Our Team

Board of Directors

Robin Herskowitz, Founder
Robin brings business know-how and 25 years experience in public health and public health finance to her role with HealthStart. Previously Robin worked as a legislative aide, policy analyst, and director of governmental affairs for a company serving persons with disabilities, and as the Executive Director of a Texas nonprofit.

Robin's experience working as a legislative aide and a policy analyst taught her that big changes begin in communities, not in the states' legislatures. Robin attended the University of Texas School of Public Health. There she examined pressing public health issues including access to mental health services and state and federal statutes relating to mental health.

In addition to her role with HealthStart, Robin owns and directs the operations of RH2 Consulting, Inc. which specializes in healthcare and public education studies and evaluation and performance reviews.

Dr. Cendrine Chappuis, Board Member
Cendrine is an experienced and brilliant international tax expert. She blends her international expertise and corporate experience to provide clear and honest advice for long term success.

Cendrine has earned a MBA and Doctorate in accounting. For the past 2 decades, Cendrine has used her expertise to benefit several multinational companies, such as Tetra Pak International, PWC and HomeAway, in solving their international tax problems by setting up creative and efficient solutions. Through her career, she has been through so many acquisitions, due diligence, successful tax audits, facilitating tax compliance, working closely with several tax authorities in many different countries and international organizations to help them have a better understanding of the business needs.

Cendrine is happily married to the King, Mom of 3 wonderful boys and 2 lovely Boston Terriers. She was born and raised in Switzerland, lived in some European countries before moving to Austin TX in 2016. She speaks fluently French and English. She loves Ink, Travel and Wine ; her favorite places so far are Cuba and Bali. The music has a very important place in her heart and she has a huge admiration for David Bowie and Ian Curtis. In her spare time, she likes testing her creative skills at make-up and cake design. There is no single day that can start without a coffee!

Cendrine ends up having some aversion to seeing tax-consultants providing services for smaller companies and startups at an outrageous price, by delivering inadequate and inefficient services and keep talking an incomprehensible tax jargon. She knows the frustration and uncertainty that taxes produce for business owners and independent workers. So she decided to create DiTa Inc. to help these businesses by providing a high-level of expertise in a safe environment, She works one on one with professionals to provide clear and honest tax help. She knows how to legally minimize your tax burden while also creating healthy, clear avenues of success for years to come. Her mission is to help you build your dream company.

Cendrine is sitting on the board of MURDER PALACE Inc., BABC Texas (British American Business Council), TRSC Inc. and the HealthStart Foundation. She is an active Expert, Judge and Mentor at Mass Challenge.

Tatiana Jitkoff, Director, L’Aiglon Foundation, Founder TAJ Property Investments, Board Member
Tatiana has deep roots in Texas. She and her family have a long history of charitable giving to Texas communities. In addition to her board service with HealthStart Foundation, she is a Social Venture Partner with Mission Capital. Beyond her experience guiding charitable organizations, Tatiana brings expertise in business and product development which she is pleased to use to help HealthStart grow and expand its impact.

When she is not working with L’Aiglon or her real estate company, you can find Tatiana doing improv theater around town.

Jason McBride, Member, Nominations Committee
Jason is currently Superior HealthPlan’s Senior Vice President for Medicare. He’s worked in the healthcare field serving underserved populations for the past 15 years. Jason’s experience has taught him how important nutrition, fitness and a child’s environment are to a child’s wellbeing. He knows that HealthStart is helping Central Texas kids build a foundation for good health. This is Jason’s second time to serve on HealthStart’s Board. He returned to HealthStart’s Board after spending in Britain, as the Vice President for Population Health with Superior’s parent company Centene Corporation.

When he’s not at work or volunteering with HealthStart, Jason can be found with his furry companions, Walter and Bert, and his two-legged companion (aka wife) Kelly Sullivan.

Katherine (Kate) Norton, Chair, Development, Events, Marketing (DEM) Committee
Kate has spent more than 12 years working in positions with companies that work to improve the health of the community so HealthStart’s Board seemed like a perfect fit for her. She worked as the Director of Marketing and Communications for a fortune 66 company before recently taking a position as a Communications Strategy Consultant at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas.

As the Chair of HealthStart’s DEM Committee she works to ensure that HealthStart has the resources and the visibility needed for the organization to fulfill its mission.

William Rodriguez, Board Secretary
William is a healthcare business development executive who works with HMO/ACOs, clinics, and other healthcare organizations to address their most pressing business and clinical challenges.

William’s professional experience varies from his individual pursuits as an entrepreneur in the tech space, federal healthcare legislative work on Capitol Hill, business development work for a Fortune 100 healthcare company, and as an executive for a health tech organization focused on the application of disruptive technologies to improve the quality of care.

William holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Texas Tech/Texas State and a Master of Public Administration in Finance and Fiscal Policy from the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs at Cornell University. When he’s not working, William can be found hunting, fishing, and kayaking. He also loves live music, particularly jazz and the blues as well as painting in his free time.

Maria Serafine, Board Member
Maria’s background includes 18 years of hospital administration and senior-level leadership in community health center operations. She is currently the Director of Operations for CommUnityCare (CUC) in Austin, Texas. In Maria's current role with CUC she manages the daily operations the organization's 25 primary, specialty and dental community health centers. She is known for building strong relationships with staff and clients.

Maria is believes in doing what is right and making a difference in her community. Previously, she was a Consultant with Avanza Healthcare Strategies. Maria holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Texas and a Master's in Healthcare Administration from Texas Woman's University.

When Maria is not working you will find her filling her passion in wellness, nutrition and fitness. Maria runs a personal wellness blog inspiring and empowering women to live healthy lives. She is married, has 3 kids, and 2 dogs.

Staff

Javier Valdez, Executive Director
For the past 25 years, Javier has served as a corporate and nonprofit leader. As a director, he mentors his team to develop their potential to contribute fully to the organization’s growth. He has led several local and national nonprofits, including Breakthrough Central TX, Con Mi Madre, Economic Growth Business Incubator (EGBI), and is also an alum of Leadership Austin Essentials and a McBee Fellow. Javier will build on his demonstrated technology and sales experience to grow HealthStart’s impact.

As a leader, Javier has a talent for building strong relationships, facilitating communications between stakeholders, encouraging a collaborative team-centered culture, and managing organizational operations.

His professional resume includes executive and senior leadership roles at Oracle, Electronic Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Cisco Systems, Inc., to name a few.

When Javier is not working, he loves participating in various fitness activities, honing his foodie skills, traveling, and enjoying live music.

Sharon Burley, Health Communications Coordinator
Sharon started as a volunteer with HealthStart and now uses her many skills to spread HealthStart’s mission and purpose to the community. As a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner she brings a nutritional expertise and passion for health education.

Sharon’s interest for this work stems from her own struggles with health growing up. She had no knowledge of why nutrient-dense food was important for our bodies and minds, nor an understanding of the science behind it. In her training with the Nutritional Therapy Association she gained knowledge around how different body systems function and how best to take care of them primarily using food as medicine. She believes a basic understanding of these concepts is essential information for kids to develop the tools needed for a healthy lifestyle as adults.

Outside of her role with HealthStart, Sharon frequently performs around Austin singing with various groups.

Jeremy Follin, Curriculum Coordinator
Jeremy is a talented visual and graphic artist in charge of developing most of the visual graphics associated with HealthStart's HEY! Curriculum, What are YOU Feeding! Nutrition Awareness Program, Monstralia mobile app, and all of our fundraising/marketing campaigns. He enjoys working with HealthStart because it brings new challenges that help him grow in design as well as the ability to help a local nonprofit organization. In his free time he likes to listen to music, play board games, and go hiking.

Kim Longacre, Director of Education (Consulting)
Kim founded and taught at the Phoenix School preschool from 1985-1999. While there she honed her curriculum development skills and managed a staff of 20 employees.

In her current teaching, Kim blends Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia techniques in her classrooms. This ensures she meets the needs of children with a variety of learning styles. Over the years she has developed and designed curriculums for language arts, math, science, and social studies that meet Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) objectives. Perhaps most importantly Kim includes music and art in her lessons whenever possible and never forgets that learning should be fun. Kim used her vast knowledge of early childhood education and social/emotional learning in development of the current HEY! Curriculum content.

In addition to duties with HealthStart, Kim is a member of the band The Reivers. She has performed throughout the U.S. and Canada.