Staff

TACHC
5900 Southwest Parkway
Building 3
Austin, TX 78735
512-329-5959 (ph)
512-329-9189 (fax)

José E. Camacho, Executive Director/General Counsel
José assisted in the development of TACHC as an organization in the early 1980's, and served as General Counsel since the incorporation of the Association in 1983. He has served as Executive Director since 1984. José earned his law degree from the University of Texas in 1973. Prior to working for TACHC, he obtained extensive legal and policy experience while working on migrant farm worker issues, and running a private law practice.

Jana Blasi, Deputy Director
Jana Blasi is the Deputy Director of the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC) and has been with the organization since 1993. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in international relations from the University of North Texas and also holds a masters degree in Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. Jana has over 18 years of experience in fund raising and has brought over $20 million in federal and private foundation funding to Texas for various health and human services and education projects. In addition to her fundraising experience, Jana's work experience also includes program design and evaluation, program and staff management, the development of health center marketing and outreach campaigns, health policy analysis, and advocacy. In 2008, Jana received the Betsey K. Cooke Grassroots Advocacy Award from the National Association of Community Health Centers in recognition of her efforts at the national level to advocate on behalf of America’s health centers and health center patients.

Prior to joining TACHC in 1993, Jana was the director of federal grants for the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations. Jana currently directs TACHC’s federal advocacy efforts, manages the TACHC Senior Leadership Initiative, statewide outreach and enrollment efforts for children, low-income families, and senior citizens, and is working with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and in and out-of-state health care providers and migrant families to implement the Texas Migrant Care Network.

Lori Hooks, Director of Information Systems
Lori is a native of South Texas. She earned a bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Texas in 1991, and a master's degree in Health Professions from Southwest Texas State University in 1998. As an undergraduate, she served as a peer counselor for women's health, HIV prevention, and sexual health education. During her graduate studies, she concentrated on Healthcare Human Resources management and training, and the use of technology in health settings. Lori launched the first TACHC website in 1995 as a student project. Since joining TACHC in 1994, she has assisted with several major health center initiatives including provider credentialing for FTCA coverage, assisting centers with JCAHO accreditation, and administering several million dollars in technology grants for the Centers.

Lisa Allen, Director of Finance
Lisa has 18 years of accounting and finance experience. She worked for 3 years for the US Department of Defense and Department of Treasury. Before coming to TACHC, she worked with a public accounting firm performing audits including single audits and ERISA audits for not-for profit organizations and local governments.

Daniel Diaz, Community Development Coordinator
Daniel currently manages the Community Development and Capital Development Programs for the Texas Association of Community Health Centers and has worked for the Association since 1993. In the area of community development, work activities include technical assistance services to develop new community health center access points and community-based integrated health systems that will improve access to health care services especially for low-income, indigent, and uninsured individuals and families. Daniel began working on the state level capital development program in 1996, and now works with Capital Link as part of its national program. Daniel provides technical assistance services to individual health centers including facility needs assessment, project feasibility assessment, financial analysis, space planning, business plan development, acting as a CHC liaison with state and federal agencies, preparing economic impact analyses, and other appropriate services. Daniel started his career with TACHC as the coordinator for the in-house provider recruitment program, and also implemented the organization's provider credentialing program. Daniel received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Management from the University of Texas in May of 1992. Before coming to TACHC Daniel worked for the State Office of the Attorney General-Workers Compensation Division as a Claims Adjuster.

Lynn Ford, Purchasing Program Coordinator
Lynn is originally from Birmingham, Michigan. She graduated from Indiana University at Bloomington with a Bachelor of Science in Recreational Therapy in 1994. While at IU, Lynn was very involved with Habitat For Humanity as the co-President of the IU Chapter and the President of the Undergraduate Recreation Society. From there she became a Health Educator Peace Corps Volunteer in Chad, Central Africa for two years. While in Chad, Lynn worked with UNICEF in endemic villages for the prevention, education and elimination Guinea Worm, promoted the use of a HIV/AIDS prevention manual to secondary-school teachers and successfully wrote a grant application to obtain funds for 21 public latrines. Lynn has been with TACHC since August 1997.

Sandy Benavides-Vaello, Director of Clinical Affairs
Since 1986, Dr. Benavides-Vaello has been involved in a wide range of nursing practice; her experience spans Intensive Care, Public Health and Public Policy. In 1994, after obtaining a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, she began her work with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC) focusing her efforts on a statewide level by providing technical assistance to clinicians at Federally Qualified Health Care Centers (FQHCs). Her charge at TACHC has been to lead clinical programs, support and provide technical assistance to FQHC staff on a variety of performance improvement issues including scope of practice, performance measures, Joint Commission standards, compliance, and staff competencies.

She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, with a research emphasis on the interrelationship of culture, food ways, and chronic disease among low-income Mexican American women. Dr. Benavides-Vaello has published in several peer-reviewed journals, co-authored chapters in books, lectured at national and state conferences, and served as guest faculty at the University of Texas in Austin, School of Nursing.

She remains at TACHC and continues to serve its members in the capacity as Director of Clinical Affairs.

Lee Davila, Information Systems Specialist
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Lee moved to Austin in 1999, after gaining his Microsoft certification through Southern Methodist University. Lee earned his masters degree in Sociology from the University of North Texas and his work experiences include FEMA disaster assistance program liaison and network administrator for the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. His duties include local/wide area network administration and overseeing TACHC's Internet, website and email services.

Katie Parker Coburn, Policy and Research Coordinator
Originally from Asheville, North Carolina, Katie earned her masters degree in public health from the UNC - Chapel Hill School of Public Health in the department of Health Behavior and Health Education. Katie's post graduate training focused on working with communities to create positive community change as well as public health research. For her masters project, Katie created a teen-led social action group in conjunction with local health agencies in rural North Carolina. Her work experience includes a fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and work at the UNC School of Medicine. Before coming to TACHC, Katie was the project coordinator for an adolescent pregnancy prevention program here in Austin.

Anita Mitchell, Provider Services Specialist
Anita graduated from the Texas State University, formerly Southwest Texas State University with a bachelor's degree in healthcare administration. Anita has worked in public health for eight years. Prior to joining TACHC, she was employed with the Texas Department of Health for four years in the WIC Program and the Bureau of Laboratories.

Anita's work experience also includes refurbishment of the pre-op program in the Child Life Department of Children's Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Her passion for people led her to work for nearly two years with the mentally challenged at the now defunct Pace Opportunities, as the Activity Coordinator.

April Sartor, Project Assistant
April is responsible for providing administrative support to the Director of Clinical Affairs and the West Central Cluster Director. Her responsibilities include assisting in the planning and facilitation of all learning sessions/conferences related to the Bureau of Primary Health Care Health Disparities Collaboratives, CID (a state-based collaborative), and other clinically oriented sessions. Other duties include general clerical support, the monitoring of communications via various clinical listservs, dissemination of information to teams participating in the Collaboratives, the tracking of data reported by those teams, and coordinating conference calls and/or videoconferencing for the Clinical Affairs Division.

TaSheena Mitchell, Meeting Planner
TaSheena stays busy planning TACHC meetings, conferences and special events. TaSheena also assists the R&R Coordinator with credentialing. Before coming to TACHC, TaSheena worked at Motorola for 6yrs as a Production Operator, where she was responsible for following procedures for product assembly/fabrication, equipment operation, and safety requirements as documented in the company's quality system. TaSheena's work history also includes customer service and sales experience. She is currently working toward her Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) certification.

Erica Swanholm, Community Development Specialist
Erica works in the Community Development Division of the Texas Association of Community Health Centers. As a community development specialist, she provides technical assistance to new-start community health centers and existing FQHCs that are expanding services or adding new clinic sites. She coordinates and conducts training sessions for new communities on the community health center model, federal requirements, and funding opportunities. She also connects health center leadership with management and finance professionals to assist with business planning and capital projects, reviews governing documents for FQHC boards, and conducts financial assessment of health center operations. Erica received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with Highest Distinction from the University of Kansas in 2000 and her Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School, University of Texas at Austin in May 2005. Her graduate work focused on community development and the study of poverty. Erica began her work with TACHC in April of 2004.

Todd Radloff, Nework Engineer
Todd hails from Houston, TX. His IT career began as a Financial/Systems Analyst at a non-profit organization. He then moved up into Networking, installing and supporting Cisco based LAN/WANs and also has an extensive amount of experience with VLANs, PIX firewalls, IP Telephony, T1 circuits, network troubleshooting, wireless networking and H.323 video solutions. Todd's not only actively involved in project installations, but also performs project management and network design for TACHC.

Amanda Johnson, Executive Assistant
Born and raised in State College, Pennsylvania, a.k.a. “Happy Valley”, Amanda moved to Austin in 2000 to attend the University of Texas where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Psychology. After graduation, Amanda worked for Texas State Senator Robert F. Deuell during the 79th Legislative Session and in July of 2005 began her work with TACHC. Amanda serves as the Executive Assistant to José Camacho, Executive Director and General Counsel and is committed to utilizing her strong organizational skills and energetic personality to provide valuable support and assistance to not only the Executive Director and the TACHC Board of Directors, but also to the more than 60 member health centers the Association serves.

Elmer J. Goertz, CPCU Insurance Program Coordinator
Elmer comes to TACHC from the big city of Red Rock, Texas. He began his insurance career with the Texas Insurance Checking Office in Austin. He then worked for 4 years with Pacific Indemnity Insurance Company in Houston while attending the University of St. Thomas. He returned to Austin to work in the Insurance Printing Division of Hart Graphics. He then worked 28 years with 3 different independent agencies in Austin. He obtained his CPCU designation in 1976.

Elmer joined TACHC in April of 2006. He is responsible for the day to day operations of Community Health Insurance Agency, Inc. which provides property and casualty coverage for members of the association. He also oversees the TACHC Employee Benefit Group, Inc. health insurance program that is available to all members of the association.

Cecile F.G.v.H. Carson, Esq., Associate General Counsel
Cecile is a graduate of Princeton University and UCLA School of Law, Program in Public Interest Law and Policy. Licensed to practice law in Texas and California, she has worked on corporate and public interest matters for entities including the former Manhattan law firm of Coudert Brothers, Legal Services of Northern California, the United States District Court of the Central District of California, and the Los Angeles Superior Court. Before joining TACHC in June 2006, she was the Legislative Aide for Health and Human Services to Texas Senator Judith Zaffirini.

Maria Tamez, Accounting Assistant
Maria came to TACHC in September of 2007. Formerly from United Cerebral Palsy of Texas where she worked for seven years, she has over 10 years of accounting experience with non profit organizations. Prior to that she worked as a social worker, planning and developing motivational and self esteem building programs for at risk children. She earned her Associates Degree in Social Work from Austin Community College and at the same time volunteered for Court Appointed Special Advocates better known as CASA for kids. While volunteering for CASA, she helped develop public service annoucements in English and Spanish in order to recruit more bi-lingual volunteers.

Here at TACHC she is happy assisting Lisa Allen with the day to day duties of accounting and enrolling new employees for insurance as well as other benefits provided by TACHC.

Verne LaGrega, Clinical Care Coordinator
While Verne is not a native of Texas, he got to Texas “just as soon as he could” in 1983. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from State University of New York at Albany in 1979 and received his Texas Licensed Master Social Worker in 1985 and has completed over 57 graduate credits in psychology, special education and business from University of Houston Victoria and Long Island University. His most recent career achievements include being Chief Operations Officer for 9 years at a community health center where he directed the day to day operations, assisted with section 330 and State grant writing and grants management, successfully led the center through three Joint Commission surveys, coordinated pharmacy, social services, laboratory, medical records operations, and assured compliance to OSHA compliance and environment of care issues. In addition, he was the community health centers Team Leader for both the diabetes and access redesign collaboratives. Prior work experience includes being the Program Director of a children’s diagnostic center, Adult Traumatic Brain Injury Case Manager, Psychiatric Case Manager at both inpatient and outpatient levels of care and Special Education Teacher.

Tammany Williams, Provider Services Specialist
Tammany joined TACHC in January 2008. Originally from Yorba Linda, California, Tammany moved to the east coast to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduating in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications with an Interpersonal and Organizational concentration, she moved to Austin, Texas and worked for American Cancer Society and Girl Scouts of Central Texas before joining the forces at TACHC. Tammany has a strong passion for working in the non-profit sector and is excited to contribute her knowledge and enthusiasm to the TACHC Recruitment and Retention team.

Whitney Monge, Clinical Care Coordinator
Whitney is originally from Southern Illinois, but moved to Austin to attend college at the University of Texas. After graduating in 2001, she taught middle school in Austin Independent School District for two years before returning to graduate school to pursue her nursing license and master’s degree in public health nursing. Before joining TACHC, she worked in the Community Preparedness Section at the Texas Department of State Health Services helping to develop planning and response guidelines for public health emergencies.

Albert Alvarez, Receptionist
Albert joined TACHC in April 2008. His primary duties are to route phone calls to the appropriate staff and assist the Finance and Recruitment and Retention Departments with data entry needs – as well as quality control for timekeeping. In his spare time, he assists with meetings and conferences and is studying for his insurance licenses.

Originally from Dallas, Albert grew up in Austin. Prior to joining TACHC, Albert was employed with a retail outlet for seven years and had risen to Department Manager. He oversaw day-to-day operations of the store including scheduling, interviewing/hiring, and creation of work plans for internal departments. This, accompanied with his three years spent maintaining rental properties and five years as a Probe Card Operator with a manufacturing company, gives Albert a unique perspective and enables him to work seamlessly with difficult situations.

Charlene Dailey, Information Systems Specialist
Charlene joined TACHC in March, 2009 to assist with the data management and IT tasks for TACHC and its members. Her responsibilities include the organization and reporting of health measurements and the support for email and web applications. She has nine years experience supporting IT departments in large corporations and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.

Prior to her IT career, Charlene worked as a mechanical engineer for 15 years. She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and is a native Texan.