Board of Directors
Shelton Green, Chair
Shelton is the Chief of Staff for a State Representative and the Founder & CEO of Good &Fair Clothing, Inc., a fair trade and organic clothing company that has brought slave free clothing alternatives to American markets since 2010. He regularly speaks about social enterprise, labor trafficking, and the economic dimensions of the global slave trade. In 2008, Shelton launched the human trafficking awareness campaign called "What's Your Response?" Through the campaign, teams distributed over 81,000 drink coasters containing the stories of freed slaves in bars and coffee shops across Texas to raise awareness and motivate action. Shelton is one of the founding members of Allies, and he served on the Allies Advisory Council for three years prior to becoming Chair of the Board.
Paula Wendling, CPA, Treasurer
Paula is a member of Flieller, Kruger, Skelton & Plyler, PLLC, a leading Austin CPA firm that provides sophisticated tax planning and compliance services as well as analysis and strategic planning for business matters. Paula graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, emphasis K-8 education, from The University of Northern Colorado in 1994, and she earned her Master in Professional Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin in 2002. Paula began her public accounting career with what is now Flieller, Kruger, Skelton & Plyler in 2003 and was admitted to the partnership in January 2011. While with the firm, Paula has gained extensive experience providing tax compliance and advisory services to high net worth individuals, businesses and investment entities. Her focus areas include oil and gas taxation, estate/gift/generation-skipping transfer tax planning, partnerships, and exempt organization compliance and consulting. Paula is deeply committed to serving the Austin community, and she volunteers with community organizations in several capacities.
Grace Dai, Secretary
Grace Dai has a strong technical background, graduating with a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech. However, a desire to round out her technical side took her to Columbia University, where she received her M.B.A. Her studies have led her abroad to France, where she began her career in telecommunications at Orange/France Telecom, working with teams in Europe, Africa and North America. Upon returning to the U.S., Grace moved on from telecommunications to software and internet applications, working for companies such as Amplify (a subsidiary of News Corporation, formerly Wireless Generation), The XO Group (formerly The Knot), and most recently, Thomson Reuters. She has a heart for survivors of trafficking and served on the board of Restore NYC from 2010 to 2013. Grace recently served as the Allies treasurer, and she previously served on the Allies Advisory Council for two years.
John Nehme, President & CEO
See John's bio under Our Team.
Board of Advisors
Noël Busch-Armendariz, PhD, LMSW, MPA
Dr. Busch-Armendariz has more than 19 years experience working to end violence against women and their children, and she has worked with the Central Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking since it's founding in 2003. She is the Associate Dean for Research & Professor at the University of Texas School of Social Work. She is also the Director & Principal Investigator of the Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault (IDVSA). Since joining UT more than 13 years ago, Dr. Busch-Armendariz has directed research for the National Institute of Justice, the Office for Victims of Crime, the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of the Attorney General of Texas, the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Her areas of specialization are interpersonal violence, refugees, asylees, and victims of human trafficking, and international social work.
Dr. Laurie Cook Heffron, PhD, LMSW
Laurie is one of the founding members of Allies Against Slavery and she has served on the Allies Advisory Council since 2010. She has also participated with the Central Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking since it's founding in 2003. Laurie is a research program coordinator and doctoral student with The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, where she has contributed to multiple research projects since 2001. She also serves as editorial assistant to Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work. Laurie has both direct social work practice and research experience with a variety of communities, including refugees, survivors of trafficking, asylees, and other immigrants in Central Texas. Laurie studied Linguistics at Georgetown University and earned a Master of Social Work (MSW) from The University of Texas at Austin. She is a licensed social worker, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, having worked in Niger, West Africa, and above all a mother of two energetic and creative children.