KATHIE TOVO is council member for the Austin City Council. She was elected in on June 18, 2011. Prior to taking office, she taught writing and interdisciplinary studies at the college level and worked at Humanities Texas, the state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. As former president of the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association and vice president of the Austin Neighborhoods Council, Tovo has a long history of neighborhood advocacy, and has served on many city and school district boards, task forces and subcommittees. She also served on the Economic Incentives Work Group, which revised the incentives process to include enhanced requirements for domestic partner benefits, living wages and other important provisions. Tovo serves on the advisory board of the Settlement Home for Children and enjoys participating in the Austin chapter of Families with Children from China. She is a member of St. John’s United Methodist Church and the Reconciling Ministries Network, which is an organization working for full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities within the Methodist Church. Tovo earned a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. with honors from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. @kathietovo

Women,