New board to lead Dallas CASA

By Rosanne Lewis

The Board of Directors of Dallas CASA has elected a new board chair and executive committee, as well as three new board members.

Janice Z. Davis will serve as board chair. A corporate and transactional attorney and partner at Haynes Boone, Davis advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures and private equity transactions. 

Her work spans industries including software, healthcare, energy, real estate and manufacturing. She holds a law degree from Baylor University and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has served as president of the Dallas Bar Association and an adjunct professor of business law at Southern Methodist University and currently serves on the board of directors for Broadway Dallas. She has been a Dallas CASA board member since 2013.

Davis is also a sworn volunteer advocate for Dallas CASA, having recently completed a complex four-year-long case with four children aged three to nine when they came into foster care. The children went through multiple placements during that time, but ultimately, the siblings’ uncle received permanent custody of the children. At the time of removal, none of the children had ever attended school, and Davis and her co-volunteer, Judith Steiner, focused on educational advocacy and placement with their uncle.

Newly elected board members include:

Krista Hanvey is an attorney and Co-Partner in Charge of the Dallas office of Gibson Dunn, where she also serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice group. 

She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in government before attending William & Mary Law School, where she graduated first in her class.

Ashley Scheer is an attorney at Jackson Walker LLP., where her practice focuses on employment matters. She is also an expert in school law and has represented numerous independent and parochial schools. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in government and psychology and Southern Methodist University School of Law. Scheer has served as a volunteer advocate for Dallas CASA since 2019, advocating for nine children on three cases during that time. 

She is currently co-advocating for permanency and safety for a 10-year-old girl in foster care.

Andrew White is a managing director at Goldman Sachs, which was the recipient of Dallas CASA’s 2025 Champion of Children Award for the firm’s commitment to children served by Dallas CASA. He is also a board member of the Tartan Classic, a golf tournament benefitting Dallas’ Scottish Rite for Children, and the Texas Real Estate Council. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in business.

Jamal Carty will serve as Vice Chair and Chair-Elect, with VP Community Outreach Nicki Stafford, VP Development Kristy Robinson, VP Governance Paige Richey, VP Finance Susan H. Novit, Assistant Treasurer Greg May and Secretary Jonathan Bassham and Members-at-Large Corey Anthony, Veree Hawkins Brown, Jim Lozier, Juan Nevarez, Stephen B.L. Penrose and Lauren Rose Sands rounding out the executive committee.

Dallas CASA’s volunteers work alongside judges, attorneys, educators and families to promote healing, safety and permanency for children who have experienced abuse or neglect and are living in foster care. 

In 2025, 1,116 volunteers advocated for the care of 2,340 children in protective care.