Al Perez, as a member of the FairWinds team, serves as the Senior Accountant for the Charles Butt Foundation while also supporting Raise Your Hand Texas and the CAST Network.
Before joining the FairWinds in 2020, Al held positions in both payroll and insurance tax divisions in addition to serving for six years in the United States Air Force. He graduated from Texas A&M – Corpus Christi with a degree in Finance before beginning his professional and Air Force careers.
Amanda Sierra serves as the Controller of the Charles Butt Foundation, where she is responsible for all accounting-related activities. She also serves as the Controller for Raise Your Hand Texas and the CAST Network.
In 2018, Amanda joined Fair Winds Management as the primary accountant for philanthropic activities. Originally from New Mexico, where she earned her BA in Accounting, Amanda has over 25 years of experience in nonprofit and corporate accounting.
Dr. Melissa Garza joined the Charles Butt Foundation in January 2023, bringing a career that spans research, evaluation, and teaching across P-20 classrooms.
Raised in Roma, Texas, a South Texas border community, and the first in her family to attend college, Dr. Garza grounds her work in a deep commitment to access, opportunity, and belonging. She has led and supported initiatives that strengthen systems, and elevate academic and career pathways for culturally and linguistically diverse learners, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley.
Dr. Garza holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Education and a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies from Texas State University, as well as an Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her expertise lies in mixed-methods research, with scholarly interests focused on education in rural U.S.–Mexico border contexts, teacher and faculty development, and literacy.
Robin Baird joined the Charles Butt Foundation in January of 2022 to help our leadership better fulfill our mission of working towards a better future for all Texans. As someone who attended a wide variety of public and private schools, Robin has seen firsthand how much the quality of education varied and leaped at the opportunity to do her part to help.
Before joining us, Robin was the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Austin Emergency Center for three years. During her time there, she helped open three new locations and weathered everything that came with the pandemic. Before that, she worked for KeyBanc Capital Markets in Boston for eight years.
In her free time, Robin enjoys hiking, reading, writing, and video games.
Dr. Amber Lynn Diaz became the Director of Emerging Partners Support for the Charles Butt Foundation in January 2022 after serving as the Department Head of Curriculum and Instruction at Tarleton State University. In her role, Amber Lynn provides leadership and support in the transformation of high-quality teacher preparation programs throughout the state of Texas. This work is part of the Raising Texas Teachers initiative, one of the Charles Butt Foundation statewide programs.
Amber Lynn has held positions that support teacher preparation transformation serving as a Curriculum Coach for US PREP and a Continuous Improvement Coach for Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity. It was in her tenure track position with Texas A&M University-Central Texas where her purpose, passion, and pursuit of transforming teacher preparation was affirmed. She served as the Director of Educator Preparation Services and Certification Officer, while teaching courses in the teacher preparation program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This role provided many opportunities to learn and experience the ecosystem of Texas education, which ignited a desire to be an agent of change. She believes that every student, especially students from traditionally marginalized backgrounds, can be systemically educated through high-quality teachers skilled in empowering student agency, while igniting a fervent desire and love for learning.
Prior to her various roles in higher education, Amber Lynn developed her educational facility with over 15 years of experience in public education. She was an elementary classroom teacher, an English-Language Learners teacher, a Response to Intervention Supervisor, and an Elementary Administrator in Killeen ISD. She also served in Copperas Cove ISD as the Director of Intervention & At-Risk, serving a high population of at-risk youth. In this position, Amber Lynn was responsible for leading district programs for 504, Dyslexia, At-Risk, Bilingual & ESL, Response to Intervention, and Guidance Counseling. Throughout her entire professional career, Amber Lynn pursued opportunities to positively affect education by writing grants to fund innovative educational ideas. She also shared her knowledge and expertise by providing professional development across the state of Texas.
She received her Doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and a Master of Education degree in Educational Administration from Texas A&M University-Central Texas. However, her professional career really began from earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of Wyoming with a minor in Multicultural Education.
Christina is the Program Director for the Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers, which encourages promising, diverse students to choose the teaching profession. In this role, she develops and implements programming and supports for scholarship recipients, helping these aspiring teachers succeed in school and graduate ready to teach.
Before joining the Charles Butt Foundation, Christina was a fourth-grade teacher in Austin ISD. She believes her work with the foundation will ensure all students have access to the educator they deserve.
Christina has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from The University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Masters of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.
Joel Goudeau is Creative Director at the Charles Butt Foundation, where he leads the foundation’s brand, marketing, and communications and serves on its leadership team. He sets the foundation’s creative and brand strategy and partners with leaders across the organization to carry its mission to educators, students, and communities statewide.
Joel has spent the better part of two decades within mission-driven nonprofits, building brands across Texas education and advocacy. Before joining the foundation, he spent more than seven years leading brand and creative for Raise Your Hand Texas, where he directed the creative on its highest-profile legislative campaigns and architected the digital platform behind its statewide grassroots network. He brings that builder’s instinct to the foundation, shaping its brand along with the systems and team that sustain it.
Joel holds a BFA in graphic design from Abilene Christian University. Brazilian-born, he is a husband and father of three who enjoys backyard soccer games, travel, and photography.
Cody Huie has served as President of the Charles Butt Foundation since January 1, 2026. He brings more than twenty years of experience across the education ecosystem as a special education teacher, district-wide behavior specialist, statewide school improvement leader, and philanthropic executive. Prior to becoming President, Huie served as Vice President of Programs at the Foundation, where he led statewide strategies to strengthen teacher preparation and school leadership, including the Raising Texas Teachers initiative.
He holds a Master of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and holds a Doctor of Education Leadership degree at Harvard University. His leadership reflects a deep commitment to strong public schools, thriving communities, and a more equitable future for Texas.
Thea Ulrich-Lewis serves as the Vice President of Programs. In this capacity, she supports the implementation of the Foundation’s statewide programs. Thea’s work at the Foundation has focused on strengthening the Texas teacher pipeline and ensuring cross-team and cross-department collaboration.
Thea joined the Foundation in 2016 as a Research Associate, researching a variety of education topics with a focus on teacher preparation. She previously worked for the Texas Legislative Budget Board conducting school district management reviews.
A native New Yorker, Thea moved to Texas in 2009 to teach elementary school in the Rio Grande Valley through Teach for America. She holds a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Texas-Austin and a bachelor’s degree in economics and Spanish from the University of Vermont.
In her free time, Thea enjoys learning new skills and taking classes. She’s currently learning ceramics and brushing up on her Spanish skills.
Karen, who joined the team in 2020, brings 20+ years of experience as both designer and developer. She has worked closely, at both agency and enterprise-level, for varying industries including healthcare, education, technology, energy, and law. She specializes in coding web infrastructures with an emphasis on streamlining processes and user engagement.
As a web developer, Karen uses her expertise to optimize a digital brand for the Charles Butt Foundation, turning in-house visual designs into compelling and user-friendly front-end experiences.
In her spare time, she listens to audiobooks, especially audiobooks on behavioral economics. She also likes being adventurous with food, traveling, camping, and learning how to play different musical instruments.
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