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Shirley Anderson (Vice-President, Tour Operations Manager and Customized Group Services) has managed the VENT office for the last 17 years. A native Texan, she has owned travel businesses in both San Francisco and Austin during her 27-year tenure in the travel industry. She enjoys reading, music, and gardening, as well as traveling the world with her husband, Victor, and daughter, Rachael.
Victor Emanuel started birding in Texas 60 years ago at the age of eight. His travels have taken him to all the continents, with his areas of concentration being Texas, Arizona, Mexico, Panama, and Peru. He is the founder and compiler for 50 years of the record-breaking Freeport Christmas Bird Count, and served a term as president of the Texas Ornithological Society. Birds and natural history have been a major focus throughout his life. He derives great pleasure from seeing and hearing birds,...
TäV Garvin (Marketing and Publications Manager) has spent the last 17 years functioning as Victor's assistant and coordinating the publication of VENT's marketing materials. She also has 17 years of experience working in the semiconductor sales industry and in emergency operations for the state of Texas. In addition to some wonderful human beings, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo helped spark her interest in birds in 1983. She enjoys birding, reading, music, gardening, and observing wildli...
Phyllis Howard (Receptionist) joined VENT in 2000. She has worked extensively in administrative positions for over 40 years. She enjoys spending time (and money!) on her grandchildren, Sophia and Paul IV. When not working she enjoys reading, writing, sketching/painting, the great outdoors, and wildlife; and she walks for exercise and relaxation.
Monique Lehning (Tour Operations Assistant) joined the VENT staff in 2007. She brings over 25 years of administrative experience with her. Monique is a native Texan who had the privilege as a youth to travel with her family to over 40 states visiting numerous state and national parks, which fostered her love of nature. She has recently taken up photography and receives great joy taking pictures of the wide variety of nature along Austin's hike and bike trails. She and her husband, Donald,...
Erik Lindqvist (Tour Operations Manager) is a graduate of Pepperdine University who joined VENT in 1997. A travel veteran, Erik has over 20 years experience in the industry including stints in operations management, training, and marketing. He enjoys bicycling, outdoor activities, and spending time with his wife Lisa, stepson Brad, and eight-year-old son Karl.
Greg Lopez (Tour Operations Manager) began working for VENT in 1990, and has since realized the importance of taking care of our environment through conservation, and gained an increased appreciation for what nature has provided for us. He enjoys traveling to locations where he is able to observe people and their lifestyles and cultures, and how they are affected by the environment in which they live. When not traveling, Greg enjoys spending time at his home in the Texas Hill Country with his...
Barry Lyon's passion for the outdoors and birding has its roots in his childhood where he grew up in southern California. Through his early and teenage years his developing interests were nurtured by summertime camping trips to southern Arizona and road trips throughout the American West. He attended three VENT/ABA youth birding camps, which would ultimately pave the way for his future involvement with VENT. While in college, Barry studied history and political science, with an emphasis o...
Gordon Maxim-Kelley (Controller) joined VENT in 1992. He is a native Austinite and has a Liberal Arts degree in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. His wife, Anne, works for a local veterinary clinic. An avid disc golfer, Gordon often spends weekends in different parts of Texas competing in tournaments. He is also very involved in organizing and managing these events, and is president of the local disc golf club.
Edna Murray (Tour Operations Manager) brings 16 years of extensive travel and tourism experience to VENT. She is a native Texan, an activist for animal rights, and an environmentalist. Her favorite pastimes are boating on the Colorado River with her partner, Dev, playing music, and spoiling her dog, Claudia.
René Shields (Tour Operations Assistant) is a native Texan with a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She has worked as an outdoor guide for the Austin Nature and Science Center and the University of Texas Division of Recreational Sports. René spent several years working in Wyoming for the Forest Service, mainly as a wilderness ranger. With her husband, Gary, she enjoys bicycling in the Hill Country on weekends and socializing with other "cavers" at...
Patrick Swaggerty (Tour Operations Assistant) joined the VENT staff in September 2004. He began his career in 1984 organizing and leading adventure tours throughout Colorado for a family-based sports company. Warmer climates led him back to the island of Maui, Hawaii where he describes his lifestyle there as warm and easy. After traveling much of the world, Patrick and his partner, Ted, eventually relocated to Austin, Texas. Patrick enjoys experiencing new things, but says that he will always...