ACG In Austin: Panel of Austin's Former Mayors on 5/11/16

Lee Cooke will moderate this panel of four former Austin Mayors.  Each mayor will highlight the top 1-3 things which happened in their decade that makes Austin what it is today.

Carole Keeton - 1970's

Lee Cooke - 1980's 

Bruce Todd - 1990's

Will Wynn - 2000's 

 

 

Carole Keeton
Often called a trailblazer, Carole Keeton’s resume is full of “firsts”—First woman president of the Austin School Board, first woman president of Austin Community College Board of Trustees; first woman elected Mayor of Austin, (and still the only woman to serve as mayor of Austin) and the only mayor of Austin elected by the citizens for three terms.  While serving as Mayor she was selected “One of the 50 Faces for America’s Future” by Time Magazine and was elected President of The Texas Municipal League representing all the cities in Texas.
Elected to statewide office four times; Carole is the first woman in history elected and reelected Texas Railroad Commissioner and the first woman in history elected and reelected Texas Comptroller.  As Comptroller, her report on our Texas foster care system, Forgotten Children, won a National Public Integrity Award.  Carole began her career as a
public school teacher. Her lifelong record of achievement is rooted in her passion for education and public service. She is in the Austin Women’s Hall of Fame.
Carole is the proud Mom of four grown sons, and proud Grandmom of eight:  six granddaughters, Kathryn, Michelle, Ellie, Alex, Anna, and Audrey, ranging in age from 21 to 9, and two grandsons, Keeton, 6 years old, and his brother, Cade, 2 years old. And her ninth grandbaby is due in May, 2016.
Carole Keeton is the recipient of the University of Texas at Austin Distinguished Alumnus Award and she is the recipient of Texas Classroom Teachers Association's Friend of Education Award. The Mental Health Association
in Texas selected Carole as the recipient of the Texas Champion Award. She also was selected as the first Friend of Texas Taxpayers chosen by Citizens for a Sound Economy. A longtime friend of law enforcement, Carole is a lifetime Honorary Member of the Austin Police Association and the Austin Police Retired Officers Association.
Carole’s parents, the late Madge and Page Keeton, the revered long-time Dean of the University of Texas Law School, instilled in her at an early age the importance of public service. As a single Mom, Carole
passed that lesson on to her children.  
Carole is Founder and Executive Director, pro-bono, of Austinites For Action, a Texas non-profit, non-partisan, corporation, fighting for responsibility, accountability and transparency of government, with the goal of maximizing turn-out in local elections from all persons and all sectors of our growing and diverse capital city area. She is a lifetime member of The Lola Wright Foundation, a charitable non-profit serving a 50 mile radius of the greater Austin area.  
Carole is a government honors graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.  She has always called herself “an activist populist”; and is her own brand of  “Texas Independent”.

 

Lee Cooke
Lee Cooke has 43 years of executive and leadership experience in the public and private sectors.  He has spent 24 years as Founder/CEO of Habitek International, Inc., a
private holding company providing counsel to emerging companies.  As CEO of U.S. Medical Systems, Inc., a bio-medical subsidiary of Habitek, Cooke oversees the manufacturing of patented, FDA authorized Class 1 medical device polymer products to Dentsply International.  He has previously served as President/CEO of a 50+ employee business-to-business Internet destination site for credit unions and as Chairman/President/CEO of Tanisys Technology, Inc., publicly traded automatic test equipment company (ATE).  
Prior to his business activities in the private sector, Cooke spearheaded Austin’s efforts to become one of the nation’s premier technology and music cities. Cooke served as resident/CEO of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce from 1983-1987, and Mayor, Mayor-protem and
Council Member of the City of Austin from 1977-1991. Regarding corporate location, he has been directly involved in the numerous location to Austin including ADM, Motorola (i.e. NXP), 3M, Sematech and Applied Materials, among others. During his tenure as Austin’s 51st Mayor, Cooke oversaw the investment of 3.5+ billion in new private capital into Austin. Highlights included a new convention center, expansion by Motorola (NXP), IBM and AMD, the approval of 44 miles of freeway, refocus location of the airport to Bergstrom and creation of the Austin Technology Incubator.  Before entering public service, Cooke served in manufacturing, human resources and
engineering management positions at Texas Instruments (1972-83).  From 1991 to 2008, he served on seven
publically traded corporate boards. Cooke completed graduate work toward an MBA at the University of Texas in 1970-1 and received his BA from Louisiana Tech University in 1966.  He served five years in the United States Air Force as an intelligence officer during a tour of duty in Viet Nam receiving the Bronze Star. He is the only Mayor to come from High Tech industry.

 

Bruce Todd
Bruce Todd is an extraordinarily well-connected, proven leader with decades of experience in running major organizations, strategic planning, fundraising, development of public policy, forging relationships with disparate stakeholders, and building consensus. Ten years of public service in Central Texas and more than 30 years in the private sector create an unmatched portfolio of skills.

BRUCE TODD PUBLIC AFFAIRS, 1997-PRESENT  
• Clients are primarily companies seeking business with local and state governments around the country. Flagship client is Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, LLP; responsible
for that client’s success in being retained by major U.S. cities including Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, etc., representing millions of dollars of revenue. 
• Instrumental in 1998 passage of propositions 11 and 12, which allowed construction on the Long Center for the Performing Arts.  
• One of the three co-founders (with Walt and Elspeth Rostow) of the Austin Project in the early 1990s; this fine organization continues to play an important role for East Austin families to this day.  
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN – JUNE 1991-JUNE 1997  
• Mayor of one of American’s most innovative cities during a time of opportunities (unparalleled growth in the high-tech community, for example) and challenges (recovery from the economic downturn of the 1980s).  
• Presided over a split City Council. Frequently was able to bring about consensus on the toughest issues of the day: passage of bonds and oversight of relocation of Austin’s airport to Bergstrom; preservation of hundreds of acres of
wilderness—the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Preserve; the transfer of then city-owned Brackenridge Hospital to Seton; and the hiring of a new city manager.  
• Raised funds and directed all aspects of the public campaign to pass a 600-million bond election to build Austin’s new airport at Bergstrom Air Force Base. At the time this was the largest bond issue ever passed in the state. 

 

Prior to elected office, Will Wynn had a successful 20-year career in the commercial
real estate development industry with projects in Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Austin. In 2006 he was named a Distinguished Alumni of Texas A&M’s College of Architecture.       Will served on the Austin City Council 2000-03 and as two-term Austin Mayor 2003-09. An early Chairman of the Downtown Austin Alliance, he has long been a leading advocate for transforming downtown into the most vibrant urban core in the country.  
He lectures, advises and consults with governments, utilities and private entities on topics ranging from economic development and energy efficiency to urban revitalization and sustainability.  Will believes that if Austin had a beach, 20 million people would live here. And he has the stats to back that up.