Board of Trustees
Officers and Executive Committee for 2012-2013
Ms. Cassandra C. Carr, Chair
Austin, Texas
Trustee since 2004, Chair since 2008
Cassandra C. Carr was named vice chairman-talent at Hill+Knowlton Strategies in April 2011. She is responsible for human resources functions for the global firm. Before transitioning into this role, Carr was a senior advisor at Public Strategies Inc. from 2002 - 2011, where she helped shape strategic initiatives, enhance company communications, and pursue new business for the firm.
Carr previously worked for 35 years at SBC Communications, Inc., which is now AT&T. She began her career as a management trainee and then progressed through a series of operations positions, becoming an officer of the corporation in 1988. She was Senior Vice President of Finance and Treasurer, President - Texas division, and Senior Vice President of Human Resources. In 1998, she was appointed Senior Executive Vice President of External Affairs, responsible for all regulatory and legislative policy and strategy for the corporation.
In 1986, Carr gained a knowledge of trade issues through her work as a Congressional staff assistant to the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade. Appointed by Governor Ann Richards, she was Chairman of the Board of the Texas Department of Human Services from 1991 - 1994.
Cassandra Carr is currently a director of Temple Inland Inc. She is also an owner of the San Antonio Spurs. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Carr holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree from the University of Texas. She is a member of University Presbyterian Church in Austin.
The Reverend Thomas L. Are Jr., Vice Chair
Prairie Village, Kansas
Trustee since 2006
Tom Are currently serves as the senior pastor of Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie Village, Kansas. Are has served as a commissioner to the 214th General Assembly and provided leadership to several GA committees. He has served as a trustee of Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. and is currently a trustee of Montreat Conference Center.
Ms. Karen C. Anderson, Chair, Audit Committee
Bend, Oregon
Trustee since 2006
Karen Anderson is the CFO of Western Communications, Inc. She was formerly a trustee for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation. She is a member of Community Presbyterian Church, Redmond, Oregon. Her husband is an Austin Seminary graduate.
The Honorable David Peeples, Secretary
San Antonio, Texas
Trustee since 2010
David Peeples is the Presiding Judge of the Fourth Administrative Judicial Region of Texas, located in San Antonio. He was an associate with Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston and Tinsman & Houser in San Antonio before owning his own law practice; he has been a judge since 1981. A long-standing member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules, he chaired the Texas Supreme Court Task Force on Jury Assembly and Administration in 2006-2007. He was a founding member of the Advisory Board of Child Advocates San Antonio (CASA) and the First Presbyterian Church Child Care Center. He is a member of First Presbyterian Church, San Antonio, and a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
Mr. John L. Van Osdall, Chair, Institutional Advancement Committee
Houston, Texas
Trustee since 2006
John Van Osdall is executive vice president of USI Southwest. An elder at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas, Van Osdall is a board member of Faith In Practice, which serves the poor in Guatemala through short-term surgical, medical, and dental mission trips and health-related educational programs. He also serves on the board of Mo-Ranch.
Mr. Richard D. Gillham, Chair, Long Range Planning Committee
Dallas, Texas
Trustee since 2006
Richard Gillham is the owner and president of Gillham, Golbeck & Associates, Inc., a search firm specializing in the placement of commercial real estate professionals. He is a member of the Real Estate Council, the Institute of Real Estate Management, and the Building Owners and Managers Association. He is board chair of the Canterbury Episcopal School in Desoto, TX, where he co-chaired the capital campaign for the middle school building. Gillham is a member of First Presbyterian Church, Dallas, where he recently completed service as chair of a successful pastor nominating committee. He has also served on the session and as an ex-officio member of the long range planning committee.
Mr. B.W. "Sonny" Payne, Treasurer and Chair of Finance & Administration Committee
Kerrville, Texas
Trustee since 2006
Sonny Payne is the owner of Risk Management Services, a company engaged in risk and insurance management services for institutional, governmental and commercial clients. He has served on the advisory board and as a service provider for the Direct Business Assistance Program of the Houston Economic Development Council and the University of Houston. Mr. Payne has also served on the budget committee and in the moderator's cabinet for the Presbytery of New Covenant, and as a director of Presbyterian outreach to patients at the Texas Medical Center and the Brazos Presbyterian Homes, Inc. both in Houston. He has served as an elder at First Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX, and more recently as a deacon at First Presbyterian Church in Kerrville, Texas.
The Reverend Dr. Jennifer Lord, Faculty Executive Officer to the Board
Austin, Texas
The Reverend Sallie S. Watson, Chair, Trustee Committee
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Trustee since 2006
Sallie Watson, a graduate of Austin Seminary, is Regional Presbyter, Presbyteries of Santa Fe. She has served as a commissioner to the General Assembly, moderator of the Committee on Ministry for Grace Presbytery, supervisor in the Supervised Practice of Ministry program at Austin Seminary, president of the Alumni Association board at Austin College, contributing editor to the Presbyterian Outlook, and numerous other committee appointments in the Presbyterian Church.
Ms. Elizabeth Currie Williams, Chair, Investment Committee
Dallas, Texas
Trustee since 1997; 2007
Liz Williams retired at the end of 2008 having served as CFO then treasurer of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas for 19 years. She has earned degrees from Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College) and the University of Virginia and has done graduate study at Yale University and the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard Business School. She has served as director on corporate boards including Chaparral Steel Company and Texas Industries Inc., and Sterling Bancshares, and is active in community and church service organizations including The Hockaday School, the Summerlee Foundation, and North Park Presbyterian Church where she is an elder. Elected the first woman to chair Austin Seminary’s Board of Trustees in 2002, she is the daughter, granddaughter, sister, and sister-in-law of Austin Seminary graduates.
Dr. Elizabeth Blanton Flowers, Chair, Student Life
Houston, Texas
Trustee since 2003
Beth Flowers is in private practice in psychiatry and is also an associate professor at the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science. She is an elder and has served as a deacon, a church school teacher, and as a member of the Peacemaking and Pastor Nominating Committees at St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston.
Dr. Walter Harris Jr., Chair, Academic Affairs
River Ridge, Louisiana
Trustee since 2006
Walter Harris, a member of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, was provost and vice president for academic affairs of Loyola University until his retirement in August 2008. After a year-long sabbatical he plans to teach in Loyola’s College of Music and Fine Arts. His career in education administration spans more than thirty years, at the University of North Carolina System, Arizona State University, and Knoxville College in Tennessee in addition to Loyola. A noted musician and performer, his college and civic choirs have performed internationally. One of his daughters is an Austin Seminary graduate.
Board Members
Ms. Claudia Carroll
Tyler, Texas
Trustee since 2011
Claudia Carroll serves as the Youth Choir Director at First Presbyterian Church, Tyler. She is also the principal flutist in the University of Texas at Tyler Chamber Orchestra and an adjunct faculty member for The University of Texas at Tyler and Tyler Junior College. Carroll is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Tyler, a PATH volunteer caseworker, and serves on the Tyler Museum of Art Board.
Ms. Elizabeth Christian
Austin, Texas
Trustee since 2007
Elizabeth Christian is president of Elizabeth Christian and Associates Public Relations. She has served organizations in Austin such as the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, including two terms as chair of the Chamber’s Transportation Committee; is currently a member of the Southwestern University Board of Visitors; and serves on the board of the Austin Independent School District Foundation. In 2005 she was named Outstanding Austin Communicator by the Association for Women in Communications, among other awards. She is an elder at University Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas.
The Reverend Joseph J. Clifford
Dallas, Texas
Trustee since 2007
Joe Clifford, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas, came to Texas from Alpharetta Presbyterian Church in Alpharetta, Georgia in 2006. Mr. Clifford earned his BS degree from Auburn University; his MDiv from Columbia, and his DMin in preaching from McCormick Theological Seminary. He presently also serves on the Board of Directors of Grace Presbyterian Village in Dallas.
Mr. James G. Cooper
Missouri City, Texas
Trustee since 2005
James Cooper, formerly an executive with UBS Financial Services, served for more than thirty years in the investment industry. He earned a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M, Kingsville). He is a trustee at St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas, and serves as Austin Seminary’s representative to the Texas Presbyterian Foundation.
The Reverend Marvin L. "Mert" Cooper
Canadian, Texas
Trustee since 2006
Mert Cooper, who attends First Presbyterian Church, Canadian, Texas, is a pastor, oilman, pilot, and marathoner. Educated and ordained by the United Methodist Church, Cooper transferred his ordination to Palo Duro Presbytery after receiving the DMin degree from Graduate Theological Union in 1994. He has served churches in the Panhandle and operated his businesses, Andarko Basin Oil and Gas Exploration, CKC Investments, and Lexus Production Company, since moving to Canadian in 1976.
Mr. James B. Crawley
Norman, Oklahoma
Trustee since 2009
James Crawley is the founder and chairman of Crawley Petroleum Corporation, Crawley Ventures, LLC and Crawley Family Foundation. Crawley was raised in the east Texas oil fields and obtained his degree in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M before going on to get his MBA?from Harvard Business School. He also serves on the Board of Directors of First Presbyterian Church, Norman, Oklahoma.
The Reverend Consuelo Donahue
San Antonio, Texas
Trustee since 2010
A native of Bogotá, Colombia, Consuelo Donahue chairs Mission Presbytery’s Committee on Representation. Her ministry has been primarily in the area of hospice chaplaincy and she also served as pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in San Antonio. She served at the national level on the boards of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the Clergy Advisory Board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and locally on the Board of Planned Parenthood of San Antonio. She will complete her ministry as designated pastor of First Presbyterian Church, New Braunfels, Texas at the end of August. She has taken a full time position as Chaplain for Goodwill Industries of San Antonio. She is a graduate of Austin Seminary.
Mr. Jackson Farrow Jr.
Little Rock, Arkansas
Trustee since 2011
Jackson Farrow, a licensed attorney, is General Counsel and a Managing Director of Stephens Capital Partners, LLC, an affiliate of Stephens Inc. He is a graduate of Davidson College and the University of Arkansas, where he earned both his masters of science in accounting and juris doctorate. Jackson is an active member of Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock and a former moderator of the Presbytery of Arkansas. He currently serves on the boards of the Arkansas Community Foundation and ACCESS Group, a nonprofit organization that offers outpatient pediatric therapy, full-time education, and diagnostic services for youth with physical, developmental, and other learning disabilities.
Mr. G. Archer Frierson II, Vice Chair, Finance and Administration
Shreveport, Louisiana
Trustee since 2010
Archer Frierson is a member manager of Frierson Brothers, LLC of Shreveport, Louisiana. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, he serves on the board of the Washington Society of that school as well as on the boards of Centenary College, the LSU Tiger Athletic and Health Sciences Center Foundations, and on the Military Affairs Council at Barksdale Air Force Base. A lifelong member of First Presbyterian Church, Shreveport, he has been a deacon, elder, and church school teacher for both adults and youth. He most recently served on Austin Seminary’s Capital Campaign Planning Committee, and his father, Clarence Frierson, was a member of the Austin Seminary board for two decades.
John Hartman
Houston, Texas
Trustee since 2012
Now retired, John Hartman was a chemical engineer, co-founder of Lubrication Systems Company, and owner of other affiliates that engineered, manufactured, and installed systems in the oil and petrochemical industry. He earned his bachelor of science degree from the University of Texas at Austin, his master of science from MIT, and an MBA from Harvard University. Hartman is vice chair of the “Weaving Promise into Practice” Campaign Steering Committee. Hartman is an elder at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, where he and his wife, Judye, a former Austin Seminary Trustee, lead a Bible study discipleship class and serve in other leadership capacities.
Mr. Roy M. Kim
Austin, Texas
Trustee since 2010
Roy Kim has been an engineer at IBM since 1979. Among his achievements are six patents, earning him the 4th Level IBM Patent Invention Achievement Plateau and a Division Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement for PowerPC Platform. A member of Austin Korean Presbyterian Church, he is an elder and chair of the Building Committee.
The Reverend James Lee
Austin, Texas
Trustee since 2010
James Lee, who loves the Lord and God's people, is pastor of New Covenant Fellowship of Austin, a multicultural Presbyterian church. He has worked as field staff for the General Assembly Office of Multicultural Ministries, and he currently serves as chair of Church Development and Evangelism for Mission Presbytery, vice moderator for the Presbyterian Multicultural Ministries, and is on the board of Mo Ranch and the Austin Clubhouse. He is a graduate of Austin Seminary.
The Reverend Michael L. Lindvall
New York, New York
Trustee since 2005
Michael Lindvall is senior pastor of Brick Presbyterian Church in New York. He has written two novels, The Good News from North Haven, and Leaving North Haven, both published by Crossroad/Carlisle Books in 2002, as well as a volume of accessible theology, The Christian Life: A Geography of God, Geneva Press in 2001.
The Honorable Lyndon L. Olson Jr., Vice Chair, Institutional Advancement
Waco, Texas
Trustee since 2009
Lyndon Olson is an active member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the Council of American Ambassadors. He served as the US Ambassador to Sweden from 1998-2001 and before that as the President and CEO of Travelers Insurance Holdings. He is a former member of the Texas State House of Representatives serving from 1973-1978. A graduate of Baylor University and Baylor Law School, Olson lives in Waco, Texas and is an elder at Central Presbyterian Church of Waco.
Mr. Jeffrey Kyle Richard, Vice Chair, Student Life
Austin, Texas
Trustee since 2008
Jeffrey Richard is vice chair of the Board of Trustees of Austin Community College District. Educated at Texas Christian University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, he also completed coursework in public policy studies during an invitation-only program at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. In 1998, Mr. Richard was the recipient of the Hammer Award for Re-engineering given by the National Performance Review for his participation on a team that created a Federal government gateway. Richard is an associate minister at Saint James Avenue Baptist Church in Austin, Texas.
The Reverend Dr. Teresa Chávez Sauceda
Vallejo, California
Trustee since 2008
Teresa Chávez Sauceda is currently serving as chaplain at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California. She has been an advocate, author, and teacher in racial justice and Latina/o theology for over thirty years, including serving as the former Associate for Racial Justice and Advocacy in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and adjunct faculty for San Francisco Theological Seminary in Mission and Culture. She received her PhD from the Graduate Theological Union, her MDiv from Austin Seminary, and her bachelor’s degree from Lewis and Clark College. She is the recipient of numerous awards including two fellowships and a scholarship from the Fund for Theological Education.
Mr. James Shaw
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Trustee since 2011
James Shaw is a shareholder at Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Galbe, Golden & Nelson, P.C. He has served more than thirty years in the practice of law and four years in public accounting. Shaw is a graduate of Presbyterian College, in Clinton, South Carolina, Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, and University of South Carolina School of Law. He also achieved the rank of captain in the United States Army Reserves, and 1st lieutenant in the United States Air Force Reserves. Shaw is the chair of the Synod of the Sun’s permanent judicial committee and member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City.
Ms. Lita Simpson
McAllen, Texas
Trustee since 2011
Lita Simpson is the Director of Youth Ministry for Mission Presbytery. She also serves on the Committee for Preparation for Ministry of Mission Presbytery, the Board of El Instituto, and previously served as the executive director for John Knox Ranch Search Committee. Simpson also currently serves on the General Assembly Nominating Committee. She is an elder and Youth Sponsor at First Presbyterian Church, McAllen. She and her husband Robert have three daughters.
Anne Vickery Stevenson
Sugar Land, Texas
Trustee since 2008
Anne Stevenson has served as a community advocate in health and women’s issues since 1981. She received her bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Houston and briefly taught elementary school. Stevenson has held director positions at both Tradition Bank and Texas Coastal Bank since 1995. She served as a member of the board and also president of Fort Bend County Family Health Center and has served as a Bible study leader at The Women’s Home in Houston, Texas, since 1997. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Houston for thirty-four years and currently attends Memorial Drive United Methodist Church. Her father, Edward D. Vickery, served on the Seminary’s Board of Trustees for eighteen years, seven of those as board chair.
The Reverend Karl Brian Travis
Ft. Worth, Texas
Trustee since 2008
Karl Travis is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to that he served Grosse Ile Presbyterian Church in Grosse Ile, Michigan, and congregations in Roswell, New Mexico, and Clermiston, Scotland. He is a frequent preacher and retreat speaker, has chaired the denomination’s Special Offerings Review Task Force and numerous presbytery and synod committees. He graduated magna cum laude from Trinity University in San Antonio and was awarded an Honours BD from The University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Mr. Carlton Wilde, Jr.
Houston, Texas
Trustee since 2011
Carlton Wilde, Jr., is a partner at Crady, Jewett & McCulley, LLP in Houston, Texas. He practices general commercial litigation, with an emphasis on contract disputes, shareholder suits, employment law, trade secrets litigation, commercial landlord-tenant law and legal malpractice defense. He attended the College of William and Mary and received a BA in Economics through the University of Texas. He graduated from the University of Houston College of Law, where he was the Senior Associate Editor of the Houston Law Review. He is an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Houston.
Hugh H. Williamson III
Denver, Colorado
Trustee since 2012
Hugh Williamson is chairman and CEO of XeDAR Corporation, and is serving his third term on the Seminary‘s Board of Trustees. He serves on Austin Seminary’s Campaign Steering Committee. Williamson is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and former captain in the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a tactical fighter instructor pilot. He earned an MBA from Texas Tech University. He serves on the board of trustees for Boy Scouts of America, Denver Council, and the Falcon Foundation at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He’s an elder at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver.
Trustees Emeriti
Stephen A. Matthews
, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
John M. McCoy Jr., Dallas, Texas
Max R. Sherman
, Austin, Texas
Louis H. Zbinden Jr.,
San Antonio, Texas
