Staff

Carmen Castillo Adams

Academic Background: Undergraduate study in Elementary Education, Spanish, and Social Work at Southwest Texas State University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Areas of Expertise: Human resources and agency processes

Carmen Adams has 22 years of state government experience, with 21 of those at the Comptroller's office. She has worked in Enforcement Headquarters, Claims, Human Resources, and Account Maintenance, moving through the ranks from accounts examiner to supervisor to assistant to the agency's chief of staff. Her duties have required her to learn the agency's taxes, process tax returns, assist taxpayers and other state agencies, analyze legislation, train coworkers, and assist in special projects and task force teams.

In addition, she has served on the Renaissance Project Steering Committee. Adams also has managed the Comptroller Employee Incentive Program, the agency's employee suggestion program. During her tenure, she reduced the backlog of unexamined suggestions and renewed the agency's promotion efforts, resulting in savings of nearly $611,000.

Presently, Adams is manager of the Employee Incentive Program. In 1998, she received the Comptroller's Idea Fair Employee Award for Outstanding Internal Customer Service.

Curt Besselman

Academic Background: Bachelor of Arts in Government and Philosophy, the University of Texas at Austin.

Areas of Expertise: Human resources and performance review

Curt Besselman joined the Comptroller's office in January 1999. Since his arrival, he has conducted performance audits for the director of Agency Administration. The initial project examined how the agency tracks and accounts for its fixed assets, while a second scrutinized the agency hiring process. Besselman recently transferred to Human Resources, primarily to lead the agency's recruiting efforts and help with special projects such as pay-for-performance proposals and an agencywide classification audit.

Before joining the Comptroller's office, Besselman was an aide to State Senator Teel Bivins and an editorial writer for the Amarillo Globe News.

Dan Contreras

See Competitive Government Team.

WynNelle Leeth

Academic Background: Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, Louisiana State University at Shreveport.

Areas of Expertise: Retirement plan administration

Key Projects: Texas Performance Reviews and the state collections report,

WynNelle Leeth has worked in the legislative and executive branches of Texas state government for the past eight years. In a year and a half with the Comptroller's office, she has contributed to the two most recent major TPR reports as well as TPR's review of Austin's Capital Metro and the state collections report.

Before joining the Comptroller's office, Leeth worked as an auditor for the State Auditor's Office and as a legislative aide for a member of the Texas House. She also worked for seven years in the private sector as an actuarial assistant for employee benefit and actuarial consulting firms.

Robin L. Martin

Academic Background: Robin Martin completed coursework through the University of Houston Criminal Justice Center to obtain basic certification with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education as a law enforcement officer. She retains her certification.

Areas of Expertise: Human resources, work alternatives and criminal justice

Robin Martin has worked in the Comptroller's Human Resources Division for eight years, currently serving as an operations support specialist. Martin also has achieved her certification from the Human Resources Management Program through the University of Texas. She has participated in numerous committees on human resources issues and has successfully administered the agency's Work Alternatives program since its inception.

Before joining the Comptroller's office, Martin worked at the Travis County District Attorney's Office in several areas including the Child Abuse Unit and the trial court section. She specialized in criminal history research. Before moving to Austin, Martin worked for the Detective Division of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department for nine years. Her duties in this division included taking statements from victims, assisting in the interrogation of suspects and office management and administration for 13 detectives.

Theresa Pesquera

Academic Background: On-the job experience; independent study and research.

Areas of Expertise: Human resources, payroll and rulemaking

Key Projects: Integrated Tax Systems and the Uniform Statewide Payroll System

Theresa Pesquera has 24 years of experience in state government, 15 with the Comptroller's office in Executive Administration, Human Resources, Integrated Tax System (ITS) Project, and the Claims Division. While at the Comptroller's office, she developed a uniform hiring and selection process for the agency and conducted training sessions for managers. She also served as team leader for the Renaissance team that examined key employee issues. During her tenure with the ITS Project, she developed a proposed Change Management Plan to assist the agency in transitioning to the integrated tax system. She served as team leader for the Supervisory Forum of the Management Advisory Committee and coordinated planning for these forums as well as follow-up.

As an employee of the Claims Division, Pesquera has researched and drafted policy documents to amend the Texas Administrative Code for electronic approvals, longevity pay, hazardous duty pay and various payroll requirements for which the Comptroller's office has statutory authority. She coordinates the rules for three payroll deductions and serves as the agency liaison with the state employee membership organizations, state charitable campaign and credit unions. She analyzes and tracks legislation with any statewide payroll impact and assists with legislative implementation, such as modifications to the Uniform Statewide Payroll System.

Before joining the Comptroller's office, Pesquera worked at the Texas Education Agency as an administrative assistant in the Vocational Education Department.

Vicki Smith

Academic Background: Undergraduate study with a concentration in Spanish at Tarleton State University, Austin Community College and Central Texas College. Vicki Smith is a Certified Payroll Professional.

Areas of Expertise: Human resources and payroll

Key Projects: Uniform Statewide Payroll/Personnel System

Vicki Smith has more than 25 years of experience in state government, 10 of which have been spent with the Comptroller's office. Smith participated in the design, development, and implementation of Uniform Statewide Payroll/Personnel System and served as functional manager of the project in the Systems Development Division. In that role, she was responsible for ensuring the developers understood the functional requirements for the entire system, clarifying the requirements of federal and state laws, and determining functions that would aid state agencies.

For the last four years, she has worked in Fiscal Management as the payroll policy coordinator; participating in the development of legislative proposals; and ensuring Comptroller managers and state agency staff are aware of policies related to payroll and personnel matters. Moreover, Smith has been actively involved in both the National Conference of State Social Security Administrators and the State Payroll Group, which is composed of payroll officials of all 50 states, and was formed as part of the National Association of State Controllers.

Before joining the Comptroller's Office, Smith worked for 10 years for the Board of Pardons and Paroles as a payroll officer. Before that, she held positions with the Department of Human Services and Texas Department of Transportation.

Jena Thomas

Academic Background: Bachelor of Science in Home Economics & Food Science from Abilene Christian University.

Areas of Expertise: Agency technology and human resources

Key Projects: Electronic Tax Administration Committee and the Integrated Tax System

Thomas has 21 years of experience with the Comptroller's Office. She began as an accounts examiner in Revenue Accounting, served as an enforcement officer in Abilene for two years, and returned to Austin as a Supervisor of Revenue Processing. She was promoted to area manager and served in both Revenue Processing and Account Maintenance. Thomas then became the agency's State Employee Incentive Program coordinator.

In 1991, she assisted in rewriting the agency's personnel policy manual and employee handbook and later served on the Performance Evaluation Renaissance team. She also served on the agency's Electronic Tax Administration Committee and Integrated Tax System team and led the agency's Forms Simplification Task Force.

At present, Thomas, is a systems analyst for Revenue Processing, where she has worked on the introduction of several new technologies. She has served as project manager for the startup of the Integrated Image Management System, the Document Retention Random Filing System and WebFile, and currently is managing the WebFile Expansion Program, which will enable the agency to receive tax data and payments via the Internet. She is the agency expert on microfilm and bar-code technology.

Cathy West

Academic Background: Bachelor of Business Administration in Management, West Texas State University; Master of Business Administration, University of Texas at Tyler.

Areas of Expertise: Tax issues, regulatory reform, competitive government and environmental issues

Key Projects: Texas Performance Reviews and Council on Competitive Government

Cathy West has 11 years of experience with the Comptroller's office, including 10 years with the Enforcement Division and another year with Research and Policy Development. West has worked on regulatory reform, environmental and tax issues for the 1999 TPR report and has researched the state's debt collection and call-center functions for the Council on Competitive Government.

Morris X. Winn

Academic Background: Bachelors of Art in Business Administration, Prairie View A&M University; Advanced studies in Manpower Economics, University of Texas; Advanced studies in Manpower Economics, University of Houston Extension Services; Certified Mediator University of Texas, Certificate of Completion, Human Resources Management Program University of Texas

Areas of Expertise: Human resources and equal employment opportunity

Morris X. Winn was appointed manager of the Comptroller's Human Resources Division in January 1999. Prior to this appointment, he served as deputy commissioner for Human Resources for the Texas Department of Insurance for five years.

In 1992, Winn was appointed as the first director of the Employee Relations/Equal Employment Opportunity Division of the Office of the Attorney General, where he served until May 1, 1994. He also directed the Attorney General's Support Services Division for eight years and served as assistant personnel director and special projects coordinator. Winn also served in the Governor's Office of Budget and Planning for more than 10 years as a coordinator for the Governor's Employment Training Program and as a planner/budget examiner. In 1982, he was responsible for the startup activities of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice Corrections in the Governor's Office. He also has worked in the private sector as a policy services supervisor.

In addition, Winn is active in the Austin and statewide community. He served on the City of Austin Manpower Advisory Planning Council and Austin Housing Authority for four years. From 1981 to 1985, he served as Vice-Chairman of the Texas Merit System Council. Winn also has served on the boards of the Central East Austin Community Organization, Opportunities Industrialization Centers and the Austin NAACP, for which he has served as vice president and executive board member for more than 15 years.