Co-President - Jeanette Holahan

Jeanette Holahan is a Strategist for Commercial Digital Marketing. She is the mother of three children; two boys Zachary and Anthony and daughter Sydney who was born with Down syndrome. She has been involved in DSACT since 2008 when she became the New Parent program Coordinator. She is serving her fourth year on the board of directors as the Outreach Chair and three years on the executive board. Jeanette has a passion for outreach to families on an emotional and social level to promote a sense of support and community.

E-Mail: jholahan@dsact.com

Suzanne Shepherd is the mother of three boys – Connor, 27, Kevin, 22, and Jack, 15 who has Down syndrome. She is married to Carl Shepherd, co-founder of Homeaway. Suzanne is also the former Director of Legal Services for the Seton Family of Hospitals. Suzanne has been Co-Chair of the DSACT Healthcare Committee since 2008. She coordinates presentations to healthcare providers to improve the way the diagnosis of Down syndrome is presented to new parents. As part of this initiative, Suzanne scripted “Down Syndrome in the 21st Century” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I13KxRYqoo0. Suzanne also coordinates the DSACT Teen Group and leads the DSACT Development Board. She was born in New Jersey and is actually proud of that. Having married a native Texan, however, she’s lived in Austin since 1983 and calls Austin home.

E-Mail: suzshepherd@sbcglobal.net

Vice-President and Comite Latino Chair - Guillermo Carrillo

Guillermo Carrillo has a wonderful wife and 3 children.  The Carrillo’s have been involved with DSACT since 2007. Guillermo is self employed and his family loves the community here in Austin. Guillermo enjoys trail running and competing in endurance runs. The Carrillo’s stay busy around their home but make the time to help DSACT as much as possible. “I consider helping others a responsibility and privilege.”

E-Mail: guillermocarrillo@sbcglobal.net

Treasurer - Cathy Thomas-Costilla

Cathy Thomas-Costilla has been on the DSACT board since 2011, serving as Treasurer. Her family has been active with DSACT since 2009. Professionally, Cathy is a state certified general real estate appraiser. She lives in Georgetown with her husband, Michael, who is a stay-at-home-dad, and children, Thad and Shelby, who has Down syndrome. The entire Costilla family are members of and active in the American Tae Kwon Do Association, attending classes in Round Rock and all expect to have achieved black belts by the end of 2012.

E-Mail: cathy@dsact.com

Communication - Shelli Loftin

Shelli Loftin has been with the DSACT Board for three years. She has five children, three step-children, one grand-daughter, and a sweet husband, Gerald. Shelli works part-time, while still managing their home, playing taxi, and volunteering when possible.  Their youngest, Tawni, (5 yrs old) has Down syndrome and daily teaches the family the true meaning of LOVE and perseverance!

E-Mail: shelli.loftin@gmail.com

Marie O’Bryan is an Elementary Instructional Coach serving her second year on the Board. Marie has more than fifteen years of experience in education with ten years as an elementary classroom teacher. Her expertise lies in the areas of elementary mathematics, curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Marie has her B.A. in Political Science from St. Norbert College and received her Master of Arts in Teaching from Dominican University. Marie and her husband, Kevin, live in Cedar Park with their two beautiful daughters.

E-Mail: mariekevinob@yahoo.com

Programs Chair and Government Affairs Co-Chair - Gerard Jimenez 

Gerard Jimenez has been an advocate for people with disabilities for over 10 years. His advocacy efforts started soon after his daughter was born with Down syndrome 15 years ago. He has served as an advocate for people with disabilities in local school districts in central Texas, in the city government of Austin, in state government of Texas, and in federal government in Washington D.C.. He has been a frequent visitor to the Texas Capitol to talk with legislators and attend hearings and organize rallies and has traveled to Washington D.C. several times to advocate for legislation that would benefit people with disabilities. Gerard was a leader in the effort to get a Respectful Language Bill passed into law in Texas and has worked on many other legislative issues that concern people with disabilities including Medicaid waivers, state institutions, and special education. He is a graduate of the internationally recognized advocacy training program Partners in Policymaking and has served on the Board of Directors of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Texas for about 12 years where he is currently the Program Director and Government Affairs Director and has also served in the past as the Fundraising Chairman, Outreach Coordinator, President-Elect, and President. Gerard also serves as the liaison to Texas congressional delegations for the National Down Syndrome Society. He was instrumental in the creation of the Texas Down syndrome Advocacy Coalition, a statewide government affairs committee comprised of representatives from Down syndrome associations from across Texas and organized their first TDAC Conference. He serves as Vice-President of Community Now! where he was one of the founders of the organization and also serves on the Austin Independent School District’s Special Education Advisory Committee where he served as Chairman for five years and has also served on several AISD district wide committees. Gerard is a Community Partner with the Austin Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities and he is a member of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities and the Intellectual and Developmental Disability Coalition of Central Texas. He is the founder of a sports league for children with disabilities at the South Austin Baseball Association and is Vice-President of the South Austin Optimist Club where he manages one of the oldest organized sports leagues for children with disabilities in Texas; he also serves on the Seton Family of Hospitals Ethics Committee, the Special Olympics State Outreach Committee, the Disability Policy Consortium, the Citizens Advisory Council of the Texas Center for Disability Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, the Austin Interfaith Inclusion Network and the Texas Advocates Self-Advocates Voices Engaged Project Advisory Committee and the Inclusion Team of Texas.

E-Mail: gjimenez@dsact.com

Allie McCann is formerly a cardiac nurse at Breckinridge Hospital and Austin Heart, who also spent time as a legal nurse consultant for Clark, Thomas and Winters (CTW). She is now a full-time mother of three, and an avid athlete competing in numerous running and cycling events across Central Texas. She is a member of Dell Children’s Medical Trust, the parent liaison on the board of The Rise School of Austin and has published a children’s book, Stella and the Little Tree, to fund Down syndrome medical research.

E-Mail: allie5jones@yahoo.com 

Public Relations Chair - Liz Jones-Dilworth

Liz Jones-Dilworth works with her husband, Josh, at Jones-Dilworth Inc., a PR & marketing agency that focuses on early-stage technologies. JDI also works with the nonprofit Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas. She is the comics editor of The Daily Dot, an online newspaper covering web communities such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. Before that, she got her Ph.D. in American poetry at The University of Texas, where she taught rhetoric and writing in addition to literature.

E-Mail: liz@jones-dilworth.com

Programs & Operations Manager – Lindsay Wilson

E-Mail: lindsay.wilson@dsact.com