Who We Are

Beverly Silas
President and CEO

Retirement was just the beginning for Beverly Silas. After 31 years of service at AT&T-Texas, concluding as Director of External Affairs and spokeswoman for the company, she has served as interim program director for Leadership Texas (a case of giving back, since she had participated in the program herself as a student just a few years earlier), and as the founder/CEO of Envision Central Texas, a non-profit organization focusing on visioning growth in a five-county area around Austin. Since then, she began working on a master’s degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. Utilizing all the skills she has developed throughout her career, she now is president and CEO of the privately owned Concept Development & Planning, LLC, a public involvement firm.

Community activities have included serving on the Austin Community College board of trustees; state chair of the Association of Community College Trustees; board chair of the Downtown Austin Alliance; vice chair of the Austin Area Urban League; Mary Lee Foundation board of directors; Lone Star Girl Scout Council Scholarship Committee; Austin Junior Forum advisory board; and the Libraries of the Future Task Force. She is active in her church, has served on several denominational committees, and has been elected twice as a General Conference Delegate in the United Methodist Church.

Silas has a bachelor’s degree in public management from Huston-Tillotson University and a master’s degree in public affairs from UT.

Pete Peters
Vice President of Corporate Affairs

Since 1970, Mr. Peters has been involved in public affairs, governmental relations, marketing and communications in the Central Texas area. He is responsible for client development supported by administering, supervising, or performing work involved in establishing and maintaining mutual communication between clients, various governmental entities and the general public on various projects. He advises clients on policy formulation, governmental strategies and potential reactions to proposed client projects, policy goals or public communication. His clients include every branch of government, multiple business entities, public and private developments and a great number of individuals.

As a specialist in public relations administration, corporate public relations and public affairs, Mr. Peters has been involved with governmental strategies, community meetings, transportation open house/information meetings, ongoing communications, groundbreakings, media, community tours as well as neighborhood events for a number of clients. His work with governmental and quasi governmental agencies stretches over three decades. Multiple county bond proposals and resulting campaigns range from road construction to county development districts. Mr. Peters has also been involved with city bond proposals including road construction, pipeline, airport, and mass transit bonds. All of these projects had an implementation/education phase following the passage of the bonds that assured public knowledge, acceptance and assistance.

Mr. Peters has a degree in journalism and a master’s degree of communication from the University of Texas at Austin.

Arin Gray
Vice President of Public Involvement

Arin Gray currently serves as the Vice President of Public Involvement for Concept Development & Planning, LLC (CD&P). As such, she is responsible for developing and implementing public involvement plans for private and public entities. These plans may include: identifying key stakeholders; selecting appropriate audience based communication; arranging and facilitating public meetings; developing marketing materials; making presentations; and media coordination. Gray also coordinates public relations and marketing for clients including strategic plan development, and crisis/issues management. Arin has expertise in planning and organizing website development, brochures, signage creation and placement, and event coordination and facilitation. Recent project experience includes: assisting the Texas Department of Transportation with consensus building and holding an open house for the US 290/Springdale Road Overpass; work with Lakeline Commons to gain neighborhood consensus; and assisting the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority in engaging stakeholders in the US 290 Context Sensitive Design process.

Prior to working in public involvement, Gray worked at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as the Director of Special Events. As such she was responsible for planning and coordinating fundraising events including walks, galas, golf tournaments and taste events. Gray received her degree in Communications Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Cathy Howell
Vice President of Communication Design

A native Texan, Cathy Howell brings 35 years of graphic design, marketing, photography and fine art to CD&P. Over the years she has created and implemented graphics and curricula to meet the needs and varied learning styles for primary, secondary and college level classes from gifted to challenged students in Oregon, Wyoming and Texas. With these experiences, she is able to translate complex issues such as transportation and community development into graphic representations and concepts the public can understand. She has formulated and facilitated special events around the state including branding for public/private entities and political campaigns, press packets and coordination of various media companies to promote current issues.

In working with Texas counties and the Texas Department of Transportation since 1999, Cathy has worked with engineers and community leaders to create brochures, maps and exhibits to clarify future road and park bond projects along with state, county, and city transportation connectivity concerns. Through photographic manipulations of existing situations, future possibilities can become a virtual visual reality for a clearer understanding of impact to the environment and communities. In order to meet the multi-layered needs of the clients of CD&P, Cathy utilizes and incorporates multiple file formats to design materials that are camera ready for service bureaus, formatted for web design and electronic presentations.

Ms. Howell has a degree in fine arts specializing in communication design from Texas State University.