Kevin Orton

I have been a UMAST member since starting with the City of San Antonio in 2017. I am running as President-Elect to help build on UMAST's successes by focusing on professional development, networking, and cultivating future leaders that will best serve residents of the South Texas region.

My career began in local government in 2010 as an intern in the City Human Resource Department of my hometown in Florida. Since that time, I completed internships in City Planning, the U.S. Senate, and the City Manager’s Office for a Utah city. Additionally, I spent about 3 years in the private sector working in the tech industry on a defense contract. Beginning in 2017, I have held positions with the City of San Antonio as a Budget Analyst within the Office of Management and Budget, and in the City Manager’s Office supporting the Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer. My current role is Assistant to the Director in the Office of Management and Budget.

My qualifications for this role include knowledge of the local government profession and my ability to work as a team to accomplish projects large and small. My background shows that I have found success working as a team with professionals as high up as top City executives to entry level employees.

If chosen as the President-Elect, I will take these same skills to work with the executive board and identify ways we can help our membership develop professionally so each member of UMAST can grow in their individual careers.

Lauron Fischer

My name is Lauron Fischer and I would be honored to have your vote to be UMAST’s next President-Elect. I have eight years of experience working in local government and five of those have been with the City of San Antonio. Currently I am the Data Science Manager in the Workforce Development Office. I have been active in UMAST since 2016, and my leadership experience in this organization began in 2018 when I served as the Conference Chair. I have served as a Board member since 2020, and with my current term as Treasurer coming to a close, I have decided to run for President-Elect because I am passionate about UMAST and professional development, and I am eager and committed to keep our momentum going into 2023 and beyond.

UMAST’s membership growth and programming was totally halted by the pandemic when I was first on the Board. This year, I have been determined and working diligently to help UMAST reengage our past members and attract new ones. With the Fiesta Parades returning this year, I created our website to sell tickets for the events, raising over $7,000 for UMAST. This fall, the Board and I committed to having at least one event per month and I am proud that we delivered on that goal we set for ourselves. I played an active role in each of these events, coming up with brand-new ideas like Hops & Headshots and our September Podcast Circle series, and bringing back our traditional events like Speed Mentoring, the Annual Conference, and our upcoming President’s Reception. Additionally, I have put in a lot of work in the background to help UMAST grow and better serve our members. Before this summer, we had separate systems for our website, email, payments, and events, and they did not connect with one another, making it difficult for the Board to organize, and for members to engage with our organization and maintain their membership. In July, I transitioned UMAST to a more user-friendly membership platform and rebuilt our website, and I have taken the lead in optimizing this system for our organization and maintaining weekly email communications with all our members and subscribers. Having this new website and platform created cost savings and efficiencies, and helped us to grow to more than 170 current members. I am actively learning about User Experience (UX) design principles and applying what I learn to both my work and to UMAST to continue improving the experiences of our members, contacts, and website visitors.

I would be so appreciative to be your first-choice vote for President-Elect of UMAST. Although we have made huge strides this year, I believe there is still more work to be done to make our organization more successful and I am eager to be a part of it. My head is already full of ideas for UMAST over the next two years. If I have the privilege of serving as your President-Elect in 2023 and President in 2024, my goals include:

• Develop our leadership pipeline by reinstating volunteer leadership opportunities such as Fiesta Chair, Membership Chair, Events Chair, and Digital Media & Communications Chair;
• Hold at least one event per month (ideally having a professional, social, and volunteer event each quarter), and diversify the days, times, and locations of our events to be more accessible for our members;
• Improve institutional memory by creating standard operating procedures to better document our processes, logistics for major events, and our typical officer responsibilities;
• Propose updates to our by-laws, which have not been updated in over 10 years; and
• Increase engagement by creating partnerships with other professional organizations and university student groups in our region.

It would be an honor to have your vote to continue serving on the UMAST Board as your next President-Elect to transform these plans into reality. I am excited for what we can accomplish in 2023 and beyond!

Lori Zamora

Hello fellow UMAST members, 

My name is Lori Zamora and let me first start by thanking you for considering me as the next UMAST President-Elect. I currently  serve the San Antonio community in my role as Workforce Development Manager within the City of San Antonio’s Workforce Development Office. My daily duties include providing management and oversight on programmatic and contractual matters for more than 30 city contracts. A large focus of my work involves the Ready to Work education and workforce program, a $200 million dollar sales tax initiative. My role includes holding community-based organizations accountable for performance results and contract compliance. This accountability leads to San Antonio residents receiving ample support during training, ensuring successful credential and degree attainment and higher paying, quality jobs.

Additionally, I have experience serving in leadership capacities on several projects.  I specifically led the City of San Antonio’s bid to achieve certification under the What Works Cities Initiative, which recognizes local governments leading the nation in the use of data and evidence. My efforts brought together more than 20 City departments to prove our city excels in using data to drive decision-making. In 2021, the City of San Antonio became Silver Certified under my leadership.

My first involvement with UMAST began in 2019 when I attended various organizational events and the annual leadership conference with Keynote Speaker Lorenzo Gomez. The material presented during that year assured me this organization is committed to professional development and opportunities for growth. I believe as public servants we have a responsibility to continue our education to build a strong local government dedicated to enhancing its community’s well-being.

I continually seek out opportunities to develop as a leader and expand my abilities to better serve my organization. Recently, I attended the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) conference to listen and learn from other local governments discussing topics including urban development, diversity, and innovation. I also participated in professional development programs such as ICMA’s Professional Development Academy and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Latina Leadership Institute. If elected, I am committed to using my experience and knowledge to improve the UMAST organization by focusing on relevant and timely topics that affect the public sector and presenting growth opportunities for UMAST members.

Lastly, with regards to my education I hold a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Texas Tech University and a master’s degree in Business Administration with a focus in Information Technology from Loyola University Maryland.

I appreciate your consideration and hope to serve as your next UMAST President-Elect.

Secretary

Serves as Secretary in 2023 and Treasurer in 2024.

Adrian Ramirez

My name is Adrian Ramirez, and I’m a Senior Real Estate Specialist with the City of San Antonio, Public Works Real Estate Department. I bring to the board over 10 years of management experience, over 6 years of municipal government experience, and over 5 years as a member of UMAST. I am seeking UMAST member support in my endeavor to become Secretary for UMAST. Throughout my years in the private and public sector I have had the opportunity to strengthen my organizational and leadership skills. Aside for working for the city fulltime, I also serve as the Executive Director of Operations of a nonprofit organization dedicated towards breaking the cycle of youth homelessness. I enjoy the work that I do knowing that I am making a difference in the lives of individuals within the San Antonio community. I appreciate your consideration as UMAST’s next Secretary.

Olympia Cuellar

My name is Olympia Cuellar and I am so honored to be your candidate for UMAST Secretary. I am a San Antonio native and passionate about serving the community that raised me. A first-generation college graduate, I earned my B.A. in Political Science in 2016 and I am currently in the MBA program at UIW. I am a proud alumna of the Latina Leadership Institute, a program of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. I am also a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Disruptive Lean Six Sigma (DLSS) Yellow Belt. Whenever I am not working, I enjoy sitting down with a good book, testing my self-proclaimed chef skills, and gardening with my fiancé and our two rescue dogs.

Since joining the City in 2018, I have spent the last several years working in the areas of Risk Management, Economic and Workforce Development, and Human Services. In these roles, I managed and led initiatives including pillars of the City’s COVID-19 Recovery and Resiliency Plan, Small Business Economic Development Advocacy (SBEDA) program, Ready to Work, Buy Local SA, and the Migrant Resource Center (MRC). Our MRC team was recently presented with the 2022 City Manager’s Excellence Award for our work on the City’s migrant crisis response.

I have been a member of UMAST for nearly 5 years and it has provided professional development and networking opportunities to meet other individuals who are doing this challenging, yet very rewarding, work. As a public servant, it is one of my top priorities to ensure we practice responsible urban management and provide meaningful services to residents. I am people-centered and always thinking of creative ways for outreach and engagement. I also have prior board experience serving as Chief of Staff for UIW’s Student Government Association and Vice Chair of Programs for the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas – San Antonio. Since the pandemic, I have seen the revamp of UMAST and would love to build on that momentum. I envision a promising future for UMAST and, if elected, I hope to build on its success with robust digital marketing, communications, programming, and networking.