Sandy Jumper

Executive Director

Sandy lives in the Rockport-Fulton area. Most recently, Sandy was the Vice President of Marketing & Promotion for the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce. She is a Certified Tourism Executive (Texas Travel Alliance), a Texas Destination Marketer (Texas Association of Convention & Visitors Bureau), a Texas Friendly Hospitality Instructor, has certifications in Administration & Finance, Communications/Technology, Tourism/Group Sales, and Texas Heritage/Cultural Tourism (TACVB).

Sandy also served on the Texas Tropical Trail Region board of directors and is the 2021 recipient of the Benchmark of Hospitality Award (TTA). She enjoys traveling, around the state, other coastal areas, and to Mississippi where her family resides.

Tara Putegnat

Board Chair

Tara Putegnat currently serves as Executive Director of the Brownsville Historical Association. After attending undergraduate school at Sweet Briar College (VA) and Universidad de Sevilla (Spain) she attended the University of Texas Brownsville for graduate school.

Upon return to Brownsville, her hometown, she taught history at St. Joseph Academy and later at Guadalupe Regional Middle School. She expanded her involvement in the community by serving on boards and committees for various organizations such as: Symphony in the Park planning committee, Leadership Brownsville Class XLVII Board Member, Pan American Round Table I Board member, Sacred Heart Church Anniversary Committee and the GRMS Development Council.

She also served as Secretary, Treasurer and President of the Brownsville Historical Association’s Board of Directors before being employed by the Association. Ms. Putegnat currently serves as Secretary on the Mitte Cultural District Board of Directors, is a commissioner for the City of Brownsville’s Historic Preservation Commission and a member of Preservation Texas’ Preservation Directors Roundtable.

Steve Lanoux

Vice Chair

Steve Lanoux was born in New Orleans, lived in several East and West Coast cities and Hawaii, moved to Austin in 1993, and relocated to Port Aransas in 2001.After 25 years of service as a Surface Warfare Officer, Steve retired from the US Navy as a Commander in 1993. He subsequently served as Assistant Director of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas for over 15 years before full retirement in 2016. He was elected to three terms on the Port Aransas City Council and was a member of the Whooping Crane Festival Committee for eight years.

Steve holds a BS from LSU, an MS from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a PhD from Pacific Western University. He is a life member of the Sierra Club and is certified as a Texas Master Naturalist, Texas Master Gardener, Texas Stream Team Advanced Water Quality Tester, Texas Stream Team Riparian Maturity Evaluator, and a CoCoRaHS weather observation citizen scientist. Their property in Brownsville is a certified natural habitat. He and his wife Deli maintain homes in Port Aransas and Brownsville, and, in January 2016, they became active with the Texas Tropical Trail Region.

Rick Stryker

Treasurer

Rick Stryker retired in 2012 after serving as director of the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History for 27 years. He previously worked for the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Museum and the Historical Society of Delaware. While serving on the Tropical Trail board he represented the Region as its designated Manager for the Texas Heritage Trails LLC for seven years. He served in this capacity through development and publication of the first 15 issues of Authentic Texas Magazine. He is a historian with a bachelor’s degree in history from Austin College in Sherman and a master’s degree in American history from the University of Delaware in Newark. He lives in Austin.

Penny Pillack

Secretary

Penny Pillack received her degrees from Texas A&I University in Kingsville. She was a teacher and administrator at Agua Dulce ISD.

Currently as a retire-rehire, she is the testing coordinator at Port Aransas ISD. Her husband is a farmer and rancher. Hobbies include reading, traveling, volunteer work, and spending time with family and friends.

She is proud to say that she's visited all 50 states! Penny serves on the Nueces County Historical Commission and is involved in several other historical and heritage organizations.

Valerie Bates

Board Chair Emeritus

Valerie Bates, born in California, but a resident of south Texas since the mid 1960s, has been involved in the Tropical Trail Region since 2005. As Marketing Director of Port Isabel (Cameron County) and photographer and writer with an interest in the rich history and culture of deep south Texas, Valerie enjoys traveling and capturing the stories and essence of our communities.

Nancy Deviney

Board of Directors Emeritus

Nancy Deviney recently retired after being active in South Texas tourism for over 30 years. She was a founding member of the 2005 Texas Tropical Trail Region board of directors holding the offices of Chair and Secretary until 2014 when she was offered and accepted the full-time position of Executive Director. She served as Executive Director of the 20-county Texas Tropical Trail Region heritage tourism program from 2014-2021.

Nancy was President of the 19-county Texas Coastal Bend Regional Tourism Council (TCBRTC) for eight years and was a member of the Board of Directors of the South Texas Region of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association.

Previously, she was Executive Director of the Freer Chamber of Commerce and wrote a monthly travel article for the South Texas Traveler magazine. She is a native Texan, born in Corpus Christi and raised in Kingsville.

Nancy and her husband, Frank, live on the shores of Lake Corpus Christi in Live Oak County. They have twin sons and four grandchildren living in San Antonio and California.

Bart Wales

A native, 5th generation Texan, Bart was born in Midland and raised in Refugio. He attended college at Texas A&M University College Station, receiving degrees in Environmental Design and a Masters in Architecture. Bart returned to Refugio where he operated his own business, worked with many nonprofit groups, served on the City Council, and as Mayor of Refugio for 3 terms.

Currently, Bart is the Director of the Refugio County Museum and President of the Refugio County Historical Society. He is also President of The South Texas Back Thru Time Historical Association, a group that promotes historic sites and businesses in the rural area from San Antonio to Corpus Christi to Victoria back to San Antonio.

Bart can also be found in Corpus Christi on the weekends, where he works as a designer for The Home Depot. Bart has always had an interest in history, art, and architecture. He currently lives in a historic home that is open for occasional tours, with a collection of art and antiques to rival none.

Marlett Bahn

Marlett has worked for the King Ranch Visitor’s Program for over a decade as a historical tour guide, doing both daily and private tours, and also serves as a sales associate both on the ranch, as well as at the Henrietta Memorial Center/King Ranch Museum. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master's degree from Texas A&I University (now TAMUK- Kingsville), coming to college from her hometown of Austin, to major in Vocational Home Economics. Her graduate studies were in sociology and education. She began a 30-year career as a schoolteacher, beginning in high school and has taught grades 3-12. Marlett became the Child Nutrition Director for two school districts. She and husband David have 4 daughters and are blessed with 11 wonderful grandchildren.

Marlett is active in the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Bishop, the Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML), serving as secretary for this organization, and is currently a school board member for the St. Paul Lutheran Church, School and Child Enrichment Center (CEC). Other activities include the United Daughters of the Confederacy, German-Texan Heritage Society of Austin, Texas, and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Other associations and involvements include the Kingsville/Kleberg County Birding & Wildlife Association, Board of Directors for the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show and their Scholarship Committee.

Lori Naylor Bellows

Lori has always had a love for History and Historical Preservation. She currently serves as Chair of the Refugio County Historical Commission, President of the Refugio County Historical Society and as a board member of the Texas Tropical Trail Region.

Lori and her husband, Dewey, live in Refugio.

Gabriel Ozuna

Gabe is a graduate student and the vice-chair of the Hidalgo County Historical Commission and currently serves on the Mercedes Historic Preservation Commission. He previously served as the Historic Preservation Coordinator for the City of Mission (CLG staff) and was formerly a Preservation Scholar at the Texas Historical Commission (2020) and a FORUM Scholar at the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (2022).

Gabe has an interest in the intersection of preservation, history and strives to foster the relationships built in local communities to advance community development efforts across the TTTR region that promote economic revitalization and heritage tourism. He resides in the Rio Grande Valley city of Donna, in Hidalgo County.

Craig Griffin

Craig is the owner of Charlotte Plummer's Restaurant, T.G.'s Beachware, and The Inn at Fulton Harbor in Fulton, TX. He is the current Chair of the Tourism Development Council (TDC) of the Rockport/Fulton Chamber of Commerce, past member and Vice Chair of the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and founding member and Vice President of Rockport Songwriters Association a 501(c) 3 corporation.

Craig's education includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marine Zoology from the University of Texas Austin, and a Master of Science in Marine Resource Management from Texas A&M, College Station. Prior to purchasing the afore mentioned businesses, his career spanned from Technical Coordinator of the Continental Shelf Study; University of Texas Marine Science Insitute, Coastal Zone Management Program, Office of the Govenor, and New Marine Business Development Manager for China and the Former Soviet Union Geophysical Services, Inc, Halliburton Houston. The majority of his time is spent working with and promoting his businesses. When not working, he loves to travel - especially heritage travel, music, cooking, and entertaining friends at his Rockport home.

Margarita Araiza

Margarita served as the Executive Director for the Webb County Heritage Foundation for 28 years. Her accomplishments include the creation of the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum – a showcase for exhibits focused on regional history housed in a rehabilitated historic building once slated for demolition; the establishment of a Laredo history curriculum for local schools – the first time local history was taught to local students; the commissioning of a comprehensive, new historical exhibit on the subject of the Republic of the Rio Grande – designed to teach this important chapter of the community’s story to visitors and locals, alike; and a series of oral histories and videos on local history topics that continue to be appreciated by countless viewers on social media. Before her retirement, she completed one last major project - the opening of the Ursuline History Center – a mini museum dedicated to educating audiences about the history of the first women religious educators in this region.

Araiza was asked to serve on a jury to select the winner of the Organizational Excellence Award presented by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She is one of five Texans that serve on the National Trust’s Board of Advisors.

Similarly, she was invited to judge applications to the Texas Historical Commission’s Preservation Trust Fund that provides matching grants for historic preservation projects throughout the state of Texas.