2021 HOBY TGC Seminar Planning Committee
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Tell everyone a little bit about yourself:
Dave has been a HOBY TGC volunteer since 2010, serving as facilitator, Director of Programs and, now, as Leadership Seminar Chair for the third year. While he now calls Asheville, North Carolina his home, his HOBY heart remains with the outstanding Texas Gulf Coast chapter and is proud to continue volunteering with the organization from a distance. In his non-HOBY time, he works with NASA to help humanity safely find its way to the Moon and to Mars and works with his wife to help their young daughter safely find her way around the living room.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?: Dave makes HOBY a part of his life because of the immense positive impact it has on HOBY TGC student ambassadors. He is proud to be part of a time that provides ambassadors with the opportunity to understand the importance of working together as a team and as a society to make the world a better place for everyone.
Dave Rubin
Leadership Seminar Chair
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself:
Megan has been a HOBY TGC volunteer since 2005. She started as a Facilitator and filled many roles before becoming the Corporate Board President in 2015. Outside of HOBY, Megan works with NASA to help design and develop a vehicle that will safely take us back to the moon and beyond. Megan feels fortunate to be able to volunteer and work for missions and organizations she believes in and is passionate about. In non-pandemic times, Megan enjoys traveling to experience different people, cultures, food, and scenery.
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Why do you volunteer with HOBY?:
As her role with HOBY TGC changes, the reasons Megan comes back have evolved. As the Corporate Board President, she enjoys the opportunity to empower and facilitate HOBY TGC leadership team as well as continuing to develop their leadership skills. Creating community connections within the TGC region to help these leaders reach more student-ambassadors keeps her motivated so we can reach more student-ambassadors and continue creating teams of people that work together to create a better world for everyone.
Megan Sip
Corporate Board President
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself: Audri is a HOBY 2012 alumna and has been volunteering ever since as a junior staff, facilitator and Director of Recruitment. She works for UT Physicians in health administration, currently going to school majoring in psychology and this is her third year as the HOBY TGC Director of Recruitment.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?:
Audri volunteers with HOBY simply because HOBY changed her as an individual and she would love to be a part of changing and impacting someone else as well. The guarded environment makes ambassadors feel safe and welcome to be their true selves whilst learning lifelong leadership skills. It is truly a life changing experience. She’s made lifelong friendships and connections through this organization and is proud to volunteer and give back. She can't wait to see what this upcoming year has in store for TGC!
Audri Reyna
Co-Director of Recruitment
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself: Caroline is not a HOBY alum, but started volunteering as soon as she could in 2018 as a facilitator. She is a Texas A&M alum and currently finishing her MBA at the University of Houston. She works for Baylor Genetics in their biochemical genetics testing lab and this is her first year as Director of Recruitment.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?: Caroline volunteers with HOBY because she loves to see the growth that can happen in the ambassadors in just three days. Watching them blossom from timid participants to active leaders is inspiring even as an adult. There is always something to learn from HOBY, whether from the speakers, volunteers, or ambassadors. Truly, there is no other event that quite has the power of HOBY and it is exciting to be part of such an opportunity.
Caroline Matlock
Co-Director of Recruitment
Ashley Kopf
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself:
Ashley is a HOBY Texas Gulf Coast and World Leadership Congress 2012 alum. She’s continued to volunteer with HOBY almost every year since – Junior Staff for 4 years, Facilitator for 1 year, and heading into her 3rd year as Co-Director of Junior Staff. She graduated from Texas A&M University in 2018 and earned her Masters in Human Resource Management from there in 2019 as well. Currently, she is working remotely for Papa John’s Corporate as an HR Business Partner.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?:
Ashley’s HOBY experience lit the fire for her love of leadership (and HOBY). The impact she had from this program was life-changing. Her HOBY ambassador weekend sparked her passion for leadership and development, which has influenced her involvements and help form her career. She enjoys coming back every year to help make a difference for HOBY ambassadors and volunteers. The relationships she has built through HOBY are lifelong, genuine connections and a big reason why she volunteers at HOBY. She’s excited to return with Ashton for a third year - we have a lot of exciting plans!
Ashton Duke
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself:
Ashton is a HOBY TGC and WLC 2013 alum and he’s excited to take on junior staff for the third year with Ashley Kopf! He graduated from Rice University with a degree in mechanical engineering, a business minor and engineering leadership certificate and played on the D1 tennis team. Now, he is living over 1000 miles away from Houston in Chicago working as a systems engineer for McMaster-Carr Supply Company. He is finishing up his masters in Data Science at Northwestern and starting his JD at Loyola University Chicago.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?:
As Ashton enters his eighth consecutive year of volunteering with HOBY, he finds himself coming back for different reasons. After his ambassador year, he came back because the seminar was fun and he learned how to be an effective leader at a young age. Now, he volunteers to help our young alumni reach their potential. Volunteering with HOBY gives him the ability to work on his own leadership skills by empowering ambassadors and young alumni on junior staff to be change makers in their communities and the world.
Ashton Duke & Ashley Kopf
Co-Directors of Junior Staff
Jerrica Butler
Director of
Programs
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself: Jerrica is currently pursuing an MA in Special Education with a focus in Autism/ABA and working as a Behavioral Therapist (RBT) in Austin, Texas. She has been working with kids/teens on the Autism Spectrum since 2015. She is a HOBY TGC 2008 alum and has volunteered in various roles for just about every year since my seminar year. This will be her second year in this role and she is excited to build an OUTSTANDING seminar program for our ambassadors!
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?: Jerrica has come back as a volunteer for 12 years now due to the opportunities HOBY provided for her. She values the impact the seminar had on herself and so many others and she truly enjoys getting to witness the growth of the ambassadors and volunteers. HOBY truly does foster the most unique space to thrive in your very own leadership style. The friendships she’s made in HOBY have gone from once a year friends and social media friendships to witnessing weddings, graduations, job recommendations and babies! Growing alongside this HOBY family truly is one of a kind.
Jerrica Butler
Director of
Programs
Jerrica Butler
Director of
Programs
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself: Felicia is a HOBY TGC 2002 Alum who moved to Austin for school (Hook ‘em!), where she worked with the former ‘HOBY Horns’ campus group during the school year and with TGC during summer breaks, until taking a HOBY hiatus after graduation. She currently works as a Lab Quality and Application Specialist supporting medical laboratories and healthcare providers in the Austin/Central Texas area, She also has 10 years experience in a range of event planning and development positions in Austin. After returning to HOBY TGC in 2018 on the Operations team, she is excited to more actively serve on the planning team and looks forward to helping HOBY continue to make a difference!
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?:
Felicia loves that HOBY provides young people not only a vital opportunity to form meaningful relationships with a diverse group of their peers and adult/community leaders, but also a supportive space for them to ask important questions and develop critical skills useful for navigating the issues and pressures encountered in their lives and current society overall. As a volunteer, it’s very inspiring for her to see young people encouraged to understand more about both themselves and others around them, and to actively use that for strengthening the community around them.
Felicia Ramos
Co-Director of Operations
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself: Scotty is an entrepreneur and real estate sales agent in Austin, Texas and a HOBY 2004 alum. Being from a small town with few opportunities, attending the HOBY seminar really opened up a whole new world for him and brought him out of a shell he didn't even know he was in. He is proud to be able to use his experience as a restaurant manager to lead his team as Director of Operations.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?: Scotty came back to HOBY to give back to keep the legacy going and keep these opportunities open for people who may not have had them otherwise. Showing humans how to think for themselves is one of the most beautiful and rewarding things in life.
Scotty Slack
Co-Director of Operations
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself: Jennifer is going back to school for her Business Management degree while also working full time as an Asset Manager for Olympus. She coordinates, oversees, and audits the movement of industrial and life science equipment. She enjoys spending time with her husband, Brad, and their three cats Iggy, Bowie, and Nyx in Dickinson, Tx. She is also has a passion for the environment and welcomes anyone to come clean up the beaches with her in Galveston for the Texas Adopt-a-Beach program.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?:
Jennifer volunteered last year as a facilitator for HOBY by recommendation from her friends who are current HOBY members. That journey sparked a passion for volunteering again to be a part of all that HOBY does to help students find their leadership traits and become better members of their communities. Although she’s never participated in a live HOBY event, she is excited to bring an outside perspective as well as more facilitators into the HOBY world to experience the same joy she received when volunteering last year.
Jennifer Denison
Director of Facilitators
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself: Lindsey is a 2003 HOBY TGC alum. She was on Junior Staff for a few years before serving as Director of Junior Staff for 5 years. After a long break from HOBY, Lindsey is very excited to be back volunteering and planning the greatest seminar in the world. Her life was incomplete without planning meetings and HOBY cheers. She missed her family and never wants to go away again. Lindsey is excited to take on a new challenge as the Director of Awards.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?: Lindsey believes in the incredible power that HOBY has to completely change people’s lives. It gives people the space to shamelessly be their true selves and believe in their dreams. Lindsey finds it rewarding to be a part of creating the safe space for young leaders to learn how to conquer their goals and change the world. There is a special kind of magic at a HOBY seminar. Once you allow that magic inside your heart, you never want to let it go.
Lindsey Kidd
Director of Awards
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself: Amber is a 2013 TGC Alum and this will be her 8th year volunteering with HOBY TGC. She is a senior at Sam Houston State University majoring in Criminal Justice and hopes to enrich children that may have lost their way in juvenile probation. After graduation she plans to pursue a masters in social work or political science. She hopes to further her experience within TGC by stepping into a director role. Other than being a full time student, she is a mother to twins.
Why do you volunteer with HOBY?: Scotty came back to HOBY to give back, keep the legacy going and keeping this opportunity open for people who may not have them otherwise. Showing humans how to think for themselves is one of the most beautiful and rewarding things in life.
Amber Hoffman
Deputy Director of Awards