Mary Gatlin Hearon, Executive Director

Mary has over 20 years of accomplishments in non-profit organizational leadership and management, program development and evaluation, organizational systems and operations, community coalition building, and direct services program delivery.
She authored a curriculum (adopted as a core curriculum) for the Child Development department of Brookhaven College in Dallas, Texas and taught the course for ten years as an adjunct professor. She has achieved success in increasing income and overall operational effectiveness as the President/CEO of two non-profit organizations and in executive management positions with Mental Health America of Dallas and Mental Health America of Texas. Her job experience includes work at Child Protective Services and Juvenile Probation in Houston and seven years in private practice as a child therapist. Mary has a strong reputation as an engaging presenter and public speaker on topics related to early childhood development, parent education, child abuse prevention, mental health issues, and non-profit management. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Houston and her master’s degree in child development and counseling from Texas Woman’s University. She and her husband are proud to call the Austin area home since 2006.

Brenda Brantley, Administrative Manager

Brenda has an A.A. in English and is fluent in Spanish. She is a service-focused, multitasking and hard working office professional with 10+ years experience providing customer assistance and office management support as an administrative assistant, customer service manager and research specialist. Brenda spent her early career at several nonprofits then took a brief detour into law enforcement prior to her return to the nonprofit sector. As an intelligence research specialist in law enforcement Brenda was given a Houston Chief of Police commendation in 2008.

Lili Cantu, Parent BookClub Manager

Lili has a BA in Latin American Studies from Brown University, and primary teaching certification from the Association Montessori Internationale. After gaining some classroom experience, she joined Reading Is Fundamental of Austin in 1997 as Infant and Preschool Program Director. She became the Program Director in 2000. In both of those roles, she wrote much of the curriculum currently used by BookSpring’s RIF component. After the birth of her daughter in 2002, Lili continued working for RIF, now BookSpring, on a part-time basis,organizing Parent BookClubs and updating the curriculum.

René Carlin, Volunteer & Outreach Manager

René Carlin joined BookSpring in January 2012 as the Volunteer & Outreach Manager. As a member of the BookSpring team, he is responsible for managing agency volunteers and all outreach activities.

René began his career in volunteerism as the Volunteer Coordinator at the Austin Children’s Museum. In December 2002, he became the Manager of Volunteer Services at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum where he led all the volunteer efforts at the Museum. Five years later, René joined the staff at Hands On Central Texas, a program of the United Way Capital Area as the Agency Relations Coordinator where he worked closely with other volunteer managers in the Central Texas area to help them build their programs. In December 2008, he joined the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas as the Volunteer Resources Manager, and his primary responsibility was coordinating workplace volunteers. A year and a half later, René was promoted to Director of Volunteer Resources at the Food Bank.

René is originally from the Houston area and has lived in the Austin area for 23 years. He attended The University of Texas at Austin where he earned his BFA in Art History. He is an active member of the volunteer community, and he dedicates his work to promote and encourage people to volunteer and make a difference in their community.

René, his wife Rochelle, and their daughters, Penélope and Nina, spend their free time visiting as many museums they can.

Jill Gonzalez, Reading Is Fundamental Program Manager

Jill has her BS in Elementary Education from St. Norbert College and her MA in Language and Literacy from U.T. Austin. During her 20 years as an educator, she has taught children from first through eighth grade. Since 1996 she has been a master reading teacher, working exclusively with students struggling to learn to read. Jill served as a board member for RIF of Austin from 1998-2003, actively leading the Program and Leadership teams. Jill’s role as program coordinator includes the coordination and management of the Reading is Fundamental/Books for Ownership programs. She works closely with librarians, preschool directors, teen parent educators, and home based literacy providers to ensure the quality implementation of all programs.

Tara Hall, Director of Finance

Tara’s diverse career in administration spans the education, venture capital, healthcare, management consulting, food service, and retail industries. Her career highlights include serving as project manager for an 8 year, $1.8 million scientific research project and being managing editor of three reference books. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Saint Louis University. Tara served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya working with wood carving cooperatives.

Rikka Strong, Program Associate

Rikka graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in History and Literature. After hearing about BookSpring on NPR, she decided to volunteer here last spring. She began working for BookSpring in May 2011 doing administrative work. In September 2011, Rikka made the switch to programs associate which has enabled her to provide more direct support to BookSpring’s programs. Rikka loves visiting schools and clinics because it gives her a chance to see how many lives BookSpring touches.