New Board Members Bring Unique Experiences, Perspectives
Each spring brings a new crop of nominees for the AHCA Board of Directors as existing members finish their terms. What follows is a quick summary of each member of the 2021 class of nominees, who are poised to be elected to the board at the May 16 Annual Meeting.
Molly Alexander
For 30 years, Molly has enjoyed a successful career focused on downtown revitalization and economic development, including enterprises in both the public and private sectors.
As the Executive Director of the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, Molly leads a new 501 (c)(3) organization focused on developing transformative projects that create new places and experiences for the next generation of Austinites.
Molly received a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and history from Trinity University. Along with founding her own start-up company, she was previously Director of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, Director of the Georgetown Convention & Visitors Bureau, Economic and Community Development Director for the City of Elgin, and President of the Historic Preservation League of Dallas.
In her spare time Molly owns two retail establishments – G&M DRYGOODS and The Owl Wine Bar and Home Goods Store, an award-winning retail concept that received state-wide recognition in 2015.
Roxanne Evans
Roxanne has more than 25 years of experience in journalism and public relations. A graduate of Drake University, Evans began her journalism career at the Des Moines Register and Tribune where she was part of a team that won a first-place Iowa Associated Press Managing Editors award for a historical series on Blacks in Iowa.
Roxanne has been in Austin for more than three decades. She spent 10 years at the Austin American-Statesman, where she began as a reporter and later made history herself when she became the first African American editorial writer and member of the Editorial Board. During this time, she served several terms as president of the Austin Association of Black Communicators, an affiliate of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Evans also served as a deputy press secretary for Texas Governor Ann Richards.
Her other positions include Chief Communications Officer for D.C. Public Schools, and work in the communications departments of the Austin Independent School District and the City of Austin.
She has served on a number of City of Austin boards and commissions and several AISD committees, including serving as tri-chair of the Facilities and Bond Planning Advisory Committee (FABPAC).
Roxanne is a charter member of the National Museum of African American Culture and History at the Smithsonian.
A research paper she wrote on Black Catholics in Texas was presented before the Texas State Historical Association and is in the archives of the Schomburg Center.
Roxanne is a member of the Travis County African American Heritage Council and serves on the advocacy committee of Preservation Austin. She and her husband, attorney Kelly Evans, have four sons and six grandchildren.
Mark McCormick
Mark was raised in western Illinois and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Iowa in 1991. He spent two decades on the West Coast producing television commercials, before changing direction in 2013 to help his wife (and hometown sweetheart), Heather, build her family office practice. In 2017, they relocated to Austin where they established a qualified opportunity zone real estate investment practice focusing on residential developments.
With a family tree bearing Tennessee steam train drivers; Midwest farmers and doctors; an ancestor buried at Andersonville; and the commander of a medical company with Patton’s Third Army, Mark is an amateur historian who reads obsessively on a broad range of historical topics. His other interests include fitness, cooking, and the outdoors.
Mark is an active member of Tarrytown United Methodist Church and a lifetime member and Past Master of Santa Monica-Palisades Masonic Lodge in Santa Monica, CA. He lives in the Parker Lane neighborhood of Austin with Heather, two cats and his Labrador, Audrey.
Dr. Rosemary Morrow
Rosemary is a sixth generation Texan born in Cuero, DeWitt County. She is a long-time social studies educator who taught at Porter Junior High and Austin High in the Austin Independent School District before serving as Austin ISD Social Studies Supervisor. She worked at the Texas Education Agency as Social Studies Director before teaching in the UTeach-Liberal Arts Program at The University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a social studies consultant.
Rosemary holds bachelor and doctorate degrees from The University of Texas at Austin and a master degree from Texas State University. She serves on the Travis County Historical Commission and on the board of Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms.