Board and Advisory Council
Richard Bondi
Board President
(Program Development Lead, Rainbow Connections ATX)
Richard received a BA in English Literature from the University of Denver and has attended various institutions for post-graduate study.
In 2020 Richard retired from Texas Health & Human Service Commission. Prior to that he had 38 years of work experience in both public and private sectors; 27 of those in Telecom related positions and 11 years in other areas. Positions included Programming, Contract Compliance, Systems Analysis, Call Center, Management, Advocacy, Recreation, Finance and Purchasing. Richard’s work locations have been on both coasts, as well as Denver and Austin.
Richard also has 30 years volunteer experience, mostly part-time, from 1985 – present. Austin volunteer groups include:
- engAGE Travis County
- LGBT Coalition on Aging
- LGBT Elder Task Force
- Commission on Seniors, Domains Work Group
- Research Advisory Board, Quality of Life Commission Survey.
George Linial
Board Vice President
(President Leading Age Texas)
George is the CEO and President of Leading Age Texas. Leading Age provides leadership, advocacy, and education for not-for-profit retirement housing and nursing home communities. With 18 years of experience working with senior issues, George brings a wealth of knowledge to the Coming of Age Board/Advisory Council.
He has served on numerous boards and says that volunteering is important to him. He has been a member of Rotary since 1999 which focuses on volunteer projects and he has been a Meals on Wheels volunteer for the past 14 years.
Jody Gray
Board Member (The Gray Lawfirm P.C.)
Coming of Age is pleased to welcome Jody Lynn Gray who joined our Advisory Council last summer. Jody is an attorney and she currently is working as an Outside Counsel/Contract Attorney for Jones & Spross.
Jody began her legal career in Los Angeles, California, where she spent seven years at New Line Cinema working on film and TV production contracts. She was lucky enough to accept a “contract” position with the company after the birth of her son, Colin. When Jody and her husband were expecting their second child, Megan, her husband’s company made the decision to move their base of operations to Austin. They jumped at the chance to bring their family to Texas.
Over the past few years Jody has volunteered at Heavenly Care HomeHealth, where she would run various errands with individuals who where not able to do so on their own (renew state IDs, grocery shopping, lunch out, dry cleaning, etc.). This experience turned into a great friendship with one particular woman where they continued to get pedicures on a monthly basis over the past 2½ years. In addition, her neighborhood community has been raising money and supplies for a Community First Village micro-home.
She is also active in the PTA at her daughter’s elementary school. She has been the chairman of the fall festival fundraiser for the past two years (carnival style festival where they raise money through sponsorships from local businesses, silent auction, ticket sales and food sales). In just the past two years, they have raised over $50,000 for the school’s PTA which uses the money to fund teacher grants and help subsidize after school activities.
Jody says, “I believe that no one is too old nor too young, too rich nor too poor to give back to the community. Getting my children involved in community service and/or volunteering is very important to me and I hope to lead by example”.
Cindy Gunderson
Board Member
(HR Consultant/Independent Contractor)
Cindy started volunteering in high-school with an adopt a grandparent program. She went to home-bound elderly individuals to not only make sure they were safe but to engage in conversations which eventually developed in to meaningful friendships. Visiting the elderly in their homes is something Cindy continued to do for years and made many good friends.
Homelessness and Hunger are other causes Cindy works with and feels strongly about learning from and giving to.
A lesson learned throughout volunteering is that everyone, regardless of circumstances, wants to give and has something to share. It is amazing to see those being “served” also serving. It is a beautiful example to Cindy on how the world was intended to be.
Cindy is a certified Senior Human Resource Professional with over 25 years of experience as an HR Professional. In this role, Cindy continues to serve those she works with so that they can be connected to their work, and their community.
Music is another universal tool Cindy enjoys. She thinks it’s fun to see the wide range of people, music brings together.
Cindy volunteers with Mobile Loaves and Fishes, Operation Turkey, the Free Store and served on the Capital Area Food Bank board for over 10 years.
Angela Huddy
Board Member
(St. David’s Foundation)
Angela began her philanthropic journey in grade school when she first began earning money to send to her adopted pen pal via Save the Children. Growing up in Dallas, she both joined and led a Camp Fire group that included spending time with seniors in group care settings.
After a 12-year career in restaurant / retail Human Resources, she became a full-time caregiver for her young children and her in-laws. When those responsibilities were complete, she returned to school to pursue a BAAS in HR and nonprofit management, converting her volunteerism and board activities into her full-time profession.
Angela served on the Women of Vision and Dallas Coalition of HIV / AIDS Services boards and worked as the Development Director for Legacy Cares before moving to Austin. She is currently a member of the Community Investments team at St. David’s Foundation and is pursuing her Master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Houston Downtown.
She and her husband live in western Travis County where they can be within an hour of their three grandchildren.
Marie Dilworth
Community Volunteer
Compassion in Action has been a term used to describe some of our volunteers and the service they do. Nola Marie Dilworth is truly representative of that term. She joined Coming of Age in 2012 and she’s already volunteered over 2,300 hours.
She volunteers Monday – Thursday with the Sickle Cell Association at the Austin Marc Thomas Foundation. Her volunteer service requires someone to have a very compassionate demeanor when she sends out notification letters from the health department informing parents that their child was born with the Sickle Cell trait.
After the letters are sent out she must do follow up care calls to the parents to check on the well being of their child. She goes out and represents the Sickle Cell Association at different health fairs across the city. She makes arrangement calls and mails out flyers to the Sickle Cell clients about the Sickle Cell walk, Sickle Cell Camp, Sickle Cell Picnic that they have for the clients and their families along with contacting them about the annual Christmas Pajama Breakfast Party that they have every year. She also keeps records of all donations that are mailed into the office.
Her second volunteer placement is on Monday evenings with Hospice Austin’s Christopher House. While there she visits with all the patients and their families. She checks to see if they have a particular need such as someone to talk to or someone to read to them. She gets additional blankets, takes their food trays for them, someone may need her to get the nurse for them quickly and just maybe get a wheelchair.
She also takes family members on a tour of the building and she’s there to hold their hands in a time of need. She has also represented Hospice Austin’s Christopher House at health fairs. Our community is a better place because of people like Nola Marie and we are lucky to have her represent Coming of Age and we are proud of the work she does.
Suzanne Anderson
(Executive Director, AGE of Central Texas)
Suzanne Anderson joined the AGE of Central Texas Team as Executive Director in November of 2018, bringing a knowledge of non-profit management to the movement.
In her previous career with Special Olympics Texas spanning 26 years, Anderson supervises all aspects of competition and games, training, outreach and families, volunteers and statewide field operations. Under her leadership, Special Olympics Texas served more athletes than ever before with a strategic growth plan for continued outreach and support of people with intellectual disabilities and closely related developmental disabilities. In addition, Anderson led the way for a Global Partnership with Mexico, including support of trainings and lending her expertise.
Most recently, Anderson served as the Interim CEO of Special Olympics Texas, handling all aspects of organizational strategy and growth, working hand in hand with the Board of Directors to strengthen organizational performance.
Anderson holds both a B.A. and M.A. from Trinity University in the field of psychology.
Hobbies include playing soccer, cycling, hiking and anything that has to do with the outdoors.
Brandon Erickson
Division Manager (Enhabit Home Health and Hospice)
Brandon was born and raised in Southeast Texas. Growing up on a farm and ranch, he was fortunate to have a close relationship with his grandparents. Spending time with them, and learning from their experiences led to his interest in senior care. They were a big influence on his sense of community and encouraged him to pursue a career that would help others.
With their support he completed a Graduate degree in Gerontology from UNT in Denton, TX. His focus of study was Long-term care administration and for 18 years he worked as Executive Director for Assisted Living communities here in Austin for Emeritus, Brookdale, and Civitas. He is currently the Division Manager for Enhabit Home Health and Hospice.
Brandon enjoys spending time with his wife Agnieszka and son, Logan who attends Concordia Lutheran High School.
Horacio Huerta
(United Healthcare)
Horacio was born and raised in El Paso, TX. With over 20 years of experience in retention, he had the opportunity to work in the adult learning industry with a passion in customer care. This led him to start a career with United Healthcare since 2016 and working with the aged and disabled programs in the El Paso Market. In March of 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, he transitioned his same role to the Austin TX area with the Medicare & Retirement Community and State program. In this role, his primary objective is growth, retention and educating the community about Medicare. It’s about helping the community, people turning 65 and disabled individuals to understand Medicare, their rights, and the best health options for treatment of care.
He has had the opportunity to work with different community organizations, faith based, providers, city, and county programs. He has served in different boards as a chair for senior and elderly programs.
Because of his skills, Horacio produces productive and long-lasting results and relationships with different organizations to outreach the community. Being part of these organizations and with the support of United Healthcare, he serves the under served. Interestingly enough, Austin is no different from El Paso, the need is big with helping seniors understand their rights and to make the right decision for treatment and medical care. Horacio helps members at the local level to make sure that the doctors are giving them the right care. If they have questions about services or benefits, he has the answers.
Now he is he is making an impact in the Austin community.
Alice Latino
Past President (Heavenly Care Home Health)
Even as a very small child, Alice has always had an incredible love for the elderly. Her relationship with her grandparents is something she has always treasured, and it truly shaped her life into one of gratitude and a desire to help. She brought this passion with her throughout her life, and launched into her career to make a difference in the lives of seniors.
With an MBA from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Montevallo, her love and dedication to the lives of seniors brought her to work with Emeritus Senior Living. Serving in various capacities for over 17 years, including Vice President of Operations, she positively impacted both the quality of care delivered and the profit metrics within her division’s 60 properties and over 5,000 units.
In 2004, she co-launched Heavenly Care Home Health and Heavenly Care Moving in 2005. These Austin based companies lead with the mission of creating home care and moving SOLUTIONS by offering private duty medical and non-medical home care and both local and nationwide moving. With 20 years of experience in Health Care Management, she now oversees Heavenly Care Home Health full time as their co-founder.
Alice also serves on the Texas Silver Haired Legislators Advisory Council, and is the Co-President of the Coming of Age Board and Advisory Council. She also teaches Sunday school at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, and is engaged in the “Community First” program offered by Mobile Loaves and Fishes, helping with fundraising efforts to support Austin homeless. She considers it an honor and a privilege to be in a position to help seniors in Texas maintain independence as well as contribute to the community in various capacities of their choice.
When not working, she enjoys spending time with her 3 children, husband of 21 years, and their great dane Cinnamon, enjoying all that Austin has to offer.
Anna Madrigal
(Family Eldercare)
Jim Spencer
Advisory Council Emeritus (KXAN)
Jim joined KXAN in 1990, becoming the first weathercaster on Austin’s first hour-long morning newscast, News 36 Firstcast. In 1993, he became chief weathercaster, taking over the evening broadcasts, and is now in his 25th year of forecasting weather on KXAN.
Jim grew up in Lindsay, Oklahoma, in the heart of tornado alley, to which he credits his life-long fascination with weather.
Jim has received national recognition for his work. He is a past recipient of the National Weather Association’s Weathercaster of the Year award. Jim is also a five-time winner of the Texas Associated Press Best Weathercast award, and has been voted Austin’s Best Weathercaster by readers of Austin Chronicle for 16 years. He has been named TV Personality of the Year by Austin’s American Women in Radio and Television Chapter four times.
Jim has a long history of involvement in community and charitable organizations. He is on the board of directors of Service Dogs, Inc. Jim co-hosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association for 19 years. He has been a mentor in Austin’s Communities in Schools program and was named Langford Elementary School’s Mentor of the Year. He serves on the Community Advisory Board for the Helping Hand Home for Children, where he has also served as a “buddy” to abused and neglected children served by the Home. Jim has served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for abused and neglected children of Travis County. He represents KXAN in the station’s longtime partnership with Family Eldercare’s summer fan drive. He is a member of the Advisory Council for the Travis County Coming of Age program (formerly the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program), and worked with the ARC of the Capital Area, an organization dedicated to helping area residents with developmental disabilities. Each year he teaches hundreds of area school children about severe weather safety.
Jim does have interests other than weather. He’s crazy about his nieces and nephews, Falicia, Krysta, Zach, Zak, Kandis, Joaquin, a.k.a. Broc, Jaxson, Braelyn, and Zoe.
Football officiating is another of Jim’s passions. As a line judge and head linesman he has officiated high school football for 31 years. He is a member of the Texas Association of Sports Officials. He has officiated NAIA and NCAA Division 2 and 3 college football games. His favorite officiating experiences include his state semi-final and state championship assignments, and playoff games in the Astrodome, Alamodome and Texas Stadium. He has been a member of the chain crew for Big 12 Conference officials during UT home football games, and has officiated scrimmages for the University of Texas Longhorns and the Dallas Cowboys.
His professional affiliations include the National Weather Association and the American Meteorological Society.
Kara Whiddon
Board Member (Texas Health & Human Services)
Kara Whiddon serves as the Director of the Complaint and Incident Intake section in the Regulatory Services Division at Texas Health and Human Services.
She joined the section in 2008 with legacy agency Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) and previously served as the section’s Quality Assurance Administrator and Toll-Free Intake Processing Manager.
Ms. Whiddon holds a bachelor’s degree in human biology with a concentration in genetics and biotechnology from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a graduate of the DADS Building the Bench program and the HHS Executive Leadership Academy and is qualified as a nursing home surveyor.
