President/CEO Margaret Spellings: Taking stock of 2022 accomplishments

Texas 2036 President & CEO Margaret Spellings sent out the following letter on Dec. 15, 2022, to our friends and supporters to recap Texas 2036’s many accomplishments in 2022 and to look ahead to an even greater 2023.

Dear Friends,

This year, thanks to the support of Texans like you, Texas 2036 delivered data and tools to help the state’s leaders and policymakers craft smart solutions to meet the most pressing challenges for a growing, dynamic Texas.

As we look ahead to 2023, here’s a recap of the progress our team has made throughout this year.

• Data and Policy Work: We rolled out compelling data and research across our policy areas, including broadband, energy expansion, public safety strategies, water, spending limits, the uninsured, an updated hospital price transparency tool and improving skills in the workforce.
• Texas Voter Polls: We reached out to thousands of Texas voters to understand their priorities and concerns on issues facing the state ahead of the March party primaries and the November midterm elections. Learn more by visiting the Texas Voter Poll.
• Legislative Policy Work: We solidified our spot as one of the most active policy shops working during the legislative interim, testifying more than 40 times before legislative committees and commissions, highlighting budget opportunities during hearings on state agency funding requests and preparing hundreds of pages of testimony and thought pieces for our blog.
• Strategic Framework: We updated and expanded our touchstone dashboard to showcase the data that should guide policymakers’ decisions in the next legislative session and beyond.
• 2023 Legislative Agenda: We worked hand in hand with outside policy advisory groups and our own legislative committees throughout the legislative interim to lay out positions on our four priority areas — education and workforce, health care, infrastructure, and government performance — as the focus of our advocacy work under the Dome next year.
• Texas Road Show: We traveled thousands of miles in 2022, from El Paso to Texarkana, Amarillo to Brownsville and many stops in between, to hold important conversations about moving all of Texas forward.

To put it simply, none of this great work would be possible without you. Thank you for all the support you’ve given to Texas 2036 this past year.

New Texas 2036 leadership

What’s ahead: Our board will kick off the new year by installing Marc Watts of Houston as Texas 2036’s chairman of the board of directors. The board also passed a resolution thanking Texas 2036 Founder Tom Luce, who is transitioning from chairman to a new role of Founding Chairman. He will continue to serve on the board of directors and several of the organization’s committees.

Our board also added four new members this year:

Eva Guzman, Wright Close & Barger, Houston
James Henry Russell, The Arnold Companies, Texarkana
Virginia Martinez Schaefer, Texas Instruments, Dallas
Joe Straus, La Cima Partners LLC, San Antonio

We are grateful that we can call on their collective experience, service and love of Texas in the coming year.

The future of Texas 2036

Tom Luce’s big idea — Texas must plan now to ensure tremendous opportunities remain for the next generation — remains our North Star and organizing principle.

Your year-end gift will make sure we continue purposefully in that direction and ensure that all Texans have the hard data and expert analysis necessary to tackle the challenges ahead of us on the path to Texas’ bicentennial and beyond.

Thank you,

Margaret Spellings
President & CEO