Our team is made up of a diverse group of individuals with a wide-variety of skills, backgrounds, and personalities. We all come together with the common goal of making property management easy for our owners and making sure our guests have a memorable experience while staying on North Padre Island.
Padre Escapes employees over 40 people in the off season and that number grows to over 100 during our peak season. Below are some of the names and faces owners and guests interact with on a daily basis, but none of what we do would be possible without our team behind the scenes.
Christi Knoll
As one of the owners and CEO, Christi`s oversight of all operations is an integral part of the companies` success. She has insight into all areas of real estate, property management, and HOA management.
She can see the big picture and how each working part is affected by the other. She also works closely with each department on day-to-day operations.
Christi was born and raised in the Corpus Christi area. Her husband Charlie and their two children, Caleb and Carter, have enthusiasm for fitness and well-being, they also enjoy fishing and competitive skeet shooting and spending time with their extended family.
Charlie Knoll
Charlie is also an owner of Padre Escapes. His honesty and understanding of the local real estate and vacation rental markets is second to none and he is readily available to all property owners, both current and potential.
In addition to his role in Padre Escapes, Charlie has been a licensed Realtor/Broker for 20 years. His focus on customer service, communication, and unwavering honesty are the characteristics that were built into Padre Escapes from day one. He`s served on several boards including a term as Chairman of the Board of the Corpus Christi Association of Realtors.
Charlie is native to the area. He and his wife, Christi, are raising their two sons, Caleb and Carter, just over the bridge in Flour Bluff. The values Charlie exudes everyday are being instilled in their boys.
Terry Cox
Terry is the owner who set it all in motion. Terry has a storied real estate career of over 35 years on Padre Island. He is well-known for his honesty, integrity, hard work, and determination. These morals are the foundation that Padre Escapes was built-on.
Terry is involved in most every aspect of Padre Escapes, but he spends much of his time at El Constante, Surfside or the laundry facility which he and his wife Phyllis have been responsible for developing over the years.
His passion and drive for the business is only surpassed by his passion for his family. In his spare time, you`ll find Terry and his wife enjoying time with their family, especially their four grandchildren. Terry and Phyllis are both very active members in their local church as well.
Sage Viator
You`ve heard of a "Jack of all traits"? Well, we have a "Sage of all traits"! Sage has been with Padre Escapes since 2014. He is a man of many talents. He started out stocking laundry, then after working his way into reservations, he was promoted to front desk manager, and now he is the Director of Owner and Guest Services.
Sage has been trained by some of the best in the business, but he continues to expand his knowledge by attending seminars and visiting other vacation rental facilities.
In his spare time Sage can be found traveling the dirt paths, rocky roads, beaches, or anything that he can crawl over in his Jeep.
Emily Wilson
Emily grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. She made her way to Corpus Christi a few years back and has been a part of the Padre Escapes team since 2017. Emily is the Director of Marketing and the mastermind behind our social media. Her Christmas posts with our Elf of a Shelf, Elfonso, are hilarious!
With a degree in advertising and a background in hospitality, along with her creative mind, positive vibe, and contagious laughter...that`s the formula for making every guest`s stay enjoyable.
When she is out of the office, Emily and her husband Matt enjoy traveling and spending time with family and friends.
Savannah Mcgrath
Ever met someone who just brings solutions and is willing to help out in any capacity? That`s Savannah! She`s been a part of the Padre Escapes Team since May of 2017. Her dedication to doing the right thing and her forth right manner have made her an asset to Padre Escapes. Will Savannah tell it like it is? 100% and we love that about her! She has been a part of the reservations team and worked in the HOA department for Surfside Condominiums.
She is now our Director of Operations managing all systems and processes that we use every single day.
When Savannah`s not working you can find her spending time with her family, friends, and her dog, Remi.
Jason Cox
Stuff happens, right? And when it does, you need a someone to
fix it, like yesterday! Meet Jason.
Jason
has been running our inhouse maintenance department since we created an in
house maintenance department in 2015, but he`s no stranger to the maintenance
field. His career began over 25 years ago working for an area builder before
going on to run his own maintenance company and finally coming onboard to run
the maintenance department for us.
Jason
has built an extremely versatile maintenance crew. Ask Jason if they can fix
it, and you know the saying about a bear in the woods? That`s what he`ll tell
you. There`s not much they can`t do - 24/7.
When he`s not manning his crew and making things right for our guests, he
enjoys spending time with his wife and their pets, working on the family land
with his nephews, and traveling.
melissa pendergrass
Melissa`s first day on the job was the Monday after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the Coastal Bend in 2017. Talk about hitting the ground running! Melissa began in our HOA department and moved to El Constante Condominiums taking care of the HOA and overseeing four phases of construction with Terry.
Melissa is currently overseeing the HOAs and owners for El Constante Condominiums and Surfside Condominiums.
When Melissa`s not managing the day to day operations for El Constante and Surfside, she`s enjoying her family and daughters, Peyton, Bri and Madison!
Tricia Rouse
Good things come to those who wait, right? Well, the was the case with Tricia. We approached Tricia a couple of times over the years before she made the move to Padre Escapes in 2018.
Tricia takes care of our owner`s accounting and payroll for our employees and many other accounting functions.
Tricia is a Corpus Christi native. When Tricia isn`t handling the numbers for us, she and her husband Bill are living their best lives out on the lake.
heather whichard
Office Admins make the world go round! So many of the day to day operations and "big picture" projects just don`t happen without those people behind the scenes making the wheels turn.
That is especially true of Padre Escapes and Heather! She`s been onboarding our new properties since 2020, and she also supports Charlie in his role with Padre Escapes. Heather lends a hand to many departments when they need it.
Heather has over 14 years in Hospitality experience, as well as, 7 years in Operations Management which make her the perfect fit for our Office Admin.
arianna saenz
Although Arianna has only been with our team a little over a year, she has accepted every challenge given to her. Her dedication and willingness to go above and beyond is what landed her the role as our Director of Reservations.
Arianna oversees all 3 of our front office locations as well as our team of Reservationists.
When she is not checking on every guest`s stay, you can catch her at the local NPI farmer`s market getting matching Tula jewelry sets for her and her adorable daughter, Alaia.
bryson armendariz
Did y`all know the biggest Taylor Swift fan lives in Corpus Christi? Meet Bryson!
Cross trained staff members make our world go round. Bryson began his journey with Padre Escapes as an Inspector during our peak season and is now a member of our Reservations Team.
Along with being the biggest Swifty (his words), Bryson is a very talented baker. Our whole team has collectively put on some love pounds since he has joined our clan. We can`t say "no" to his brownies.
kaziah crawford
Kaziah has only lived in Corpus for 4 years since she moved from Houston, but she has indulged the Island Life.
Kaziah is a History Teacher in training and is quickly showing us how dependable she is as a member of our Reservations Team.
While not at work or studying at TAMUCC, Kaziah likes to spend her time with her rescue cat, Ezra and taking walks with her fiancé Sam.
Anytime Kaziah is on vacation you will find her making time to cuddle up with a blanket and a good book.
Lucy Siller
Lucy is
our Director of Housekeeping, and she joined our team in 2019. We met Lucy over
at Surfside and she quickly moved over to the Mothership (home office) and
works with Sage and Savannah.
Lucy
hires, trains, and oversees all our housekeeping staff and does a great job of
it! Housekeeping is definitely one of the tougher departments in our business
and Lucy and her team are priceless.
When
she`s not running the housekeeping department, she enjoys spending time with
her family and cruising in her Challenger.
kim dwyer
Kim is
the OG of our Maintenance Department and has been with us since 2017. Kim is
the employee that wants to work weekends in the summer to best take care of her
department and our owners and guests.
Kim does
a great job "maintaining" (see what we did there?) a great attitude
and her trademark smile and laugh no matter the situation.
With
many years of experience in customer service, she is happy to assist visitors
to make their stay a pleasant one. Kim enjoys her life here on the island
with her husband and three children.
Peter Gonzalez
Peter
spent every summer of his childhood on Padre Island, and loved it so much he
moved here permanently to attend Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi in
2016. Peter has more than 12 years of Customer Service and Personnel
Management experience.
Peter
joined us in 2020 as a Maintenance Coordinator. He`s Kim`s partner in crime in
the Maintenance Department. Peter`s eye for detail and diligence in working with vendors
for our owners and our guests is unapparelled.
Peter
has had a big change in his life since working for us. He became a dad when he
and his wife welcomed their daughter, Emma, to their family. You can find Peter
and his family at the Aquarium every weekend.
lauren lopez
We fell in love with Lauren last Summer when she joined our Guest Services team. Her background in tourism makes her a great fit for our team.
Her determination, kindness and generosity stuck with us so much that once we had an opening for Assistant Director of Owners & Guest Services we reached out immediately.
Lauren lives in Port Aransas with her husband Nick and their son, Alistair. When she is not running our team of inspectors you can catch her poolside or at the beach reading a juicy thriller novel! .