By Colin Pope, Austin Business Journal, December 20, 2022
Our annual Texas 100 is a list of impactful Texans who will likely play crucial roles in the economy during the coming year.
Many powerful billionaires, business mavens and regulators don’t make this cut. Sure, there are a couple of well-known names because we think they’ll make unusual waves in the coming year. But, for the most part, this is not a list of obvious power players. In fact, there are likely several names that will be new to you. We hope that’s the case, because we’re in the business of facilitating connections.
Put simply, the professionals spotlighted in the following features are likely to be people to watch in 2023. They run the gamut, from tech entrepreneurs to real estate gurus to sports stars.
The Texas 100 is an effort by the business journals in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. It is an assessment based on our newsrooms’ reporting and expertise covering the region’s high-powered business community. We strive to help you understand who’s driving decisions, both in the headlines and behind the scenes.
We asked ourselves a series of questions to develop this list: Who has the power to move the market? Whose clout reaches beyond their company or industry? Who in the business community does the mayor or the governor call for help? Who do you need to know to do business in this town? Who is likely to shape our futures?
We want to hear what you think of our picks. Please send us a note or share your thoughts on social media with the hashtag #Texas100.
2023 Texas 100 (alphabetical order)
Michele Anderson, Austin Habitat for Humanity
Andres Andujar, Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corp.
Sheldon Arora, LiquidAgents Healthcare
Dusty Baker, Houston Astros
Fred Balda, Hillwood Communities
Jason Ballard, Icon
Melissa Bauman, Harvey E. Najim Charitable Foundation
Natara Branch, Houston Exponential
Clark Briner, Revere Capital
Matt Brown, Centro San Antonio
Janis Burke, Harris County Houston Sports Authority
Todd Burnette, JLL
Danny Charbel, Keller Williams City View
Daniel Chu, Tricolor
Chad Cook, Quadrant Investment Properties
Adriana Cruz, State of Texas
Susan Dawson, E3 Alliance
Kelly Ann Doherty, Mr. Cooper Group
Greg Ebel, Enbridge
Nuha Elkhiamy, Google
David Fonseca, VelocityTXHugh Forrest, South by Southwest
Bob Franklin, Stellar
Rudy Garza, CPS Energy
Jordan Ghawi, Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council
Michael Girdley, Girdley Enterprises
Connie Gonzalez, Brooks
Omar Gonzalez, Oxbow Development Group
Alan Graham, Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Community First Village
Mauricio Gutierrez, NRG Energy Inc.
Aleric Heck, AdOutreach
Jessica Miller Essl and Susan Gruppi, M2G Ventures
Jay Hartzell, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. William Henrich, UT Health San Antonio
Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, greater:SATX
Bruce Hill, San Antonio Missions Baseball LLC
Joe Iannacone, Titan Development
Ashley Jackson, Austin Board of Realtors
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Sire Spirits
Jerome Karam, JMK5 Holdings LLC
Daryl Kenningham, Group 1 Automotive
Ali Khataw, Austin Chamber of Commerce, Encotech Engineering Consultants
Merrilee Kick, BuzzBallz
Steve Kuhn, Major League Pickleball
Charles Leddy, Presidian Hotels & Resorts
Tomika LeGrande, Prairie View A&M University
Jon Lambert, The Cannon
Kris Larson, Central Houston Inc.
Lorie Logan, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Michael Lynd, Jr., Kairoi Residential
Danny Martin, Esposure
Jim McIngvale, Gallery Furniture
Cassandra McKinney, Comerica
Robert Melvin, San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside
Sander Mohn, Endeavor Real Estate Group
Elon Musk, Tesla/SpaceX/Boring Co./Neuralink/Twitter
David Northern, Houston Housing Authority
Anne Olson, Buffalo Bayou Partnership
David O’Reilly, Howard Hughes Corp.
Ryan Pape, XPEL
Mattie Parker, mayor of Fort Worth
Meg Paulus, Holt Ventures
Jim Perschbach, Port San Antonio
Wade Phillips, Houston Roughnecks
Laura Hines-Pierce, Hines
Dave Porter, Williamson County Economic Development Partnership
Andrew Price, CBRE
Sylnovia Holt-Rabb, Austin Economic Development Department
Vasu Raja, American Airlines
William Redd, Brandywine Realty Trust
Amber Rogers, Hunton Andrews Kurth
Kate Rogers, Alamo Trust Inc.
Thad Rutherford, SouthStar Communities
Caitlyn Ryan, Stream Realty Partners
G. Brint Ryan, Ryan
Jean Savage, Trinity Industries
Andrew Schaap, Aligned Data Centers
Ted Segal, Houston Dynamo Football Club
Katherine Shappley, Meta
Kent Sharp, Sherman Economic Development Corp.
Taylor Shead, STEMuli Studios
Jason Shiver, Waterloo Sparkling Water
Jon Silberman, Partners
Randy Smith, Weston Urban
Lauren Sparks, Agility Bank
Jon Taylor, Samsung Austin Semiconductor
Sylvester Turner, mayor of Houston
Nina Vaca, Pinnacle Group
Peter Vanacker, LyondellBasell
Benjamin Vann, Impact Ventures
Hines Ward, San Antonio Brahmas
Kirk Watson, mayor of Austin
Andrew Watterson, Southwest Airlines
Melva K. Williams, Huston-Tillotson University
Taylor Wilson, Wilson Capital
Lindsey Wright, KKR
Vanessa Wyche, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Bryan Wysong, Texas Tumblestyles
Lesia Crumpton-Young, Texas Southern University
Maria Zannes, bioAffinity Technologies Inc.
