Our Team

Charles Clines joined Moak Casey as a board member in 2022.

Clines serves as the Chief Financial Officer in the Charles Butt Foundation, where he leads the Foundation’s efforts to improve the quality of public education for all Texas’ 5.5 million school children. In addition to his work at the Foundation, Charlie serves as the Chief Financial Officer in the Office of Charles Butt, where he coordinates financial and investment planning on behalf of Charles and acts as the financial liaison between Charles Butt and his philanthropic activities. He is a longtime advisor to Charles Butt and has been involved with the Foundation since its inception.

Previously, he was a partner in the Houston office of RSM, LLP. In this role, he directed the delivery of the firm’s financial and tax planning services to its high net worth clients. Charles began his career with the Houston office of KPMG, rising to partner before joining Margolis Phipps & Wright.

Charles also serves on The Holdsworth Center Board of Directors and as Chief Financial Officer for Raise Your Hand Texas. Charlie is also a member of the Boards of the San Antonio Zoological Society and Capital Creek Partners.

Professional Experience:

Buck joined Moak Casey, and as its Executive Director, maintains focus on its guiding principle of a public service firm providing school finance and accountability analyses, leadership, and support to our clients.  With almost 30 years of experience in Texas public schools, serving the last 15 as a superintendent first in a small, rural district, then in a mid-sized district and lastly in a multi-high school, fast growth district, he has extensive experience in successfully navigating his district through all areas of school finance and accountability including bond elections, TREs, budget planning, implementing Teacher Incentive programs and raising student performance on academic measures.

Service Areas:

• Strategic Thought, Design & Continuous Improvement

Education:

• Texas A & M University – Doctor of Education
• Tarleton State University – Master of Educational Administration
• University of North Texas – Bachelor of Arts

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA)

State Representative Dan Huberty, R-Humble, joined Moak Casey as a board member in July 2022. Huberty will finish his current term in office before transitioning to the Chief Operating Officer at Moak Casey in January 2023.

Previously, Huberty served on the Humble ISD School board for five years before winning the election that sent him to the Texas Capitol. In his last year as a Trustee, he served as the Board President and as the Vice President and Chairman of the Finance Committee the year prior to that.

During his six terms in the Texas House of Representatives, District 127, Huberty continuously served on the Committee on Public Education. He was elected Chairman of the committee during the 85th and 86th Legislative Sessions.  In his role as Chairman, Huberty championed several important pieces of legislation relating to public education. The most important being HB 3 in the 86th Session, which implemented transformational reforms to public school finance in Texas by modernizing outdated formulas, increasing the state share of funding, putting more money into classrooms, energizing teacher pay and investing in programs. Also known as “The Texas Plan”, the legislation stemmed from a report created by the Commission on Public School Finance, which Huberty was appointed to after creating the entity with HB 21 in the 85th Session.

Chris Huckabee joined Moak Casey as a board member in 2022.

Huckabee has dedicated his career to improving education and building strong communities. From a young age, he worked alongside his father at his architecture firm, Huckabee, before pursuing a degree in architecture from Texas Tech University. Today, Huckabee is one of the top educational design firms in the nation. 

Chris serves on multiple boards and speaks frequently on topics relevant to education and the industry. He was twice appointed by former Gov. Rick Perry to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and recently served a term as the Chairman of the Board of Regents at Texas Tech University. Chris’ life focus continues to be investing in the advancement of education and the future of our state.

Professional Experience:

Daniel Casey has served as a partner of Moak Casey since its inception in 1998. He serves as a senior consultant with the Fast Growth School Association and is recognized as one of the state’s leading experts on school district property taxes, economic development property value limitations, and freeport exemptions. He has assisted school districts in their consideration of more than 300 property value limitations for major economic development projects over the last 20 years. Dan has more than 40 years of public school and governmental finance experience. In addition to state agency service with the Texas State Comptroller’s Office and the Legislative Budget Board, Dan is also a former Associate Director for the Texas Association of School Boards. Over the past four decades, Dan has participated in a wide range of school finance and consulting activities.

Service Areas:

• Economic Development
• School Finance
• Legislative

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Master of Public Affairs
• The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – Postgraduate study in the College of Education
• The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – Bachelor of Arts with Distinction

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• American Economic Association (AEA)
• American Educational Research Association (AERA)
• American Political Science Association (APSA)
• American Society for Public Administration (ASPA)
• American Statistical Association (ASA)
• Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO)

Publications:

• Walker, Billy D., and Casey, Daniel T, The Basics of Texas Public School Finance. Austin, Texas Association of School Boards, 1992.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Lynn Moak served as managing partner of Moak Casey since its inception in 1998. Lynn retired in 2022, but continues to serve the firm as board member emeritus. His vision of a public service firm capable of providing school finance and accountability analysis, leadership, and support continues to be the guiding principle of Moak Casey.

He has been involved in virtually every major education finance policy change since 1967 and has developed research presented in every major case regarding public school finance since the Edgewood litigation in 1984.  He has specialized in large-scale data analysis, development of research-based school finance policy positions, and the integration of assessment, accountability, and finance issues. 

Prior to 1998, he held senior staff positions in the Texas Education Agency, the Texas State Comptroller’s Office, and the Texas Lieutenant Governor’s Office. 

SERVICE AREAS:

• School Finance
• Legislative

EDUCATION:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Graduate Studies          
• The University of Texas at Austin – Bachelor of Arts

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND HONORS:

• Lifetime Achievement Award, National Education Finance Academy (NEFA)
• Region 4 ESC Superintendents Award

Board of Directors:

• National Education Finance Academy
• Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP), formerly American Education Finance Association (AEFA)

Member:

• National Education Finance Academy
• Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA)
• Association of School Business Officials (ASBO)
• American Educational Research Association (AERA)

COMMUNITY:

• Paramount Theater, Advisory Council
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Lady Bird Society

Professional Experience:

At Moak Casey, Leo serves as Chief Financial Officer. He has 20 years of experience working in public school finance, most recently serving at the Texas Education Agency (TEA) as Associate Commissioner for School Finance and Chief School Finance Officer. During that time, Leo was instrumental in directly supporting the Texas Commission on Public School Finance and in the development and implementation of House Bill 3, an historic school finance bill passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019.

Before serving as Chief School Finance Officer for TEA, Leo spent four years as the Executive Director of Finance for Austin ISD (AISD), overseeing the budget, finance and accounting, treasury, risk management and Medicaid billing functions for the district.

Leo started his career in public school finance at TEA, where he spent a decade in the agency’s school finance unit, including six years managing Foundation School Program operations.

Service Areas:

• School Finance
• Legislative

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Bachelor of Business Administration

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• RTSBA Certification, Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO)
• Texas Fiscal Officers’ Academy (TFOA) Graduate
• Certificate of Achievement, Council of Great City Schools’ Urban School Executive Program

Professional Experience:

Josh started his career at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts after he graduated from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin. While at the Comptroller’s office, he provided forecasts of state revenues and fiscal impact analyses of proposed legislation. He also led efforts within the agency to improve its revenue tracking and reporting processes.

Josh joined Moak Casey in 2019 just as the Legislature was beginning to develop House Bill 3. Josh enjoys the privilege of serving school districts through this transformational period in school finance.

Service Areas:

• School Finance
• Legislative

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Master of Public Affairs
• The University of Texas at Austin – Bachelor of Arts in English and Bachelor of Journalism

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO)
• Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA)

Community:

• Austin ISD Campus Advisory Council, Member

Professional Experience:

Amy joined Moak Casey in 2021 from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). At TEA she played a critical role in implementing HB 3 (86th Legislature) by helping over 1,000 school districts compress their Tier 1 tax rates. She performed advanced financial analysis and regulatory work related to various allotments and funding elements in the state’s school finance formulas through the Foundation School Program.

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, she started her career at the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), where she prepared fiscal analyses of proposed legislation, developed budget and policy recommendations, and testified to the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees. She has worked as the Assistant Committee Clerk in the Texas House of Representatives and at the Austin City Council, and through UT Austin’s UTeach Program, Amy has tutored and mentored economically-disadvantaged students. At Moak Casey, Amy focuses on school finance and providing legislative services.

Service Areas:

• School Finance
• Legislative

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Bachelor of Economics

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO)
• Texas Women in Public Finance (TXWPF)

Professional Experience:

Justin started his career here at Moak Casey as an intern in 2021 while attending the McCombs School of Business. He compiled and analyzed data alongside the rest of the finance team for a variety of services. After graduating in 2022, Justin joined the firm as a full-time employee.

Service Areas:

• School Finance
• Legislative

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Bachelor of Business Administration

Professional Experience:

Terry specializes in analyzing accountability and assessment data to generate consumer-ready data displays. She facilitates data interpretation for school improvement purposes with district and campus leadership teams and models the statewide impact of policy changes in academic accountability. She has worked in the public education field for 23 years, starting as a school volunteer in Round Rock, moving to Austin ISD as a data analyst and later Coordinator of Accountability, and returning to Round Rock ISD where she was the Associate Director of Academic Data Analysis before joining Moak Casey.

Service Areas:

• Academics, Assessments & Accountability
• Legislative

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Master of Arts
• The University of Texas at Austin – Bachelor of Arts

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA)

Professional Experience:

Toni is an experienced public education leader.  In addition to teaching and serving as a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology, she has held several administrative roles including Principal, Director of Curriculum & Professional Development, Chief Instructional Officer; Deputy and Interim Superintendent, all in the San Antonio geographic region. In her most recent positions, she has facilitated strategic planning and worked with divisions to develop “key work processes” to cultivate employee engagement and role clarity, while also promoting the organizations’ capacity to work in-concert to achieve high expectations for literally, all students.  

Toni has also published articles on themes of social justice, while serving as an adjunct faculty member for Trinity University, Texas A&M San Antonio, and the University of Texas, San Antonio (Superintendent Certification Program).  

Toni joined the Moak Casey & Associates team in June 2021. She works with the Accountability, Academics and Assessment team analyzing new legislation related to these areas and the future impact on curriculum and instructional leadership. She is also honored to serve districts and schools as they strive to meet rising accountability standards with the wide-ranging needs in our classrooms today.  

Service Areas:

• Academics, Assessments & Accountability
• Legislative
• Strategic Thought, Design & Continuous Improvement

Education:

• Texas A&M University, College Station – Doctorate: Educational Leadership & Policy Studies 
• Trinity University – Master of Arts: School Psychology & Educational Administration 
• Texas Tech University – Bachelor of Science: Education & Psychology

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Past President: Alamo Area ASCD (AAASCD); AY 2021-22
• Board Member: Phi Delta Kappa, San Antonio Chapter 
• Recipient: T.M. Stinnett Fellowship, Texas A&M University, Educational Administration:  Excellence in Research, Writing & Scholarly Achievement
• Recipient: TEA Promising Practices Award: Redirection Connection

Community:

• Impact San Antonio (ISA), Environment, Recreation & Preservation Grant Co-Chair
• City of San Antonio Hardberger Park Conservancy
• South Texas Children’s Bereavement Center, Board Member

Professional Experience:

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Kathy started her career at the Texas Education Agency. While at TEA, Kathy developed a background in school district data and analysis, eventually serving as the PEIMS Division Assistant Director. While in PEIMS, she was involved in the development of the system design and end user customer tools. Kathy then joined Moak Casey where she maintains and enhances a statewide, in addition to a district-specific, school finance revenue model.  Kathy became involved early on with the implementation of Chapter 313 property value limitations for school districts and enjoys working closely with school districts on their projects.  She runs staffing and student data analyses and legislative impact analyses utilizing an extensive database of school district information and is constantly working to develop and improve Moak Casey data products. 

Service Areas:

• Economic Development
• School Finance

Education:

• The University of Texas – Master of Arts
• Arkansas State University – Bachelor of Science,
• Magna Cum Laude, Outstanding Mathematics Student Award

Community:

• Education Connection – Literacy Partner, Blanton Elementary School

Professional Experience:

Gretchen joined Moak Casey in 2019 and focuses on property tax value limitation agreements associated with the Texas Economic Development Act (Chapter 313) as well as analyses of other public-private partnerships, including Foreign Trade Zones and Freeport Exemptions. Throughout her career, she has worked alongside educators to provide solutions that meet their unique needs. Previously, she served as a higher education executive recruiter for SP&A Executive Search (formerly Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates), placing academic officers in public institutions across the country and in Texas, including The University of Texas System and The Texas A&M System. She spent eight years as a manager in the software industry, where she helped academic administrators to implement comprehensive technology solutions at primary and secondary schools nationwide.

Service Areas:

• Economic Development

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Master of Business Administration
• Davidson College – Bachelor of Arts

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO)
• Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC)

Ginger Averitt joined Moak Casey in September 2022 as executive director of advocacy services.

Averitt offers clients expertise in legislative strategy and policy development gleaned from decades of experience with the legislative process. Having worked for and with both Republicans and Democrats, she has forged and maintains relationships that help her advocate for policy preferable to her clients.  

In her more than 20 years at the Texas Capitol, Ginger has had the honor of working for some of the most well-respected leaders in the state. She began her career in the Texas House of Representatives as a messenger before rising the ranks to administrative assistant and later policy analyst in Speaker James E. “Pete” Laney’s office. 

In 2003, she worked in the Senate Finance Committee under the leadership of Chairman Teel Bivins. Following his retirement in 2004, Senator Kel Seliger hired Ginger to serve as legislative director. In 2009, she was promoted to chief of staff where she remained until she left the Senate in 2018.  Ginger has a wealth of knowledge of public policy issues, including public education, school finance, higher education, economic development, taxation and the state budget. She is highly respected by members and staff and viewed as a subject matter expert on education issues.

Most recently, Melson was the Vice President of Strategy for the Greater Houston Partnership, the Houston region’s largest business organization. In his time at the Partnership, Melson managed the Public Education Advisory Committee, Higher Education Advisory Committee, the Higher Education United with Business initiative, the creation of the statewide broadband coalition, Digital Texas, and oversaw all advocacy efforts related to public education, higher education and the workforce pipeline.

From May 2020 to May 2021, Melson went on executive loan, serving as Chief of Staff to Marvin Odum, the City of Houston’s COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Leader. In this role, Melson oversaw the $405 million Coronavirus relief fund and directed the City’s health and safety response, community support programs, economic recovery initiatives, communications efforts, and all other programs related to COVID-19 response and long-term resiliency.

Prior to joining the Partnership in 2018, Melson served as a legislative staff member for two Houston area Texas state representatives, first as the Legislative Director for State Representative Dan Huberty and then as Chief of Staff for State Representative Kevin Roberts. In his time at the State Capitol, Melson focused primarily on public education, healthcare, and appropriations policy issues and led the effort to pass House Bill 4, the high quality prekindergarten bill, during the 84th Legislative Session.

Melson received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Texas A&M University and is a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Leads Fellow.

Professional Experience:

Greg joins Moak Casey specializing in strategic planning and continuous improvement processes. Dr. Gibson is also the Executive Director for Texas Association of Mid-Size Schools (TAMS), coming to this role after a career in public education which includes 21 years as Superintendent of Schools. 

Service Areas:

• Strategic Thought, Design & Continuous Improvement

Education:

• University of North Texas – Doctor of Education
• Midwestern State University, School Administration – Master of Art
• Midwestern State Secondary Education – Bachelor of Science

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Board of Directors, Texas Teacher Retirement System
• National Baldrige Examiner and Judge
• Named to the Baldrige Board of Overseers by the US Department of Commerce

Professional Experience:

Lloyd brings 25 years of experience as a Texas public school superintendent to his work with Moak Casey specializing in strategic planning and continuous improvement processes.  Lloyd has extensive experience in turning around financially and academically distressed districts as well as overseeing bond issues, major construction, personnel management, property value limitation agreements (Ch. 313), and crisis and disaster recovery and mitigation. He most recently served for 12 years as superintendent of schools in La Porte ISD, which during his tenure had two campuses earn National Blue Ribbon School honors, experienced and recovered from two major hurricanes, completed one major bond issue, passed another, and delivered $380,000,000 in new construction or renovation.

Service Areas:

• Strategic Thought, Design & Continuous Improvement

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin, Superintendency Cooperative – Doctoral Fellow
•  Southwest Texas State University – Master of Education
• Texas A & M University – Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Tax Relief/Pollution Control Property Advisory Committee, Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ)

Professional Experience:

Larry currently works primarily with Strategic Thought, Design, and Continuous Improvement while also spending time with financial projects, and some accountability endeavors.  He served for more than 35 years in Texas public education, and for the last twenty-five of those years, Dr. Groppel held major administrative positions, including Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District. While serving in virtually all areas of administration, he was involved in creating various business models focused on developing and implementing systems approaches to continually improve educational opportunities for Texas’ youth.  He had direct responsibility for substantial school budgets up to more than $1 billion and made over twenty-five final budget presentations without having any opposing votes to any of the recommended budgets.  Dr. Groppel has also served in numerous capacities for state and national education organizations.

Service Areas:

• Academics, Assessments & Accountability
• School Finance
• Strategic Thought, Design & Continuous Improvement

Education:

• East Texas State University – Doctor of Education
• Prairie View A&M University – Master of Education
• Baylor University – Bachelor of Science

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA)
• Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO)

Professional Experience:

As a consultant for Moak Casey, Ronnie Kincaid specializes in property value limitation agreements and strategic thought, design, and continuous improvement.  After a 43-year career, Ronnie retired from public education in 2018 having served in many roles from teacher/coach and campus administrator to district superintendent and Executive Director of Region 14 Education Service Center.   He has successful experience in school finance, long-range district financial planning, district accountability, strategic planning, school board training, and superintendent searches.

Service Areas:

• Economic Development
• Strategic Thought, Design & Continuous Improvement

Education:

• University of Houston at Clear Lake – Master of Science
• Angelo State University – Bachelor of Science

Professional Experience:

Dr. McKeown-Moak has over 50 years of experience as an educational administrator working with school districts, Boards of Education, universities, Regents, state legislatures, executive offices, and non-profit agencies. She has served as the senior financial officer of a university system, business manager, professor, school finance specialist, strategic planner, and has been a consultant serving Texas education for the past 25 years.  She has developed funding formulas for universities, community colleges, special education, pupil transportation, categorical aid, or general school aid in more than 30 states. She has also served as an expert witness in education finance court cases.

Service Areas:

• School Finance
• Strategic Thought, Design & Continuous Improvement

Education:

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Doctor of Philosophy
• Michigan State University – Master of Arts
• Michigan State University – Bachelor of Arts

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

Member:

• Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP)
• National Education Finance Academy (NEFA)
• American Education Research Association (AERA)
• Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
• National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
• Phi Delta Kappa (PDK)
• Association of School Business Officials (ASBO)

Board of Directors:

• Association for Education Finance and Policy
• National Education Finance Academy

President/Chair:

• Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP)
• State Higher Education Finance Officers (SHEFO)
• Fiscal Issues, Policy and Education Finance (FIPEF)
• Futures Research and Strategic Planning (FRSP) Special Interest Groups of AERA
• Distinguished Research and Practice Fellow, National Education Finance Association (NEFA)
• Lifetime Achievement Award, National Education Finance Association (NEFA)
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Marquis Who’s Who Board of Directors

Community:

Current:

• Meals on Wheels, Volunteer
• Neptune Harbor Canal Owners Association, Treasurer
• Paramount Theater, Advisory Council
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Lady Bird Society

Past:

• Impact Austin, Chair of Grant Finance Committee
• Boy Scouts, troop leader and Cub Scout den mother
• Girl Scouts, troop leader
• PTSA Council, secretary
• Symphony League, finance committee
• Alameda Estates Homeowners Association, president
• Faculty Women’s Club, president

Professional Experience:

Alicia Thomas brings a lifelong interest in teaching, learning, and leading to her work as a consultant for Moak Casey.  Dr. Thomas began her career in education as a teacher in the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio.   She returned to Trinity for a Master of Education degree, and through further graduate work earned Texas certifications that include the Superintendency, Kindergarten and Early Childhood, Special Education-Learning Disabilities, and Educational Diagnostician. Dr. Thomas taught in North East ISD where she also served as a principal, executive director, and Associate Superintendent/Chief Instructional Officer before moving to the Houston Independent School District in 2011 to serve as Deputy Chief Academic Officer.  In 1994, she was awarded The Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education for her work in partnership with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Trinity University and North East ISD.  For fifteen years, (2001-2016), Dr. Thomas was an adjunct professor in Trinity University’s Master of Education in School Leadership program.

Service Areas:

• Academics, Assessments & Accountability

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Doctor of Philosophy
• Trinity University – Masters of Education
• Trinity University – Bachelor of Arts

Professional Affiliations:

• Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA)
• Alamo Heights United Methodist Church

Community:

Current

• Friends Group, Communities in Schools
• San Antonio Education Partnership (SAEP), Member, Board of Directors
• Snack Pak 4 Kids (SP4K-SA), Member, Volunteer Board of Directors
• Prospera Housing Community Services, Member, Board of Directors
• Professional Contract Services, Inc. (PCSI), Member, Board of Directors

Past

• Harold W. McGraw, Jr. National Prize in Education (1994)
• Fellow, Cooperative Superintendency Program, The University of Texas at Austin (1997 – 1999)
• San Antonio Masters Leadership Program Class XI
• Impact San Antonio (ISA) Board of Directors

Professional Experience:

At Moak Casey, Joe conducts a number of school district financial analyses and assists school districts in understanding the intricacies of the Texas school finance calculations and resolving differences between alternative approaches to forecasting. Joe also assists school districts with fulfilling their responsibilities for truth-in-taxation and tax rate adoption.

Formerly the Deputy Associate Commissioner for Finance of the Texas Education Agency, Joe has a 43-year career in the financing of Texas education and state government services, including overseeing the creation and maintenance of multiple school finance revenue models for the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Governor’s Office.

Joe started his career at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board assisting in a major study of higher education funding formulas before joining the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts where he gained valuable insight into the state budget, revenue sources, and the legislative process and worked on the early stages of development of a statewide accounting system.

Service Areas:

• School Finance
• Legislative

Education:

• The University of Texas at Austin – Master in Business Administration
• The University of Texas at Austin – Bachelor of Arts

Professional Affiliations And Honors:

• Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO)
• Phi Beta Kappa, The University of Texas at Austin