Our Staff

Gaye Lynn Bailey has served in various capacities at Feeding Texas since 2001, including logistical support for all of Feeding Texas’ contracts and programs. As Feeding Texas Disaster Services, Gaye Lynn ensures an immediate and effective coordinated response from Texas food banks during disasters. She also serves on the state Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster committee, the Texas Feeding Taskforce committee, various National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster committees and is actively involved in the Williamson County Amateur Radio Emergency Services. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration and Religious Education from Howard Payne University.

Angela Baucom manages the VISTA Client Empowerment Corps program, which works to increase the capacity of food banks around the state by strengthening community collaborations and empowering clients in the areas of financial security and health. Before joining Feeding Texas, Angela developed educational programs for domestic and international nonprofits focused on community action, health, and human rights. Angela holds a bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin.

Katrina supports the Feeding Texas office as an Executive Assistant. She is excited to promote the Feeding Texas mission through this support. Katrina holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Dominican University in Illinois, and two master’s degrees in Philosophy and European Studies respectively, from the University of Leuven in Belgium.

Celia Cole is an expert in food and nutrition policy with experience at the state and federal level. Prior to Feeding Texas, Celia was a senior policy analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) for 14 years, where she covered food and nutrition, welfare, and family economic security issues. She also has worked in a policy capacity with the Texas Department of Human Services and for Laurel Consulting Group, a private consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Celia serves on the advisory committees of the Partnership for a Healthy Texas and the Texas Food Policy Roundtable, and is actively involved as a board member of her local YMCA. Celia holds a bachelor’s degree in Art History from Columbia University and a master’s degree from the Institute of Latin American Studies at UT-Austin.

Amy Cuellar assists Feeding Texas’ social services outreach program focused on providing education and application assistance for public benefits through the Texas food banks. Amy has 28 years of experience in social services with the State of Texas most recently as the HHS Community Partner Manager over Volunteer Services as well as the Community Partner Interviewing Project. She was also a part of the team that developed the Community Partner Portal.

JC Dwyer articulates organizational strategy, supervises program directors and conducts public policy-focused communications at Feeding Texas. Prior to living in Texas, JC gained expertise in U.S. poverty policy, food policy, national service and humanitarian relief working at organizations large and small in three states. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in Applied Social Research from Hunter College.

Elizabeth provides support services and technical assistance to Community Partner Food Banks as part of Feeding Texas’s SNAP outreach contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Elizabeth previously served as the Senior Program Coordinator for the Middle School Matters program at Communities in Schools of Central Texas, as the Program Coordinator for the Community Partner Program at the Texas Association of Community Health Centers, and as a Certified School Counselor in a rural elementary school in North Carolina. She holds a Master of Science in Social Work with a focus in community administration and leadership, and a Master’s of Education with a focus in school counseling. In her free time, she enjoys her dogs giving her a good workout while she mountain bikes and spending quality time exploring the great outdoors with her two daughters.

Jeanie Escalona holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration-Accounting and a Master’s degree in Professional Accounting-Taxation from UT Austin. A native Austinite, Jeanie has more than twenty years of experience in various accounting arenas including public accounting, government contracts, property management, tax accounting, private school management and landscape architecture. Jeanie is excited to apply her experience to the nonprofit arena and further Feeding Texas’ effort for a hunger-free Texas.

Greg Grace is a Certified Public Accountant with more than twenty years of nonprofit experience including the Austin Children’s Museum, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and American Heart Association. Greg earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from New Mexico State University, and his MBA from the University of Dallas. He is a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Rachel directs our statewide strategy for community health and nutrition programs by identifying best practices, facilitating peer-to-peer learning and strengthening food bank capacity. As a dietitian, she is passionate about making the healthy choice the easy choice. Rachel completed her dietetic internship at the Maricopa County Department of Public Health and holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Texas School of Public Health.

As Communications Manager, Anna oversees and creates content for all of Feeding Texas’s stakeholder and advocacy communications channels to increase positive awareness of our strategic goals and persuade key audiences to take action in support of these goals. Anna has a passion for public health and food justice and has worked in a communications and community engagement capacity for the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, UT Austin’s Dell Medical School and Whole Kids and Whole Cities Foundations. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Centenary College and a Master of Arts in Communication from UT Austin.

As the SNAP Evaluation Specialist, Sabine assists the Social Services team in developing quantitative and qualitative metrics and designing evaluations to assess the impact of our programs. Prior to joining the Feeding Texas team, Sabine worked at the Texas Department of State Health Services on chronic disease prevention, providing technical assistance and consultative evaluation services on a variety of special state and federal grant projects. Sabine received a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Southern Adventist University and a Master’s in Public Health from Loma Linda University.

As Policy Analyst, Jamie focuses on federal and state policies around food, nutrition and economic development. Previously Jamie worked as Supply Chain Manager for Feeding Texas and Senior Program Associate at the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. Along with a diverse background in both the non-profit and public sectors, Jamie holds a Master of Global Policy Studies with a specialization in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Temple University.

As the Client Voices Coordinator, Jen works to gather and promote voices of Texans from across the state who experience hunger. Jen manages a qualitative database of stories of hunger and collaborates with food banks throughout the Feeding Texas network to set standards for ethical story collection and community engagement. Prior to becoming the Client Voices Coordinator, Jen spent a year at Feeding Texas through the AmeriCorps VISTA program. Jen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Southwestern University.

Theresa is currently working out of the Houston Food Bank, investigating the barriers faced by specific populations to help better serve all Texans. Not a native Houstonian, Theresa moved around enough that she doesn’t really know where she’s from. Previously, she served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia as a Community Health Educator, where she drank lots of local coffee. Theresa attended Stephen F. Austin State University for her bachelor’s and earned her Master of Public Health from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Arun is passionate about community education and outreach. As the Client Engagement VISTA, he promotes the voices of Texans dealing with hunger and food insecurity through their stories on the StorybankTexas.org database. Prior to becoming the Client Engagement Vista, Arun worked as a college writing instructor. Arun holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University – Commerce and a master’s degree in Rhetoric & Composition from Texas State University.

Dawn is the Chief Development Officer, overseeing fundraising and development for Feeding Texas. She raises funds to ensure the sustainability of the organization and expand network initiatives through larger collaborative grants. Dawn brings more than 20 years of development and entrepreneurial experience with a variety of nonprofits and causes in the Washington, DC area and southern New Mexico. She has a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Austin College in Sherman, TX.

Summer Stringer manages Feeding Texas’s contracts with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to provide outreach and application assistance for HHSC benefits through the Texas food banks. Summer has over 15 years of community relations experience including 10 years of experience in capacity building and program compliance. Prior to Feeding Texas, she served as the Director of Outreach for the Tarrant Area Food Bank, as a health ambassador for Amerigroup Community Care, and as Program Director for the South Central Alliance of Churches. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Social Work and is a licensed social worker in the state of Texas.

Prior to becoming a VISTA Leader, Cathryn served as an economic opportunity VISTA with the Client Empowerment Corps at the New Braunfels Food Bank. There, she worked on planning and implementing projects for the food bank’s workforce development, community garden and volunteer training. She also facilitated the Client Empowerment Group and improved internal operations and data management. Cathryn has a BA in Anthropology from Pennsylvania State University.

Lauren Toppenberg works to strengthen and expand how Feeding Texas captures outcomes related to improving diet quality and health. Lauren has experience working in program evaluation and policy analysis related to food insecurity, poverty, and community health at the local, state, and national level. Lauren holds a Bachelors of Science from Tulane University, a Masters of Public Health from the UT School of Public Health, and a Masters of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at University of Texas.

Leah is passionate about the wellbeing, thriving, and freedom of our communities. She is a Program Specialist with Feeding Texas, supporting development and execution of strategy for effective outreach and application preparation for target potential SNAP-eligible populations. She previously worked in a variety of public institutions and nonprofits, including Ayeish, a startup leveraging empathy in politics. She has a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Masters in a Public Administrstion from the University of Houston.