FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Susie P. Gonzalez

Susie.Gonzalez@Trinity.edu 

Nov. 4, 2008

Tess Coody-Anders ’93 to Receive Trinity University’s Outstanding Young Alumna Award

SAN ANTONIO – Tess Coody-Anders, a trailblazer in the movement for onsite child care facilities in the workplace, has been named Trinity University’s Outstanding Young Alumnus for 2008. She will be honored during a luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 13, in Trinity’s Chapman Center Great Hall.

Coody-Anders is the chief operating officer and partner at Guerra DeBerry Coody, a full-service marketing and communication firm with offices in San Antonio and Phoenix, Ariz. The firm has a national reputation as a leader in strategic marketing in the healthcare and telecommunication industries as well as public affairs initiatives. Coody-Anders joined fellow Trinity alumni Trish DeBerry and Frank Guerra in 1995 to establish Guerra DeBerry Coody (GDC), which today has 75 employees and posts annual revenues of $65 million.

The mother of three young sons, Coody-Anders created an on-site childcare center for GDC employees’ children at the three-story office building in downtown San Antonio. It provides her and other agency parents with peace of mind and contributes to the firm’s high staff retention rate. “We have always been family focused and we wanted to create a work environment that championed that ethic,” she said. The inspiration for the daycare at GDC comes from her childhood. “If the people my parents worked for had been a little more flexible, it could have made such a difference for our family. I’m happy we can do those things,” she said.  

She also worked for passage of a Texas law exempting small businesses from having to become a commercially licensed daycare facility in order to operate an employee daycare center. Her success story has been celebrated in national publications such as Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, and Southwest Airline’s Spirit magazine as a symbol of a family-friendly business environment. She also was Working Mother’s recipient of the 2008 Working Mother Entrepreneur Mom Awards. In addition, the agency was named one of the nation’s 15 “Top Small workplaces of 2007” by The Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces, a non-profit group.

Coody-Anders graduated with honors from Trinity in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in communication. She was a reporter for the San Antonio Light, the San Antonio Business Journal, and The Brazosport Facts before joining GDC.

Trinity’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award is given annually to those whose achievements in their profession and in service to the community set a standard of excellence worthy of recognition by Trinity University and the Alumni Association. To reserve a seat at the luncheon in Coody-Anders’ honor, contact Trinity’s Alumni Relations Office at 210-999-8404.

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