subscribe to CPPP RSS news feed

Of Note

Save the Date: 2012 Legacy Luncheon Reserve your seat for the Eleventh Annual Legacy Luncheon honoring Ben Barnes.
> more Better Texas Film The Better Texas film. Together we can make our state a better place for all of us. A place of opportunity and prosperity. Because we all do better when we all do better.
> more How Is Your County Affected by the Budget? CPPP has county-by-county consequences of the 2012-13 state budget for major essential services, such as health and human services, public education, and higher education.
> more OpportunityTexas The Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) and RAISE have launched a joint initiative, OpportunityTexasTM, an effort to help individuals and families save for the future and increase college access and success.
> more Former Lt. Governor Hobby and CPPP's McCown's Letter to Business Leaders Former Lt. Governor William P. Hobby and CPPP Executive Director F. Scott McCown urge business leaders to help address a challenge facing Texas that imperils our economic recovery and future prosperity—how to cope with a devastating state revenue shortfall.
> more

STAFF

Who Are We?

F. Scott McCown, Executive Director

F. Scott McCown retired as a state district judge in 2002 to become director of the center. Called "the voice of the voiceless" and "the conscience" of Texas politics by Texas Monthly, he is responsible for the center's direction and administration. He is also an expert on school finance and child welfare. Before coming to the center, he presided over all of Texas' public school finance cases from 1990-2002 and thousands of child abuse cases. He is a member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and an elected member of the American Law Institute and the Philosophical Society of Texas.

McCown earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, cum laude, from Texas Christian University in 1976, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence with honors from The University of Texas School of Law in 1979, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and to the Board of Editors of The Texas Law Review.

Anne Dunkelberg, Associate Director

Anne Dunkelberg joined the center in 1994. She is one of the state's leading experts in policy and budget issues relating to health care access. In 2007, she was named Consumer Advocate of the Year by Families USA in Washington, D.C. Before coming to the center, she served as Program Director for Acute Care in the Texas Medicaid Director's Office and spent six years with the Texas Research League, where she authored numerous reports on Texas health and human services issues and tracked state health and human services budget issues. She earned dual degrees from The University of Texas at Austin—a Bachelor of Arts (Plan II), magna cum laude, in 1979 and a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs in 1988.

Dick Lavine, Senior Fiscal Analyst

Dick Lavine joined the center in 1994. He focuses on state tax and revenue issues. Before coming to the center, he was a Senior Researcher at the House Research Organization of the Texas House of Representatives, where he covered budget and tax issues. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Travis Central Appraisal District. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1969 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975.

Eva DeLuna Castro, Senior Budget Analyst

Eva DeLuna Castro joined the center in 1998. She focuses on state budget issues. Before coming to the center, she was an Analyst for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, researching various policy issues related to state revenue and spending. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Literature, cum laude, from Harvard University in 1988 and a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin in 1997.

Don Baylor, Jr., Senior Policy Analyst, Economic Opportunity

An eighth-generation Texan, Don Baylor joined the center in 2004 and focuses on asset building, postsecondary success, and labor markets to expand economic opportunity and mobility in Texas. He directs OpportunityTexas a statewide campaign to increase financial stability, create pathways to good jobs, and promote savings.

Before coming to the center, he crafted and advocated for living wage, anti-predatory lending, and affordable housing legislation before the New York City Council and New York State Legislature. Before that role, he was a public sector consultant who co-led strategic planning and performance audit contracts for several public entities in California, Oregon, and Hawaii.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University in 1994 and a Master of Arts in African American and Southern History with honors from The University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997. He was recently appointed to the new Consumer Advisory Board of the Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and also serves on the Board of Directors of CFED, RAISE Texas, the Texas Match the Promise Foundation. He serves in an advisory role for CLASP, United Way Capital Area, and Texas C-Bar.

Stacey Pogue, Senior Policy Analyst

Stacey Pogue joined the center in 2008. She focuses on health policy issues. Before coming to the center, she did health policy and research work with the Medicaid and CHIP Division of the Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Insurance. In 2010 and 2011, she was selected to serve as a funded Consumer Representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Pogue earned a Bachelor of Science in Geography, summa cum laude, from Texas A&M University in 1997 and a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin in 2005.

Leslie Helmcamp, Policy Analyst

Leslie Helmcamp joined the center in 2009. She focuses on employment and postsecondary education access and succes. Her work is part of OpportunityTexas, a project to move more Texas families toward greater economic opportunity through academic and financial education and savings. Helmcamp earned a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin in 2009. Before pursuing graduate work, Helmcamp served as the director of the Immigration Legal Services program of Catholic Charities of Central Texas where she provided direct services to immigrant families.

Chandra Kring Villanueva, Policy Analyst

Chandra Kring Villanueva joined the center in 2010 as a fellow through the Center on Budget and Policies Priorities’ State Fiscal Analysis Initiative. She focuses on state pensions and public education finance and policy. She also serves on the Customer Satisfaction Advisory Board for Capital Metro and is an advisory board member for the Center on Children and Families at the Columbia University School of Nursing. Villanueva was the manager of Advocacy and Public Policy with the Women’s Prison Association in New York City. Prior to graduate school, she served as a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow with the Congressional Hunger Center in Arizona and Washington, D.C. Villanueva earned a Master of Public Administration from the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in 2007, and a Bachelor of Arts from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington in 2003.

Frances Deviney, Ph.D., Texas KIDS COUNT Director

Frances Deviney joined the center in 2005. As KIDS COUNT Director, she tracks the status of child well-being in Texas by collecting and analyzing state and county-level data. She also helps coordinate the center's family economic security work. Before coming to the center, she was a Research Specialist at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, a Legislative Director in the Texas House of Representatives, and a Research Analyst at the Families and Schools Together (FAST Track) Project. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1993 and a Doctorate in Developmental Psychology from The University of Utah in 2002.

Valerie L. Davidson, Manager of Finance and Administration

Valerie L. Davidson joined the center in 2002. She is responsible for accounts payable, payroll, and other business. Before coming to the center, Davidson was an administrator in the Office of the District Judges of Travis County. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Southwest Texas State University in 1997.

Brian Stephens, Communications Director

Brian Stephens joined the center in 2010. He is responsible for all CPPP media relations. He was formerly the marketing and creative manager for Austin Habitat for Humanity. He was also the director of Marketing and Communications for the Texas Pharmacy Association and communications manager for the Texas Comptroller’s office. He has also done work for the State Bar of Texas and the Lewisville Independent School District in the Dallas area. Stephens holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of North Texas in Denton.

Gina Chavez, Communications Associate

Gina Chavez joined the center in 2010. She works with Communications Director Brian Stephens and Communications Associate Alexa Garcia-Ditta on all marketing, social media, and media relations for the center. She was the Communications Coordinator at Texas Pharmacy Association for six years before leaving the country to volunteer for eight months in El Salvador. Chavez is also a native Austinite and a singer songwriter. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism with a concentration in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Laura Rosen, OpportunityTexas Project Coordinator

Laura Rosen joined the center in July 2010. She is the Project Coordinator for OpportunityTexas, a joint initiative of CPPP and RAISE Texas to move more Texas families toward greater economic opportunity through academic and financial education and savings. Rosen completed her Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan in 2010 and received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004. Before returning to graduate school, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Peru where she researched microfinance.

Cheasty Anderson, Texas Well and Healthy Outreach Coordinator and Educator

Cheasty Anderson joined the center in 2011. She focuses on health care policy, community education, and outreach. Anderson is the Education Outreach Coordinator for Texas Well and Healthy, a statewide campaign to educate Texans about the Affordable Care Act and to protect existing health coverage for Texans. The project’s goal is to create an advocacy network that will help Texans push for successful implementation of health reform in 2014, and beyond that, to continue working for a healthier, better-insured Texas. After spending several years working as a teacher and an international adventure tour guide, Anderson earned a master’s degree in Latin American History in 2007 at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), and is currently pursuing a doctorate at UT on Health Care Policy in Sandinista Nicaragua. Before working with the center, she volunteered and consulted with the Worker’s Defense Project and interned with Senator Judith Zaffirini during the 2011 Legislature.

Jonathan Lewis, Policy Specialist

Jonathan Lewis joined the center in 2012. His work focuses on food assistance policy. Prior to joining the center he served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University. His work there focused on the summer nutrition programs and strategies to increase statewide participation. Lewis also spent time in Kenya as a founding partner of a social enterprise which works with HIV+ support groups to provide supplemental income and business training. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Public Administration from Baylor University in 2009.

Alexa Garcia-Ditta, Communications Associate

Alexa Garcia-Ditta joined the center in 2012. As a member of the Communications team, she works with Communications Director Brian Stephens and Communications Associate Gina Chavez on media relations, social media and marketing for the center. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and Spanish from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Master of Arts in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a native Houstonian and has written for various metropolitan newspapers and statewide publications including the Texas Tribune and Texas Observer.

Katharine Ligon, Policy Analyst

Katharine Ligon joined the center in 2012 with a focus on mental health policy. Prior to joining the center she was a Hogg Foundation Mental Health Policy Fellow with Mental Health America of Houston. Ligon earned a Master of Social Work with a concentration in Advocacy, Leadership, and Administration from the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston in 2010, and a Bachelor of Psychology in 2003. Prior to graduate school, Ligon interned with the Legislative Study Group during the 2009 Legislature and worked at DePelchin Children’s Center. She also spent nearly two years at Nuestras Pequenas Rosas: Home for Abandoned and Abused Girls in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Rachel Cooper, Senior Policy Analyst

Rachel joined the center in 2012 with a focus on food and nutrition programs as well as obesity. Before joining the center, she worked for the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) where she was in charge of research and data analysis and authored reports such as the School Breakfast Scorecard, Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation, and State of the States. Rachel also worked for the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), in their New York office, where she focused on helping families gain access to programs that provide work supports, such as tax credits, Medicaid, SCHIP, and food stamps. Rachel received her Masters in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University.