Ellen Burris was hired in spring 2023 to direct The Texas Tribune Festival, bringing with her 20 years of event production experience. Based in Austin, she worked on the production team at SXSW for 17 years where she served as head of production for the last seven of those years. In November of 2021, Ellen joined Beto O'Rourke's gubernatorial campaign as events manager. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in Zoology, specializing in Entomology. She continues to enjoy turning over rocks to look for bugs in her spare time.