Leah Williams - Co-President

Geneva Heights

Cougar: Jenna  (Class of 2022)  

Future Cougar: Hallie (Class of 2025)

My husband Stuart and I are both East Dallas natives. Stuart grew up in Lake Highlands, and I grew up a few blocks from Tietze - my parents still live in the same house. I am a product of Mockingbird Elementary (shh, don’t tell!), J. L. Long and Woodrow Wilson.  Growing up here, we’ve seen how much East Dallas and Lower Greenville has changed for the better, including Geneva Heights! After we got married, we immediately started looking for a house in the area. We first rented a duplex on Miller and a year later we moved three blocks down the road a bought a house on Llano. We love the neighborhood and its walkability.

I own a boutique public relations/marketing agency, Dala Communications, and Stuart is the VP of Development for The Men of Nehemiah, a non-profit aimed at rebuilding the lives of men recovering from addiction and their families who are impacted  firsthand. We first got involved in Pre-G through Wendy Hatchell, the brainchild of Pre-G and our inaugural president. The group has grown so much since it began, and it has been a blast to be a part of the excitement and momentum that is Pre-G.

As Co-President of Pre-G I look forward to working alongside my partner in crime, Erica, and helping support our board members as we work together to spread awareness for our growing group.  A more engaged community is more important than ever right now and only means one thing for our neighborhood school – a better education for our kids and all who attend Geneva Heights!

Melinda Trujillo - Treasurer

Hollywood Heights
Cougars: Gwendolyn (Class of 2020) and Madeleine (Class of 2022)

My husband, Thomas, and I currently live in Hollywood Heights with our two daughters, but we bought our first house in Lakewood Heights after moving back to Dallas from Florida in 2012. We fell in love with this gem of a neighborhood that is tucked into the big city. We got involved in Pre-Geneva when a friend introduced us to the organization a few years ago, and we haven't looked back! After our move, we decided to transfer our girls into Geneva Heights even though we are now zoned for a different school. I have loved getting to know new "mom" friends and supporting our neighborhood school at the same time.

I work for an investment management firm, and Thomas is an audit partner at KPMG. Our oldest is in the first-grade dual language program at Geneva Heights, and our youngest is in Pre-K at Skillman Church of Christ Child Development Center. 

 As Treasurer, I maintain all financial records and budgets for our organization.

Lydia Hathorn - Secretary

Vickery Place

Cougar: Connor (Dual Language 2nd Grade)

Future Cougar: Claire (Kinder Class of 2024) 

After living in NYC and New Jersey for 7 years, a job offer for my husband, Chris, brought our family to Dallas in 2016. Neither of us are from the northeast (I’m from Missouri, he’s from Louisiana), and what we felt was most lacking from our lives during our time in NYC/NJ was a sense of belonging to a community. When the time came to buy a house in Dallas, finding a neighborhood that felt like home with a school where our kids could flourish in a network of caring neighbors and friends was at the top of our priority list. Vickery Place and Geneva Heights seemed the perfect fit. Connor has been a proud Geneva Heights Cougar since starting dual language PreK4 in 2019. In pre-COVID life, Claire and I enjoyed volunteering in the school library, where she started building a fan club that awaits her kindergarten arrival in 2024.

When I’m not working part-time as a women’s health nurse practitioner at Parkland Hospital, I can often be seen walking the kids to/from school, strolling Greenville with the family in search of a new place to try for dinner, or heading to Tietze Park after grabbing coffee from Halcyon. My hobbies include DIY home improvement projects, crochet, watching Great British Bake-Off reruns on Netflix, and color coding my planner (now you know why I’m the secretary).

Kristen Orlando - VP of Programming  

Belmont Addition
Cougar: Lucca (Class of 2020) and Layla (Class of 2022) 

My husband and I, both Ohio State Graduates, moved from

Denver to Dallas in 2012. We spent around a year looking for an area that checked off all of our wants and after stumbling on the Lower Greenville Neighborhood we were hooked. We have really loved being able to walk everywhere. What started out as frequent walks to the Greenville bars escalated quickly into bike rides at Tietze with our two kiddos. 

My husband works in Supply Chain for US Cellular while I am the Director of Quality at my family owned FAA repair station BP Aero. 

I joined the PreG board quickly after it started and have loved watching our first wave of 6 month old babies turn into Geneva Heights Kindergarteners. 

With the programming role I have helped set up some annual events as well as manage our sports teams for spring and fall seasons. There’s nothing better than watching three year olds tumble down the field all kicking the same soccer ball am I right?  

We currently have a kindergartner in the dual language program and also have a PreG baby in the PreK-3 program. 

Claire Cook - VP of Membership 

Belmont Addition

Future Cougar: Vivian (Class of 2026)

My husband Turner and I moved to the Belmont Conservation District in 2019 and we quickly fell in love with the area. We love how many other kids and families are in our neighborhood and how fun and unique East Dallas is—especially Lower Greenville. As you can see in our picture, we love celebrating St. Patty’s Day in the neighborhood! Our daughter Vivian will be a Geneva Heights Cougar starting in 2026. I joined Pre-G through my prenatal yoga instructor and current Co-President, Erica.  Although this is my first year as a Board Member, I already love the Pre-G community, support, and friendship and cannot wait for our daughter to be a Geneva Heights Cougar.

I am an employment lawyer, and my husband works in commercial construction.  In our spare time, we love going on walks in the neighborhood, trying new (and old) restaurants, and playing at Tietze park!  I enjoy planting flowers/digging around in the garden, and you can usually catch Turner riding his bike around White Rock Lake.  We also love to travel when we can, especially to Mexico! 

As VP of Membership, my job is to encourage new membership and educate others about the Pre-G community.  I am also the Kindergarten 2026 playgroup leader and love meeting the families who will also be in Vivi’s class.

Victoria Pfitzinger - VP of Communications 

Lakewood Heights

Future Cougars: Caroline (Class of 2024) and John (Class of 2026)

My husband and I moved to the Lakewood Heights neighborhood in March 2021 from just a few miles away on the east side of the lake! Before that, we lived it up in our Uptown condo for a few years before Caroline (2) and John (3 months) came along. We knew we wanted to live in a neighborhood with a great local school and found out about Geneva Heights and Pre-G through the awesome yard signs sprinkled throughout the neighborhood! Caroline currently attends First Presbyterian Developmental Day School downtown and I work at AT&T in corporate communications and my husband Brian works at an oil and gas company as their Controller. 

On the weekends, we love to explore and get out of the house!  Caroline loves playing at Tietze Park, especially in the toddler pool during the summer. John just enjoys being along for the ride and watching his crazy sister for now! 

As communications chair, I look forward to keeping both Pre-G members and prospective families in the loop about all the amazing community building events and spreading the word about Geneva Heights Elementary. 

Crystal Woods - Parliamentarian

Belmont Addition
Future Cougars: Jamis (Class of 2022) & Henley (Class of 2025), Camden (Class of 2026) 

My husband, Jarrett, and I are both Dallas/Fort Worth natives. He beat me to the neighborhood in 2009, but I was quick to join him, with us buying a home together in the Belmont Conservation District home in 2012. It has been incredible to watch the area grow and thrive, and particularly exciting to see so many young families move in. We love East Dallas, particularly the character, traditions, and unique people that it encompasses, and could not be more excited about what is to come.

We soak up as much time as possible with our son Jamis, who currently attends Skillman Child Development Center and will start kindergarten at Geneva Heights in 2022, and daugherty Henley, who we welcomed in May 2020 and will start kindergarten in 2025. I work full-time as an employment litigation attorney at DLA Piper LLP (US) located in downtown, and my husband is a multi-family developer. We love traveling (even with a toddler), live music, sailing, and enjoying the outdoors with family and friends.

As the Parliamentarian, I try to ensure we dot all of the i’s and cross all of the t’s so that Pre-Geneva can continue to do the amazing work that it is doing. It is so exciting to be part of this incredible organization that has already made such a marked difference in just the few years since it was established—not just for our school, but for our neighborhood and in bringing our community together.

Dara Enzler - Fundraising/Underwriting Chair 

Belmont Addition

Cougar: Dylan (Class of 2019)

Future Cougar: Olivia (Class of 2022) 

My husband, Matt, and I both grew up in Plano but the East Dallas charm won us over when we were first looking for homes.  We got married in 2006 and quickly moved to a house off of Richmond Avenue.  When Dylan (7) and Olivia (4) came along, we knew we wanted to stay in the neighborhood so we moved to Goliad Avenue where we are today.  I love Pre-Geneva so much that this is actually my second stint with the board after being gone for 2 ½ years.  I am overjoyed to see how much this organization has grown and to be a part again of all of the excitement.  Pre-Geneva has truly been such a shining star of my children’s childhood.

My son, Dylan, is currently a 2^nd grader at Geneva Heights in the dual language program.  Olivia is at Spanish World School and will be attending Geneva Heights for Kindergarten.  I love that my two children will be going to school together and they talk about it constantly.  Before Covid, I enjoyed volunteering on campus at the library and working with the teachers.  As a family, we love exploring our amazing community and to travel.  Most recently we took our young children to Costa Rica and had an amazing time.

As the  Fundraising/Underwriting Chair, I will be looking for opportunities for funding our awesome organization whether that be Dine and Donates or formal events (like our fun cornhole tournament).  Please feel free to share any ideas you may have for fundraising.  We love working on new initiatives!