2011 Texas Court Clerk Conference Speaker Biographies

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1 2011 Texas Court Clerk Conference Speaker Biographies 1. Larry D. Groth, P.E. was appointed as the City Manager for the City of Waco on April 21, He joined the City of Waco in 1980 as a City Engineer. He became Director of the Cameron Park Zoo in 1995 and was promoted to Assistant City Manager in Groth graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas A & M University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering in Groth is a licensed Professional Engineer. He is a member of the following professional and technical associations: American Society of Civil Engineers, International City Management Association, and the Texas City Managers Association. Groth is a member of the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Waco McLennan County Public Health District Board, the Waco McLennan County Economic Development Corporation Board, a trustee for the Cooper Foundation, and is an Associate Member of the Waco Business League. Groth is also a member of the Rotary Club of Waco, and serves on the boards of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Groth was names Outstanding Young Engineer of the Year for Central Texas in 1979 and Engineer of the Year in 1985 for Central Texas by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. He was named Government Engineer of the Year by the Texas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in He is married to Donna and they have three children, Christian, Joshua and Rachel. He is a member of Cottonwood Baptist Church. Groth enjoys basketball, reading and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

2 2. Dr. Charles A. Weaver, III, Ph.D., has been at Baylor University since 1989, where he is currently a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience. He has published numerous scientific articles, two books, and delivered more than 75 professional and scientific presentations. He has published in the areas of language comprehension, the relationship between confidence and memory, flashbulb memory ( where were you on 9/11? ), and eyewitness identification. He has served as a forensic expert in civil and criminal cases in more than 25 states, and has testified in both federal and state courts. He has served on the editorial boards of five journals, including the Journal of Educational Psychology and served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition. He is currently chair of a grant review panel for the U. S. Department of Education, and was recently named as a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

3 3. Judge Edward J. Spilane, III is currently the Presiding Judge at College Station Municipal Court and has been at College Station Municipal Court since Before Presiding Municipal Court Judge at College Station, he was an Assistant District Attorney in Brazos County and an attorney at the law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and Law Degree from the University of Chicago. He is currently the Region 7 Director on the Board of the Texas Municipal courts Association. He represents all Municipal Courts as a member of the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

4 4. Gayle Cross - For 17 years Gayle was an Internal Auditor for the City of Waco, Texas, where she specialized in revenue, fraud, and compliance audits to Federal, state, and local laws and regulations. She assisted in the development of a successful fraud policy for the City. Gayle moved to the City s Finance department after a significant lawsuit and became the Payroll Supervisor for the next 3 years. Gayle specialized in streamlining the existing payroll program, developing a new pay system for Fire civil service employees, along with training payroll departmental staff on FLSA regulations and City procedures. Gayle moved back to Auditing (just couldn t get it out of her blood) where the main goal is now to improve accountability and help with documenting and reviewing controls city-wide. She also participates in policy and procedure training for City departments. She graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio where she received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree majoring in Accounting. Gayle is a distinguished facilitator for the Institute of Internal Auditors and is a member of the Ft. Worth, Texas, chapter of The Institute of Internal Auditors. Gayle provides public speaking engagements and training seminars nation-wide on Fraud, Auditing and the Financial Side of Government. She enjoys interacting with groups interested in learning.

5 5. Mark Goodner is the Program Attorney and Deputy Counsel for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center, where he develops and coordinates judicial education programs that train approximately 1,200 municipal judges annually. Mr. Goodner graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a juris doctorate and certification in the Graduate Portfolio Program in Dispute Resolution in May of While in law school, he worked in the mediation clinic, was a finalist in the Thad T. Hutcheson Moot Court Competition, and served on the executive board of Assault & Flattery. Prior to law school, Mr. Goodner spent five years teaching Theatre Arts as well as Speech and Debate in public schools in the Houston area. Mr. Goodner received his Bachelor s Degree in Theatre from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

6 6. Arann Sheperd is a Government Information Analyst at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC). She holds a B.S. in Mathematics and an M.S. in Economics, and prior to joining TSLAC, she was a project coordinator for software implementation and training in the private sector. She currently serves on the Records Management Interagency Coordinating Council s Best Practices Committee, and is working toward an Management Practitioner certification.

7 7. Karen Clark came to the City of Waco in January Karen retired from state employment with the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, at Waco Center for Youth. The Waco Center for Youth was established in 1979, to meet the needs of children with mental illness. Before that time the facility was called Waco State Home where Karen initially began employment with the Texas Youth Commission. Karen started out as a houseparent, but was employed as a trainer for the majority of the time on that campus, 27 years to be exact. Before Karen went to work for the Waco State Home she was a foster parent while managing a recreational facility and prior to that worked at a Boy s Ranch, outside of Lewisville. The Ranch was a temporary placement for boys who were on probation and/or removed from the home by the courts. While working at the Waco Center for Youth, Karen was a member of the Prevention and Management of Aggressive Behavior Faculty, and gained certification to instruct many of the agency s supervisory and management programs. She was a consultant to many private facilities over the years, which dealt with and managed aggressive clients. Karen is a native Louisianan, born in Baton Rouge, and raised in Port Allen. Karen attended Northwestern State University, majoring in Physical Education. Karen moved to Dallas, Texas after graduation and worked in a variety of jobs before going to work at the Boy s Ranch. After working at the Ranch, helping kids get better became a major focus. Working as a Trainer, and later as Director of Training for the Waco Center for Youth, was an important and viable way to have a major impact on how the kids were treated by all employees. Karen continues to view training as an essential function of any organization. Trained employees are employees who have the skill and knowledge to successfully do the job. Successful employees are satisfied employees that influence how they treat their coworkers, and the people they serve. Presently Karen serves on the Advisory Board for the Police Training Academy.

8 8. Cathy Riedel is the Program Director for the Clerks Program at TMCEC. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Political Science and obtained her law degree from St. Mary s University. After graduating from law school, she worked for the Court of Criminal Appeals as a briefing attorney and research assistant. Her legal practice has focused primarily on municipal law issues for the last 20 years. She has worked as City Attorney or Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Topeka, Georgetown, and Round Rock and served as Municipal Judge for the City of Liberty Hill for several years. Ms. Riedel taught trial advocacy and supervised third year law students in the Legal Clinic at Washburn University Law School. When she is not sitting in traffic on MoPac, she enjoys gardening and spoiling her two mustangs, four children, dogs, cats and husband.

9 9. Hilda Castillo Cuthbertson grew up in Pearsall, Texas and graduated from Pearsall High School. She attended Sul Ross State University located in Alpine, Texas. She graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Ms. Cuthbertson taught High School Science classes for five and half years at three different Texas school districts. She taught at Pecos High School ( ), Yates High School in Houston ( ), and Dublin High School, Dublin, Texas ( ). She worked at the University of Houston, Mexican American Studies Program as the secretary to the Program Director from During the summers of 1979 and 1980 she worked at the Executive Development Center at the University of Houston. Ms. Cuthbertson joined the City of Bryan in March of 1983 as an employee of the City Secretary s office and was promoted to Court Administrator in July She has been in court administration for twenty five (25) years. She was presented the City of Bryan Division Employee of the Year Award in 1989 and again in She was also honored with the City of Bryan Employee of the Year award in Ms. Cuthbertson served as Vice President, 1989 through 1992, and President of the Texas Court Clerks Association (TCCA) from 1992 to She was also the Texas Municipal League affiliate representative from Since 1985, she has been very involved with the TCCA Gulf Coast Chapter and was President twice, and again Ms. Cuthbertson outstanding achievements include The Texas Court Clerks Association s Distinguished Service Award (1995), Extraordinary Achievement Award (1996 & 2004), and Award of Excellence (1997). The Texas Municipal Courts Association also recognized her as the Clerk of the Year. Ms. Cuthbertson has been a valued staff member of the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center since 1991 and contributes her talents by teaching various subjects. She is a current member of the TCCA Education Committee, which oversees the statewide court clerk certification program.

10 She is a Level I and Level II certified court clerk and is also a certified study session facilitator for Level I and Level II. She is currently working on her Level III certification. She is also a State of Texas Licensed Court Interpreter in Spanish. She also holds a Certified Court Manager (CCM) through the Institute for Court Management in partnership with the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. She currently serves as the Secretary of the Board for the Texas Municipal Courts Association. Ms. Cuthbertson is very active within her community as well. She is a presenter, English and Spanish, for the Bryan Police Department Citizens Police Academy. She is a volunteer at the Dispute Resolution Center as a bilingual certified mediator for family law and other types of mediation. She is a Past President of the local Habitat for Humanity Affiliate Board of Directors. She is also currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors for the Bryan Rotary Club.

11 10. Margo Shanks is a Health Services Coordinator/Health Educator at the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District. Most of her time spent here is dedicated to advocating and promoting health and wellness for the residents of McLennan County through presentations and by introducing new, innovative programs such as Community Gardens, Eat Well Waco, and BOUNCE Summer Camp. Prior to joining the Health District team, Margo spent two years teaching Health at Baylor University while completing her Masters Degree in Public Health. Originally from San Antonio, Margo now calls Axtell, Texas home where she resides with her husband, a Waco High teacher, and their two dogs. They are dedicated Baylor sports fans and she enjoys gardening, traveling, and reading. She hopes to continue her efforts with the Health District to make McLennan County a healthier, more active, and more enjoyable place to live.

12 11. W. Clay Abbott is the DWI Resource Prosecutor with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. He graduated from Lubbock Christian University in 1984 with a BA in History, magna cum laude. He graduated from the Texas Tech School of Law in 1986 with a JD, cum laude. He was inducted into the Order of the Coif in From 1987 until 1990, Clay was with the Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney s Office, where he left as the Trial Chief of the 140 th District Court. He was in solo practice in Lubbock until 1995, when he rejoined the Lubbock CDA as Chief Deputy. Clay served as an adjunct professor at the Texas Tech School of Law from In 2000, he became general counsel at the Texas Municipal Court s Education Center. He left judicial education to join TDCAA in Clay has trained on DWI and Prosecutor Ethics at the National Advocacy College and for NDAA. He has also trained prosecutors in DWI, Prosecutor Ethics and Train the Trainers in more than half of the 50 states.

13 12. Christy Punches has been the Municipal Court Administrator with the City of Sanger since Prior to working for the City of Sanger, she worked at the City of Denton Municipal Court from She has been a member of the Texas Court Clerks Association since In 2000, she was appointed as secretary for the North Texas Chapter and held that position until 2007 and was appointed as the Vice President of the chapter until the end of the fiscal year of Christy received her Certified Municipal Court Clerk certification in Christy also received the Employee of the Year award from the City of Sanger in And she received the Award of Excellence in 2004 from the North Texas Court Clerks Chapter. Christy grew up in Sanger and is now raising her family in Sanger. Christy has been married to her husband, Jeremy for 13 years and they have a son, Peyton and a daughter, Macey.

14 13. Tracie Glaeser began her career in municipal court at the City of Round Rock and remained there as Court Administrator for 21 years. In January 2007, Tracie Glaeser moved to the Dallas area and joined the Municipal Court team at the City of Lewisville as the Court Manager. She completed her Certified Court Manager s certificate with the National Center for State Courts, Institute for Court Management in February During her career, Ms. Glaeser has been active in the Texas Court Clerk s Association and the Texas Municipal Courts Association serving in a variety of positions ranging from Chapter President to serving the membership on the Board of Directors as Vice President. She has served the Texas Municipal Courts Association (TMCA) as a member of the TMCEC Education Committee and Texas Court Clerks Association (TCCA) as the Chair of the Certification Program Education Committee since Mrs. Glaeser is a certified instructor for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center for 10 years and has continued to serve as faculty for the New Judges and Clerks, Court Administrators and Level III Assessment Clinic. Additionally, she has been active as an instructor for Citizens Police Academy, and a variety of city leadership classes. Ms Glaeser is an approved instructor for the Clerk Certification Program for continuing education hours provided by the TCCA chapters. Mrs. Glaeser achieved a level I certification in 1998, her level II certification in 2002 and completed Level III in She was the 11 th clerk in the state of Texas to become a Certified Municipal Court Clerk. Additionally, she completed Leading, Educating and Developing (LEAD), a 40 hour program sponsored by Weldon Cooper and held at the University of Virginia Leadership Institute.