Voices of Austin’s leadership comes from across the political spectrum, comes from all areas of the city, and are a rainbow of ethnicities and colors.
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Gonzalo Barrientos, President & Principal
Gonzalo Barrientos & Associates and
Senior Advisor & Associate for Adelante Solutions, Inc.
Education: University of Texas at Austin, 4 Years
Hometown: Austin
Political strategist, election campaign tactician, and pollster with a greater than 70% election success record for scores of both candidates and ballot issues in Texas, Arizona, and Louisiana.
Chris Harte is the former publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He received an undergraduate degree at Stanford and an MBA at the University of Texas at Austin.
Before beginning his newspaper career he was an associate at McKinsey & Company.
Ora Houston’s long professional history of service-oriented work includes 27 years with the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, caseworker with Child Protective Services and Austin Travis County MHMR. After retirement Houston worked in the office of Texas Senator Gonzalo Barrientos.
To visit Ora website, click here.Technology, Go-to-Market, & alliance executive at large enterprise and Silicon Valley start-up IT companies. Advisor & consultant to CEOs of multi-million Euro firms and start-ups. Angel investor / mentor to start-ups & entrepreneurs. Focus of B2B and B2C software.
Robin Rather is a 5th generation Texan who has lived in Austin since 1993. Her firm, Collective Strength, specializes in research, outreach and communications support for transformative projects that include land and water conservation, the future of health care, renewable energy, sustainable economic development, carbon sequestration and new technology adoption.
Paul Theobald is a United States Navy submarine veteran and currently works in veteran mental health. He has worked for the State of Texas for more than 5 years. His previous roles include Director for the House Committee on Defense and Veteran Affairs and Chief of Staff for a member of the Texas House of Representatives
STAFF
No matter her job title, Samantha Davis embodies the George Carlin quote: “Electricity is really just organized lightning.”
David Helfert has nearly 40 years in the practice of political and governmental communication. He was a newspaper, radio and television news reporter and anchor and public information director for the Texas House of Representatives
The Board of Directors’ Statement of Purpose
Austin City Hall is not listening to the real Voices of Austin, our residents.
An extensive public research opinion survey finds that the majority of Austinites believes our city government is not working for us. Instead, our City Council is more influenced by highly paid lobbyists for special interests, who are not pursuing the common good. After lobbyists, most Austinites believe that Austin City Hall is listening to city staff more than its own residents. Staff should be transparent with Austinites and
enact public policy driven by Austinites’ voices, not set policy or operate in the shadows. We will hold the mayor and Council accountable for a budget and bond process to assure rational spending priorities and avoid wasteful spending.
The goal of the organization is to change what is happening now at City Hall and have the real Voices of Austin — its residents — be heard. Voices of Austin will communicate on various issues, including:
- the need for additional police officers to assure our safety;
- a sensible, workable transportation policy that addresses Austin’s traffic and transportation problems and helps move people where they need to go;
- a land use policy that protects the property rights of owners and enhances Austin’s neighborhoods, and
- a transparent, responsible process for developing budgets and bond proposals which result in a budget and bonds which reflect the essential needs of the entire community.
Austin must have a city government that listens to and represents all residents. Voices of Austin has been formed to accomplish this. Change can and will come to Austin government when the majority of the people — the true Voices of Austin — are heard!