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~ MEET THE STAFF
Meet the Staff - Board of Directors
Kris Donley, M.Ed.
Executive Director
Kris Donley has served as the Executive Director of the Dispute Resolution Center in Austin, Texas since 1994. Kris has provided mediation, training and consultation services at the local, state, national and international levels. She received her BA and Masters degrees in the social sciences from Texas State University and completed post graduate work in psychology at the University of Texas in Austin. Kris has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate Conflict Management program at St. Edwards University and as Practicum Faculty of the Executive Masters Program in Conflict Resolution at the University of the Principality of
Liechtenstein
. She is a frequent university and college guest lecturer throughout Texas and has presented at national and international conferences on topics ranging from Community Mediation, Conflict Management in the Workplace and Trends in the Mediation Field. Kris has served on many field-related boards throughout her career and is a founding board member for The Companion Flag, a peace promoting international project based in Seattle, Washington. She is a fellow at the Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution at the University of Texas Law School and a Regional Training Institute trainer with the National Association of Community Mediation in Washington DC.
Kris has served as the Public Representative on the ADR Council of the Texas State Bar from 1996-1999 and 2006 to 2009.
Her mediation expertise is in family and public interest, multi-party facilitations.
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Deidra Davidson
Director of Training & Community Relations
Deidra is a facilitator, trainer, presenter, mediator, curriculum developer, web administrator, and interpreter for the deaf. Deidra received her degree from CFNI in Dallas, TX. She has worked in various kinds of alternative dispute resolution since 1995. Deidra has served in a variety of roles at the DRC including Case Manager, Director of Training, Case Management, Volunteer Services & Technology as well as her current role as the Director of Training and Community Relations. She has served as a member of DOVIA (Directors of Volunteers In Austin), Executive Women's Guild, Mediator Trainers Roundtable, and as a Trainer for the Texas Institute For Public Problem Solving, (TIPPS). She also coaches for the 40-Hour Mediation, LBJ School and Advanced Family Training Courses. She likes to focus her attention to facilitating, training groups and providing mediation services to the community, emphasizing the alternative with enthusiasm and vigor to help others appreciate the benefits of dispute resolution.
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David Huang
Director of Case Management & Volunteer Services
David was born in Taiwan and raised in Panama. He received his BA in business from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. He has been with the DRC since August, 1995. In addition to his duties as Mediation Coordinator, he serves as a mediator and a coach for training. David is bilingual and enjoys music, Latin dancing, and traveling.
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Lisa Weger
Finance Director
Lisa joined the staff in 1989 and has served the DRC in a variety of roles: including Case Manager, Program Director, Office Administrator, a coach in the Basic (40 Hour) Mediation Training, and a mediator. She has served as Finance Director since 2000. Lisa received her BS in education from Texas State University.
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Scott Rich
Director of Court-Referred Mediation Services
Scott began working at the DRC as a Case Management Intern in October, 2006. He received his undergraduate degree in Speech Communication from Southern Illinois University. He received a Masters in Conflict Resolution from St. Edward's University in May, 2007. Scott enjoys travel, motorcycles, camping, gardening, and spending time with family and friends.
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Rita Rancken
Office Administrator
Rita joined the DRC as Office Administrator in June, 2005. She is originally from Ohio, where she attended Kent State University and Cleveland State University as a psychology major. She moved to Austin in 1979 and has raised two daughters here. Rita's interests include comedy (especially improv), reading, alternative health, and metaphysics.
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Annita Hinson
Administrative Consultant
Annita is a semi-retired administrative assistant with 35 years experience. She worked five of those years with the Austin DRC and the balance as an executive assistant in the convenience store industry and various entrepreneurial ventures of Susser Holdings in Corpus Christi, Texas. Annita has two grown children and one grandson (whom she adores). Her interests include computers, music, movies, reading and traveling plus shopping adventures with her sister.
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Karen Smithson, SPHR
Mediator Liaison
Karen Smithson, SPHR, has spent most of her career working with professional services firms in the legal and accounting industries. Currently, she is the Director of Human Resources for Atchley & Associates, LLP, one of the largest locally owned and operated public accounting firms in Austin. She completed the 40-Hour Basic Mediation Training in 2008, believing that the skills acquired in communication and conflict resolution would be beneficial to her work in HR. When she learned of the opportunity to serve as a Volunteer Mediator at the DRC, she applied, and was accepted into the program. She also serves as an Ombudsman on the Texas Committee for ESGR and as a Moderator/Recorder in Deliberative Dialogue processes for other community based organizations. Through these organizations, she mediates regularly, assisting community members in a wide variety of situations. She and her husband, Dave, are native Texans, originally from Dallas, living briefly in Tulsa, and moving to Austin in 1997. They are the proud parents of two intelligent, articulate, funny, and capable children, Cate and Clark, and now Clark’s wife Kristen.
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