Diana Greenfield
Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer
Diana Greenfield, a New York native, is executive director and COO of Young Voices of Austin. She has enormous passion for developing urban youth into young leaders and brings extensive experience working with both private industry and nonprofits.
Diana relocated to Austin, Texas in early 2016 to help execute Steve Kuhn’s vision to bridge the education gap by providing Austin children with a rigorous academic and artistic enrichment program for out of school time. She and her husband, Robert, have happily immersed themselves into all things Austin along with their son, Brendhan, who is based in Los Angeles.
In addition to her work with Young Voices of Austin, Diana is Executive Director of the ASK Charitable Foundation. In tandem with these complementary roles, Diana relies on an invaluable professional network to provide expertise and resources to the organizations she supports. Partner organizations include Todos Junos Learning Center and the Andy Roddick Foundation.
In addition to these Austin area nonprofits, Diana remains actively involved with the New York Sled Rangers, the Association to Benefit Children and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
Staff
Michael Oscar Martinez
Conductor and Music Educator
Michael Martinez brings a lifetime of love for music and singing with more than a decade of professional experience as a vocal musician, educator, conductor, arranger, clinician and adjudicator. Having founded and built outstanding high school choir programs and ensembles in North Carolina, his leadership experiences reach beyond the classroom to directing and conducting church music and musical theater.
Michael was selected as a NC Teaching Fellow Scholar in 2006 and earned his BM in Music Education and later, his MM in Choral Conducting, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Beginning as a secondary school teacher in 2010, Michael’s choirs consistently earned Superior ratings in both performance and sight-reading adjudication. In 2014, Michael’s cappella group placed fourth in the International Championship of High School A Cappella (New York). Michael has also served as a judge for various iterations of the Varsity Vocals ICHSA and ICCA Competition series. Michael is a strong proponent of contemporary a cappella and travels to lead various workshops and clinics.
Michael has presented for numerous professional and university groups, most notably, NCACDA, NCMEA, UNCG, Wingate University, SoJam A Cappella Festival, and VoiceJam A Cappella Festival (Arkansas).
Today, Mr. Martinez is active in church music. He also sings as a member of the semi-professional vocal group, Bel Canto Choral Company in Greensboro, NC.
Beyond producing fine choral music with young people, Michael takes great pride in developing strong music literacy skills in his students, “Beyond coaching vocalists to appreciate and produce beauty, I want every young person to be confident and proud of their ability to participate actively as musicians for the rest of their lives.” Michael is excited to begin his first season of teaching, mentoring and conducting the vibrant young people who are The Young Voices of Austin.
Board
Steve Kuhn, President
Co-Founder, ASK Charitable Foundation and Retired Partner, Pine River Capital
In late 2015, Steve co-founded the ASK Charitable Foundation in his beloved adopted home of Austin, TX. Since that time, he has been actively involved with local organizations such as Nobelity, RBI Austin, JFON and with the Parker Lane United Methodist Church community.
Prior to devoting his time to the Foundation and its local partnerships, Steve was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Pine River Capital, where he focused on seeking new opportunities for the firm. Steve served on both the Executive Committee and on the Charitable Initiatives Committee. Prior to joining Pine River in 2008, Steve was a Portfolio Manager at Goldman Sachs based in New York and Beijing from 2002 to 2007, where he was part of the mortgage portfolio management team. From 1999 to 2002, Steve was a Japanese convertible bond trader at Citadel Investment Group in Chicago. Prior to that, he was head of mortgage backed securities trading at Cargill. Steve received an AB cum laude in Economics from Harvard University in 1991.
Steve serves on the board of the Andy Roddick Foundation, Immigrant Justice Corps and the Young People’s Chorus of New York.
Paul Twitchell, Vice President
Whitebox Advisors, Head of Event
Paul Twitchell joined Whitebox in 2005. As of January 2017, Mr. Twitchell is the Co-Chief Investment Officer of Whitebox. Mr. Twitchell was previously the Head of Non-Corporate Credit and Macro, and he started at Whitebox as a senior trader, trading convertibles, options and capital structure opportunities. He has served as Whitebox’s head of event strategies since 2010. Before joining Whitebox, Mr. Twitchell was employed at EBF & Associates for more than seven years where he managed a convertible bond portfolio. Mr. Twitchell began his career with Cargill, Inc. in 1992 assisting the North American, European and Emerging Market trading desks. He spent time on the mortgage desk and assisted in the development of the North American sovereign debt arbitrage desk with a focus on U.S. and Canadian fixed income arbitrage. He received a BA in Elective Studies from St. Cloud State University in 1995.
Ray Benson
Founder and Front Man, Asleep at the Wheel
At a towering 6’7”, the Philadelphia-born, Austin Texas based Ray Benson is considered a giant in the industry. However, it’s his contributions to music history, not his height, that have made him a dominant figure on the music scene since 1970. Ray Benson is the front man and founder of the world-renowned Western swing band – Asleep at the Wheel, winners of 10 Grammy Awards.
Ray’s honors include 2011 Texan of the Year, 2011 Texas Medal of the Arts Award for Multimedia, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association, the TEC Les Paul Award and, in 2004 the official Texas State Musician. He’s also an Actor, Writer and Voice over Talent. A sought-after producer, he has worked with such artists as Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Aaron Watson and Suzy Bogguss to name a few. Since 2010 Benson has hosted the highly successful Texas Music Scene television series which broadcasts weekly in all across the country, showcasing live performances by today’s talent in the Texas and Red Dirt music circuit. Ray is also the host of the Radio Show “Austin Outer Limits” which appears on Sirius/XM’s Willie’s Roadhouse channel.
Molly Joseph
Chief Executive Officer, UnitedHealthcare Global & Executive Vice President of Global UnitedHealth Group
Molly Joseph is chief executive officer, UnitedHealthcare Global and executive vice president of Global, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) – No. 6 on the Fortune 500 list. UnitedHealthcare Global provides clinically integrated benefits, services and medical delivery to more than 6 million people in 130 countries. Molly also serves on UnitedHealthcare’s Executive Council and is a member of UnitedHealth Group’s Executive Leadership team.
Previously Molly served as chief executive officer, UnitedHealthcare Global Solutions and senior vice president, Global, for UnitedHealth Group. Past roles included serving UnitedHealth Group in corporate development where she led acquisitions and other transactions for the company. Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group, Molly was an investment banker focused on mergers and acquisitions. She began her career as a corporate lawyer, also focused on business transactions.
Molly earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Santa Clara University and her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown Law Center. Molly serves on the Board of Directors of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), on the Advisory Board of Children’s HeartLink, a global nonprofit health care organization, as well as on the Board of Directors of Young Voices of Austin, a nonprofit children’s’ organization. She was recognized with the 2014 Minneapolis / St. Paul Women in Business Award.
Andrew Olson
Managing Director, Piper Jaffray & Co.
Andrew Olson has 20 years of trading experience with focus on municipal securities, treasuries, futures and swaps. He joined Piper Jaffray & Co. in 1992 as a Municipal Trader. He went to work in Risk Management from 2000 to 2002 and then returned to Municipal Trading until 2005. He sent 2 years working as a Municipal Proprietary Trader for RBC Dan Rauscher until 2007 when he rejoined Piper Jaffrey & Co. to manage the Piper Jaffray Municipal Strategic Trading account.
Andrew earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with concentration in marketing from the University of St. Thomas.
Christy Pipkin
Executive Director, Nobelity Project
As the Executive Director of The Nobelity Project since its inception in 2005, Christy Ellinger Pipkin works to bring the non-profit’s initiatives to fruition— creating motivating documentaries and short films, helming educational outreach in the US and abroad, and maintaining oversight on development projects around the world. She believes that by improving conditions in one community you improve the state of the global community, and by working together we tilt the world towards peace. Christy has been a TEDx speaker, received the International Women’s Day Humanitarian Award from Ten Thousand Villages, and in 2015 was named a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of America.
Turk Pipkin
Actor, Writer, Filmmaker
Writer and filmmaker Turk Pipkin is the director of the Nobelity Project’s documentaries about global problems and solutions. The latest film, Building Hope, tells the story of The Nobelity Project’s partnership with a rural Kenyan community to build the area’s first high school. His many film festival awards include Best Directing (My Hero Fest) and the White Lotus Humanitarian Award (Macao). The Nobelity Project is committed to Turk’s vision that documentary films are powerful tools for change: presenting critical issues, raising important questions, and illustrating potential solutions.
A popular Huffington Post blogger, Turk is also the author of ten works of fiction and nonfiction, including the NY Times bestseller, The Tao of Willie, co-authored with Willie Nelson.
Andy Roddick
Retired Tennis Pro
Realizing the talents of their youngest son, Andy, the Roddick family relocated to Boca Raton, Florida, when he was 11 years old. From there, Andy’s career took off.
From 1999-2000, he was the No. 1 Junior in the US, and by 2000, he had cracked the World rankings at No. 1. He went on to win six world junior singles titles, and seven world doubles titles. In 2000, Andy also won the Junior US Open, and Australian Open singles titles. That same year, Andy went pro.
By 2003, Andy had captured the US Open title, won his first-ever Grand Slam single title, and was ranked No. 1 in the world. For much of the next decade, Andy was ranked in the top 10. He calls his consistency the proudest achievement of his career.
Along the way, Andy set many records including, including becoming the youngest-ever ATP Player of the Year in 2003. On September 24th, 2004 at the Davis Cup, Andy broke records again with a record breaking 155 mph serve. Andy reached the Wimbledon finals three times in his career, and the Australian Open semi-finals four times. Andy played in 42 Davis Cup matches, and in 2007 led the United States to victory at Portland, Oregon.
As great as Andy’s accomplishments were on the court, he managed to make an even bigger impact off the court. Andy was recognized in 2005 for his community involvement with the prestigious Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award, and again in 2007 with the Arthur Ashe Leadership Award by the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. In 2009 Andy followed this up by receiving the Heineken Star Award for achievements in the fields of athletics and philanthropy.
Despite this record of achievement, Andy hopes that his greatest success is still to come. Andy founded the Andy Roddick Foundation at the age of 18, with the goal of developing and inspiring underserved youth through sports-based mentoring.
Now based in Austin, Texas, the Foundation is focused on expanding opportunities for young people to learn, thrive, and succeed by supporting high-quality programming outside the classroom.
Luis Zayas
Dean, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin
Luis H. Zayas was appointed as Dean of the School of Social Work in January 2012. Before joining UT Austin, Zayas was the inaugural Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor of Social Work and Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis. During his nearly ten years at Washington University, Zayas held the post of Associate Dean for Faculty from 2005-2007 and founded the Center for Latino Family Research in 2007. At Washington University, he taught social work practice courses; mentored doctoral dissertations, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate research assistants; led outpatient management rounds and psychotherapy seminars for psychiatric residents; and conducted research in diagnostic processes, suicide attempts of young Latinas, and adapting interventions for Latino children, youth and families.
Born in Coamo, Puerto Rico, Zayas attended college and graduate school in New York City. In a social work career spanning 35 years, Zayas has cross-walked clinical practice, supervision, administration and research. He entered the field as a social worker in New York City delivering services directly to clients in social service agencies, general and pediatric rehabilitation hospitals, and mental health and primary care clinics in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Zayas directed a therapeutic nursery in the South Bronx where he also supervised clinical staff. While extending his focus to research, teaching, and administration, Zayas has remained an active practitioner throughout, more recently providing pro bono services to community agencies.
Presently, Zayas is focusing on the plight of citizen-children whose parents are being deported. Through funding by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, he is examining the effects of deportation on the psychosocial functioning of U.S.-born citizen-children of undocumented Mexican immigrants. As a practitioner, Zayas is involved also in evaluating citizen-children and testifying in immigration courts on behalf of citizen-children and their families. This practice has also led to his public advocacy for citizen-children. In addition, Zayas continues his research on adolescent Latinas who have the highest rates of suicide attempts of any U.S. adolescent group.
Zayas has held social work faculty appointments at Columbia University, Fordham University, and Washington University, and a family medicine faculty appointment at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health; Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and other public and private sources. In 1993, he was honored by the American Family Therapy Academy with the “Economic and Cultural Diversity Award” for his work with AIDS orphans and their families. He received leadership awards from several professional associations and mentoring awards at Washington University. He has lectured to university audiences in Chile, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and the United States.