rebecca is an account supervisor in the Austin office of Weber Shandwick, a global public relations agency.

President-Elect – Katie Eisenhart

Katie is currently president-elect, providing aid to chapter president and overseeing the PRSSA liaison program. Katie has been a member of PRSA since 2007. She has served on the board for three years. Katie currently works in communications for Dell.

Past President/Assembly Delegate – Laura Kunz

Laura has been a member of PRSA since 2005 following three years as an officer of PRSSA at The University of Texas at Austin. She has served on the board for three years in the role of Membership Chair. Laura currently serves as a Senior Manager for Austin-based communication and public affairs firm Hahn, Texas.

Secretary – Colton Wright

Treasurer and Communications Chair – Madison Craig

Madison is currently treasurer and communications chair. Madison is an account executive at Cohn & Wolfe where she primarily supports consumer accounts with a focus on digital and social media strategy. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Public Relations degree in May of 2009, and served on the UT PRSSA executive board for two years.

Director at Large Accreditation – Katherine Voss, APR

Director at Large Communications – Shelly Gupta

Shelly is currently Director at Large Communications. In this role she coordinates publicity, promotional and digital and social media initiatives on behalf of the chapter. Shelly is a manager of client services for communications and public affairs firm Hahn, Texas. She supports a wide variety of clients ranging from real estate and transportation to energy and the arts, assisting with media outreach, event planning and coordination, and overall communications strategy development and execution. Shelly graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in May of 2008 with a degree in public relations and business foundations.

Director at Large Programs – Dana Ziebarth 

Dana serves as Director at Large Programs after serving on the Programs Committee in 2011. In this position, she helps plan and facilitate monthly programs held by PRSA Austin and manages the Member Spotlight section of the website. Dana is an account executive at Avalon Communications focusing on media relations for several product-based clients. She graduated from Ball State University in May 2010 with a Master's in Public Relations and was a member of PRSSA for two years

Ethics Director – Selena Booth

Selena is currently Ethics Director. In this role, she promotes the highest level of ethical performance and behavior among PRSA chapter members. Selena is an account manager and public affairs specialist at I&O Communications. She graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 2009. She completed undergraduate school at the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 with a degree in public relations. 

PRSSA Liaison, The University of Texas at Austin – Jenifer Sarver

Jenifer Sarver is the University of Texas at Austin Chapter Liaison. In this role she coordinates the chapter’s relationship with the UT Austin PRSSA chapter, and coordinates with other university chapter liaisons. Jenifer was a PRSSA member in the late 90’s and a PRSA member in the early 00’s, and renewed her PRSA membership in 2009. This is Jenifer’s second year on our chapter board. Jenifer currently serves as the Chief of Staff for Burson-Marsteller’s Global Vice Chair Karen Hughes. Jenifer graduated from UT Austin with bachelors’ degrees in Journalism and Speech Communication, and received her Master’s in Public Administration from American University. She recently returned from seven and a half years in Washington, D.C. where she worked in various government communications roles, including as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s speechwriter and as the deputy director of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

PRSSA Liaison, St. Edwards University and Sponsorship Chair – Ivan Davila

Ivan is the PRSA Austin liaison to the PRSSA Chapter at St. Edward’s University. As such, he provides leadership and professional counseling to student members, ensuring they have the necessary tools to succeed as they enter the public relations industry upon graduation. Ivan has been a member of PRSA since 2007. He currently serves as Communications Coordinator at El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission. At El Buen, Ivan specializes in both Hispanic and general marketing communications, executing both internal and external communication plans which incorporate the use of marketing, advertising and media relations to advance the mission of El Buen Samaritano.

PRSSA Liaison, Texas State University – Lauren Lee

Lauren currently serves as corporate communications advisor to Dell’s chief procurement officer, managing the communications program for Dell’s global procurement, logistics and supply chain initiatives. She joined Dell in February 2011 from engineering firm The Shaw Group, where she was responsible for internal and external communications and marketing for multiple lines of business. Prior to her role at Shaw, Lauren supported Dell employee communications, digital media and product review projects during agency stints at Enfatico (now AxiCom) and GCI Group (now Cohn & Wolfe). Lauren’s background also includes previous strategic communications counsel to software clients, including Pervasive Software, Global 360, Vignette Software and Neverfail Group. She graduated in 2004 from Texas State University – San Marcos with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication – Public Relations. Lauren serves on the PRSA Austin board as a Professional Liaison to Texas State public relations students (2007-2008 and current); she also previously served on the board as an Awards co-chair (2006-2007).

Programs Chair – Kristen Wiley

Kristen is programs chair after serving on Programs Committee. She joined the board after serving as UT PRSSA’s chapter president. In this role she helps plan and facilitate the many programs that the chapter organizes. After graduating in December 2010, she joined Cohn & Wolfe as an assistant account executive in the consumer practice. Kristen studied public relations and business foundations at The University of Texas at Austin and interned with Cohn & Wolfe, Griffin Communications Group and the Houston Ballet. She served on the UT PRSSA executive board for two years, representing the chapter at the PRSSA national conferences in San Diego and Washington, D.C.

Programs Committee – Rachel Wenzler

Rachel serves on the Program Committee after receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Culture from Indiana University. She served on the IU PRSSA student board as their historian and played an active role in the chapter by traveling to San Diego, California and Detroit, Michigan to attend both national assemblies and conferences. Rachel brings a deeper understanding of the benefits and importance behind connecting with others on a local and national level, and looks forward to mentoring and helping out the students at Texas State in any way she can.

Membership Chair – Ashley Underwood

Ashley coordinates all member inquiries, welcomes new members to the Austin Chapter of PRSA and hosts new member meet-ups. Prior to joining PRSA, Ashley served as Vice President and President of PRSSA where she engaged local members and students by getting them involved on hands-on campaigns at The University of Texas at Austin. She graduated in Spring 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric & Writing. Ashley currently works in the Austin office of Porter Novelli, a global public relations firm specializing in consumer, corporate, healthcare and technology communications.

Communications Committee – Julie Shussler

Julie Shussler currently serves on the Communications Committee. In this role, she promotes news and events of the chapter through various channels to its membership and the general public. Julie is a Senior Associate with Burson-Marsteller supporting media relations efforts for a variety of clients both in Texas and throughout the country. Julie is a 2008 graduate of UT Austin with bachelors’ degrees in public relations and political communication.

Communications Committee – Alison Kwong