Influential Austinites

Austin Under 40 reveals impressive list of nominees for 2016 awards

To honor the city’s most influential young professionals, Austin Under 40 has announced the nominees for its 18th annual Austin Under 40 Awards. Chosen for their contributions in their careers as well as their community involvement, the 75 movers and shakers represent a wide range of Austin industries, from technology and sciences to arts, media, and entertainment.

Notable names on the list include C.K. Chin of Swift’s Attic and Wu Chow; Camille Styles of CamilleStyles.com; Atlas Wearables’ Michael Kasparian; Noonday Collection’s Jessica Honegger; and Josh Hare, owner of Hops & Grain.

On Saturday, April 16, nominees and guests will celebrate at JW Marriott for the Austin Under 40 Awards Gala where one winner in each of the 15 categories will be named. The "Austinite of the Year" will also be crowned.

Since 1998, Young Women’s Alliance (YWA) and Young Men’s Business League (YMBL) have partnered to put on the event. All proceeds benefit YMBL’s Austin Sunshine Camps, which send thousands of low income, high potential children to summer camp with a focus on STEM, life skills, and outdoor education, as well as the YWA Foundation, which provides academic scholarships to young women in Central Texas.

Here is the full list of Austin Under 40 nominees for 2016:

Arts, Media, and Entertainment: Ghislaine "Qi Dada" Jean, Riders Against the Storm; Steve Parker, Collide; Emily Ramshaw, The Texas Tribune; Camille Styles, Camille Styles.com; Shannon Wolfson, KXAN-TV.

Culinary Arts and Hospitality: Tommy Belton, Hotels for Hope; C.K. Chin, Wu Chow; Scott Willis, Tequila 512; Aaron Berman, Infinite Monkey Theorem; Josh Hare, Hops & Grain.

Community Service and Nonprofit: Hanna Huang, City of Austin — Asian American Resource Center; Julie Fisher, Samsung Austin Semiconductor; Dr. Teresa Granillo, Con Mi Madre; James E. Russell, Austin Trail of Lights Foundation; Meme Styles, Measure Austin.

Engineering, Architecture, and Design: Stephen Delgado, Texas Engineering Solutions; Allison Jaffe, Allison Jaffe Interior Design; Fayez Kazi, Civilitude; Chelsea Kloss, ‪Chelsea+Remy Design; Trinity White, Trinity White Design.

Entrepreneurship and Startup: Bart Bohn, ATI Water, ATI IT & Wireless; Stephanie Hansen, Bravelets; Jessica Honegger, Noonday Collection; Chelle Neff, Urban Betty Salon; Dustin Wells, Headspring, Workify.

Financial and Insurance Services: Blake Absher, BB&T Rich Coffey, Tocquigny Designs Inc.; Van Goodrich, Accruent; Brian May, Pioneer Bank; Sara Seely, Equistar Wealth Management.

Government and Public Affairs: Andrew Cates, Texas Nurses Association; Holly Deshields, McGuireWoods Consulting; Vincent Harding, Texas Department of Transportation; Matt Mackowiak, Potomac Strategy Group; Rudolph Metayer, Health and Human Services Commission.

Legal: Simi Denson, Simi Denson Attorney at Law, PrimaVita Surrogacy; Chris Gober, The Gober Group; Austin Kaplan, Kaplan Law Firm; Milam Newby, Vinson & Elkins; R.C. Rondero de Mosier, MWR Legal, MassVenture, Greenhouse Fund.

Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations: Mary Alice Kaspar, Columbus Communications; Kristin Marcum, Elizabeth Christian Public Relations; Jenna Oltersdorf, Snackbox; Maria Orozova, The Mod Studio; Joy Schoffler, ‪Leverage PR.

Medicine, Healthcare, and Life Sciences: Lauren Chauret, PTV Healthcare Capital; Dr. Trina Dorrah, Baylor Scott & White Health; Sujit Iyer, Dell Children's Medical Center; Eric Weaver, Innovista Health Solutions; Richard Yuen, Lonestar Psychological Services.

Mentor of the Year: Beverly Chasse, Chasse Consulting; Stephanie Herrera, NFP; Mitchell Jacobson, UT Austin; Amy Lloyd, Austin ISD; André S. Morgan, Raise Your Hand Texas.

Real Estate: Laura Brady, Concierge Auctions; Lara Burns, Urbanspace; Michele Gary, ‪Endeavor Real Estate Group; Patrick Ley, Equitable Commercial Realty; Mark Strüb, Strüb Residential.

Sports, Wellness, and Fitness: Ashley Spence Clauer, Wanderlust Yoga Austin; Mary Joan Cunningham, Thrive with MS; Autumn Elias, Vita Wellness Massage; Tim Jackson, Round Rock Express; Rashanna Moss, Pure Barre.

Technology and Sciences: Mike Flannagan, Cisco; Amir Husain, SparkCognition; Michael Kasparian, Atlas Wearables; Suzanne King, Fathom; Jeffrey Palermo, Clear Measure.

Youth and Education: Ashley Alaniz-Moyer, ‪Hispanic Scholarship Consortium; John Armbrust, ‪Austin Achieve Public Schools; Dr. Eva Garza-Nyer, Texas College Advisor; Christie Johnson, Communities in Schools of Central Texas; Michelle Wallis, Austin ISD.

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Tickets for the Austin Under 40 Awards are on sale now.

Hops and Grain's Josh Hare is among this year's Austin Under 40 nominees. He represents the Culinary Arts and Hospitality category.

Photo by Bill Sallans

Hops and Grain's Josh Hare is among this year's Austin Under 40 nominees. He represents the Culinary Arts and Hospitality category.

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Shelter to Service

Dripping Springs nonprofit trains service dogs rescued from shelters

Photo courtesy of KVUE

The group estimates that it's gotten more than 1,000 dogs out of the shelter system.

For the past 35 years, a service dog training nonprofit in Dripping Springs has transformed unwanted dogs into essential partners for Texans living with significant challenges.

Sheri Soltes, founder and CEO of Service Dogs, Inc., says the dogs they train help serve people with hearing or mobility disabilities. The canines also comfort those enduring traumatic events.

In a time where most animal shelters in Central Texas are over capacity, Service Dogs, Inc. is handing out second chances to pups with potential to make a difference in people’s lives.

“They're sort of like the cousins to guide dogs,” Soltes said. “Except we're unique because we get our dogs from animal shelters instead of having a breeding program. So we help the dog and we help the person.”

She says the nonprofit can’t adopt every dog because the pups must meet specific qualifications, narrowing down from their age to their temperament.

Soltes says dogs must be at least a year and a half old in order to be X-rayed to assess their health, must be extremely people-oriented and should be comfortable being in public settings.

She says Service Dogs, Inc. may bring back one out of 500 dogs in a shelter.

“We've probably trained well over a 1,000, probably closer to 1,200 dogs by this time over 36 years. Any dog that we adopt from a shelter, if it doesn't complete the training, we don't take it back to the shelter, will find it a good pet home. So, they're going to win either way with us,” Soltes said.

Depending on the pooches’ temperament and personality, they’ll be trained in any and all of four programs available.

Soltes says the nonprofit trains the canines to be hearing dogs that can alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They could be trained for people with mobility disabilities, learning to open and close doors or steady someone’s balance.

She says they also train dogs to work in areas devastated by catastrophic storms, in courthouses in the victim's assistance departments or with first responders struggling with their mental health.

“They're not always the right tool for every kind of job, but they're very, very helpful,” she said.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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