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 from UT Austin and a Masters in Social Work from UT as well. In 2001 she studied abroad at the University of Ghana in Accra and travelled throughout Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire. In addition, Kassi has travelled throughout Europe and the states, staying at many hostels along the way.

Email Kassi at director @ hiaustin dot 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

Treasurer

Ron has been a Director of the Hostel since March 2001 and has been serving as Treasurer since March 2003. A two-time graduate of the University of Texas, he works as an engineering manager for the Lower Colorado River Authority. Mr. Anderson has published numerous articles on the topic of water resources. He has enjoyed traveling - from Solola, Guatemala to Portland, Maine, from Samara, Russia to Hamburg, Germany to Kusadasi, Greece. Mr. Anderson has been an Austin resident for over 20 years.

Annie Schwartz

Secretary

Annie has been a Director of the Hostel since March 2005 and has served as Secretary since April of 2005. She is an attorney specializing in open source software-related issues at IBM. She has traveled through five continents and has high hopes to visit the other two in the near future. Ms. Schwartz holds a B.A. in Political Science from Bryn Mawr College and a J.D. from Temple University.

Peggy Kelsey

Peggy has been a Director of the Hostel since May 2009. Her work as a freelance professional photographer has led her to Africa, the Middle East and to Afghanistan where, as  the creator of the Afghan Women's Project, she  photographed and interviewed  40 women. Currently, in addition to her photography work, she travels to universities around the country giving presentations on Afghan women.

Jackie Kenyon

Jackie has been a Director of the Hostel since March 2004. She also serves on the Historic Review Board of Elgin, Texas and on the Events Committee of United Way Capital Area's Young Leaders Society. She currently works at Texas Mutual Insurance Company as a Sr. Staff Attorney and the Subrogation Manager. Ms. Kenyon holds a B.A. in Government from the University of Texas and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

Greg Landreth

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.

 Hostelling International-Austin Staff

Erin Coon

Erin has worked with HI-Austin since October 2008. She began her relationship with HI as the Campus Outreach Coordinator, working with UT students to  form the Hosteling International Student Travel Club at UT-Austin. She became the Program and Activities Coordinator in January 2010. Erin has degrees in Deafness studies and Corporate Communication from the University of Texas at Austin, and is working on her Master's degree in organizational leadership at St. Edward's University. A native Austinite, Erin enjoys sharing her love of people, cuture, and traveling with the Austin community.
Email Erin at programs(at)hiaustin(dot)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.

Lacey Roop

Lacey has been at the hostel since May 2010. She is a native Mississippian but has traveled to every state in the continental United States. As for traveling experience abroad, she bought a one-way ticket to Costa Rica and spent 8 months traveling alone by foot, bus, and boat all the way to Ushuaia, Argentina with nothing but a pair of pants and a handful of hope. A restless roamer and wondering wanderer, Lacey is a globetrotter who agrees with Peter Pan that “to live would be an awfully big adventure.” http://www.buenasuertelace.blogspot.com/