Full-Time Staff
Susie Smith
Director
Susie is from Texas and received a B.S. in Speech Communication from The University of Texas at Austin in 1987. Her career has focused in the areas of membership, development and event planning at organizations such as Barton Creek Country Club, Riverplace Country Club and destination management company, Circa Austin. Susie found her way back to the Forty Acres in 2008, serving as associate director for constituent relations in the College of Natural Sciences. In 2011, she was named director of Texas Parents and charged with developing strategies to enhance and expand Texas Parents services for all UT families. As mom of three active kids ages 20, 16 and 16 (yes, twins!), she enjoys being her kids' biggest fan in all that they do. Quite simply, Susie loves being a mom and sees her position at UT as an opportunity to draw on her and others' parental experiences to help UT parents and their students.
Favorite UT Austin Fact: Back in the day, class Adds and Drops were done manually with index cards and tables circling the multiple levels of the Erwin Center.
Lindsey Lundberg
Assistant Director for Communication
Lindsey was born and raised in Southern California. She earned her Bachelor of Art in Mathematics from Azusa Pacific University (APU) in 2013. She spent a few years after graduation living overseas before moving back to California to work at APU assisting in finances and office management. Since then, Lindsey has moved to Austin with her husband where they are raising their son Asher. Outside of work, Lindsey enjoys cooking, crocheting and going to football games with her husband and Asher.
Favorite UT Austin Fact: The university holds one of only 21 remaining complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible and the first permanent photograph.
Jamie Rainelli
Office Manager
Jamie was born in Germany and raised in the Midwest. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern Indiana in Business Administration Management. Most recently, Jamie has enjoyed working with alumni and parents at one of our nations service academies. Outside of work she enjoys the outdoors, cooking, spending time with her family, and attending college sporting events.
Favorite UT Austin Fact: Smokey The Cannon was built in 1953 and is shot every time the school’s football team score a touchdown.
Gloria Peña-Spener
Membership Associate
Gloria was raised in El Paso, Texas and moved to Austin in 2015 to attend The University of Texas at Austin. She earned a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Spanish from UT Austin in May, 2019. Before becoming the Membership Associate, Gloria worked for Texas Parents as a Student Office Assistant and was a member of the piccolo section in the Longhorn Band. She also took time to study Spanish in Spain. Outside of work, Gloria enjoys hiking on the Greenbelt, hanging out at Zilker Park, and attending Texas football games.
Favorite UT Austin Fact: The famous Big Bertha drum, “The sweetheart of the Longhorn Band” weighs over 500 pounds and is almost a century old.