Board of Directors

Ryan Atlas joined Vista Equity Partners in 2012 and sits on the Vista Foundation Funds’ Investment Committee and serves as a member of Vista’s Private Equity Management Committee, the firm’s governing and decision-making body for the overall management of Vista’s private equity platform. Mr. Atlas currently sits on the boards of AlertMedia, Critical Start, ESO Solutions, Granicus, LogicMonitor, Menlo Security, TigerConnect and Tribute Technology. He was also formerly on the boards of or actively involved with the firm’s investments in Allocate, Autotask, Bullhorn, Main Street Hub, Relias Learning, Return Path and Wrike. Mr. Atlas was named one of GrowthCap’s Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors in 2022.

Prior to joining Vista, Mr. Atlas worked at JMI Equity, a growth equity firm with over $7.5 billion under management. While at JMI, Mr. Atlas focused on growth and buyout investments of software and technology-enabled businesses. Before his time with JMI, Mr. Atlas worked at McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients on both strategy and operations in a variety of industries including private equity, technology and energy.

Outside of Vista, Mr. Atlas is passionate about supporting children and access to education in Central Texas. He was a founding member and Board Member of the Austin chapter of Friends of the Children, a nonprofit organization focused on breaking the cycle of generational poverty through transformative work with high-risk youth. Mr. Atlas is the former Treasurer, Vice Chair and current Board Chair for the Austin Chapter and also serves as a Board Member for Austin PBS.

Jessica Leggett has over 20 years of experience in private equity and venture investing, managing institutional capital, and scaling organizations. At BDT & MSD, Jessica is a Managing Director on the Real Estate team and is responsible for investment strategy and capital deployment on behalf of the Dell family and other like-minded investors. Before joining the firm, Jessica was Founder and CEO of Seven + Gold, a mission-driven investment platform focused on seed-stage investing across industries.

Earlier in her career, she was a founding partner and the CFO of Vantage Properties, LLC, a New York City based real estate private equity firm with over $2 billion of assets under management. Prior to Vantage, Jessica worked in similar capacities with The Olnick Organization and with Lehman Brothers.

Jessica is a graduate of the Business Honors Program at The University of Texas at Austin with a B.B.A. in Finance. A proud Texan, she relocated to Austin with her husband and two children after living in New York City and San Francisco. She is currently also serving on the Board of Directors for Mission Asset Fund and is involved with several non-profit organizations. She previously served as the Treasurer for the Board of Trustees for Democracy Prep Charter School, located in Harlem, New York for 7 years.

Brian Loring is a Senior Vice President at Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing in software, data, and technology companies. Before joining Vista in 2011, Brian worked at Riverside Resources, an Austin-based commercial real estate investment and development firm. Brian received his B.A. and J.D. from Emory University and his M.B.A. from The University of Texas – McCombs School of Business. In addition to Friends of the Children, Brian and his wife Maile are actively involved in other philanthropic organizations, including Hill Country Conservancy, Waller Creek Conservancy, and the ALS Association.

Khalida Ali joined Vista Equity Partners in 2019. Ms. Ali is responsible for developing and delivering the diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives for Vista Equity Partners.

Prior to joining Vista, Ms. Ali worked at Zendesk as Head of Diversity and Inclusion, where she was responsible for building inclusive and equitable business practices across 15 international offices. Before her time with Zendesk, Ms. Ali was Vice President and Chief of Staff for Bank of America’s Global Head of Campus Recruiting and Junior Talent Management, where she established operational, business management and budgetary procedures for a global team. Prior to Bank of America, Ms. Ali was a Manager of Diversity Analytics at NBCUniversal, where she focused on developing company-wide and business unit specific diversity and inclusion strategies by leveraging workforce analytics and industry trends. Ms. Ali began her career at Morgan Stanley.

In addition to her work at Vista, Ms. Ali sits on the boards of Friends of the Children Austin and The Urban Assembly. She previously served as a member of the advisory council for the University of California, Berkley Haas School of Business Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership.

Rachel Arnold has over two decades of experience investing in and scaling growth at market leading software companies. Ms. Arnold is Co-Head of the Vista Endeavor Funds and serves as a member of Vista’s Executive Committee, the firm’s governing and decision-making body for matters affecting its overall management and strategic direction, and Vista’s Private Equity Management Committee, the firm’s decision-making body for matters affecting Vista’s overall private equity platform. She currently sits on the boards of BigTime, BlueConic, Jebbit, RadarFirst, Resilinc, and Tripleseat, and is involved with the firm’s investments in Benchmark, ComplySci, Dispatch, Innovaptive, Kazoo, and mabl. She was actively involved with the firm’s investments in AGDATA, Autotask, BigMachines, Bonterra, Bullhorn, Kibo, Lanyon, Lone Wolf, Naviga, PeopleAdmin, Relias Learning, SecureLink, and Zapproved. Ms. Arnold was named one of GrowthCap’s Top Women Leaders in Growth Investing in 2022 and to Buyouts’ Women in Private Equity Class of 2022.

Prior to joining Vista Equity Partners in 2012, Ms. Arnold held executive positions at four Vista companies. Her roles have included interim CEO at Bonterra (formerly Social Solutions), Senior Vice President of Engineering, Product Management and Marketing at Mitratech, Vice President of Product Management and Strategy at MicroEdge, and running Business Development and Channel Programs at SRC Software. Outside of her Vista tenure, Ms. Arnold served as Strategy Director at Interbrand and as an Equity Research Associate covering enterprise software at Pacific Crest.

Ms. Arnold is passionate about giving back to her community. In 2017, she co-founded the Austin chapter of Friends of the Children, a nonprofit organization focused on breaking the cycle of generational poverty through transformative work with high-risk youth. Ms. Arnold is the Past Chair and current board member for the Friends of the Children Austin chapter and also serves as Treasurer and Trustee for The Contemporary Austin. She previously served on the National Board for Friends of the Children.

Amy Baer is Director of the Baer Family Foundation, which she founded with her husband Joshua Baer to support the Austin community with a focus on disadvantaged children and inclusive entrepreneurship. She retired from Dell in 2007 where she served in a variety of roles including Manager of Enterprise Strategy and Communications for Asia-Pacific/Japan located in Singapore, and as an advocate for the expansive partnership between Dell and Microsoft.

Amy resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband Joshua and their three children. You can reach her on Twitter @AmyBaer.

Bettina Barrow is a film and television producer based in Austin, Texas. Inspired by iconic characters and propulsive stories, Bettina recently founded Banger Pictures, an independent production company focused on both film and television projects. Prior to Banger Pictures, Bettina formed Kill Claudio Productions. Her short film “Maude” premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, sold to multiple distributors shortly thereafter, and won a large cash prize from Amazon for its popularity on the platform. Bettina also produced the feature film, "Sister Aimee", directed by Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and sold to 1091 Media. She has multiple projects in development, including a television series that was developed with HBO. Most recently, Bettina produced "Downtown Owl", a feature film based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman, which premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions is distributing.

Before becoming an independent producer, Bettina was a lawyer at an international law firm in Los Angeles. Bettina is a graduate of Princeton University and the UCLA School of Law.

Jade S. DeKinder is the Associate Dean for the MS Programs and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Marketing at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Dr. DeKinder received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics with highest honors from Emory University and her PhD in Marketing from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Her research interests include market signaling, information asymmetry and uncertainty in buyer-seller relationships, sales force compensation, and econometric modeling. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

Libby Doggett is leveraging 40+ years of leadership and management skills honed through work in schools, Head Start, and childcare to improve the well-being of children in Texas. She serves on numerous national, state, and local boards that impact the quality of life of our nation's youngest children. While working in Washington DC, Doggett served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Early Learning at the US Department of Education. In that role Doggett provided early childhood expertise and policy guidance to the Secretary and served as the early learning liaison to the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal and state agencies. Prior to that, Doggett served as Executive Director of the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities and their families and then worked at the National Head Start Association, directing a program to improve literacy in early learning classrooms across the country. Later Doggett led two national campaigns for the Pew Charitable Trusts: one to provide support to advocates in targeted states to build home visiting and parent support programs, and another to advance high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all three-and four-year old’s in states across the country. Through its successes, Pre-K Now significantly increased the investments and number of children attending state supported pre-k. Doggett has three degrees from the University of Texas and lives in Austin with her husband Lloyd Doggett, and near their two daughters and four grandchildren.

Gayatri (GG) is an accomplished professional with over a decade experience in operations, management, and strategy. Currently, she serves as the Managing Director of Performance and Data at the Office of County Administration for Harris County where she is focused on driving performance and operational optimization and transparency. She has developed the performance spine within Harris County, created the multi-year budget process, managed the budget development process, and provided operational support to tackle the criminal case backlog in the County.

Prior to this role, Gayatri worked at Bain & Company where she specialized in Private Equity spearheading the creation, marketing, and delivery of the new Digital X-Ray product for diligence. She worked on a wide swathe of other projects as well, including strategic integration support to the C-suite of a privately held technology company for their $60 billion acquisition, to name a few.

Gayatri also worked as a Senior Manager of Operations at Jindal Intellicom in New Delhi, India, where she customized and developed customer service processes and a CRM platform, managed 170 people and transitioned two new clients increasing revenues by ~20% for the business.

Gayatri holds a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and earned a Bachelor's in Economics and Management from the University of London.

She is an active member of the community, serving as a co-chair of the strategic planning committee at Breakthrough Houston, and a founding board member of the Friends of the Children Houston.

Shannon Ghangurde has nearly two decades of legislative and state budget experience working in the Texas Legislature. Prior to starting her own consulting practice, Shannon served as the Committee Director for the Senate Finance Committee where she oversaw the budget writing process for all areas of state government, including health care, education, transportation, natural resources and general government services. During her time at the Capitol, she also served as the Committee Director for the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and General Counsel to Texas Senator Jane Nelson, where she helped lead negotiations on marquee initiatives including the health care portion of the state budget, Medicaid reform, historic advances for mental health, and the creation of the nation’s largest cancer research institute, CPRIT.

Today, Shannon provides expert legislative consulting, advocacy, analysis and grassroots coordination for a wide range of both corporate and non-profit clients in sectors such as health care, energy, crime victims, mental health and substance abuse prevention, and the arts.

Shannon holds a B.A. degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from the Washington College of Law at American University. A native Texan, Shannon resides in Austin with her husband and two children, who enjoy traveling and the outdoors.

Dr. Manny Gonzalez serves as Director of South Regional Operations for Western Governors University, a non-profit, accredited, online university established in 1997 by 19 U.S. governors to expand access to higher education across the nation. As Regional Director, Dr. Gonzalez leads strategic initiatives and education partnership efforts in the South Region which includes Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Through this work, Dr. Gonzalez expands access to higher education and builds pathways to careers in the high-demand, high-need workforce fields of education, nursing/healthcare, IT, and business.

Prior to joining WGU, Dr. Gonzalez served as Executive Director for the Community College Association of Texas Trustees, a membership organization representing more than 400 elected trustees and regents across the state’s 50 public community college districts. Dr. Gonzalez’s career also includes work for the University of Texas at Austin, the Texas House of Representatives, and the White House Domestic Policy Council.

Dr. Gonzalez holds a baccalaureate degree in Management from Trinity University, an M.Ed. in College & University Personnel Administration and Ph.D. in Education Leadership & Policy, both from the University of Texas at Austin. During his higher education academic career, Dr. Gonzalez focused his research efforts understanding and addressing issues related to college access, student success, adult learners, and college affordability.

In addition to his board service with Friends of the Children-Austin, Dr. Gonzalez currently serves as board secretary on the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees (Place 5), co-chair of the Austin 2030 Education Network, chair-elect of Leadership Austin, and as a director on the Trinity University National Alumni Association Board. In his free time, Dr. Gonzalez enjoys spending time with his wife Andrea and their three young children, coaching/watching their respective games at Town & Country Sports, and searching for the best hole in the wall coffee & taco spots across town.

Laura Gottesman is widely recognized throughout Austin for her real estate expertise, integrity and professionalism. After 25 years in the industry, Laura’s in-depth knowledge, wisdom and amazing networks have made her one of the most trusted and successful agents in Austin. Her foundation of kindness, trust and creativity, along with a “win-win” mentality sets her apart. Selling over $2 Billion in Austin real estate, Laura is a consummate professional. Her clients as well as the real estate community hold great respect for her and her business acumen.

Laura and her husband Morris, both graduates of The University of Texas, have lived in Austin for over 42 years and are deeply devoted to the community. They raised their three boys here and are now the proud grandparents to three grandsons. A passionate traveler Laura loves to plan adventure trips with her family and is always looking for new places to explore. In addition, Laura enjoys the outdoors and can often be found hiking, skiing or fishing, depending on the season.

Lisa Graham co-founded Notley in 2015. Notley is on a mission to unleash relentless changemakers. Headquartered in Austin, Notley teams up with a diverse range of passionate people and partners to combat issues across multiple cause areas. Notley has an exciting for-profit/nonprofit approach, and they envision a world in which the integration and collaboration of purpose and profit brings about lasting systemic change.

Her previous experience ranges from working political campaigns to consulting school districts on public school finance. Lisa actively gives back to the Austin community and is on the Board of Directors of Philanthropitch, Beam, and Friends of the Children. She is a member of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and holds degrees in Communication Studies and History from The University of Texas at Austin. As a 2009 graduate of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Lisa completed a specialization portfolio in nonprofit studies through the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. She is a 2018 graduate of the Leadership Austin Essentials.

Caroline Haley has lived in Austin for almost 15 years. She and her husband Brian have two children. Caroline graduated from Vanderbilt University with a BA in Art History & Political Science and earned her MBA at University of Texas McCombs. Caroline also serves on the board of Waterloo Greenway Conservancy and the Blanton Museum of Art. The Haleys attend All Saints Presbyterian Church.

Kari Hernandez has over 20 years of experience in marketing communications for innovative brands. She founded INK Communications Co. in 2004 and today acts as chief strategist and executive leader for its growing staff and client roster of leading tech and energy companies. Kari is constantly innovating new and more strategic ways to serve INK’s clients and develop talent. Her commitment to growth and innovation landed her on PRNew’s Top Women in PR list and helped INK earn its place as an Inc. Power Partner and a Best Place to Work in Austin and Denver.

INK’s mission of ‘good work with good people makes for a good life’ guides a culture of support and service to our colleagues, clients, and communities. INK is a proud corporate sponsor of Friends of the Children Austin.

Prior to INK, Kari worked in technology communications for Porter Novelli and Golin. She is a guest lecturer at the University of Texas Moody College of Communication, her alma mater. Over the years, she’s advised and volunteered with the Austin Technology Council, Capital Factory, Austin Technology Incubator, and the Austin Chamber’s Opportunity Austin economic development initiative.

Anne E. Jacob is a mother, teacher, volunteer and advocate for children in disadvantaged environments. Anne serves as a Director, on the Board of Directors, of the Jacob Family Holdings, LLC (JFH). JFH, directly and through its subsidiaries, provides financial planning, accounting, and investment management services to the Jacob Family, and is a controlling investor in a number of private companies. Additionally, Anne serves as a Board Observer, to the Board of Directors, of the Arc of the Capital Area, an Austin-based non-profit that focuses on adults with developmental disabilities. Anne was previously a first grade teacher at Downer Elementary School, in Richmond, California. Prior to Downer, Anne received a MS in Education from Mills College, and a BA from Santa Clara University.

Anne lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and three children. Anne’s middle child, Grayson Jacob, was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome, a rare genetic disease. Anne is an avid skier and gardener and enjoys all things outdoors.

Karen M. Kennard is the Co-Managing Shareholder of the Greenberg Traurig Austin, Texas office. Karen focuses her practice on government law, policy, and regulatory matters with an emphasis on municipal local government issues. Her legal experience spans more than two decades and includes positions as City Attorney for the City of Austin, Texas and General Counsel for the Texas Municipal League (TML)

Karen represents clients on a broad range of legal issues including procurement/government contracts, economic development and tax incentives, transportation, public infrastructure, land use, land development, and legislative advocacy. Karen’s local government practice is national in scope and includes the representation of large publicly traded corporations, private companies, individuals, and governmental entities and special districts.

Karen serves on several Austin community boards and spends her free time traveling, hiking, and reading books.

Mel is an attorney in Austin with her own firm focused on Child Welfare law and general transactional work. Prior to beginning her own practice, she worked for law firms in Austin practicing transactional work in the areas of public finance, water and real estate matters. Mel began her professional career in local government management with the City of Waco and the City of Grapevine. Mel earned her law degree from University of Texas School of Law. Mel also earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Kansas and earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Finance/Management) from Trinity University. Mel sits on the Board of Girls on the Run Austin (GOTR) (since 2012). She has been active in and was on the Board of the Court Appointed Family Advocates (CAFA) for the past 5 years. Mel is passionate about helping children but especially inspiring young girls to become confident, educated and independent women. She looks forward to applying her experience in child welfare and her energy to the Friends of the Children Board.

Joe Marini is a Partner in the Strategy and Transactions practice at EY, where he assists private equity and technology clients with acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions. Before joining EY in 2006, Joe worked in PwC’s oil and gas audit practice and number of dotcom era start-ups. Joe is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz and MS from San Jose State University. Joe was educated in the San Francisco public school system and is passionate about overcoming the opportunity inequities created by class and intergenerational poverty.

Aurora Martinez Jones has served as the presiding judge of the 126th District Court since January 01, 2021, where she is responsible for the administration and oversight of all Travis County CPS cases. Prior to that, in 2015, she was appointed as Associate Judge in Travis County where her bench was dedicated to the CPS dockets. She is from La Porte, Texas, a suburb of Houston, and attended college at The University of Texas at Austin where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and a minor in Spanish. She then attended law school at The University of Texas School of Law and upon receiving her law license; she started her own law firm, The Martinez Jones Law Firm, PLLC. As an attorney, Aurora Martinez Jones practiced primarily in child welfare law, juvenile justice, personal injury, probate, real estate, family law, and civil litigation.

Judge Martinez Jones is Board Certified in Child Welfare Law and is a Child Welfare Law Specialist, Certified by the National Association of Counsel for Children. She is also the presiding District Judge for the Family Drug Treatment Court and the Crossover Program for Dual Status Youth.

She is the past Chair for the Texas Children’s Justice Act Task Force, is the past President of the Austin Black Lawyers Association, is currently on the Board for the Child Protection Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and is on the Board for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), among other leadership positions she holds in the community. Judge Martinez Jones is also active in both the local Austin Bar Association and Texas State Bar through her service on various committees. She is a Texas Bar Foundation Fellow and a member of the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court.

Judge Martinez Jones and her husband, Mitchell Jones, are the proud parents of two precious little girls.

Lauren and her husband, Tom, have lived in Austin since 2004, and she works in commercial real estate development. As parents of a 7-year-old, Lauren and Tom are thrilled to support Friends Austin - and recognize the value of time, attention and mentorship and the impact they have on our children and community.

Milam Newby is the Managing Partner of the Austin office of Vinson & Elkins, where he advises on and leads transactions in an array of industries, including technology, financial services, manufacturing, life sciences, chemicals, transportation, and energy. Milam is also Head of the firm’s Technology practice.

Johanna Peyton is a mother of three, an active philanthropist, and a children's book writer. She received a MPH from the University of Texas School of Public Health and a BBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management from Texas Christian University. Austin has been her home since 2009 and she is grateful for opportunities to help support her community. Johanna and her family are members of All Saints Presbyterian Church.

David is a native Austinite and is passionate about giving back to the community to help break the cycle of poverty through education. His involvement in philanthropy began at an early age, serving as a junior board member on the KDK Harman Foundation. David currently serves on the Sooch Foundation board, which seeks to make a positive and permanent change in the lives of economically disadvantaged people in Austin through increased educational opportunities. In his professional career, David has held various roles in Finance and Operations in the consumer packaged goods industry and currently works at Graza. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Texas. David is an avid golfer and loves getting out to the course as often as possible in his free time.

Dan Sullivan is a Vice President at Vista Equity Partners, and currently serves on the board of StarRez and works with the firm’s investments in Khoros and Poppulo. He formerly worked with Vista’s investments in RDC, Lone Wolf, and Aptean. Dan is a 2010 recipient of the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program and received a B.S.B.A. in Finance, magna cum laude from Georgetown University. He and his wife Clare live in Bouldin and are both passionate about giving back to the community.

A native Austinite, Jocelyn currently serves as Congressman Lloyd Doggett’s District Director. She practiced law for over a decade, structuring IPOs, mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies as a tax partner at a leading international law firm before turning to public service. A daughter of immigrants from Taiwan, Jocelyn is passionate about generational change, and having interviewed high school students applying to Harvard for over fifteen years, she has seen firsthand the difference that early, consistent investments can make in a child’s future. Jocelyn studied economics, health policy and Chinese at Harvard before earning her JD at the University of Texas School of Law. She lives in Austin with her husband, two children, and her little backyard farm of a few ducks and a dozen chickens.

Radney Wood is a named partner at Vela Wood, a boutique corporate law firm, and manages the Austin office. Radney focuses his practice on representing emerging companies, venture financing, venture capital funds, and gaming related matters, with an expertise in fantasy sports law. Radney is a former litigation and an active pro bono advocate for asylum seekers and has successfully represented several refugees in obtaining asylum.

Radney was named a 2018 Super Lawyers Rising Star and is a Texas Bar Foundation Fellow, an honor granted to 1/3 of 1% of Texas attorneys. He represents dozens of companies ranging from early-stage startups to mid-size businesses, acting as general counsel and providing them with guidance on myriad business transactions, which range from legal matters to general operational issues.

Radney is more than an Austin business lawyer; he is an active member of the Austin community, who has served on the board of directors of and volunteers for the immigration non-profit American Gateways and helped his Rugby Club, The Austin Huns, obtain 501(c)(3) status. Radney actively supports non-profits dedicated to closing the opportunity gap for under-represented groups through such organizations as Notley Ventures and DivInc. His legal philanthropy involves taking on multiple pro bono cases throughout the year and acting as general counsel to the environmental non-profit Project Survival Media in its effort to address and combat climate change. Radney is also a supporter of the Austin arts, including organizations such as Fusebox Festival and HOPE Outdoor Gallery.