Kara Hamann

Kara Hamann earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business/Accounting from the University of Pittsburgh. She began her accounting career in public accounting in the Washington D.C. area as a staff auditor working on federal and state government engagements. Kara obtained a CPA designation from the state of Virginia in 1999. Kara has lived and worked in Austin for 12 years. During the last eight years she has been employed in the nonprofit sector as a Controller. Kara completed the requirements of the CMA certification in September 2011. She serves on the Board of Directors of Mainspring Schools, an Austin nonprofit preschool.

Virginia Hauser

Virginia Hauser offers financial consulting services to improve the operations of small businesses and non-profit organizations. She teaches both credit and continuing education courses at Austin Community College, focusing on Quickbooks and support for small businesses. She was the Executive Director of Chase House, a large Social Services agency in Chicago. Chase House provided care for about 1,000 children each year, offering Head Start and other child care programs. Chase House also offered a food distribution program (distributing about 20,000 pounds of food each month), education and job-training programs for adults, and a family care program for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. Virginia led a staff of 165 and managed a budget of $7 Million. Her experience in training, staff development, and finance were keys to her success in this operation. She moved to Austin in 2004. She has a Master of Science Degree in Accounting from DePaul University in Chicago and was a CPA in Illinois.

Robin Magruder

Robin received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas A & I University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Park University. After working seven years in the insurance and telecommunications industries, she pursued a teaching certification from Southwest Texas State University. Robin has served as an educator for the past twelve years. She taught high school Business and Marketing Education classes for six years and has been an instructor with Austin Community College the past five years. She has provided training for the Continuing Education and Corporate Training Solutions departments in the areas of Accounting, Business Writing, Customer Service, Listening and Speaking Skills, and Microsoft Office software. In addition, she has obtained professional certifications through DDI & AchieveGlobal to facilitate corporate training classes.

Judy Salomons

Judy has been in the accounting profession for 30 years, receiving her CMA (Certified Management Accountant) designation in 1990. Judy has held various positions during her career, including public practice work at Deloitte & Touche, and most recently serving as the Financial Controller for the Mentholatum Company of Canada and MattressPro. She has been a QuickBooks Professional Advisor since 2002. Judy currently serves as a consultant for Mattress Firm, responsible for writing and testing their Accounting Manual for their Franchisees, as well as managing the accounting functions for some of the Franchisees.

Bill Simmons

Bill Simmons is a practicing C.P.A. in the Round Rock community. During his 26 year career as an Army officer, he served as a federal comptroller for over 11 years, was selected to serve with the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon for several years, and, following a tour on faculty with the Sergeant’s Major Academy, he was selected and served as a professor of Management and Leadership studies at the Army Management Staff College in Washington, D.C. When Bill retired from the Army, he joined the state government as a contract specialist with Child Protective Services arranging for physiological services to abused and neglected children and senior citizens. His public service with the state continued until he retired after fifteen years of service. He is currently on contract with the state as a consultant for process management and organizational development for the Social Security Disability Benefits program. Bill’s alma mater is Tampa University in Florida where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management (Economics-Accounting). He graduated magna cum laude and was inducted to the Alpha Chi Honor Society. He earned his master’s degree in Public Administration (Comptrollership) from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. His passion is transferring skills and knowledge to adults to better prepare them to compete for jobs as well as providing free tax preparation services through the Foundation Communities tax centers to those who cannot afford tax advice or preparation services insuring they receive all possible tax credits and deductions.

Vicky Valdez

Vicky Valdez joined the City of Austin’s Small Business Program in March of 2001 after working in the Planning Department. Prior to that, she was the deputy director for a local non-profit where she acted as land developer for the agency and lead project manager for all construction projects. She has over 15 years of commercial and residential construction experience. She has an undergraduate degree in Engineering from Texas A&M University – Kingsville and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. She is the On-Line Plan Room Manager.