Who We Are and Our Mission

Director Cris LaLonde was born and raised in Port Arthur, Texas where he graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in 1988. He joined the United States Marine Corps the same year, where he served our country for four years, during which time he served in the Desert Shield/Desert Storm conflict. After leaving the military in 1992 with an Honorable Discharge as a Corporal, he married his wife, Vanessa, of 26 years.

In 1994, Director LaLonde graduated from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Training Academy and became a Texas State Trooper in the Texas Highway Patrol, and was stationed in Orange, Texas for 10 years. In 1998 he received a degree in Criminal Justice from Lamar University. From 1999 to 2006 he was a member of the DPS Dive Recovery Team, where he assisted in the investigation and search of weapons from the Austin Yogurt shop killings, the recovery of vehicles from the bridge collapse in Port Isabel, and the recovery of the Spaceship Challenger in East Texas. In 2004, he was selected and promoted to Sergeant, continuing to serve in the Texas Highway Patrol where he was stationed in Eagle Pass, Texas for four years. In 2008 Director LaLonde transferred to Kerrville, Texas where he served until his retirement in August 2019. Director LaLonde was named Chief Deputy with the Kerr County Sheriff's Office in 2020.

Director LaLonde has been a member of the DPS Region 6C Civil Disturbance Management Team (CDMT) for 10 years.  He was also a member of the Texas State Troopers Association from the beginning of his career in 1994-2004. Director LaLonde rejoined TSTA when its membership was opened to supervisors and all commissioned officers of the Texas DPS.

Director Ashley Zendt was born and raised in the Galveston/Friendswood, Texas area. In 2003 Ashley received a Soccer Scholarship for Sam Houston State University becoming part of the Inaugural Women’s Soccer team. She played as a goalkeeper all four years, graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.

After graduating from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) in 2008, she spent her first 10 years as a State Trooper stationed in the New Caney & Humble area. Currently, Director Zendt continues her career as Houston’s Region 2A’s Duty Trooper.

Besides her duties with the Texas Highway Patrol, she is a certified Personal Radiation Detector Instructor and American Heart Association BLS Instructor.

Ashley joined the Texas State Troopers Association in 2022 and is dedicated to improving the quality of law enforcement all over Texas.

Director Billy Shelton was born in Weslaco, Texas and raised in Donna, Texas, where he graduated from Donna High School in 1985. He joined the United States Air Force in January of 1987, where he served our country for three and a half years. During that time, he served as an aircraft armament systems specialist at Edwards AFB, California working with all types of military aircraft. After leaving the military in 1990 with an Honorable Discharge as a Sergeant, he started his law enforcement career as a police officer for the City of Weslaco. He served as a patrol officer and as an Auto-Theft investigator.

In 1992, Director Shelton joined the U.S. Border Patrol and after completing the academy in Glynco, Georgia, was stationed in Las Cruces, New Mexico as a border patrol agent. In 1994, Director Shelton joined the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and graduated from the DPS Training Academy (Class A-94). He was assigned to the Texas Highway Patrol Service and was stationed in McAllen, Texas. In 1996, he transferred to the License & Weight Service in McAllen. He was promoted to Sergeant in 2002 and served in Commercial Vehicle Enforcement (CVE) in the Rio Grande Valley until 2014, when he transferred to the Motor Carrier Bureau as a CVE Training Sergeant. During that time, he trained state, county and city law enforcement officers on the enforcement of commercial vehicle laws.

In 2016, Director Shelton was promoted to Lieutenant with the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) in Austin where he oversaw the State Management Team. He served as Operations Section Coordinator for numerous emergency activations of the State Operations Center, including Hurricane Harvey. In 2019, he transferred back to the Highway Patrol Division to the Capitol Region and has worked at the Texas State Capitol, overseeing Capitol security and special events. During his career, Director Shelton has been involved in numerous operational deployments to different parts of Texas for hurricanes, floods, and operations along the border. Director Shelton was also involved in the operational and logistical support of the Capitol Region during the George Floyd protests in 2020. He has served in law enforcement at the city, state, and federal level for 32 years. Director Shelton was a member of the Texas State Troopers Association from 1994 until 2002 and rejoined TSTA when its membership was opened to all commissioned officers of DPS, including supervisors. Director Shelton retired from the Texas Department of Public Safety at the rank of Lieutenant in September 2023.  He is still actively serving TSTA in legislative matters.

Director Brandon Biggins joined the TSTA Board of Directors in January 2023 and was named TSTA Treasurer in August 2023. Brandon is an HP Sergeant stationed in Floresville 6C02. Brandon graduated from DPS Academy class B-13 and was stationed in Greenville for 8 years prior to promotion. Prior to TXDPS he was a Dallas Police officer for nearly 5 years working throughout the city.

Married for over a decade, Brandon and his wife have three children. The Biggins family enjoys traveling across the country collecting foam finger souvenirs from stadiums and displaying them in their garage.

As a member of the board, Brandon brings dependability and accountability to the Association. He has been a member of TSTA since 2013 and feels honored to represent TSTA’s members.