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Board of Directors Updates

Announcing New Officers and Members of the Board

We’re thrilled to announce several updates to the Board of Directors of Explore Austin, including changes to officer positions as well as the appointment of two new board members. As we continue to grow and evolve, we’re proud to introduce new faces and a refreshed leadership team that will support and guide our mission of empowering local youth from economically disadvantaged communities through mentorship, leadership and outdoor adventure.

Effective immediately, the Explore Austin Board of Directors has elected the following existing board members to officer positions: Mentor alum Scott Phillips as Chair; parent of an Explorer alum Alex Castillo as Vice Chair, Explorer alum Lenar Cantu as Secretary, and Wendy Papasan of Papasan Properties Group as Treasurer. These leaders bring a wealth of direct experience, passion for and commitment to our programming.

In addition, we’re eager to welcome two new board members: Drury Morris, an Explore Austin Mentor alum and Senior Director at the University of Texas Investment Management Company, and Sarah Goodman, a mergers and acquisitions strategist and founder of Eminence M&A Strategies. Both bring unique perspectives and expertise to the table, and we’re confident their service will help us continue building connections within the greater Austin community.

New Board Members

Drury Morris | Senior Director, University of Texas Investment Management Company

Drury Morris has a long history of service at Explore Austin, first becoming involved with our flagship program as a Mentor to a team of Explorers in 2013. Originally from Alabama, he grew up hiking and camping in the Bankhead National Forest and spending summers on the Tennessee River. His appreciation for the outdoors led him to get involved with Explore Austin first as a Mentor, then by serving on the Finance Committee in 2021 before being elected to the Board of Directors in September 2024.

“I grew up hiking and camping with my family and Scouts and saw how outdoor adventure can help grow self confidence and resilience. I loved Explore Austin’s mission of increasing access to these types of activities for students. It’s been fun to be part of Explore’s growth thus far and I’m excited for what’s ahead.”

Drury Morris

Having graduated with a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration from Rhodes College, Drury began his career at Morgan Keegan in Memphis, TN working with local governments, healthcare and higher education institutions to issue bonds to help finance infrastructure projects across the southeast. In 2010, he moved to Austin to join the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) as a member of the investment team. Over the last fifteen years he’s worked in senior portfolio manager roles on both the Hedge Fund and Public Equity portfolios, which together comprise over half of the $75 billion in assets managed by UTIMCO. He is currently a Senior Director on the Public Equity team overseeing the Developed Equity Portfolio.

While Drury’s primary experience has been investment focused, he also spent two years working as UTIMCO’s Chief of Staff with the firm’s CEO and Chief Investment Officer. In the Chief of Staff role, Drury assisted with the firm’s strategic planning, goal setting, talent management, recruiting and external communications, including media and government relations.

Drury recounts one of his all-time favorite adventures was with Explore Austin on his team’s senior Capstone Summer Wilderness Trip to summit a snowy peak:

“We woke up at four in the morning and hiked as far as we could before putting on crampons and roping up to get up the steeper snow-covered stretches. Getting to the top was amazing and the whole team felt such a sense of accomplishment completing it together.”

Drury has been married to his wife, Sumati, since 2015. They currently live in Northwest Hills with their three young children. As a family, they enjoy hiking Walnut Creek and the Turkey Creek Trail in Emma Long Park – and Drury says he can’t wait to tag along on another Explore Austin Saturday Challenge soon, this time as a board member.

Sarah Goodman | Founder, Eminence M&A Strategies

Sarah Goodman first heard about Explore Austin through her involvement with the 4ATX Foundation, the community outreach arm of the Austin FC MLS team, and through current Explore Austin Mentor Hudson Penn. She’s active in multiple professional organizations, including the Women Presidents Organization, ProVisors, Austin Business Woman and W Connect, and is an active philanthropist in the Austin community. She was elected to the Explore Austin Board of Directors in December 2024.

“I’m active with the 4ATX Foundation, and I understand there is a lot of overlap in the community served, with similar goals to inspire future leaders. The more ways we can create access, growth and opportunity for these kids, the better! I also was introduced by a dear friend, Hudson Penn. Hudson was so passionate and detailed about his experience with Explore Austin, it was something I was keen to be more involved in. I love the ambitious projects and moves Explore Austin is making, and it’s a really exciting time. Big goals, hard work and a major opportunity to expand resources to help more kids – sign me up!”

Sarah Goodman

Sarah founded Eminence M&A Strategies in 2022 as a way to provide personalized guidance to business owners seeking to exit their companies. She loves “deals, data, helping people, growing companies and technology,” and has an extensive background in business development, project management and client services. In addition to her advisory role, she is an active angel investor and holds a strong presence in the real estate investment sector.

A self-professed “rabid” soccer fan, Sarah enjoys cheering on the Verde at Austin FC games as well as coaching her two young daughters’ soccer teams. She and her husband also love scoping new trails on the greenbelt where their whole family can get outside together.

When asked to recount a favorite outdoor adventure, she was hard pressed to name just one:

“Machu Picchu in Peru, Dragon Boats in Vancouver, or banding birds in the Chihuahuan Desert, climbing Guadalupe Peak. The world is such a beautiful place with so much to explore. Can I pick all of it? If I truly must, I love rustic camping in the Chisos Basin in Big Bend.”

Playing our ACES: Explore Austin’s Secret to Comprehensive Youth Development

Way back in 2006, when Explore Austin was established, our founders wanted to create a way for outdoor adventure to be used as a conduit for youth to learn lifelong, transferrable skills. Enter our ACES curriculum. ACES are the backbone of the Explore Austin leadership program, and each year of the program focuses on developing a particular ACES trait, while the final year focuses on putting all of the traits together. Through our Saturday Challenges, mentors and trip leaders emphasize qualities and actions that make an Explorer Action-Oriented, Courageous, an Excellent Teammate, and a Strong Communicator.

ACTION-ORIENTED:
Climbing a cliff face or biking down a steep mountain trail is no time to be on the fence about your situational goals. We ask Explorers in our program to recognize a need for practical solutions and measurable goals. Learning the importance of being action-oriented means that youth develop the necessary planning and executive skills required to coordinate a 10-mile hike to the top of a summit, delegate necessary campsite tasks, and manage ambiguous outdoor situations. This skill translates into the real world as time management, self-motivation, and confidence.

COURAGEOUS:
There is no better place to develop trust in yourself than the great outdoors. Explore Austin brings youth into a totally new and often intimidating environment – whether it’s their first time sleeping away from home, or they’re scared of heights, or their legs feel like jelly after a day of carrying a 50lbs backpack. When our program participants to push themselves physically and mentally, they develop the capacity to deal with adversity and to keep their goals in sight. It’s this mental fortitude and courage which will empower them to set and achieve big, scary, ambitious goals in education, careers, extracurricular activities, and more!

EXCELLENT TEAMMATE:
As the adage goes, a team is only as strong as its weakest link. As our program encourages both Explorers and Mentors to build solid relationships, it is also equally focused on cultivating youth who are dependable and respectful teammates. Asking youth to reflect earnestly on questions like “Am I responsible?”, “Can I honestly say I’m contributing to the group?”, and “Am I thinking about others or am I only considering myself?” engages them in community-mindedness. Being an excellent teammate in the backcountry turns into being a caring, engaged, and empathetic teammate in your family, friend-group, sports team, and beyond.

STRONG COMMUNICATOR:
Being able to communicate effectively is perhaps the most important of all life skills. Being a good communicator doesn’t only require saying the right thing at the right time. Above all, it requires mutual respect. Through the Explore Austin program, youth and mentors alike are introduced to different world views, perspectives, and belief systems. As relationships are built through Saturday Challenges and Summer wilderness trips, participants begin to share their thoughts and opinion. This open transfer of ideas can only work in a safe and respectful environment. Learning to treat others with dignity and listening to differing ideas and respectfully communicating their own is a crucial skill to develop in our youth.

These are the skills Explore Austin believes helps youth in achieving comprehensive wellbeing and the social-emotional skills that will allow them to achieve their definition of success throughout their entire lives.

Explorer Spotlight: Victoria Uriogstegui

When asked what stands out most during her six years in the Explore Austin program, East Austin resident and recent high school graduate Victoria Uriostegui has no shortage of tales about heart-pounding, stomach-churning, adrenaline-pumping challenges. In her calm and frank way, Victoria narrates her first trip with the EA program. She recalls the anxiety of boarding a plane for the first time, the nerves of spending her first nights away from home, the exhilaration of mountain biking down steep and slippery gravel trails, the terror of sleeping in a tent in the freezing wilderness, petrified that every bump or rustle was a hungry bear lumbering into the campsite for a late-night snack. While riddled with pure emotions, these memories are punctuated with evidence of personal growth and a continued sense of community, as Victoria shares that she learned to channel her fear into determination and began to lean on her teammates and mentors to give her the little push of courage she needed to scale a boulder or press on through aching feet to cover the last miles of a backpacking trek.

Victoria and her Explore Austin Team, the Arrows, at a Saturday Challenge

As trust between mentor and mentee was built challenge by challenge, the pushes to climb a little higher or paddle a little faster evolved into candid conversations about the future. Victoria’s mentor began to discuss what her life could look like past high school and the EA program. They pushed Victoria to weigh her interests against potential careers, giving her the opportunity to take career assessments and personality evaluations. During this time, while working with the homeless population in her community, Victoria realized that she wanted to be a force for good, continuing the community-oriented work that benefited her so greatly. Now, accepted to the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody School of Communication and Leadership, Victoria plans to pursue a career in the nonprofit or public sector. She’ll begin her journey in Fall 2021, with UT’s incoming freshman class.

Bringing the story full circle, Victoria is headed back to the place that spurred her path to leadership. Interning with Explore Austin’s fund development team, Victoria is playing a key role in advocating for the financial support that is required to achieve outdoor equity. In her own words, Victoria shares why the Explore Austin program is so important to her.

The Arrows on their Capstone Summer Wilderness Trip in the Wind River Range in Wyoming.

“It wasn’t until I entered Explore Austin that I truly blossomed. The program was like a long retreat for me, where I discovered myself and refined my abilities. I began to form leadership skills my younger, timid self wouldn’t have believed. I look at all I’ve done, and I think about all about the opportunities I missed thinking they were “too hard.” Reflecting on my teammates and mentors, all amazing women, seeing them persevere through numerous challenges, has made me confident and proud. I am determined to be strong like them. I am determined to steadily hold the reins of my future.”