Mayor Watson and others reveal staff appointments

Mayor Kirk Watson told the Austin Monitor Monday that he has hired his chief of staff as well as a number of other new employees. Colleen Pate, who left her position as chief of staff for the Austin Chamber of Commerce to come to the city, will continue to have that title. Before joining the chamber, Pate worked with Laura Huffman at the Texas Nature Conservancy. Huffman and Pate both moved to the Chamber of Commerce and Huffman left the chamber at the end of 2022.

Watson also hired Alexis Garcia, who also joined the city from the Chamber of Commerce, where she served as director of regional and local policy. According to her LinkedIn profile, Garcia has also worked for a number of nonprofits, the Texas Education Agency and for South Texas U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar.

Watson said Joe Cascino, formerly a partner in political consulting firm Genco Strategies, would be handling constituent services. Cascino has been involved in numerous political campaigns, including Watson’s.

Also joining the mayor’s staff are Kate Alexander, a former Austin American-Statesman reporter and a former member of Watson’s staff at the Texas Senate. More recently she has worked as director of special projects at the Texas Classroom Teachers Association and at the Travis Central Appraisal District.

He has also hired Max Lars, his former campaign manager, as well as Rebecca Szeto and Mark Littlefield. Before joining the mayor’s staff, Szeto worked as social media manager at the LBJ Foundation and LBJ Presidential Library. Littlefield, a longtime pollster and political consultant, would be serving as a special assistant to the mayor.

As noted in December, Watson has also hired Barbara Shack, who continues her service in the mayor’s office as his executive assistant. She worked for former Mayor Steve Adler for the past eight years.

In District 7, Amy Smith, who worked as a reporter for many years before joining the staff of City Council Member Leslie Pool several years ago, will rejoin Pool’s staff to handle communications on Feb. 1. Smith retired from that office in 2020. She has recently worked part time for Council Member Kathie Tovo, who retired last week.

Council Member Zo Qadri has announced some additional staff hires. Those include Caleb Pritchard as communications and policy adviser. Pritchard, a former Austin Monitor reporter, has been working for Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison. Parisa Mahmud, who saved a life during her door-to-door work for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s run for the presidential nomination, has worked most recently for Celia Israel as her director of communications. She will be working on digital communication and constituent services.

Qadri previously revealed that he had hired Sara Barge to be his chief of staff and Natalie Deller and Melissa Beeler as policy advisers.

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