79. Meredith Walker and the Texas Business Hall of Fame

Bob Rivard [00:00:03]:
Welcome to Big City Small Town, a weekly podcast all about San Antonio and the people who make it go and grow. I'm your host, Bob Rivard. This week's guest is Meredith Walker, executive director of the Texas Business Hall of Fame, a position she has held for nearly 7 years. The Texas Business Hall of Fame was founded in 1982 to celebrate the state's most successful and community minded business leaders. Bottom line success is not enough for someone to gain entry. Philanthropy, giving back, and community engagement are essential factors in each year's class of inductees. Why are we doing this episode now? Well, given these measures, it should come as no surprise to listeners that the admiral, NBA Hall of Famer, and legendary San Antonio Spur David Robinson turned business leader will be among the small group of inductees at the organization's annual gala next week in Dallas. Meredith Walker, welcome to Big City Small Town.

Meredith Walker [00:01:01]:
Thanks for having me.

Bob Rivard [00:01:02]:
I'm going to do my best to talk about inductees from cities other than San Antonio today. But given the number of celebrated business leaders here who are in the Texas Business Hall of Fame, that's gonna be hard for me.

Meredith Walker [00:01:15]:
Yeah. I can imagine.

Bob Rivard [00:01:16]:
So you'll have to interspersed some non San Antonians with some of the names I bring up. And we'll get to David Robinson and other local luminaries that have already been inducted in just a minute. But first, let's, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and the path that took you to your current work.

Meredith Walker [00:01:32]:
Okay. Well, you know, my start was, in politics and Where? In international relations in in Washington, DC.

Bob Rivard [00:01:40]:
Okay.

Meredith Walker [00:01:41]:
And, you know, I came back to Texas to work for a former statesman. I was head of development at the Baker Institute for secretary of state.

Bob Rivard [00:01:50]:
Oh, that's not just any statesman.

Meredith Walker [00:01:52]:
Yes. An amazing statesman. And that was sort of you know, it's interesting. Most people don't aspire to be in the think tank space, but that was sort of my dream to work in the think tank space. So, I raised, money for his think tank at Rice University. I got to go all over the world with him for that, which was super exciting and fun. Then I I took an interesting leap to some other nonprofits, all of them think tank based. And, someone approached me with the opportunity to work for the Texas Business Hall of Fame, and I thought, wow.

Meredith Walker [00:02:26]:
That's very outside my comfort zone, but it's like working with individual think tanks on a daily basis. The smartest people in the world, curious, generous spirits. And so, you know, I took a leap, and and I haven't looked back. And I have a super fun job.

Bob Rivard [00:02:44]:
I agree. I think you have a really interesting job. And I think your organization, for all of its power and influence, is widely unknown among, I think, probably our listeners and many other people that are otherwise quite informed about about Texas, and and so we wanna talk more about that. But I can't let your reference to James Baker go without diverting the conversation there a little bit because he was truly one of the great statesmen of our time in Washington and around the world. And I think now with the death of Henry Kissinger last year, he's probably the oldest secretary of state still around, and he must be in his nineties, mid nineties?

Meredith Walker [00:03:26]:
Yeah. Early nineties.

Bob Rivard [00:03:28]:
Wow.

Meredith Walker [00:03:28]:
And I I actually got to meet Henry Kissinger twice working for him. And whenever Henry Kissinger and James Baker were together, Kissinger loved to tell the story about firing him. And that was always an awkward moment. But, yeah, they I think they remained good friends for all of Kissinger's life. But yeah.

Bob Rivard [00:03:45]:
That's a great background.

Meredith Walker [00:03:46]:
Yeah.

Bob Rivard [00:03:47]:
You're you and that work was in Houston at Rice University, distinguished, university. And, you live in Houston. Has the Texas Business Hall of Fame always been Houston based, or is it not technically in the city?

Meredith Walker [00:04:01]:
Oddly, it was I think when it was established, it was formally in Houston, but the people who were really instrumental in founding it were also in Dallas. So it was sort of a joint endeavor. I don't know why they I I it was founded by a magazine initially that wanted to kind of find an annual event to generate readership and, but also promote business leaders. And and it wasn't hugely successful, although Walter Cronkite was our 1st MC, which is really cool. We actually found footage of the first event. And, most of the people we inducted that year were dead, but were people that were, instrumental to, the Texas business landscape. But people loved it, and they loved the focus of, the honor on not just the transformational business leader, but the business leader who embraced their success as a responsibility to their community because that's a completely different kind of leader. And after a couple years, the magazine was in trouble.

Meredith Walker [00:05:04]:
The oil crash happened. It was, you know, mid 19 eighties. And, a guy named Rob Masbacher

Bob Rivard [00:05:13]:
Oh, that's a familiar name.

Meredith Walker [00:05:14]:
Yeah. Who many have heard of. He and 2 women out of Dallas agreed to personally bankroll one final attempt at this event because the magazine pulled out.

Bob Rivard [00:05:24]:
What was the magazine, Meredith?

Meredith Walker [00:05:26]:
I think it was called, Texas Entrepreneur. I should know this.

Bob Rivard [00:05:31]:
And it's come and gone?

Meredith Walker [00:05:32]:
Yes. Oh, it's it's come and gone. It was only around for a couple years. But the event had taken on a life of of its own, and people have become sort of enamored with with the whole idea. And that was the most successful year the organization had ever had. That was when we decided to start funding entrepreneurs through funds generated through that event. And from that moment on, it just kind of

Bob Rivard [00:05:55]:
And what year was that?

Meredith Walker [00:05:56]:
That was 1984.

Bob Rivard [00:05:59]:
84. You had an unusually large class of inductees that year. I was going through the various years, and, it it it varies. It's never the same. Sometimes you have 3 or 4, and sometimes you have more. How do you arrive at that?

Meredith Walker [00:06:13]:
Well, now we have a standard of about 5 or 6. But for a while, you know, the selection process has evolved over the years as the organization grew, as it got more competitive for induction. You know, at the beginning, it was determined by a committee. It was very inward looking, you know, sort of, a very elite group of business leaders on our board determining basically who got in every year. Now, you know, we get close to anywhere between 70 to a 100 nominations every year. A committee does decide a ballot of 20, but the only people who get to decide the 6 we induct are living hall of fame members. There's a 112 living members in the state right now, and and they vote. The majority of them vote on our ballot, and they determine who our 6 recipients are, which which makes the the the award pretty meaningful because of that.

Bob Rivard [00:07:07]:
Wow. That that must open up individual members to intense lobbying. I assume there are people out there that desperately wanna say that they're members of the Texas Business Hall of Fame that aren't in fact in there yet.

Meredith Walker [00:07:19]:
That's that's true. And, you know, we have, oftentimes, the intense lobbyers are PR firms who we don't allow to be involved in our in our nomination and review process, and we don't accept self nominations. So, yeah, there are there are quite a few people who, who who want to be in it, which is, you know, very honoring to our organization, very flattering. And it's always interesting to see these nominations come in of these people who have had crazy impact on our on Texas business that you've never heard of. And, you know, I didn't know the founder of Roku TV was a Texan. I didn't know you know, things like that. But

Bob Rivard [00:07:58]:
is that?

Meredith Walker [00:07:59]:
It's a guy out of Austin. He just came up on our radar. I'm trying to remember his name.

Bob Rivard [00:08:05]:
See so he's not in the business hall of fame?

Meredith Walker [00:08:06]:
No. But, it's just crazy to think about, you know, our first African American inductee, Comer Cottrell, he was the founder of Jerry Kearl. Who knew that that started in Texas? He was also the first black minority owner of a Major League Baseball team. Like, people don't know people don't know Mary Kay was a was a Texan. Sort of, you know, she pioneered a whole new avenue for women and makeup and, you

Bob Rivard [00:08:29]:
know Pink Cadillacs.

Meredith Walker [00:08:30]:
Yeah. Yeah. In pink Cadillacs. But people don't realize all she did for women too, you know, and, all she did for the community and and how she changed the game. And that's what we pride ourselves on is we fund trailblazers, People who really created new opportunities, not just for their business, but for their whole sector of business. They made other businesses possible, and that's probably the best way to kinda distinguish who who probably gets serious support and who were just you know, that's what kinda separates the transformational business leader versus, you know, the highly respected business leader.

Bob Rivard [00:09:07]:
That totally defines our oldest living, San Antonian that's in the Texas Business Hall of Fame, our one and only woman member, and that's Rosemary Kowalski, who just celebrated her 100th birthday.

Meredith Walker [00:09:18]:
Oh, for sure.

Bob Rivard [00:09:19]:
Still going strong.

Meredith Walker [00:09:21]:
Yeah.

Bob Rivard [00:09:21]:
Still appearing in public.

Meredith Walker [00:09:23]:
Yeah.

Bob Rivard [00:09:23]:
And, it's hard to find a woman of, say, the baby boom generation or younger, who is a business leader in San Antonio who wasn't profoundly inspired by Rosemary and her sort of hemisphere era business leadership when very, very few women occupied positions of influence in the business community, but but she was a pioneer.

Meredith Walker [00:09:46]:
Yeah. Rosemary is a terrific example. And and and how much she has used her influence and success to help the San Antonio community and beyond. And her company has become really a model, for catering companies all over the country. It's not just catering. It's event space. It's, you know, it's floral. It's industrial, you know, event design.

Meredith Walker [00:10:06]:
It's Arcade Group has basically become a model for growth for so many, event management companies around the United States.

Bob Rivard [00:10:13]:
So Rosemary was inducted in 2004.

Meredith Walker [00:10:16]:
Yes.

Bob Rivard [00:10:17]:
If I recall correctly, that's 20 years ago.

Meredith Walker [00:10:19]:
Before my time.

Bob Rivard [00:10:20]:
Before your time. But let's talk about the current, class of inductees because they'll be celebrated next week at the gala in Dallas, and that includes David Robinson and some people who are only Spurs fans and don't know about David's life and work after the Spurs might wonder, well, why is a hall of fame athlete getting into the Texas Business Hall of Fame?

Meredith Walker [00:10:43]:
Yeah. No. David's a, you know, a really interesting story. He's only our 2nd professional athlete. The first was Roger Staubach, the former Dallas cowboys.

Bob Rivard [00:10:52]:
Who had a big Quarterback. Real real estate career in Dallas

Meredith Walker [00:10:56]:
afterwards. I think still till this day the, wealthiest post NFL football player, but he also did a ton with his wealth, to help others. And he oddly, he and David are both graduates of the Naval Academy.

Bob Rivard [00:11:10]:
That's right.

Meredith Walker [00:11:10]:
And he'll be introducing him at the event this year. But, you know, David David used his the influence and, wealth he gained as a professional athlete.

Bob Rivard [00:11:22]:
And brainpower. He's a smart guy.

Meredith Walker [00:11:24]:
Oh, crazy smart. To not only improve the San Antonio community, to to establish Carver Academy, but he also founded the Admiral Group, which, you know, private equity group that hotels, buildings, you name it. I mean, he's hugely successful, that that made investments in companies that had both social and and economic impact. That was very important to him. He also established the Admiral Center, which helps other professional athletes with their philanthropy, and I love that. Right? He set a real tone and example of for the professional athlete and their responsibility to their community as an example and as an example to others. And we're super excited to honor him in Dallas. We we you know, it was controversial not to do because we rotate cities, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, but we love that we're recognizing him on a statewide stage.

Meredith Walker [00:12:20]:
He's he's gets recognized in San Antonio quite a bit, so it's super fun to

Bob Rivard [00:12:24]:
take care of. Last time you were in San Antonio for the event?

Meredith Walker [00:12:27]:
Last year.

Bob Rivard [00:12:28]:
Last year. And that's when Kit Goldsberry Yeah. Got in from developer of The Pearl and and Silver Venture so much more.

Meredith Walker [00:12:36]:
Who's put San Antonio on the map? There's 2 true 5 star hotels in Texas. One's in Houston. One's Hotel Emma. What's the one in One's in Houston, one's Hotel Emma.

Bob Rivard [00:12:43]:
What's the one in Houston?

Meredith Walker [00:12:44]:
The Post Oak. It's owned by Tillman Fertitta, who, is also a hall of fame member. For a long time, Tillman was our youngest hall of fame inductee.

Bob Rivard [00:12:53]:
Well and he has the, if I'm not mistaken, he's the power behind Landry's. Right?

Meredith Walker [00:12:57]:
He is. He's also owner of Houston Rockets.

Bob Rivard [00:13:00]:
Right. And he has the, restaurant atop the Tower of America's in case someone been out there for your for your ten

Meredith Walker [00:13:07]:
I just learned that. Yeah.

Bob Rivard [00:13:09]:
Yeah. That's, and I think he has one on the Riverwalk, doesn't he? Here, if he didn't, he used to. I'm I'm not I'm not a big Riverwalk restaurant goer, so I don't know. But I thought there was a Landry's down

Meredith Walker [00:13:19]:
there. Yeah. I think he has a couple restaurants in San Antonio. Yeah. He owns quite a few chains that are here too. So

Bob Rivard [00:13:25]:
Well, earlier this year, I had the pleasure of, because I was involved with a few different events that Graham Weston did around the state for the Texas Business Hall of Fame, and we met another Houstonite, Beaver Aplin.

Meredith Walker [00:13:38]:
Yes.

Bob Rivard [00:13:38]:
The third, the founder of Buc ee's who Yeah. He is a real original character and just made a huge donation to Texas A&M University to create their new school of hospitality. And that's kind of, to me, typical of your your business hall of fame profile of the people that are contemporary to my generation. I know Graham Weston gave $15,000,000 to get the data science school started at UTSA here downtown. Yeah. Beaver did that. Another person that we, interacted with, John Goff, the Fort Worth developer, Dallas. He he basically almost single handedly convinced, John Sharp at a and m to buy the law school in Fort Worth.

Bob Rivard [00:14:16]:
And now that's turning into a full A&M campus just like the one in San Antonio.

Meredith Walker [00:14:21]:
Yeah. No. It's it's interesting. When you look at the super successful and, you know, in in this role, it has it's been sort of an anthropological study on the super successful. Most of them, you know, these men and women are very civic minded and at very early stage in their life. They care about their community early on, and that kinda drives their business. I think that engagement informs decisions in a way that maybe they don't even realize that helps them become more successful. And Beaver, Graham, John are all good examples of people who were giving back to their alma maters, people who were giving to other entrepreneurs and less successful business leaders before they were ever kinda Texas household names.

Meredith Walker [00:15:03]:
And I just think that's when we interview entrepreneurs for our funding, we always ask about their civic engagement and how they're giving back, not just in terms of resources, but in terms of their time. Not because, oh, it's important to do that, which it is. We also think it's a huge indicator of how successful they'll be.

Bob Rivard [00:15:23]:
So You know, I there's so many legendary, San Antonians that are in there. General McD, Red McCombs.

Meredith Walker [00:15:32]:
Jim Lineager.

Bob Rivard [00:15:33]:
Jim Lineager, Tom Frost. I could go on and on. One name that's not in there, Meredith, is Charles Butt. I noticed in 2013, which is before your time, that HEB was inducted as a company. And there's a couple of instances over the course of the Texas Business Hall of Fame's history where companies were inducted. I'm not thinking of the other ones, but I know when I read

Meredith Walker [00:15:56]:
Baylor College of Medicine. Baylor. There's a couple. Yeah.

Bob Rivard [00:15:59]:
So how does that work? And how is it that H E B, which has got such a big footprint in the state, is in? And it's a very philanthropic company. Mhmm. They they've always given away, I think, 5% of their pretax profits. But Charles himself is not in.

Meredith Walker [00:16:17]:
I think with the in the case of H E B, I think, the invitation was to Charles, but and he very much wanted it to be an H E B honor. We've since changed our bylaws. We can no longer induct companies.

Bob Rivard [00:16:30]:
Oh, really? Okay.

Meredith Walker [00:16:31]:
There is always, you know, some controversy with that and the kinds of questions you're asking. Right? But, you know, the super successful business leader also tends to be very humble, and some of them, you know, wanted their companies to be recognized rather than themselves, which I respect. We also now have, stricter rules about living in Texas and residency and things like that that you'll look at our list. Like, Warren Buffett was inducted in San Antonio, I believe 7 years ago, 8 years ago. And, we're super proud of that, but how funny is it that that was a little bit controversial? I mean, his biggest market one of his biggest markets is Texas. But in 2024, we can no longer induct a Warren Buffett. You have to have lived here for at least 5 years.

Bob Rivard [00:17:14]:
Well, my wife, formerly worked for Business Wire, which was a Warren Buffett company and and, was charged once with putting together their national meeting here the year that Warren bought him. And so he came, and, we had a hamburger and Pepsi with him. That's Oh,

Meredith Walker [00:17:30]:
how cool.

Bob Rivard [00:17:31]:
On the river walk. That's what he wanted for dinner was a hamburger and Pepsi. And we have been told ahead of time that's what he'd be want for dinner, and that's what he had. So

Meredith Walker [00:17:39]:
Down to down to earth guy from everything I've read.

Bob Rivard [00:17:42]:
It was a biga hamburger, so it wasn't just any hamburger.

Meredith Walker [00:17:45]:
Yeah. No.

Bob Rivard [00:17:46]:
He is down to earth. And I noticed a former boss of mine, San Antonio native, Frank Bennett junior, who went on to, run the Hearst Corporation all over the world and build it into what it is. He was inducted, but that was before you changed your

Meredith Walker [00:18:00]:
Yeah. But I do know Frank, and I'm a great admirer of her his. And his book, you know, and, of course, I'll draw draw a blank on his book, is it's interesting that book comes up in so many business talks as one of the best business books people have read. And he did an event for us helping promote that book, but I think the world is frank.

Bob Rivard [00:18:20]:
Leave something on the table.

Meredith Walker [00:18:22]:
Leave something on the table. Exactly.

Bob Rivard [00:18:24]:
He's famous for saying that any negotiation, if, the other partner comes out unhappy, it's not been a successful negotiation that everybody ought to leave feeling like they are participating at a fair level, which is not that's not the usual sort of predatory, let's see, if I can if I can win or surmount my adversary or whatever, that he's always looked for business partners where the relationship is is mutually supportive and agreeable.

Meredith Walker [00:18:52]:
Well, really successful people like other people winning. I mean, that's a whole probably different subject, but that's interesting that you point that out. That doesn't surprise me.

Bob Rivard [00:19:00]:
I wanna ask you, going back to your process. I and I can see that you've modernized things with bylaws changes and so forth. So we know that only the 120 living former members of the hall of fame get to vote on the ballot. Yeah. I'd be very curious to see those ballots before and who didn't get in. But who gets to nominate?

Meredith Walker [00:19:20]:
Anyone can nominate. We just you know, again, we discourage PR firms from nominating. Some of our best nominations come from the people we funded because they really have a pulse on what's happening, on who's speaking in entrepreneurial things. I would say 2 of our inductees this year came from, you know, very early stage entrepreneurs we offended, Joe Jebbia, the cofounder of Airbnb.

Bob Rivard [00:19:46]:
From Austin?

Meredith Walker [00:19:47]:
Mhmm. And Kathleen Hildreth, who's out of Denton, Texas, but the only veteran, I believe, to ever make Forbes' wealthiest self made list.

Bob Rivard [00:19:56]:
And tell me about those 2 individuals. And let's talk a little bit about the Texas Business Hall of Fame's program where you do reach out to young entrepreneurs.

Meredith Walker [00:20:05]:
Uh-huh.

Bob Rivard [00:20:06]:
And you have, incentive programs to help them and to mentor them.

Meredith Walker [00:20:11]:
We do. We have so every year, we fund up to 40 entrepreneurs around the state. We used to only fund in the higher education community. Now we fund in the veteran entrepreneurial community. Those are usually mid stage entrepreneurs. And then in the higher ed space, it's usually early stage. And we also fund in the high school space, just a couple. And then we have some statewide awards.

Meredith Walker [00:20:34]:
And those awards range anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000. Some of these people are at points in their their trajectory that they don't actually need that money, but it's recognition of what they've done and where we think they'll go. And, you know, with that funding also comes a very exclusive network and a network eager to help them. You know, that's our whole goal is to bridge servant minded entrepreneurs with the entrepreneurs that we we recognize on our stage every year in hopes that when they get to that level, they too will be business leaders that care about their community and give back.

Bob Rivard [00:21:12]:
Well, how does one pursue one of those grants? Because here we are in Geekdom, in the Rand building. It's filled with people that, aspire to start a company or have started a company or working to do that, and, they would never say no to any opportunity to seek funding. So are they eligible? They have to is can they go to the website and read about the eligibility to see whether or not they might qualify?

Meredith Walker [00:21:41]:
You can read about the eligibility at texasbusiness.org. I would say, in general, you have to be part of one of the areas I mentioned. Like, you have to be nominated by a high school, or you have to be nominated by an institution of higher learning where you're currently studying. In the entrepreneurial veteran entrepreneurial space, anyone can apply.

Bob Rivard [00:22:03]:
Now given given the fact that most of your inductees have nothing to do, in their business background with higher with education or with, most of them are veterans probably, Why are you

Meredith Walker [00:22:15]:
Actually, we have quite a few.

Bob Rivard [00:22:16]:
Do you? But why are you focusing on those two areas and not saying, we're supporting the smartest tech startups like Airbnb or whatever Yeah. When they're at at their very nascent stage?

Meredith Walker [00:22:28]:
Well, I think at some point, we tried dipping our toe in the water in terms of identifying just the rock star entrepreneur in general. Like, for example, the Rice Business Competition is the biggest pitch competition, I think, in the world of its kind. We were a funder, for the top finishing Texas team, a $25,000 prize for some time. But what we learned is that pitch competitions are not the best place to find these entrepreneurs. So, really, it's an it's a it's a matter of finding out how to identify these people in a systematic way, reach out to them, solicit applications. So, you know, any ideas, we're open to them.

Bob Rivard [00:23:10]:
The money is obviously important to to all of these, recipients, but I think the access to the hall of fame members is even more important. I recently attended an event that you organized here, showcasing Graham Weston again talking to Holly Thaggard, the founder of Supergoop.

Meredith Walker [00:23:29]:
Yeah. She's amazing.

Bob Rivard [00:23:30]:
And I don't think most people even know she lives in San Antonio. I did not until shortly before that event. And what a powerhouse company she's built, a former school teacher, a harpist, harp player Mhmm. Made her living, Holly the harpist. Yeah. But she decided that, you know, she could build a better sunblock and that launched her into a whole line of skin care products, protection products that's just taken off and is huge. And the audience were all these grant recipients that you Yeah. Assemble and they're just young, bright, people that were also interacting with some, you know, billionaires and other hall of fame members that they had access to because of their grant.

Meredith Walker [00:24:13]:
Yeah. And that you know, our events are you've been to enough of them to know they're usually pretty small because we really like the audience to be engaged and there are to be real opportunity for conversation and learning and relationship building. So, you know, we we are looking for more partnerships in the community for so long. Our organization was very inward facing. It was a very, very tight network. Our events were only for Texas Business Hall of Fame members and directors, and a few alumni. We have been partnering with more groups and communities. We partnered with SMU on something this year.

Meredith Walker [00:24:52]:
We partnered with the Ion at Rice, the Rice Business Alliance this year for the Beaver Apple and the founder of Buc ee's, as you mentioned earlier, event. So we're trying to bring some of our programming more to the general public. If for no other reason that expose them to new avenues to become involved with the Texas Business Hall of Fame and become engaged. But, right now, it's still a very, you know, very tight group. So

Bob Rivard [00:25:18]:
Well, my interest in it is anything that promotes significant philanthropy is is worth exploring from my point of view as a as a journalist. And that's one of the things that interested me that just becoming a billionaire alone does not let you walk into the Texas Business Hall of Fame. There has to be something more. And I'm I I have to ask you, I'm watching with interest how hard Texas is trying to recruit from California, which is such a seed bed of innovation with Silicon Valley. But just California in general, its university system is second to none, and it's always been a place where things get started and then move east. And because of the political environment, however, people are second guessing that, and you have more and more companies looking to states that don't have an income tax, that have, a very pronounced deregulatory business environment that sort of defines Texas. And so you have the Elon Musks of the world decamping from their California basis to here. And and he in particular is of interest because he built a Gigafactory in Austin.

Bob Rivard [00:26:26]:
He's building 1 in Monterey. We're getting some suppliers here in San Antonio. He tried to interest our city in his boring company tunnel tunnel, initiative to to do something from the airport. Have you, identified anybody that moved here from California or moved their company or their corporate headquarters? Or it doesn't have to be California from outside the state into the state that's gathered, you know, your attention. I mean, you're certainly aware hyper aware of Elon Musk's presence here Yeah. From SpaceX in Brownsville to to, I guess he's living in Austin. I'm not sure about that.

Meredith Walker [00:27:02]:
He is. And, there's, you know, there's a mass in influx of of especially, like, kind of the tech titans into Austin, and you can already see them sort of having their impact on the Austin landscape. I'm hoping that sort of extends outside Austin. And Dallas, of course, I think, is really experiencing a boom with so many corporate I think city relocated there or some others. Like, it's you know, Texas is the most business friendly state in the country. And kinda tying that in with philanthropy, I think now is a real moment, for our state. I mean, we're one of the wealthiest states in the country. We're also one of the least philanthropic.

Meredith Walker [00:27:42]:
And

Bob Rivard [00:27:43]:
Really?

Meredith Walker [00:27:43]:
That's one reason I took this job because there's nothing more powerful than a story. There's nothing more powerful than an example. And it inspires people when they see someone giving back and what they've gained from giving back. It really influences, you know, the business leaders that attend our events and are engaged with our organization, people that can be reaching further and that have huge potential to have an impact in their community, that perhaps has been unrecognized. If you look at the 20 most philanthropic people in the United States, only 2 of them are Texans. Michael Dell, one of our hall of fame members, and John Arnold out of Houston, another hall of fame member who, before Mark Zuckerberg, was the youngest billionaire in the United States, who retired at 37 to dedicate his entire life to philanthropy.

Bob Rivard [00:28:34]:
Where does one find measurements of how states stack up philanthropically? I'd I'd love to look at that myself.

Meredith Walker [00:28:40]:
And you know The Chronicle of Philanthropy is a really good resource for for looking at stuff like that. I think the last time I looked, Texas might have been in the thirties.

Bob Rivard [00:28:51]:
Is that because it's a younger state or its its its wealth is younger? Or is there is there any reason that one can point to?

Meredith Walker [00:29:01]:
Well, there's no way to come up with an objective number because Texans also tend to be very individual in their philanthropy. Meaning, they're less likely to publicize it. They often give to other individuals. That's their way of helping. There's no way to make record of that, nor would anyone want to because, I mean, why would you wanna tell the whole world you're helping someone out? Right? So sometimes, you know, there you have to look at that number and make some adjustments for sort of Texas's culture. But still, it is very obvious that we could be doing a lot more. So

Bob Rivard [00:29:38]:
One extraordinarily philanthropic, inductee who died earlier this year was San Antonio's Carlos Alvarez, who was actually, a Mexican native and citizen, originally who came here, as a beer importer. And, we are now the the largest trading partner with Mexico, the United States. Mexico is our largest trading partner. Texas is number 1 in terms of both exports and imports coming from that country. Now Carlos and and, his wife, Malu, they relocated here many years ago, and, they became, you know, Texans and Americans. But I I just wonder whether or not the impact of of, the Mexican economy opening and the amount of business between Mexico and Texas, whether or not other Mexican business people have been on your radar.

Meredith Walker [00:30:30]:
Yes. So we inducted a Mexican American last year, Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND Bars.

Bob Rivard [00:30:37]:
Right. He's a Trinity University grad.

Meredith Walker [00:30:38]:
He's a Trinity University grad. And I think, you know, he he's also having a huge moment, not just because of Kynd, because he's been so since the very beginning of his success, has just been such an instrumental player in, bridge building, especially in the Middle East in terms of divisiveness, political divisiveness. He's now taken that cause to the United States. He has Builders Texas now too, I believe. He's also just replaced, I think, Mark Cuban on Shark Tank.

Bob Rivard [00:31:07]:
Oh, that's right.

Meredith Walker [00:31:07]:
Yeah. Mark Cuban is another inductee. But, Daniel, I think I if I read that correctly, I think he's gonna be now a regular on Shark Tank. I think he's just been a guest in the past. But, yeah, another Mexican American. We have several

Bob Rivard [00:31:19]:
Does he live in Texas, though?

Meredith Walker [00:31:21]:
Yes. He does. He lives in Austin.

Bob Rivard [00:31:22]:
Okay. I didn't know that.

Meredith Walker [00:31:23]:
Yeah. Yeah. And he'll actually be at the event this year. He's introducing Joe Jebbia, the cofounder of Airbnb who relocated to Austin recently, 4 years ago, 5 years ago.

Bob Rivard [00:31:34]:
From California. Right?

Meredith Walker [00:31:35]:
Yeah. From California. He's from Atlanta. But yeah.

Bob Rivard [00:31:37]:
But he's an

Meredith Walker [00:31:37]:
example of this company. Out out in California.

Bob Rivard [00:31:41]:
Yeah. But Airbnb stayed in California? Mhmm. Did it not? Mhmm. Is he no longer connected to it, or is he just an absentee founder?

Meredith Walker [00:31:50]:
He no longer has, like, a formal connection to Airbnb, I believe. I could be wrong on that. I mean, he's no longer managing Airbnb. Now his big initiative is Samira, which is building tiny homes.

Bob Rivard [00:32:04]:
I wanna go back to Elon Musk and ask you whether or not he has made the ballot yet or whether he, has not been philanthropic in Texas in a way that would get him on the ballot and whether or not, your process of anybody can nominate anyone, only your members can decide who gets in. But during that nomination process, I would assume that you're subjected to intense lobbying from people that you should be promoting certain people getting in or certain people not getting in. Yeah. How about that part of your job?

Meredith Walker [00:32:41]:
Are you being specific to Elon?

Bob Rivard [00:32:43]:
Well, I might as well be if you'd like to be.

Meredith Walker [00:32:45]:
Well, Elon, of course, is is is has come up a number of times. He's just hit the mark for being here long enough.

Bob Rivard [00:32:51]:
Oh, what is the mark?

Meredith Walker [00:32:53]:
It's 5 years. We make allowances a little here and there.

Bob Rivard [00:32:57]:
Say I could challenge that.

Meredith Walker [00:32:58]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, that he, you know, Elon's philanthropy is supposedly huge. I mean, he he's if you research it, he talks about it. But what you don't know is where the philanthropy is. And that doesn't always matter to us. We just wanna see clear evidence that it's not a lot of things can count as philanthropy that might not be to the to the average bear.

Meredith Walker [00:33:24]:
But, I mean, he obviously has been transformational in terms of not just, you know, through Tesla, but through, you know, what he's done to Brownsville. I mean, some might argue there's some negative to that, but there's a lot of positive too. And, you know, we look at that too. That's an important part of our metrics when we're evaluating for our ballot is, like, what have they done to change the economic opportunity of the state? You know? And between Jeff Bezos, who's also a Texan, by the way, at least he went to school in Houston early.

Bob Rivard [00:33:56]:
Big ranch out in West Texas.

Meredith Walker [00:33:57]:
Yeah. I mean, their space programs they've I mean, Texas is the hub for that. I mean, NASA was, but for the private space exploration, I mean

Bob Rivard [00:34:06]:
How do you assess the negative side? So Elon Musk's, SpaceX has been a terrible, environmental citizen down in in Boca Chica, which is a part of the country I used to live in, and I watch closely. And I've been down there, and and, it's amazing the job creation that's occurred. And and, he's he's been generous to the local communities, but, also very controversial about his indifference to what's happened to the wetlands. And, you look at what he's doing now with giving us $1,000,000 away to people that basically are Trump voters. They're all Trump voters. He's giving 100 of 1,000,000 of dollars to the to the political campaigns. And x frankly has become the primary social media platform for disinformation in the country. So how do you how do you weigh those pros and cons in deciding somebody ought to get in or not get in?

Meredith Walker [00:34:56]:
Well, that's not up to me, thankfully. That's up to a committee.

Bob Rivard [00:35:00]:
Passing the buck

Meredith Walker [00:35:02]:
on whatever it might. Committee and up to our hall of fame members. You know, I think that I mean, I will say it it is very hard in my experience to reach a level like that without controversy.

Bob Rivard [00:35:16]:
Yeah. Look at Jeff Bezos and the decision that he unilaterally stopped The Washington Post from endorsing, Kamala Harris last week or 2 weeks ago. And and, they've lost 250,000 subscribers apparently as a result of that, which is that's not good for democracy.

Meredith Walker [00:35:35]:
Yeah. Well, I you know, I there's a price for genius, maybe. I don't know. Not everyone's perfect. And I think that how people use their influence is something we look at. And I'll just you know, I'll leave it at that. But I think that as controversial as someone like Elon Musk is or Jeff Bezos, I mean, they pioneered a completely different way of doing things, and they pioneered completely new industries.

Bob Rivard [00:36:00]:
And yet we're talking about 2 people that aren't in the Texas

Meredith Walker [00:36:03]:
business all the same. They're not. Well, Jeff Bezos, I don't know if he spends the majority of his time in Texas.

Bob Rivard [00:36:08]:
He lives in Miami.

Meredith Walker [00:36:09]:
Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, he does spend, I think, quite a bit of time.

Bob Rivard [00:36:13]:
You have to live here now or have your residence here? Is that part of your bylaws? Well, so that would exclude him. He's a he's a Miami resident.

Meredith Walker [00:36:19]:
But Elon Musk would not be excluded at this point. And, you know, I just think that he's never been up for consideration until recently just because he he hadn't been here for very long.

Bob Rivard [00:36:28]:
Well, you won't get any pushback on David Robinson. I can promise I can promise you that. And Yeah. And he's gonna be surrounded by people that are delighted to meet him Yeah. Even if they don't know the full story about Admiral Capital and his creation of the Carver Academy here on the east side, which was an incredible gesture early on in

Meredith Walker [00:36:48]:
Yeah.

Bob Rivard [00:36:49]:
His, his career, and has really proved to be one of the first, and most enduring charter schools in the city. Yeah. So, we're happy to see him in. It'll be fun to hear Roger Staubach pass the baton from 1 naval academy graduate to the next, and it will be interesting to hear what what David's message will be. Do each of those inductees, speak at the gala?

Meredith Walker [00:37:15]:
Yes. They give an acceptance speech, and no doubt David's will be, you know, incredibly humble. And, but I'm I'm looking forward to what he has to say. I've just watched his, an event documentary, and it was pretty incredible. His dad had so much influence on his life, and I'm sure he'll talk about that. It brought tears to my eyes. Dave David Robinson, I would say, is about as controversy free as you can get in terms of a Texas Business Hall of Fame inductees. So

Bob Rivard [00:37:43]:
I think so, and that's a good place to end the conversation. So thanks so much for coming all the way from Houston, Meredith Walker. And

Meredith Walker [00:37:49]:
Well, thanks for having me.

Bob Rivard [00:37:50]:
And we're glad to, help you elevate the profile of the Texas Business Hall of Fame, especially when you're picking great San Antonians to to enter.

Meredith Walker [00:37:58]:
Yeah. No. We're well, I hopefully you know, there's a few tickets left for the event. I don't know when this will run, but we also post a video of it online. So if anyone wants to watch David's speech, it should be an incredible one.

Bob Rivard [00:38:08]:
Well, this will post Friday

Meredith Walker [00:38:10]:
Okay.

Bob Rivard [00:38:11]:
November 8th, and we will promote it and hope that the Business Hall of Fame uses its social media reach to do the same thing. And in advance of, of your gala next week in Dallas, maybe we'll get a lot of your voting members to listen to.

Meredith Walker [00:38:26]:
Okay. Great. Well, we will do that.

Bob Rivard [00:38:29]:
Thank you very much.

Meredith Walker [00:38:29]:
Thank you so much for having me.

Bob Rivard [00:38:31]:
Thank you. Welcome to The Last Word, my weekly commentary on life and work in San Antonio and Texas. We are recording this episode of Big City Small Town on election Tuesday, November 5th, as long lines form at the polls this morning. By the time this episode airs on Friday, November 8th, let's hope we know the outcome, that it's widely accepted, and that this deeply divided nation does not witness violence again as it did on January 6, 2021. That's when the US Capitol in Washington DC was attacked by a mob of supporters of president Donald Trump in what became an attempted coup d'etat 2 months after his irrefutable defeat in the 2020 presidential election. While many American voters on both sides of our nation's deep divide experience acute anxiety over the results of this presidential election, I find myself reflecting on the profound social, cultural, and political changes that have taken place in the United States over the course of my lifetime and now pose the most serious challenge to American democracy since the Civil War. When I was a boy delivering newspapers, almost every household received The Daily at the doorstep. Many households subscribe to both morning and evening newspapers, and the evening news on one of the 3 national networks, CBS, NBC, and ABC was appointment viewing for much of the country.

Bob Rivard [00:40:06]:
As a baby boomer, I remember the exact moment on November 22, 1963 as I attached the television antenna to our television in our new New York suburban home to witness a teary eyed Walter Cronkite on CBS tell the nation that president John f Kennedy had just been shot in Dallas and a bit later that he had died from his wounds. Today, very few households subscribe to a daily newspaper. What seemingly every household, every individual subscribes to today are unregulated social media platforms, many of which are controlled by Uber wealthy libertarians who see themselves in their business interests as operating above and without governance or regulation. We live in the age of disinformation when state actors in Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, all ruled by dictators, engage in thinly disguised cyber warfare to diminish democracy, spread falsehoods about US political leaders and candidates who challenge their repressive governments. US owned social media platforms like X, formerly Twitter, and now owned by Trump promoter Elon Musk, openly allow their channels to be used for the spread of orchestrated lies. Often enough, it is the Elon Musk of the world helping amplify those lies. Others like Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Facebook and Instagram, spend less time echoing those lies. At the same time, they turned a blind eye to them, pretending the content carried on their platforms, no matter how misleading or injurious, is beyond their control.

Bob Rivard [00:41:46]:
The federal oversight of broadcast channels and other media that exists in this country has never been applied to social media companies. The aging men who long have controlled the halls of power in the US Congress were too oblivious to the rise of social media or even the role of technology in general to understand its importance and the importance of such regulation. Ignorance has exacted a very costly price for our society now. The recent challenges we have faced, be it the great recession, the COVID pandemic, or inflation, all were crises amplified and distorted by social media, turning neighbor against neighbor, dividing families, and turning the United States into 2 population subsets, one blue, the other red. This is an election with profound consequences for our present and our future. As the historian Jon Meacham wrote in today's New York Times, largely read only by members of the blue subset, and I quote, a second Trump presidency is an open invitation to chaos. A Harris presidency, on the other hand, would be a sequential chapter in the American story, a comprehensible undertaking within the vernacular of power as practiced by presidents dating back to Jefferson, Jackson, and Lincoln. You may disagree with her, but a president Harris would govern in this tradition that includes Democrats and Republicans, close quotes.

Bob Rivard [00:43:18]:
I ask myself every 4 years, why do nearly half of the eligible US voters neglect to vote in our national elections? That's a conversation for after this election. But I'll close by saying I hope those of you who listen to Big City Small Town did vote in this election. And I hope it was a vote for our enduring democracy, not a dark turn toward autocracy. That's my last word for this week. Thank you for listening and for sharing. And please check out our social media channels, which you can rely on and follow us. That concludes this week's episode of Big City Small Town. Thank you to our presenting sponsors, Westin Urban, building the city our children want to call home, and Geekdom, helping business entrepreneurs move successfully from idea to startup.

Bob Rivard [00:44:11]:
Special thanks to our producers, Ashley Bird and Mora Bobbitt, and our audio engineer, Alfie De La Garza of Sound Crane Audio.