Meet The Staff
Erin Patterson, LMSW
Executive Director
Erin Patterson joined the Dispute Resolution as the Executive Director in 2023. She
graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by a Masters of Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin. A Licensed Master Social Worker, Erin has worked in social services for more than 17 years. She has spent her career working in disaster response and child services, most recently serving as the Director of Adoption at a nonprofit in Austin. Erin lives in Austin with her husband and four children. She enjoys a variety of activities and is most often found traveling, exercising, or cooking for a crowd.
512-279-1901
Lisa Weger
Finance Director
Lisa joined the staff in 1989 and has served the DRC in a variety of roles: including Case Manager, Program Director, Office Administrator, a coach in the Basic (40 Hour) Mediation Training, and a mediator. She has served as Finance Director since 2000. Lisa received her BS in education from Texas State University.
512-371-0033 ext. 1902
David Huang
Director of Case Management & Volunteer Services
David was born in Taiwan and raised in Panama. He received his BA in business from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. He has been with the DRC since August, 1995. In addition to his duties as Mediation Coordinator, he serves as a mediator and a coach for training. David is bilingual and enjoys music, Latin dancing, and traveling.
512-371-0033 ext. 1905
Susan Sneller
Case Manager
Susan taught students in special education for 19 years, and then became a grants manager for Service Learning Texas for nine years, traveling across Texas to encourage students to serve their community and learn while doing it. In the process, she received two masters degrees, one in Education and one in Human Services, majoring in Conflict Resolution. She has volunteered as a mediator at the DRC for 12 years. She loves dogs, cats, humans and travel. She is a Case Manager at the DRC.
512-371-0033 ext. 1904
Rita Rancken
Office Manager
Rita joined the DRC as Office Administrator in June, 2005. She is originally from Ohio, where she attended Kent State University and Cleveland State University as a psychology major. She moved to Austin in 1979 and has raised two daughters here. Rita’s interests include comedy, reading, alternative health, and metaphysics.
512-371-0033
Patsy Shepherd
Administrative Consultant
Patsy was born in Massachusetts, went to college in Maine, and spent her early career as a community college English teacher in upstate New York. In 1979, she came to Austin on an NEH Fellowship and, when she learned there was no snow to shovel in Texas, decided to stay. Her later career was as a technical editor for several environmental engineering firms, which often involved temporary assignments around the country, including Ohio, Nevada, Washington state, and South Carolina. She retired (sort of) in 1971 and has worked part-time as an editor until coming to the DRC in 2019. Patsy has two wonderful children, a daughter in Austin with two boys and a son in Maine with four grown children, as well as a 13-year-old Papillon named Cheo (who actually runs things).
512-371-0033
Mindy Roeder
Case Manager
Mindy began her service at DRC in 1992 as Receptionist and had transitioned to Office Administrator by the time of her departure in 1998. After raising a family and managing a land surveying office, she is happy to be back at DRC as Case Management Assistant. Mindy will be assisting Case Managers in handling inquiry and intake, mediation space setup and a variety of evaluative and statistical reporting for quality assurance to our public.
512-279-1907