Marianne serves as Texas Book Festival’s CEO. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University where she documented the story of her family’s immigration experience from Cuba to the US. Marianne dedicated over three years to full-time volunteer service in the United States Peace Corps (Republic of Moldova from 2000-2002) and AmeriCorps VISTA (Dallas, Texas from 2002–2003) where she developed a passion for fundraising for mission-driven organizations. She has since spent the last two decades developing her skills as an organizational leader and social entrepreneur. Most recently, she served as the Chief Revenue Officer for Pease Park Conservancy, where she helped finalize the $15M capital campaign to revitalize, operate, and maintain Austin’s beloved Pease Park. She currently serves on the boards of directors for Raasin in the Sun and Austin Outside. In her free time, she totes around her teenage son (who is her brightest star), catches up on her reading, and avidly walkables (aka the formal combination of the verbs walk and Audible which clearly go hand-in-hand.)
Author: Becky Gomez
Experience the Texas Book Festival
Experience the Festival through recordings of select sessions from Festival Weekend! Whether you attended and want to relive your favorite conversations, or missed the Festival and want to see your favorite authors – take a look at these captivating sessions below as well as on our Youtube channel.
Bilingual Session: Ingrid Rojas Contreras in Conversation about The Man Who Could Move Clouds / Ingrid Rojas Contreras en Conversación sobre su libro El Hombre que Movía las Nubes
Ann Patchett in Conversation about Tom Lake
Welcome to our new Chief Executive Officer, Marianne DeLeón!
We’re excited to welcome Marianne DeLeón as Texas Book Festival’s new CEO.
“I am delighted to introduce Marianne DeLeón, the newest member of the Texas Book Festival team,” says Gigi Edwards Bryant, Texas Book Festival board chair. “She will be joining us as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board couldn’t be more thrilled to have her on board. Marianne comes with a strong background in leadership, fundraising and relationship development.”
DeLeón has a longstanding commitment to nonprofit organizations and volunteerism, beginning her 20-plus-year career as a health education volunteer with the United States Peace Corps and most recently serving as Chief Revenue Officer of Pease Park Conservancy. During her tenure at the conservancy, DeLeón helped lead the completion of a $15 million capital campaign in 2020, overseeing organizational growth from a $1.1 million budget and five staff members to a current $2.8 million budget and 15 staff members. She did this while providing leadership in long-term vision creation, fundraising strategy, effective management of donor portfolios, coaching staff, and developing sustainable philanthropic campaigns.
Marianne will lead fundraising efforts to help ignite the passion for reading in the state of Texas. This involves fostering connections between authors and readers, as well as creating enrichment experiences that celebrate the cultural significance of literacy, ideas and imagination as the organization gears up for the 2024 Festival.
“Becoming the CEO of the Texas Book Festival is an absolute honor,” DeLeón says. “It affords me the opportunity to lead a talented team that is dedicated to promoting literacy and uniting communities through the power of storytelling, values that resonate deeply with my own passions for literature and education.”
Please join us in welcoming Marianne to the TBF family!
