Person Type: Board

Yvette E. Ruiz serves as Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at JPMorgan Chase. Primarily supporting the needs of low-income communities, Yvette’s work with community thought leaders and nonprofit organizations advances policies and programs that are key to driving inclusive economic growth and economic prosperity.

Yvette has shaped JPMorgan Chase’s commitment to building the capacity of nonprofits led by people of color, supporting communities of color through a combination of direct programming and collaboration with local partners. Prior to her work at the Firm, Yvette managed a global community relations program at Austin-based National Instruments.

Yvette was raised in the Rio Grande Valley and earned Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations with a minor in Business from the University of Texas at Austin. Yvette was a finalist for the 2015 Profiles in Power by the Austin Business Journal and a finalist for the 2018 Austin Under 40 awards.

Yvette serves our local community in a number of ways, including active board service with KLRU-PBS, Austin Education Foundation, Barton Springs Conservancy, RAISE Texas and the Junior League of Austin. Yvette also serves as co-chair for the Austin Community Foundation’s Hispanic Impact Fund.

Jehmu Greene is the Founder of Barbara’s Legacy, a new initiative honoring Barbara Jordan and dedicated to amplifying the impact and voices of women of color thought leaders. With a curriculum designed from her 25 years at the forefront of progressive advocacy, Barbara’s Legacy trains, nurtures, and directly supports women of color to best position them to thrive as impactful thought leaders. A Distinguished Fellow at the Athena Center for Leadership at Barnard College, Jehmu is also a Fox News Political Analyst where she has unapologetically defended progressive values and policies on the network for the last ten years. Together with Jose Vargas, Alicia Menendez, and Jake Brewer, she co-founded Define American, an organization that uses media and culture to elevate the immigration reform conversation and was recently named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in America.

In 2017, Jehmu was the only woman of color to run for Chair of the Democratic National Committee. She ran on a platform of ideas, innovation, and uncomfortable truths. While her campaign garnered only half a vote from institutional Democrats, she changed the narrative of the race and inspired young people and women of color across the country to run for party leadership positions and win. She is also a Founding Board Member of VoteRunLead, a non-partisan organization that has trained more than 35,000 women to run for office. As a National Trainer for VoteRunLead, Jehmu travels the country training women to tell their stories and run as they are.

Jehmu previously served as the U.S. president and global Chief Marketing Officer of WakaWaka, working to bring solar power to people living without access to electricity; president of Rock the Vote, where under her leadership young voter turnout in a presidential election had the highest increase ever recorded; and president of the Women’s Media Center where she designed the Name It, Change It campaign to fight sexism against women candidates and trained progressive women to amplify their voices in the media. From Botswana to Ukraine, Jehmu has traveled the world training young people and women on how to amplify their voices and increase their political power. She was appointed to the U.S. Commission for UNESCO by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

An award-winning media and advocacy strategist, evangelist for social good, guacamole aficionado, and proud Texan, Jehmu splits her time between Austin, NYC and Instagram: @jehmu

Mollie Duckworth is one of the founding partners of the Austin office of Latham & Watkins, an international law firm that delivers innovative solutions to complex legal and business challenges around the world. She focuses her practice on corporate and securities law, advising companies with respect to public and private issuances of equity and debt securities, compliance with federal securities law issues, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. Mollie received a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law and a B.S. in Communications Sciences & Disorders from The University of Texas at Austin. Before attending law school, Mollie worked as a recruiter for an enterprise software company and as a real estate broker in Austin.

Mollie is heavily involved in several of our donor networks at United Way – she currently serves as the Co-Chair of Tocqueville United, and has been involved with Women United for over ten years. Mollie is passionate about the important role of United Way to fight poverty in our community. She is also passionate about restoring historic homes with her husband Clay, enjoying the great outdoors, and spending time with their two children, Addison and William.

Joshua Childs is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. Joshua’s research focuses on the role of cross-sector collaborations to address complex educational issues. Specifically, his work examines collaborative approaches involving community organizations and stakeholders that have the potential to improve academic outcomes and reduce opportunity gaps for students in urban and rural schools. Joshua holds a PhD in Learning Sciences and Policy from the University of Pittsburgh.

John D. Holmes is the Chief Legal Officer for Forcepoint, where he is responsible for the company’s legal and regulatory affairs, intellectual property, ethics, and compliance programs. Headquartered in Austin, Forcepoint is a global leader in cybersecurity software and services that helps enterprises protect their employees and critical data from cyber threats. Prior to joining Forcepoint in 2015, John served as Vice President for legal and government affairs at Freescale Semiconductor, which was sold to NXP.

A native Austinite, John has served on many civic and professional organizations over the years, including the board of directors and executive committee of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, the board of directors of the Semiconductor Industry Association, Leadership Austin, the Texas General Counsel Forum, the Association of Corporate Counsel of America, and Any Baby Can (Austin).

John earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Economics from Tulane University and a Juris Doctorate degree from Tulane University School of Law.

John and his wife, Laura Hernandez Holmes, live in Northwest Hills.

Abbi Miller is the assistant vice president of community engagement for St. David’s HealthCare. In this role, she directs the community engagement strategies for the hospitals across St. David’s HealthCare, including the establishment of sponsorship programs and guidelines, as well as the implementation and maintenance of corporate philanthropic efforts. Abbi has spent the last 10 years working in healthcare, but her previous experience includes marketing for professional sports franchises, selling and activating Fortune 500 corporate sponsorships, large-scale event planning, and grassroots community outreach.

Abbi is an active member of the Junior League of Austin and is involved with the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Abbi holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Texas A&M University. She’s a foodie that enjoys traveling, but her favorite pastime is spending time with her husband and two daughters (ages 5 and 8).

Scott Rust is the senior vice president of product R&D at NI. Scott leads a global R&D organization and is responsible for extending the value of the NI platform through the development of world-class software connected automated test and automated measurement systems that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery.

Scott has a BS of Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and he is the inventor of nine patents. He is happily married to Jeanmarie and they have a daughter, Madison. In addition to United Way, Scott’s philanthropic activities include serving as a Steering Committee Member of the NI Diversity and Inclusivity Program and as a Board Member of the Austin Theatre Alliance.

Charles is a 6-time education technology founder who has committed his life and career to building talented teams that work on the hardest and most important problems in education. After moving to Austin with his wife and two young sons in 2011 to found Civitas Learning, Charles is currently building Kinjo, a consumer start-up focused on helping families unleash the learning potential of the world’s most engaging digital experiences.  Charles is also program chair for the Board of the Andy Roddick Foundation, and advisor and Board member for several other transformative learning organizations.

Kristin Marcum is CEO of ECPR, a communications firm specializing in projects involving media relations, video production, legislative and grassroots efforts, social media planning and execution, branding, event planning, and crisis communications.

Marcum works with a diverse roster of clients, including St. David’s HealthCare—one of the state’s leading health care systems with more than 110 sites in Central Texas, Austin FC—Austin’s first major league sports team, and Texas Mutual Insurance Company—the state’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance, among others.

Marcum joined ECPR (then Elizabeth Christian Public Relations) in 1999, worked for the firm for three years, and rejoined ECPR in 2003. A graduate of Texas State University, Marcum earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication with a public relations major and political science minor.

She is a graduate of Leadership Austin, a former Austin Area Research Organization (AARO) McBee Fellow, an AARO member, and a 2016 AU40 finalist. Most importantly, she is a mom to a daughter and two sons—Luke, Logan, and Reid.

David C. Smith, CEO of United Way for Greater Austin, has been in Executive Non-Profit Leadership for over 25 years in Austin, Texas, leading mission focused and results driven organizations to substantial growth. David’s philosophy to non-profit leadership is that while there are many factors that go into a successful organization, one common thread through all is reaching out to diverse parts of the community to collaboratively find solutions that create real impact. In recognition of his leadership, David was named a 2018 recipient of the Best CEO Award from the Austin Business Journal.

David was the founder and Executive Director of Hill Country Ride for AIDS from 2001 – 2012. Concurrently from 2008 to 2012 he founded and was the Executive Director of Mamma Jamma Ride for Breast Cancer. Under his leadership, Hill Country Ride grew to be the second largest ride for AIDS in the country, and Mamma Jamma the largest ride for breast cancer in the country.

After that long and highly successful tenure, David started David C. Smith Consulting. Prior to joining United Way for Greater Austin, David served as the Interim Executive Director of The Thinkery from October 2014 to September 2015 and Interim Managing Director of Conspirare from September 2012 to August 2013.

David has served on many non-profit boards and currently sits on the boards of Austin Theater Alliance (Paramount and State Theaters), Red Bird Foundation, Nobelity, Barton Springs Conservancy, United Ways-Texas, E3 Alliance, Community Action Network, and the Austin Healthcare Council. David has a Bachelor’s degree from Sewanee, and a Masters in Theological Studies (ABT) from Wesley Theological Seminary and he is conversant in Spanish.

In his first two and a half years at United Way for Greater Austin, David has led the organization through a 5-year strategic planning process resulting in a renewed focus, a new mission, and an increased and diversified funding base. David is proud of United Way for Greater Austin’s role as an investor in community impact through innovative programs to fight poverty.