Rachel Williams is the president and print division manager at Ranch House Designs. Born and raised on V8 Ranch, Rachel’s first interest in marketing came from working with her father, Jim Williams. Rachel received her bachelor's in animal science from Texas A&M University, where she enjoyed working with many national leaders including Dr. John McNeill and Dr. Larry Boleman, two mentors who greatly helped build her career.

After graduation, Rachel left her Texas home for the opportunity to study under Dr. Harlan Ritchie and Dr. Dave Hawkins at Michigan State University. During her two years in East Lansing, she was a writer for the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, where several of her stories were picked up by the AP. She worked on communications projects for the Dean of the College of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, and Michigan Cattleman’s Association. She also taught weekly labs in advertising and public relations courses. Rachel loved her time as a Spartan, where she learned from nationally recognized professors and made lifelong friendships with fellow students who are now key leaders in the agriculture industry.

After completing her M.S., Rachel accepted a full-time position at Texas A&M University as marketing coordinator for the Department of Animal Science. This job allowed her to return to Texas and coordinate the landmark “Century of Success” 100th Anniversary of Animal Science project. She created several successful communications campaigns for the Department of Animal Science and handled the department's PR, media relations, and alumni relations.

After two years at A&M, took the risk of leaving her full time job at Texas A&M to begin Ranch House Designs whole-heartedly. Since then, she developed RHD into the national leader in livestock advertising, and serves several other industries as well. In the past four years, she has personally won over 25 national design awards from national and local advertising organizations in agriculture and mainstream media. She manages RHD's international client base which includes accounts in Canada, Mexico, South America, Central America, and Australia.

Rachel is very active in volunteer projects, industry organizations and enjoys Christian activities. She is currently serving on the Public Relations Committee for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and is a Director for the American Brahman Breeders Association where she is a member of the long-range planning committee and the youth advisory board chairman. Rachel has also completed training for the master of beef advocacy program sponsored by NCBA. She owns a small but elite herd of registered Brahman and Shorthorn cattle.

Catherine Williams is the Vice President and Web Division Manager of Ranch House Designs. A Texas gulf coast native, Catherine was born and raised on V8 Ranch, working daily on her family’s Brahman and Shorthorn cattle operation. Catherine attended Texas A&M University and earned her bachelor's in 2005 in animal science. While at A&M, Catherine worked in the Department of Animal Science under two of her mentors, Dr. Chris Skaggs and Dr. Larry Boleman.

With the help of her family, Catherine enjoyed one of the most successful junior Shorthorn show careers in the history of the breed. She won every major livestock show in the United States, and exhibited three back-to-back Junior National champion females (a feat never accomplished before). She also won numerous national showmanship, speaking, and leadership contests.

As Ranch House Designs continued to grow, there was a need for a branch office in Wharton, Texas. Catherine volunteered to lead this project for RHD, and in April 2007, officially opened the company’s second office. In June 2007, the Wharton office became the corporate headquarters and now employs three full-time staff members and three part time staffers.

Catherine is responsible for managing the over 300 web sites designed by RHD and also provides training and supervision to the other members of our web division. She is responsible for all new web design projects and guides the technology development of RHD staff members. As needed, she also often helps in the print division during busy times of the year. She has won 10 national design awards in both web and print over the past four years.

After a day’s work at the office, Catherine enjoys getting back on the ranch and relaxing. She also owns her own growing herd of cattle, including Brahman, Shorthorn, and American breed influenced crossbred cattle. She is an avid Shorthorn historical buff, and enjoys collecting Shorthorn memorabilia. Her favorite times are those spent at livestock shows or sales with her friends in the cattle industry.

Catherine currently volunteers as a member of the Junior Advisory Commitee for the American Shorthorn Association. She is a member of the Abell Street Church of Christ, where she volunteers as a Vacation Bible School teacher each summer.

Catherine Williams
Vice President
and Web Division Manager
catherine@ranchhousedesigns.com

In 2007, Tricia Potts joined the RHD staff as our project manager and local business representative.

Tricia earned her bachelor’s in agricultural journalism from Texas A&M University. After graduating from Texas A&M, Tricia moved to the Rio Grande Valley where she worked for 6 years as the Community Development Director of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce. In this position she coordinated all major community events including publicity, media relations and volunteer efforts.

Since 1994, Tricia has been a columnist and reporter for the Wharton Journal Spectator and East Bernard Express newspapers. From 1995-2000, she covered agricultural issues/personalities and special features in Wharton County. Later, she became a weekly columnist for the East Bernard express and a feature writer.

In 2007, Tricia left her position with the newspaper for a new opportunity here at RHD. She brings a wealth of experience in the communications industry and plays a huge role in the expansion of RHD in our local community. Her broad variety of experiences make her perfect to assist local businesses with their advertising and communications needs.

Tricia is also a member of our web division, where she works on many new web site development projects. She handles the booking for all new web sites, prepares custom quotes for new web site projects, and after booking, serves as a liason between clients and the designer, relaying the clients design ideas and goals to other staff members at RHD. Through their phone calls and emails with Tricia, clients value her input on their advertising plans. In addition, she is experienced in Adobe Creative Suite 3, including Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and InDesign. She is able to work with CSS and XHTML. During our busy print production times of year, Tricia also works on sale catalogs and newsletter designs.

Tricia lives in East Bernard, Texas with her husband and four children. She is a member of the Holy Cross Catholic Church, where she regularly volunteers in various capacities, and a member of the East Bernard Elementary PTO, Brahma Athletic Boosters Club and East Bernard Little League. Her children also exhibit a market swine project each year at the county fair.

Tricia Potts
Project Manager
and Local Business Representative
tricia@ranchhousedesigns.com

Christa Jo Guidry came to Ranch House Designs in fall 2008 as a full time staff member in our web updates division. Christa was born and raised in the small Texas town of Helotes, which is just outside of San Antonio and home of the Floore's Country Store, a popular live Texas music venue.

Christa is a 2007 graduate of Texas A&M University where she majored in animal science and was on the Dean's List all four years. While a student at A&M, our paths crossed when she enrolled in Dr. Jeff Savell's Livestock Marketing course, where Rachel and Catherine serve as guest lecturer's each semester.

Christa is a member of the web division at RHD, and is the Web Updates Manager. In this position, she oversees and coordinates major updates to existing web sites, as well as making updates and adding content to new web site designs that are in progress. Christa has a meticulous eye for detail, takes pride in her work, and goes above and beyond to make sure that the content that is added to our clients’ web sites upholds the creative standard of quality established by Ranch House Designs. She is proficient in XHTML and CSS, and also designs supporting graphics for both existing web sites and new web site designs.

After graduation, Christa took a position with the Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo in Austin in the Competitive Events Department. Here, she helped plan and organize the livestock competitions and other events. Christa really loved this job because she got to work with two fellow Aggies animal science gradutes, Johnny Philipello and Jessie Highfill. During the course of her employment at Star of Texas, she handled all entries and exhibitor packets for the junior livestock show, open show,and horse show. She also helped with the Calf Scramble, Youth Art Show, Youth Auction,Texas Shootout Contest and the Miss Rodeo Austin Queen's Contest. And, in addition to all of her experience in event planning and organization, she is also a certified AI technician!

Christa and her husband Jason live in Boling, where Jason is one of the agri-science instructors at Boling High School. She enjoys Christian activities, hunting, fishing, playing 42, being involved in the cattle business, and being an ag teacher's wife!

Christa Jo Guidry
Web Updates Division Manager
christa@ranchhousedesigns.com

STACEY SHANKS joined the RHD creative team in the summer of 2009 as a graphic designer.

As they say, it's a small world. In the 1990s, Stacey was a very successful junior Brahman exhibitor in Louisiana. She and her sisters were excellent show-women and exhibited numerous championship Brahman cattle at state and national junior shows around the same time Rachel and Catherine were showing. Through the Brahman connection, Stacey met her future husband, Brandon Shanks, who is the grandson of legendary Brahman cattle marketing expert, Johnny Joyce.

Stacey attended Louisiana State University where she majored in animal science. While a student at LSU, Stacey worked for the Louisiana Cattlemen's Association where she assisted with membership and communications. She worked with the LCA magazine and developed an interest in creative communications.

In 2003, Stacey moved to Texas and later began working as a veterinary technician for Wharton Veterinary Clinic. Catherine and Stacey became "Facebook friends" and Catherine started noticing the amazing photos Stacey always posted on her profile. This led to a friendship developing between the two ladies who often emailed and shared Photoshop tips and questions. Whenever RHD wanted to add another full time staff member, Stacey was our first choice.

Stacey also owns a photography business, where she specializes in senior photos, wedding photos, children photos, and family photos. Stacey and Brandon have two sons, Sully and Rayne. Though she remains a loyal LSU Tiger fan, complete with the bumper sticker to prove it, she and her family are now residents of the thriving metropolis of Boling, Texas.

Stacey Shanks
Graphic Designer
stacey@ranchhousedesigns.com

Luann Williams is the quality control manager of Ranch House Designs. Though she began "officially" working at RHD in 2007, she has been a big part of the agency since 1999. As Rachel and Catherine's mom, she was one of the first people who encouraged us to create Ranch House Designs and has always been there to lend a hand where-ever she could.

Luann earned her degree in medical records and quickly rose to the top of her profession. She advanced to being the medial records supervisor at one of the largest hospitals in Bryan, Texas while her husband Jim was finishing up his degree at Texas A&M. When they moved back to the ranch, she became the office manager for the V8 Ranch, a position she has held for nearly 30 years. In this position she handles registrations, sales, and customer service for the Brahman and Shorthorn ranch. This career has given Luann tremendous experience in business and customer service. She is very comfortable negotiating deals, handling contracts, and submitting bids and proposals. She has spent years working with the public, including many international clients, and knows what it takes to make a business succeed.

At RHD, Luann provides supervision to the web division where she is our quality control manager. She monitors all web updates completed by the web division (approximately 300/month) for accuracy and turnaround time. She also manages the mailing list for Ranch House Designs and several of our clients. Luann also assists with business decisions and accounting at RHD.

In addition to working at RHD, Luann still manages the office for V8 Ranch and V8 Shorthorns. She is an active member of the Abell Street Church of Christ and a huge fan of Texas Aggie Football, Texas Aggie Basketball, and Astros Baseball.

luann williams
Web Quality Control Manager
Mailing List Manager
luann@ranchhousedesigns.com

Luke Neumayr joined the RHD team in May 2007. Luke hails from New Richmond, Indiana, which is a small town famous for the filming of the movie “Hoosiers.” In fact, the post office in his hometown still says Hickory, Indiana. Luke’s family is very active in this local farming community, and his mother is the former mayor of their hometown.

While growing up, Luke was an avid Angus showman and exhibited several champions on a statewide level. His experiences with “The Business Breed” helped give him a solid foundation for a career in the agriculture industry. Luke is a past executive board member of the Indiana Junior Beef Cattle Association, the group that hosts the Hoosier Beef Congress each winter. He also served as junior chairman of the 2006 National Junior Angus Show in Indiana. As a junior showman, he represented Indiana in the prestigious National Junior Angus Showmanship Contest.

Luke's natural "eye" for livestock evaluation made him a popular recruit for many nationwide livestock judging programs. He chose to attend Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas on a livestock judging scholarship, coached by Chris Mullinix. Luke then transferred to Texas A&M University, where he was a member of the 2008 Livestock Judging Team. Luke's collegiate judging career boasts many accolades, inclluding being awarded the 1st Place High Individual at the National Western and Fort Worth Stock Show Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Contests, and a member of the 2007 "All American" Junior College Livestock Judging Team. Luke is an approved judge of the American Brahman Breeder's Association and also judges several local, regional, and state shows across the U.S.

During his years with RHD, Luke has moved through the ranks - starting out as a web site assistant, then quickly being promoted to advanced web designer and graphic designer. He has worked on all types of projects from the ground-up to better learn the in’s and out’s of the company. He is certified in Photoshop, Dreamweaver, InDesign, XHTML, Flash, and CSS.

Luke will graduate in August 2009 from Texas A&M University with a degree in animal science. He is now employed with V8 Ranch but consults for RHD's web division by assisting with new web site programming and design.

luke neumayr
Web Design Programmer
luke@ranchhousedesigns.com

Jessica Hobbs joined our staff in May 2007 as an office assistant. When opening our new office in Wharton, we needed a part-time employee who could help manage our office and provide customer service support. Jessica came highly recommended from a local church member and we instantly knew that Jessica was someone special!

Jessica attended Wharton High School, the 4A high school in the town where our corporate headquarters is located. Jessica was an honor student in the top 10% of a highly-competitive class. After beginning her job as office assistant, we quickly saw Jessica’s skill level in Microsoft Office, organization, multi-tasking, and customer service. One of Jessica's most important jobs at RHD includes maintaining the photo database at RHD and assisting with sire service management.

As the friendly voice who often greets customers on the phone, Jessica assists clients with customer service issues including booking ads, proofing ads, and completing ad approvals. She also handles the domain name registration and web hosting set up for all of our web division accounts.

In September 2007, Jessica joined our web division and completed Dreamweaver and Photoshop training. In March 2008, she completed training and certification in advanced web design updating procedures. She frequently assists clients with posting of online sale catalogs, photos and text. Currently, she handles the majority of web site updates of text and photos for our over 350 client sites. Her average turnaround time on web site updates is 1/2 day.

Jessica is a sophomore at Wharton County Junior College and has plans to transfer to the University of Houston to major in engineering in fall 2009. She is an active member of the Iago Federated Church.

jessica hobbs
Advanced Web Designer
jessica@ranchhousedesigns.com

Liz Tovar came to RHD in June 2007 on a recommendation from an East Bernard community member and RHD banker, James Vincek. He felt very confident that Liz would be a great asset on our team because of her background in writing and design, and her future interest in pursuing a career in journalism.

Liz is a recent graduate of East Bernard High School, which is also Tricia's hometown, and is about 15 minutes from Wharton. This school has an outstanding high school journalism program, and Liz took advantage of this career preparation by taking several couses in writing and design, including training in InDesign and Photoshop. As a junior in high school, she was selected to be the editor-in-chief of their school newspaper, which was published for all students in East Bernard ISD. She continued in this position her senior year, giving her two solid years experience in desktop publishing. Under her editorship, the paper won two state awards from the Texas UIL for oustanding high school newspapers.

These skills have made Liz an instant asset to RHD. She works on several of our print ads, where she "takes over" many projects once the initial design work has been done by Rachel. Liz is then responsible for sending out ad proofs, talking with clients, editing, and getting ad approvals. She also handles submitting ads to the various publications for clients. She also works on the majority of our business card designs, letterheads, and many other projects.

Liz's agricultural background includes 4 years as a member of the 4-H Horse Judging Team. She enjoys being around and working with horses and playing golf. She is also a talented musician and plays guitar in a band. Liz is a freshman at Wharton County Junior College and has plans to transfer to Texas State University in fall 2009 to study print media and journalism. She is an active member of the Holy Cross Catholic Church where she helps teach religious classes.

Liz Tovar
Print Division
Graphic Design Assistant
liz@ranchhousedesigns.com

Emily Forgason worked periodically at the RHD office in the summers of 2007 and 2008 as a part-time summer employee. In 2009, she accepted more of full time student employee position and was promoted to web updates assistant.

She recently completed training in web design updating procedures, which allows her to help clients by updating their photos and text updates to their web site. She is one of the friendly voices who often answers the phone at RHD, where she assists clients with a variety of needs from booking ads to photo requests.

Emily was born and raised on the J.D. Hudgins Ranch in Hungerford, Texas. Rachel and Catherine have known Emily her entire life, since we are second cousins (Emily’s grandfather Richard and our grandmother Mollie are brother and sister). Along with her family, she works on the Forgason Cattle Company division of the JDH ranch, where she is active in the daily ranch work and show cattle management.

One of Emily’s biggest hobbies is showing and working with Brahman cattle with her two younger sisters Erin and Ellie. She has a very successful show career including exhibiting champions at open and junior shows across the nation. Emily has been able to learn many useful marketing and business skills from her involvement in the cattle industry. Like Rachel and Catherine, she enjoys the international aspect of the Brahman cattle business and has already traveled to Australia to learn more about the Brahman breed there.

Emily is very active in the Texas Junior Brahman Association, American Junior Brahman Association, 4-H and FFA. She is a member of the First Baptist Church in El Campo.

Emily is a senior at Boling High School, and is part of their cooperative work program where she attends high school in the morning and then works at RHD in the afternoons. After graduation, she plans to attend Texas A&M University.

Emily Forgason
Office Assistant
Photo Database Manager
Web Updates Assistant

dollie Petrosky came to RHD in the summer of 2009 as a web updates assistant and office assistant. As a member of the Abell Street Church of Christ, she has been friends with Rachel and Catherine for her entire life. Though we knew Dollie from church, we were tremendously impressed with her public speaking ability and leadership when we saw her activities at the Boling FFA annual banquet in May 2009. We were hiring a part time student employee position, and we knew that Dollie would make a great addition to the RHD team.

In June 2009, Dollie completed training in web updating procedures. She enjoys working with many of our web site clients by adding new photos to their web site and updating their text information. Additionally, Dollie handles a variety of office tasks including talking with clients over the phone and assisting with accounting and billing. Dollie also helps maintain the photo database at RHD and works with domain name registration and renewals.

Dollie makes a great team member at RHD because she is friendly, outgoing, and has a background with a variety of livestock species. She has shown Red Brangus cattle for 7 years, and currently serves as a national officer of the American Junior Red Brangus Association. She has also exhibited market swine, market hogs, and market goats during her FFA involvement. She is a past officer of Boling FFA and holds the Lone Star Farmer Degree.

Dollie graduated from Boling High School in May 2009, and is attending Wharton County Junior College. She plans to transfer to Texas A&M University-Galveston to major in ocean and coastal resources. Dollie is also employed by the City of Wharton as a lifeguard and is a member of the Abell Street Church of Christ Youth Group.

Dollie Petrosky
Office Assistant
Photo Database Manager
Web Updates Assistant