Our Board

The CASA Board meets monthly and is responsible for:

• Strategic and Business Planning
• Development
• Financial Oversight and Control
• Relationship Development
• Performance Measurement

Bob Craig – Chairman
Bob Craig is the chair of the CASA Board, taking that position in 2008. He has been on the Board since 2007, having been preceded as a director by his wife Suzanne who served in her capacity as CHAMPS chair. Suzanne is very active in CHAMPS and the CASA Gala Committee. Bob and Suzanne are residents of The Woodlands and have lived in south County since 1981. They have two grown children: Scott, a lawyer in Austin, and Shannon, a speech therapist in Chicago.

Retired from the active practice of law, Bob brings a wide scope of experience to CASA. He worked as a litigation manager for four large Houston companies, retiring from Waste Management as Associate General Counsel in 2008. He currently works for LECG, LLC, a consulting company that provides economic, accounting, finance and damage expertise for significant litigation. During his more than 35 years of practice he has held leadership positions in both the Texas Bar and the American Bar Association. Early in his career he was a professor at the US Air Froze Academy and served as a Judge Advocate General in the Air Force for 5 years.

Both Bob and Suzanne have always been active in their community. Bob was a councilman for Oak Ridge North for 6 years, later serving on the Oak Ridge M.U.D. and as President of the Oak Ridge North Economic Development Corporation. He has served on numerous task forces for C.I.S.D. as well as boards for other education and youth-oriented organizations. Suzanne and Bob are members of The Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church. Bob is a Presbyterian Elder and recently rotated off the church Session on which he served as Clerk.

Kathryn Staph – Vice Chair 
Kathryn Staph is a Vice President with Citibank, N.A. in the Woodlands,TX. She started her career in the Healthcare Finance industry working for Caritas Christi Healthcare, a non-profit Catholic hospital system throughout Massachusetts. In 1999 she made a career move to the consumer finance industry. She relocated to Houston in 2004 from Massachusetts, home of the Boston Red Sox!

Kathryn joined the CASA Board in February, 2005 . She has served as Board Member, Treasurer, and currently Vice-Chair. She also serves with Champs and is Gala committee member. Kathryn has also served on the Better Business Bureau Senior Advocacy Task Force. She is passionate about protecting our children and our seniors.

Patrick M. Cahill, Treasurer
Patrick Cahill is married, has two children and has lived in Montgomery County since 1994.   Patrick is retired from Champion Window, Inc., a Houston based manufacturing company where he served as its Chief Financial Officer for seven years.  He previously was the CFO and Controller of Equus Capital Management Corporation, a private equity firm in Houston that managed investments in small to medium-size companies.  After graduating from the University of Texas with a BBA in Accounting, he went to work as an auditor for Ernst & Young, a national public accounting firm.

He joined the board of CASA in 2009.  He previously spent ten years serving on the board of directors of Harris County MUD #200, including the last four years as its President.  He is looking forward to contributing to this worthwhile cause to help CASA safeguard the interests of abused and neglected children of Montgomery County.  

Jay Burke - Secretary
Jay Burke, married with two sons and eight grandchildren is both a Child Advocate and a Board Member. Jay brings over 40 years of business experience having worked for most of his career in sales, sales management and sales training at IBM and AT&T. Jay is a member of The Bentwater Civic Association and a past Board Member. He is active in the Montgomery County retiree community.

As a CASA Board member Jay is responsible for Advocate liaison with the Board, ensuring the issues affecting the Children we serve and the Advocates who speak for them are dealt with at the appropriate level. Jay has advocated for over 20 children since he joined CASA. He is passionate about helping children in his own community.

Terry Mayhill
Terry Mayhill has been involved with CASA for over 12 years. He and his wife Sherry are Advocates and have been active in fund raising for CASA for many years. They both are passionate about the needs of children and have focused their volunteer activities on CASA to assist in breaking the chain of child neglect and abuse that is so apparent in our society today.

Terry brings to the CASA Board over 35 years of experience in industry, having retired from ExxonMobil as the Vice President of Construction. When not working for CASA, Terry enjoys hiking and swimming. His other volunteer activities include fund raising for Gulf Coast United Way anda term as President of the American Association of Malaysia. His current focus is developing partnerships between CASA of Montgomery County and community businesses to ensure longer term financial support for the needs of the children of Montgomery County.

Philip R. Inman
Phil is a Partner in Enhanced Energy Partners, an independent oil & gas company located in the Houston area. He has thirty-one years of experience in the oil and gas industry, and is responsible for production operations as well as developing forward operating strategies, project management, budgeting, and planning. Prior to forming EEPC in 2006, he was Sr. Vice President of ERT, an mid-size independent offshore Gulf of Mexico producer, and prior to that, Planning Manager for Stocker Resources in Los Angeles, California. His first 18 years in the oil industry were with ARCO in which he held a variety of positions ranging from Business Development/Joint Ventures Consultant to numerous operational and technical positions throughout ARCO’s Gulf Coast oil and gas operations.

Philip holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University, an M.B.A. from Tulane University, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas and Louisiana. He has served on the Board of several privately held corporations and non-profit organizations.

William Friebel
Bill Friebel joined CASA Child Advocates as a Board of Directors member in 2008 and chairs the Development Committee. Prior to CASA Child Advocates, Bill served as a Board member with Child Advocates of Harris County (Houston) for 9 years and served on the Development, IT and Strategic Planning Committees as well as several event committees. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of The Woodlands Rotary Club, mentors a high school Rotary Interact Club, and is active with the Chamber of Commerce, and his church. Bill and his wife, Hayli, reside in The Woodlands,Texas with their daughters.

On the professional side, Bill Friebel is a founding member of the Friebel Group, a wealth management team with Merrill Lynch, and has been in the advisory and consulting business since 1994. The Friebel Group focuses on the needs of successful business owners, professionals, and retirees in achieving their client's long-term financial and life goals. Bill is a Certified Financial Planner™, a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor SM, a Certified Financial Manager, a Certified Special Needs Advisor and plans to achieve his Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® designation in 2009.

Kristy Childers
Kristy Childers has been active with Montgomery County CASA for over 10 years serving in various roles with CHAMPS and the CASA board. She is a mechanical engineer with Huntsman Corporation having moved to Montgomery County from Oklahoma to start her job in 1991. In addition to CASA, Kristy is active with the First United Methodist Church of Conroe, the Montgomery County Fair Association, and the Northwest Houston and Woodlands area Kappa Alpha Theta Alumnae Chapters.

Kristy came to be aware of CASA during her college years at the University of Tulsa Theta chapter as CASA is Theta’s national philanthropy. Upon moving to Conroe after college Kristy was pleased to become involved with the local CASA office and was part of the creation of the CHAMPions of CASA volunteer organization. As life has evolved to bring marriage and children, Kristy has made it a priority to remain involved with CASA and serve in various roles from CHAMPs chair, Gala Co-Chair, and Board Secretary.

Frances McDougal
Frances McDougal- Married with 3 children and 6 grandchildren; Retired shool teacher after 25 years of teaching. She has been involved in CASA for a total of 13 years, first as an advocate and now as a board member. She is also involved with many service agencies within Montgomery Co. including Connecting Families and Bridgewood Farms and is an active member of First United Methodist Church where she will begin teaching PreK students at the Day School in the Fall. She has true love for all children and brings that passion to her work with CASA.

Becky Ferguson
Bio coming soon.

Odessia H. Ross
Odessia joined the CASA board September 2009.  She is a retired educator with 38 years of service in Montgomery County.  Over the course of her career she has worked with children as a teacher and counselor, grades Pre kindergarten thru High School in Magnolia, Montgomery County, Willis, New Waverly, and Conroe school districts.  She also worked as a student advisor/counselor at Lone Star College Montgomery for a number of years.  She served as a Child Advocate ealier.
Odessia has a Master Degree graduating from Prairie View A & M University.

Odessia is a mother of a son and daughter who have provided her with 6 wonderful grand children.  Currently she is a member of the Magnolia Historical Society and is Secretary of the Delta Kappa Chapter-Conroe of the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society.