By: Gina Glover, MS, CCC-SLP, Honors and Awards Committee Chair
At the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA) 2026 Convention held recently in Fort Worth, six TSHA members were honored at the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (TSHF) Annual Breakfast Event. The TSHA Honors and Awards Committee received nominations prior to Convention and, with approval of the TSHA Executive Board, selected six deserving nominees to receive these honors. At the breakfast event, TSHA Honors and Awards Committee Chair Gina Glover announced the honorees and highlighted their contributions. TSHA President Jessica Carter greeted the honorees on stage and presented them with their awards. One of the highlights of the event was hearing the honorees speak a bit about their TSHA experiences in their inspirational acceptance speeches.
The TSHA Rising Star Award is awarded to a first-time volunteer or committee/task force member who has demonstrated outstanding commitment and work in their role as a TSHA volunteer. There were two recipients of this year’s Rising Star award.
Kim Richards
Kim is one of those rare professionals who shines in every setting. As a member of the Public School Committee, Kim has been an incredible volunteer. She brings creativity and positivity to every project, and her reliability makes her a cornerstone of our team. It’s clear that she doesn’t just volunteer out of obligation; she truly believes in the mission of supporting public school SLPs and enhancing services for students across our state. Kim is, without a doubt, a rising star—one who is already making a meaningful impact and whose light will only grow brighter in the years to come.
Marivel “Marvey” Willingham
Marvey currently serves as Chair of the Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CLD) Committee, and her exceptional leadership has revitalized and redefined the committee’s purpose and impact within our organization. Marvey leads with both grace and passion. She has inspired her committee members to engage meaningfully in discussions, projects, and initiatives that promote CLD awareness in our fields. Her ability to bring people together and create a sense of shared purpose has been truly remarkable. Her performance has been nothing short of exceptional, demonstrating a model of leadership, productivity, and commitment to the rebirth of the CLD Committee.
Congratulations, Kim and Marvey!
The TSHA Executive Council Member of the Year Award is awarded to any Executive Council member (chairs, councilor) and/or a TSHA liaison for outstanding work in the areas of task accomplishments, leadership qualities, and engaging their committee or task force chairs and members. Two volunteers were presented with this honor.
Nathalie Lebrun
Nathalie is a tenacious leader and has been one of the strongest forces in the advocacy arena for TSHA in 2025. During the height of the 2025 legislative session, Nathalie’s engagement was unparalleled. She was frequently one of the first responders to every email thread initiated by the TSHA legislative team. She leveraged her high school journalism experience to create a series of short Rapid Response videos that were published through TSHA Advocacy Briefs with the purpose of bringing awareness to TSHA advocacy efforts as well as encouraging members to engage with their legislators. Nathalie is one of the most promising TSHA members and leaders I have seen in many years. Her tenacity, creativity, persistence, and dedication to the Association make her a standout among members.
Jana Parker
Jana has served as the Chair of the Social Media, Membership, and May Is Better Hearing and Speech Month (MBHSM) Committee for more than two years, during which she has demonstrated exemplary leadership, sustained dedication, and transformative service to TSHA. Jana has provided extraordinary leadership to her committee, dedicating countless hours to strengthening TSHA’s communication strategies and member engagement efforts. She has ensured that communications were timely, accurate, and reflective of the organization’s mission and values. Her ability to coordinate complex messaging across platforms with exceptional attention to detail has significantly elevated TSHA’s statewide visibility and cohesion.
Congratulations, Nathalie and Jana!
The TSHA Public Service Award is awarded to individuals other than speech-language pathologists and/or audiologists in recognition of outstanding committee work or other Associational activity and to persons other than speech-language pathologists and/or audiologists who have supported the professions in a way that has added strength and visibility to TSHA and its goals within the past year.
Shelby O’Neill
Shelby has worked with TSHA since 2010. At the time she began her role as TSHA editor, the organization and editing of our publications was accomplished by a team of very hard-working volunteers. As TSHA grew and social media opportunities changed, the job became too large and complex for volunteers to manage. We were fortunate to find Shelby, with her talent, insight about organization needs, amazing efficiency, and patience to update and streamline the TSHA publication output. Shelby kindly keeps volunteers on task by sending gentle reminders to authors to make sure they follow through with submitting content on time. She offers her help and often grants extra time when volunteers are overwhelmed, even if it results in her being slammed at publication time. In her years with TSHA, she developed a good working knowledge of the kind of content our membership wants and needs. She notices details, like “we have not talked much about licensure lately.” No matter what the challenge or need, she is always on board to make it happen. She has never been late at wrapping up a publication on time or complained about overwork or lack of cooperation or appreciation. She has done a consistently outstanding job for many years and is truly deserving of this award.
Congratulations, Shelby!
The TSHA Award of Honors is awarded to speech-language pathologists and/or audiologists who have been members of TSHA for 10 or more years, contributed significantly to TSHA, and demonstrated outstanding leadership and exemplary professional excellence.
Lori Colletti
Over the past decade, Lori has demonstrated unwavering commitment, exceptional leadership, and a deep passion for advancing the speech-language pathology and audiology professions across Texas. Lori has dedicated countless hours, days, weeks, months, and years of her time to supporting TSHA’s advocacy efforts, participating in a wide range of advocacy initiatives including but certainly not limited to Capitol Visit Day on multiple occasions. She has excelled in various advocacy roles, consistently delivering exceptional work for both the professions and TSHA. She served as the Vice President of Advocacy on two separate occasions, always being an effective voice for advocacy on the Executive Board and with the membership. As Martha Wristen often said, “Legislation is never convenient.” Lori often made time in her schedule on the spur of the moment to come to Austin and testify before a House or Senate Committee. Her leadership in re-developing the Political Action Committee (PAC) was invaluable. Beyond her impressive service record, Lori is a thoughtful collaborator and an inspiring leader. She brings integrity, vision, and a genuine commitment to improving the landscape of communication disorders services across the state. Her contributions have not only advanced TSHA’s mission but have also fostered positive change for providers and patients statewide.
Congratulations, Lori!
Congratulations to all of these deserving honorees! If you did not attend the event this year, please join us next year. It is a wonderful celebration of TSHA and the TSHFoundation, and it will inspire you! For more information on TSHA Honors and Awards and how to nominate someone in the future, visit https://www.txsha.org/About/TSHA-Honors-and-Awards. The TSHA Honors and Award Committee is comprised of Gina Glover (chair), Erin Bellue, Margarita Limón-Ordoñez, and Martha McGlothlin.
