ADVISORY BOARD
The Hobby School of Public Affairs (HSPA) is supported by an advisory board of members prominent in business and civic affairs. HSPA maintains cooperative relationships with numerous entities in higher education, public service, and the private sector.
2021 Members
Alice Aanstoos, Chair
Senator Don Adams (retired)
Michelle Bouchard, Bouchard & Associates
Chris Cookson, BB&T
John Cryer III, Page Southerland Page, LLP
Charles Foster, FosterQuanLLP
Raymond Eugene "Gene" Green, (retired)
Harry Hayes, City of Houston
Bill Hobby, Hobby Communications, Inc
Powell Hutton, US Army (retired)
Kathryn McNiel, Theater District Houston
Tyler Nelson, Cornerstone Government Affairs
Katie McNearney, Norton Rose Fulbright
Mark Nitcholas, Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley & Co.
Alex Obregon, City of Houston
Ted Poe, (retired)
Beth Robertson, W.E. Robertson Interests
Ashley Smith, Houston Community College
Massey Villarreal, Precision Task Group, Inc.
Frederic (Freddy) Warner, Memorial Hermann Health System
Andrew White, Sweat Equity Partners, LP
Hobby School Ambassadors
Laura Beckworth
Lynne Bentsen
Paul Hobby
Beverly Kaufman
Melissa Kean
Stephen Klineberg
Alison Leland
Graciela Saenz
Bill Sarpalius
Saralee Tiede
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.