Kassi Darakhshan, Hostel/Council Executive Director

Kassi has been the Executive Director of the Hostel since April 2010. Originally from Dallas, Texas she has lived in Austin since 2000. Kassi has a undergraduate degree and a Masters in Social Work from UT-Austin.  In 2001 she studied abroad at the University of Ghana in Accra and traveled throughout Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire. In addition, Kassi has traveled throughout Europe and the States, staying at many hostels along the way.

Email director at kassi.darakhshan@hiusa.org.

Trevor Evenson, President 

Trevor has been a Director of the Hostel since March 2005 and has served as President since March 2006. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, he has travelled extensively though Europe, the Americas, Australia, and the Middle East. A lifetime member of Hostelling International, he volunteers his free time with numerous non-profit groups around Austin. Mr. Evenson has a varied educational background with credentials in Business Administration, Culinary Arts and Information Technology. He is currently employed with Check Point Software Technologies as an Information Security Consultant.

Shaya Zucker, Vice-President 

Shaya has been a Director of the Hostel since March 2003 and has been serving as Vice President since March 2006. Mrs. Zucker has 20 years of experience working with not-for-profit organizations. She has served as President of the Reconstructionist congregation Shalom Rav. She has served as both a Director and Executive Director of a community not-for-profit radio station in Champaign, Illinois. Mrs. Zucker has volunteered with Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve in Austin and Austin Habitat For Humanity. She works in the Eanes school district as a certified substitute teacher. She and her husband have lived in Austin since 1989.

Ron Anderson

Ron has been a Director of the Hostel since March 2001 and served as Treasurer for eight years. A two-time graduate of the University of Texas, he works as the Chief Engineer for the Lower Colorado River Authority. Mr. Anderson has published numerous articles on the topic of water resources. He has enjoyed traveling the world incuding Guatemala, Russia, Germany, France, Mexico, Turkey, Greece. Mr. Anderson has been an Austin resident for over 25 years.

Greg Landreth, Treasurer

Greg has been a Director of the Hostel since February 2010. He is an environmental engineer currently working in an Austin-based energy efficiency consulting firm, where he helps utilities help their customers save electricity. As a child he traveled extensively within the US and Canada, mostly from Texas to the northeast in the summers, but also into the Rockies, chasing trout with his father in places like Yellowstone National Park. His introduction to international travel was a visit to Bolivia as an undergraduate, the beginnings of what has become a strong attachment to Latin America. Through living and working for two years in Honduras, he developed a belief in promoting international cultural exchange, a value that draws him to the HI-SWT board and the mission of Hostelling International. Married to an Argentine in September 2007, recent travel has taken him to the South America's southern cone, where he has visited Brazil and Uruguay in addition to, of course, Argentina. He made his first visit to Europe in 2008, visiting Greece and Turkey, where he was fascinated by the Cappadocia region and the Bosphorus. He makes his first foray into Africa in June 2010, visiting Tanzania on his way to South Africa where he'll be supporting his two adopted countries - Argentina and Honduras - in addition to the USA in the World Cup.

David B. Miller

David has been a Director of the Hostel since March 2003. Mr. Miller is the retired Director of The Foreign Service Review, Inc., a company that prepares students to take the United States State Department Foreign Service Exam. Previously, he was involved with executive search and work assessment for engineering and construction companies in the power generation industry.

Nishant Agrawal

Nishant has been a Director of the Hostel since the summer of 2010. He is a Senior Consultant at Deloitte & Touche LLP, a national accounting firm, and is based out of the firm's Austin office. Within Deloitte, Nishant works under Audit and Enterprise Risk Services division, and mainly advises clients based in Financial Services industry and State government entities. Nishant has also worked extensively with Deloitte's consulting services assisting implementation of technology solutions encompassing data analytics and business intelligence. Nishant has been an Austin resident for over four years, after completing his Bachelos in Computer Engineering at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. Nishant also serves Net Impact Austin Professional Chapter, an international nonprofit organization with a mission to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world, as its membership chair.

Aleida Kasir

Aleida has been a Director of the Hostel since January 2011. She finds inspiration through her work at Communities In Schools as the Annual Giving Manager and also in her free time traveling. After graduating from the University of Texas, Aleida spent 3 years traveling around the US and Western Europe were she fell in love with the hostel world and the many benefits it lends to making great memories. Her most recent trips have taken her to the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the farthest eastern point of the Mediterranean. Currently, Aleida is a Big Sister and is hoping to spark the traveling bug to her mentee and many others.  

Mark Strüb

Mark has been a Director of the Hostel since January 2011. Mark funds his compulsion to travel by helping people buy and sell homes in Austin- where he moved from Phoenix in early Y2K.  That same year, his brother, Morgan Strüb, introduced Mark to HI-Austin where he was laying low on a furlough from one of many hitchhiking trips across the continent.  A decade later, Mark serves Austin-HI in his brother’s honor and loving memory.  Also through his service to HI-Austin and other local non-profits, Mark seeks to introduce his son, Jack, to a greater understanding of the world and its people through travel and working in the service of others.  Mark holds a B.S. in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dawn Boudreaux, Program and Volunteer Coordinator

A life-long traveler and HI-member, Dawn joined the local hostel staff as the Program and Volunteer Coordinator in Feb. 2011. She is excited to bring her love of travel and former experience as a volunteer coordinator and non-traditional educator for an environmental organization to HI-SWTC. After 20 years of regularly traveling the States as a solo woman, Dawn recently fulfilled one of her travel dreams by spending six months in Southeast Asia. She volunteered for two months as a natural health care advocate in Viet Nam and Cambodia, traveled for three months in China and Laos and studied advanced Thai Massage in Thailand. Dawn loves encouraging others to explore the joys of traveling by utilitizing hostels both domestically and internationally. She is dedicated to expanding the Cultural Kitchen and Travel Class programs in the Austin and San Antonio areas, as well as recruiting volunteers for a variety of local programs. Email programs at programs.austin@hiusa.org

Brett Hamann

Brett has been an the hostel since the start of summer 2010.  Originally from Seattle, WA, he has divided his time between Austin and Bellingham, WA for the last 10 years.  Brett lives for film and theatre as an actor, cinematographer, writer, sound designer and editor.  Most recently he performed as a featured actor in the indie comedy "Austin High."  In 2009, Brett traveled to Ethiopia to shoot a documentary, "After the Rains", on the fight to eradicate polio in the third world.  Next year, he'd like to bicycle through Europe and document the experience.

Lily Wein

Lily, nee Lillian, was born in Manhattan, bred in Pittsburgh and educated in Toronto. She is a newcomer to the city of Austin, and has worked at the hostel since January of 2012. Her enthusiasm for adventuring has taken her from the mountains of Argentina, to the farms of Nova Scotia, to remote Aboriginal communities in northern Ontario. Lily is very passionate about anti-oppression/anti-racism work. In her spare time, she enjoys baking decadent chocolate desserts, crafting, repping Steelers pride, and exploring Austin by bike.

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