The Hobby School of Public Affairs is supported by an advisory board of members prominent in business and civic affairs. The Hobby School maintains cooperative relationships with numerous entities in higher education, public service, and the private sector.

Hobby School Advisory Board Bylaws

2023 Members

Alice Aanstoos, Chair Emerita

Ashley Smith, Chair

Senator Don Adams (retired)

Ramona Adams (retired)

John Cryer III, Page Southerland Page, LLP

Jason Fuller, Straife, LLC

Charles Foster, FosterQuanLLP

Raymond Eugene "Gene" Green, U.S. Congress (retired)

Bill Hobby, Hobby Communications, Inc

Powell Hutton, US Army (retired)

Kathryn McNiel, Consultant

Catherine Clark Mosbacher

Matthew Moseley, Harris County Intergovernmental and Global Affairs

Tyler Nelson, Cornerstone Government Affairs

Mark Nitcholas, Baird

Alex Obregon, Comcast Houston

Beth Robertson, W.E. Robertson Interests

Francisco Sanchez, Jr., U.S. Small Business Administration 

Katherine Summerlin, City of Houston's Public Works

Frederic (Freddy) Warner, Memorial Hermann Health System

Andrew White, Sweat Equity Partners, LP

Hobby School Ambassadors

Lynne Bentsen

Paul Hobby

Beverly Kaufman

Melissa Kean

Stephen Klineberg

Alison Leland

Ted Poe

Graciela Saenz

Bill Sarpalius

Saralee Tiede

Massey Villarreal

Claudia Williamson

Spotlight

Beth Robertson

Beth Robertson is president of Cockspur, Inc. (investments) and Westview Development, Inc. (Austin real estate development). Ms. Robertson served as a Director of the Board of Amegy Bank of Texas, at  its inception in 1982 to 2005. She currently serves on Amegy’s Advisory Board. She chairs the Board of LSF LLC (a furniture company in S. California and Phoenix). 

A Houston native and graduate of the University of Texas, Ms. Robertson serves on the boards of several  local philanthropic organizations, including The Cullen Foundation, The Welch Foundation, , and The  Museum of Fine Arts Houston. She was a member and chair of the University of Houston System Board (1991-1997, Chair 1993-1996) and she was the ‘founding’ Chair of the Cullen Trust for Health Care from  1978 to 2013.  She sits The University of Texas Health Science Center Development Board, Council of the Greater Houston Community Foundation, Houston Wilderness, Harris County Healthcare Alliance Board  and the Advisory Board of The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice. She is a Senior Fellow of American Leadership Forum—Class XVII.  In 2001, she was the first “class” of Center of Houston’s Future which envisions Houston’s future through scenario planning.

Ms. Robertson’s honors include being the first recipient of the YWCA Carol Sterling Masterson Woman of the Year Award (1994), the Kinkaid School Distinguished Alumna Award (1998) and the Phi Beta Kappa Outstanding Contribution to Education Award (1995). She received an Honorary Doctors in Letters from University of Houston (1998) and received the University of Houston Alumni President’s Award (2003) and the Presidential Medallion (2011). On National Philanthropy Day of 2008, she received the Outstanding Community Volunteer from the Houston chapter.