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Our Board

The Board of Directors is comprised of current LBJ students, alumni, faculty and friends of the LBJ School. The board is supported by the GSF student group at the LBJ School that assists in generating enthusiasm, ideas and generosity that keep the Fund available for the LBJ community.

2007-2008 Board Members

2006-2007 Board Members

Board Bios

Constance Dykhuizen - Student, Chair
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Constance Dykhuizen received her B.A. in history from the University of Texas in 2004. After volunteering in India, Constance decided to go back to school to be able to work in international development. In addition to attending the LBJ School, Constance is the financial administrator for a law firm.

Jenna Kelly-Landes - Student, Secretary
Jenna Kelly-Landes received her undergraduate degree in Physical Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. She went on to serve as an Americorps volunteer with Communities in Schools. This experience led her to the Texas Civil Rights Project where she first worked as Legal Manager and later as the Director of Grants and Community Outreach. Most recently, Jenna has served as a Grants Management Specialist with Texas CASA, administering state and federal grants to organizations advocating on behalf of foster children. Currently, she is pursuing her graduate degree at the LBJ School of Public Affairs where she will focus on social and economic policy.

Jenna was drawn to the Great Society Fund because of its powerful mission to promote community-based entrepreneurship. She is excited to participate on the Fund's Board of Directors and hopes to assist with its growth and development over the coming year.

Sherri Greenberg - Faculty Representative
Sherri Greenberg served for 10 years as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, completing her final term in January 2001. In 1999, she was appointed by the Speaker of the House to chair the House Pensions and Investments Committee and to chair the Select Committee on Teacher Health Insurance. She served two terms on the House Appropriations Committee, and served on the Appropriations Committee's Education, and Major Information Systems Subcommittees. Other committee assignments included the House Economic Development Committee, Elections Committee, and Science and Technology Committee.

Greenberg's professional background is in public finance. She served as the Manager of Capital Finance for the City of Austin from 1985 to 1989, overseeing the City's debt management, capital budgeting, and capital improvement programs. Prior to that she worked as a Public Finance Officer for Standard & Poor's Corporation in New York, where she analyzed and assigned bond ratings to public projects across the country.

Greenberg has a B.A. in Government from UT Austin and an M.S. in Public Administration and Policy from the London School of Economics. Her teaching and research interests include public finance and budgeting, Texas state government, local government, education, housing, technology, and campaigns and elections. Her recent publications include State E-Government Strategies: Identifying Best Practices and Applications, and Beyond the Bid: An Evaluation of State and Local Government Procurement Practices. Currently, Greenberg serves as a board member and treasurer of Austin Voices for Education and Youth, and she is an appointed member of the City of Austin General Obligation Housing Bond Review Committee.

Cheryl A. Buford - Alumni, Class of 1987
Ms. Buford is an accomplished social-sector professional with a broad range of experience. She has worked directly with grass-roots, community-based organizations throughout the country where she has successfully helped volunteers and nonprofits leverage resources and develop innovative community development, youth leadership, mentoring and education programs. Moreover, she also served as the technical assistance manager at United Way of America, where she played a key role helping local United Ways take the lead in convening partnerships that brought together public, private and philanthropic sector leaders to support community-based development organizations. During her tenure, local United Way involvement in public-private partnerships tripled. Relatedly, Ms. Buford has expertise offering clients personal and leadership assessments and team building advice--factors critical to organizational success and preventing great ideas from floundering.

Andrea Kane - Alumni, Class of 1985
Andrea Kane is senior director of policy and partnerships at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting values, behavior and policies that reduce both teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy among young adults. She is responsible for the National Campaign's work on public policy, religion and public values, and state and local outreach. She also plays a key part in the National Campaign's Latino Initiative. In addition, Kane is an outreach consultant for the Brookings Institution's Center on Children and Families. This project, launched as the Welfare Reform & Beyond initiative in 2001, synthesized and disseminated research and policy options for policymakers, the media, and the public to inform the debate over the reauthorization of the 1996 welfare reform law. Since 2003, the project has had a broader focus on the well-being of low-income families and children.

Before joining the National Campaign and Brookings in 2001, Kane served at the White House Domestic Policy Council as a special assistant to President Clinton, leading a team responsible for the administration's policies on welfare reform and working families. Her focus included responsible fatherhood, teenage pregnancy prevention, welfare to work, and a number of other related issues. Prior to joining the White House in 1997, Kane was the welfare reform program director at the National Governors'Association. She has also worked on welfare and budget issues at the Fairfax County (Virginia) Department of Family Services; served as Research and Communications Manager at Houston Works, a job training organization in Texas,;and served as a program and budget analyst at the California Legislative Analyst's Office, a bipartisan office of the state legislature.

Kane studied Government at Smith College, received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1983 and a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in 1985. She serves on the boards of the Great Society Fund (affiliated with the LBJ School), the National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families, and the Caldwell Early Life Center of Rudolf Steiner College. For over a decade, she has coordinated and served as a volunteer reader for the Smith College Club of Washington's read-aloud partnership with a D.C. elementary school, as well as serving on the Club's Board.

She was inspired to serve on the GSF Board because of the innovative approach and vision of the fund , the fact that it grew out of a student-led initiative, and as a way to give back to the LBJ community.

Heather Alden - Director of the RGK Center
Heather Alden is the Program Coordinator for the Social Innovation Competition in the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. She is charged with promoting social entrepreneurship as a pathway for students of all majors to consider careers in public service. Prior to joining the RGK team, Ms. Alden spent 5 years as a grassroots organizer and lobbyist in the nonprofit sector, and equal time in a dot com career as a web producer. Ms. Alden received her undergraduate degrees in English and Journalism from Texas A & M University.

Elena McGinnis - Student, Vice-Chair
Elena graduated from UT Austin in 2001 with degrees in English and Spanish. She took a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep with Pfizer in San Antonio where she managed a territory extending all the way to Laredo and Eagle Pass. She didn't stay away from Austin long and in 2003 took a job as a corporate sales trainer at Dell. Elena volunteered her time as a translator in community clinics as well as participated in fundraisers like the Lance Armstrong Foundation Ride for the Roses, MS150, and Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Elena came to the LBJ School in order to shift her focus away from the corporate world to the nonprofit sector. Elena and her husband Davin enjoy spending time with their son Evan and their dog and two cats. She is looking forward to working with the board on ideas for fundraising and sustainability of the GSF.

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