Texas 100 Influential Professionals to Watch in 2023

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
M2G Ventures specializes in the adaptive reuse of mixed-use districts and ground-up and urban industrial development. Sisters Jessica Miller Essl and Susan Gruppi are behind projects like North Quarter 35 in north Fort Worth and PROTO Park in Dallas. The firm recently announced that it is expanding into Austin.

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.