Meet Margaret Spellings.

With the foundation of Texas 2036 now in place, Tom had one person in mind to take the helm of his new data-driven policy think tank. A Texan, a dear friend and policy advocate – former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

With Margaret’s leadership, Texas 2036 set out to create 36 comprehensible goals and strategies, establish its Board of Directors and work two successful legislative sessions, taking us one step closer to achieving Tom’s vision.

“Margaret’s policy expertise and ability to create consensus that leads to action will be critical as we advocate for the actions our state needs to take over the coming years.” – Texas 2036 founder Tom Luce

“We’re working to bring together the sensible center to think long term about the most important things using tons of data.” – Margaret Spellings

Tom and Margaret reached out to three dozen of the state’s most distinguished Texans to join the board of Texas 2036, including business, civic, academic and philanthropic leaders representing different regions from across the state.

Their experience, diversity and relationships accelerate Texas 2036’s efforts to engage Texans on key issues that will shape the state as it approaches its bicentennial and works to build a future as prosperous as its past.

Geared toward the long-term approach, Margaret worked with the policy team to develop a comprehensive strategic framework she called “Shaping Our Future.”

What it does: Outlines 36 critical goals across seven key policy areas utilizing 167 data indicators to comparatively measure against peer states across areas requiring urgent attention and those where Texas excels.

“Our new Strategic Framework reinforces two critical principles – that our future resides squarely in our people and that we must organize for success.” –Margaret Spellings

Under Margaret’s stewardship, Texas 2036 emerged as a beacon of policy leadership, bridging ideological divides through landmark data and research initiatives in its first legislative session.

By 2023, in its second legislative session, the organization played a key role in advancing critical policy areas to improve the lives and livelihoods of Texans for generations to come. Texas 2036 endorsed 77 bills and constitutional amendments passed during the 88th Legislature.

These successes were a culmination of two years of research, dialogues and stakeholder events our leadership, data and policy teams embarked on with supported legislators to ensure Texas is the best place to live and work for all Texans.