Board & Staff

Shonnery Pettit is the President of the Board of Directors for the Center for Child Protection. She has been involved with the Center for 8 years and served as a Board member for 6 years.

Her service to the Center has been unprecedented in the amount of time and energy she has devoted to leading various committees that support the Center’s mission.  Shonnery is first and foremost purpose driven.  Every decision she makes is based on the question: “What is in the best interest of the children we serve?”

In her most recent role as the Chair of the Education Committee, she helped expand the scope of the Center’s business to include prevention efforts.  This group is focused on providing free education to schools, ensuring diversity & inclusion within the Center, and partnering with other charitable organizations to serve our community in a more impactful manner.  Her work as the Chair of the Center’s Raffle Fundraiser led to a different selling strategy which resulted in selling out in a record-breaking time.  Further, as part of the strategic planning committee, she helped to develop a comprehensive strategic plan.  She is a collaborative leader who looks for the best ideas and finds ways to implement them.

Shonnery is also a passionate public speaker and has done the fundraising ‘ask’ at many Center events including Ladies Bingo and Guardian Angel parties.  She was a 2015 Celebrity Dancer at our biggest fundraising event, Dancing with the Stars Austin.  Knowing that these funds help to serve our children in a more impactful way, Shonnery devotes a lot of time and attention to making the Center’s fundraising efforts a complete success.

Before being named the Center’s Board President, Shonnery was a founder of Ignite Running Club, a nonprofit organization in Dallas that served children living in a homeless shelter.  This organization encouraged kids to use running not only as an empowerment tool of setting & accomplishing goals, but also as a healthy outlet to deal with stress.  On her own initiative, Shonnery started a grassroots fundraising campaign which provided each child with new running gear and a free entry into a local 5K race.

She has also been involved in other philanthropic efforts in Austin.  She currently serves on the Board of Directors for DoubleTake.  She previously served on the Texas Advocacy Project Board for multiple years.  She also supports the Boys and Girls Club of Austin, St. David’s “Toast of the Town”, United Way, CureDuchenne, and is a Mack Jack & McConaughey sponsor and fashion show host.

Shonnery has her MBA from Texas Tech University.  She enjoys kickboxing and has been studying French for the past two years.  She has been married to Tom Pettit for 24 years and has two grown sons.  Blake will be graduating this year from the University of Arizona.  Brett, her youngest, is attending Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

David Nelson is a retired CFO and has been a dedicated member of the Center since 2020. His philanthropic work includes volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House, Leadership Austin, and serving on the Board of the Austonian, and now the Center For Child Protection.

Jessica Ziehr was introduced to the Center through her work with Dell Children’s Hospital and learned more about the organization through fundraising events. Jessica has a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas and is the co-founder and leader of The Covalent Foundation, which has raised money for various non-profits in Austin that support women and disadvantaged youth since 2015. She brings valuable insights and enthusiasm to the board as someone who has experience running a family foundation in Austin.

For 35 years Michael has tried cases throughout the State of Texas.  He is a diverse trial lawyer and his extensive experience has enabled him to become part of the exclusive American Board of Trial Advocacy, an exclusive group of experienced trial attorneys, in addition he is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Personal Injury Trial Law. Michael received his education at SMU Dedman School of Law. In addition to being successful in his profession, Michael is an avid philanthropist. He served as President/Board Chair for the Center for Child Protection from 2021-2022 and remains on the board as Immediate Past President. He continues to support the Center with his expertise and belief that we can work together to help children heal from trauma.