 Good afternoon. I hope everybody enjoyed your lunches where we've got some people kind of straggling in We've also lost a couple people so if everybody can kind of scoot towards the middle that way Everybody can get a closer view. That would be great Before we kick off our next panel, we're really honored to have the Dean of the UTSA College of Public Policy here And we're going to just he's going to give a couple words and that kind of thing so Dean signs we'd love to hear from you. Thank you so much I'd like to welcome everyone to our beautiful downtown campus and I'd like to thank you for Drew for bringing the conference here And I think this is a great place to have a conference and engage students and so forth a little bit about the The college we're located here in the downtown campus about 1500 students about a third our graduate students So we have a graduate programs in criminal justice in public administration And social work and then a phd program in In demography. We also have undergraduate programs in criminal justice and and public administration We have wonderful students to students who are doing a lot of great work In the city here in san antonio, there's a It's not a country it's a recognition for the top individuals the movers and shakers That are under age 40 So it's called the 40 under 40 And typically we have a number of our of our students that graduate from our college of public policy That are among those those students We also have a couple of our students and that were selected to go to the To the archer program in washington dc archer scholars and and so forth So there's a lot of really great things going on I love my job because it's one that allows the intersection between research Teaching and community engagement. So very much in line with The mission of this this particular conference trying to bring that conversation between academicians instructors and then people in in the community and there's a Some of our students are here. They're doing great work Obviously drew is one of our students who finished our program A year or two ago, I believe Chris Stewart is here Chris. There he is And then we also had Zach Dunn who was our president here as well And it's great to see I think the ray of hope Of of young people going into these professions, particularly when we see kind of the Ugliness that we see on the national debates taking place. So it's a really nice Ray of hope And for instructors professors educators and so forth. It's wonderful to see People that that go through our programs that become leaders Earlier Representative Mike I was at professor at Texas A&M for he was an undergraduate student He worked for me as a work study Student he was doing research for me. So it's great to see Students then as their college students and they make their mark and go on to to accomplish great things So again, I'd like to welcome you and I've been enjoying this this conference a lot And we'll continue being here the rest of the afternoon Thank you Thank you so much dean signs. Um, we're really really excited about this next panel This uh, our third panel of the day is innovating your career And so this is really going to discuss how you can branch out It's not all about going to law school and and that and As your path to elected official If you want to work in the private sector, you can do that And so we've got some really really great guests here today I'm going to introduce the moderator and then uh, dr. Hayamiyo is going to introduce the rest of the panel So our moderator today is dr. Patricia Hayamiyo She is an associate professor here at the department of public administration at utsa And she is a 2015 regents award winner outstanding teacher And she specializes specifically in latino latina political Political education. So so thank you so much and dr. Hayamiyo. I'll let you introduce the panel. Okay. Is this I guess this is active Um, so we have a wonderful panel again to reiterate what drew Said and and also a thanks for the promotion drew because you just moved me from lecture to associate professor But we have a great panel we have uh, dia compos from h e b bryan talderman from here at utsa and kathy garcia From cps and so we're going to talk as drew said about life in politics being engaged in the public sector beyond The elected and running for public office. So what I asked our panelists to actually start with is telling you their path To their current career in current position and if you'll go ahead and and give your formal position as well So dia you want to start all right. I'll go first. Um I'm going to try to take this really long complicated story of mysteries and truncated Into a couple of minutes, but um, my name is dia compos. I'm currently the director of public and government affairs for h e b Which many of you know we're headquartered here in san antonio and we're the Largest privately held employer in texas um, my path to a career in politics um is uh interesting I started as a undergraduate well first of all um back my family It was always politically active. I grew up in kyle texas haze county Um election day was a holiday in my family Everyone got to take off of school and we all worked the polls for somebody that my family was supporting and so grew up in a very civically active family and kyle and Went on to undergraduate at southwestern university where I met dr. Hadamio Who was one of my professors? I guess maybe my sophomore junior year. I can't recall um and at southwestern I Thought I wanted to go to law school like everybody Typically does who civically minded. They think that is the only path to civic engagement. Um, so started off in you know pre-law and um picked the best law firm in texas at the time vinson and elkins law firm to intern at got into their pre-law internship program, which is pretty bigger as very highly competitive program And ended up working in the public policy section for vinson and elkins law firm Which was a great learning experience for me I quickly discovered I did not want to be a lawyer working Working in a law firm for four years during undergrad you get to see a lot of what being a lawyer really means And I realized that was not the kind of impact I I was probably best suited for And um, I decided um, you know, I really liked working the public policy division. I would be late nights at the capital Watching the appropriations committee until 2 3 a.m. It's kind of fascinating seeing how How the law is really made? Um, then got involved in several political races. I worked on several campaigns um throughout undergrads undergraduate school And met a lot of great people some of the best people some of the best friends in in my life I met through politics through Working in the capital after undergrad. Um, I worked for vinson elkins law firm as a lobbyist I was a lot youngest lobbyist in the state of texas at the age of 21 at that time And then got recruited by hill co partners, which is one of the largest lobbying firms in the state um worked for hill co partners and several clients of hill co for A couple of sessions where and then I realized that When you're working as a consultant in any field not just political consulting You know it wears on you and you get to know different personalities of your clients and one of my clients was h e b at the time And at the time that was 2006 maybe H e b only lobbied for public education issues. They were really not concerned about business tax issues or Other business issues that were impacting them at the capital and I thought that was kind of interesting for such a large company um So they were my favorite client and and I thought to myself if I was going to do this in-house somewhere Or for anybody else, um, I would want to be at h e b and so 10 years later Uh, here I am at h e b and my responsibilities cover um being the media spokesperson for the company And also charitable giving community relations And government affairs when I came to the company h e b really didn't have a government affairs division And so we've slowly created that Um over these past 10 years and I now manage our state lobby team Which does include my former employer hill co. That's that's always fun and interesting um But um feel really really blessed to be in this role and to be advocating at the state capital on behalf of a really great company Brian So my path to to where I'm at now is kind of also an interesting one And a little bit meandering so I'll try to summarize Um, I think I grew up in a household also that was Uh, very interested and engaged in the community and in the political arena Um, I grew up in a divided household. My father was uh registered republic and my mother democrat Like that all all of their lives. So that made for interesting table conversation um so, uh I I kind of always had an interest in service and serving others From being from very young and so when I went off to To college. I was really unsure exactly what to major in or where I wanted to go Um, and I actually was thinking about becoming a roma catholic priest when I when I went off to college And so I ended up going to the university of Dayton a catholic university in Ohio. I'm from northern Kentucky Cincinnati area originally And ended up studying religious studies theology for my undergraduate with a minor in social work And so I did that path and And it was good. It was a really um robust liberal arts education And I'm really grateful that I I had that um as my undergraduate to agree But ultimately I didn't end up going that path for myself I ended up In st. Louis working eventually in st. Louis working on a master's degree after a couple of years of working And worked on a master's in social work at washington university in st. Louis A very reputable social work program and my focus always really wanted to be sort of A macro perspective of the profession. So looking at public policy development My concentration in the program was social and economic development Sort of with an international focus Ended up doing my my final field placement with the program in peru for a year Working in a sort of a post-secondary school doing a lot of grant writing and studying employability of minority youth in peru And so that was a really fascinating experience. I got to work with a lot of Latin American scholars who were studying issues of employability and sort of oppression of of minority youth in in central america latin america Central and south america. Um, so that was a really enriching experience for me and also helped me work on my spanish I ended up staying a year improved working on spanish I came to san antonio after that year to work at st. Mary's university where I took a position that was sort of Kind of a love of both Interest so I became the university minister for social justice Where I was sort of engaging that undergraduate piece of My studies in theology and religious studies with an interest in sort of social justice and advancing the common good And doing a lot of developing really this was the I was the first person in that position at st. Mary's so developing a lot of programming for students That was that were engaging them in the community helping them see Some of the challenges social challenges our community might have faced Really engaging them in reflection on those issues Supporting some of the service learning initiatives at the university And then that brought me here to utsa I've been here two years now and I serve as the director of the center for civic engagement here at utsa A fairly new entity at utsa not new totally to higher education So One of the things when I started working in higher education was I really wasn't aware That there are civic engagement or community engagement professionals in higher education It is a sort of growing recognition or growing movement that you have a career in higher education As a community engagement professional And we do a variety of things but principally our work is to really live out that public service mission of the institutions So almost every institution of higher ed rather private or public Has something in their mission some Aspect of their mission. That's about engaging The public you know public service angle or advancing the common good advancing the public good you you hear different language for that And so that's really kind of the realm. I'm in I would say in terms of my my social work Education really prepared me well to do this type of work It it's a lot of bridge building between the community and the institution Helping students be engaged through service learning courses through extracurricular Types of community engagement initiatives Through programming like like this to to really elevate the conversation on civic engagement And so I've really enjoyed that that journey to where I am now And I really do think that sort of that liberal arts base and my my focus professional studies and social work has Really prepared me well to do what I'm doing now. So I'll leave it there. Thank you, brian So I am responsible for the advocacy work for cps energy at the state and the federal level and Being all in san antonio. I presume you are aware, but I'll mention a fact that cps energy is The nation's largest municipally owned electric and natural gas utility So it's a it's a unique and fun exciting opportunity to be in this position to be messaging on Policy matters that are of interest to cps energy both at the state and the federal level And how I arrived at this position Is a resemblance of what you've heard the other panelists mention Raised by my parents to think about and understand Public public issues and current events and be able to speak about those at home And I've also arrived at the position. I'm at right now With the help and the guidance of mentors, which I found particularly helpful to me throughout my entire career And then I entered this work arena with the help of internships and non-paid internships at that So when I uh when I was growing up, I mentioned that we talked about current affairs in my household quite a bit I knew that I wanted to go to the university of texas at austin I knew I wanted to be a government major. I knew I wanted to work around public policy So I accomplished those things and then while I was at at the university I interned and I literally walked into the doors of city council here in san antonio one summer And said who will take a free intern and that was my entrance into into the work environment I I did an internship for district five on the west side of san antonio And I did that every day for the three months. I was here For that summer and then from there that particular internship has pretty much shaped and molded my career going forward It's had an impact in my job every which way When I went back to school to complete my my undergrad I got an internship at the attorney general's office again an unpaid internship But I was put into the intergovernmental relations department and got a broad spectrum of what state agency is about state agencies don't Don't advocate. They don't lobby, but they are responsible for monitoring all the activities that are going on In and around the legislature as well as inside each state agency So from the attorney general's perspective, you're supposed to represent those state agencies in any kind of legal battle And I worked on a team that that got broad knowledge of state government across the board It's a really exciting opportunity and that unpaid internship actually led to a paid job at the attorney general's office I worked in what was called the citizens advisory committee and we answered constituent Calls and letters that came into the attorney general a lot from people who thought the attorney general could help them directly And since the attorney general represents the state These folks needed to know where to go to go get some help And so our unit was there to help direct and to advise and we really had some very unique success stories Out of that department in one instance We actually helped a couple who was looking to adopt and they had trouble finding their way through the system And then at the end it was successful I held on to that letter as a as a neat token of success there And so from there the attorney general's office Had asked that I take over Correspondence that was coming in from elected officials to the attorney general directly So I did a lot of writing on behalf of the attorney general I had to think about what that attorney general would say in response to certain inquiries coming into their office So that was an interesting way to have to think like what would an elected or an appointed official Do when they're posed with questions? So I got an opportunity to see state government from that side And from there I transferred over to a private lobby firm. So I worked in the private sector for several years And represented a number of clients whether it was the crop dusters or the marriage and family therapists We had the texas state judges association So in the private firm, we represented a whole bunch of different clients much like what deal was talking about with hill co And similar to her story We represented the city of san Antonio and we represented a number of the chambers of commerce including the greater chamber And I learned that cps energy had an austin based office in which to do the the advocacy work for the utility And so I my name was tossed into a pool of candidates And that came from the link of representing the city the city entities And from there I was hired to come on board with cps energy, and I've been there now for 16 years So that's my story. Thank you And I think I said careers in the public sector, but it's really careers in politics And when we talk about the sectors recognize that We're talking about the private sector, which we see with the h e b We have the public sector and cps or quasi public right public municipally. Yes, municipal And in an academic Or nonprofit sector, which is a huge third sector now One of the questions that we'd like to To know from you all is what do you see as the relationship between the different sectors public private nonprofit academic And how do you navigate those sectors? Kathy you want to start? Sure. So I think that San Antonio entities are always going to come together to help the interests of San Antonio causes Whether it's private or public For cps energy being a government entity. There's several things that we cannot do And there are things that private entities can do so we look for For public private partnerships in order to Further whatever the goal might be for the community An example that I can give in my particular arena is that There are tax incentives for renewable energy And the community has stated that they'd like to see wind and solar developed And in order to bring that online, it's it's a cost And there are tax incentives that are offered to entities that are taxable And so we have partnered with those entities so that they can achieve the cost savings And they own the infrastructure they build the infrastructure and then we buy the power And it's so it's a partnership in order to bring something to the community That crosses both sectors and again, I would bring it home to whenever there's a Legislative session or there's an item that's before congress and it's San Antonio based the San Antonio entities will often come together And rally for those causes to bring the benefits back to the community I would add in my role Part of what what I see is Is my effort is to leverage the resources of the institution of higher ed In the community or for the good of the community So when I see opportunities to help leverage expertise of scholars on campus To bring to bear to You know a particular critical need of the community trying to help those relationships happen So even just recently had a meeting with the mayor talking about some of her Her policy priorities and thinking about who on campus can we connect to to the mayor's office to help Initiate some research initiatives or engage undergraduate students in those efforts, etc so that's a lot of my role is sort of Bridging those divides between entities and institutions Um, and I also see that too with With the nonprofit sector and some of the public sector and a little bit of the private sector too in terms of where students are doing Volunteer service internship placements or engagement like that in the community and sort of Ensuring that we have good mutually beneficial relationships between Those entities that through between those different sectors So obviously hosting events here on campus to bring those together for conversation Um, you know those kinds of things to ensure that we there's some mutuality in our work And that it's sustainable because obviously that's an important part We don't want to just send students in and out of a of an agency or With the sector, but we'd really like to have a sustained relationship where it's really beneficial to to to both parties Yeah, I would agree. Um, so Approaching issues in the legislature, um, you have to really know your stakeholder group You have to look at what person is going to be against me who's going to be for me Who are all the stakeholders and when you look at that stakeholder list? It's usually Public sector private sector and a lot of academia is involved, you know, specifically like in we do a lot of work in the transportation Um arena h eb has almost 400 tractors and trailers going up and down texas highways Every day It's a big issue for us. But when you look at the transportation issue as a whole There's a lot of academia involved, you know, we partner with texas a and m who is doing this robust study about how to move Um cargo up and down highways in a more inefficient and safe way And in that you have the public sector with texas dot and different municipalities and and the state as well So when you're approaching issues, um in any, um realm of conflict, whether it's in a public affairs arena or in a legislative arena You always look at that stakeholder group and when you look at your your stakeholders, you'll always see a cross Cross section of interest Thank you. Um, what about issues of board service and volunteerism? How are those important today? In your worlds and how can students Think about getting involved Yeah, I'll go first on that, um, you know h eb is extremely passionate about volunteerism And we actually use board service and our corporation as a form of leadership development So my department works really close with hr to identify who are those up-and-coming leaders in our company that Need to get experience that are outside of the company Serving on a board is the best way to expand your network and to expand your understanding Of how things work So when we place people in our corporation on boards, we expect them to understand the financials You know, if it's somebody who's not strong in the in the realm of, you know, financial accounting You know, this is their opportunity to To step outside of the company and really learn that from other people on the board who are who are experts So board services is definitely a sign of leadership. It's a way to expand your network and A way to really take the opportunity to learn something and sharpen your skills in areas that you may not not be great in Yeah, the the thing I'll add to that too is I think it's important to identify Things in the community that you're passionate about to connect with so either through your volunteerism If there's particular issues you're passionate about to be engaged in those issues And and I think board service and and further engagement with agencies come with time obviously But if if an agency or an organization sees you as being a committed volunteer sees you as engaged with the issue Sees you as knowledgeable about the issue Then that's when the invitations come to be engaged at the board level or to be engaged in that way So so that would be my advice to students is as you're thinking about ways to be further engaged in things like volunteers And then board service to really find that nurture yourself of I'm an issue you're passionate about And and really stick with it And I I would say that whether it's running a marathon or working as an employee at a nonprofit or serving in an elected official capacity Volunteering is About changing lives about improving lives and it comes from a basis of wanting to do that and as brian mentioned that You find the things that you're passionate about and And you can find ways to in your insert yourself and to make a difference Uh, I think the the board serving on boards and and becoming Leaders on committees Working groups are all fantastic ways to become an active participant You all know you all know you can do something and you can probably do it better than what's currently occurring So it it's very inspiring and motivating to find that opportunity and insert yourself And and make a difference Uh cps energy very much like h e b uses a program in house We look for those up and coming leaders and we we we help them find and identify opportunities for them to serve whether it's in our our state or our federal trade associations or whether it is on entities of civic engagement and and help them achieve those positions and and uh, it is about making connections with people It is a network that becomes part of of who you are either internal to your your organization as well as external to the community Fantastic way to get engaged Okay, I want to ask one question that wasn't there ahead of time which was essentially what do you see as One skill that was your strength In helping you through your career path And how did you develop that skill? um, I think uh especially and so Career a career in politics and a career in policy are two totally separate things um, if you guys are interested in a career in politics um, you know, I I think in Understanding that politics is cyclical you know, there are ups and downs and Republicans might be in in play In 10 years that's going to switch and the parties change and redefine themselves just understanding In having this serenity Around understanding that politics is cyclical and your relationships building relationships is probably the key thing And that doesn't mean building relationships just with democrats or just with republicans um, because people change and um Either your ability to have an impact on policy revolves around your relationships across the board Your ability to be gainfully employed revolves on relationships across the board. I've seen a lot of Friends of mine who have worked in the capital who are very dedicated Go on to have amazing amazing careers Either in the private sector or still in the public sector But it's because of your relationships So don't build relationships based on political party build relationships based on people who you trust people who Mirror who who have skills that you would like to mirror go and seek those people out if you see somebody who's really um, you know, you like their their calmness you like the way that they think about things you Make those people your friend. It's not about it's not about political party um Other skills are perseverance and resilience And and that carries into the corporate world If you are a have the ability to take feedback ask for feedback from people Take it and change and be resilient and and be able to fail and have setbacks and overcome that um, I think that is the the number one uh quality and trait that you can develop as a leader something that you can be mindful about and strengthen and strengthen and that will will You know change your your trajectory in life one of the thoughts that I had was About a skill that I think takes time to really develop is This idea of sort of being humbly confident in what you're doing And I and I add the word humble or humbling to that because You can also be cocky about your confidence, right and and not come off well to people or individuals And and that's not helpful for building those relationships, which I think is really key and critical To being successful so Being confident about your skill set about your education about where you're at but in a in a way that's that's that's With humility. I think is super important And I lost the other one I had I had too, but maybe I'll come back to it so I'll try to build off what you've heard in terms of relationships and having humble confidence, which I think is Great skill sets to pay attention to I would say that to add to that It's about being diplomatic and tactful It's a skill set that I do think takes time to hone in When to know to be bold in a conversation and when to listen Those are things that in time it's it's not like you necessarily learn that in a classroom You you learn that by being maybe in an internship or in a in a volunteer role where You get technical skills and you gain social skills And you you learn when the moment's right to actually be bold in your statements to be assertive And then you also learn when the right time is to listen and to maybe take ideas back And maybe you come back a day later and you're bold in the same in the same conversation But knowing when and how to use those skill sets and to really Work on perfecting those I think can make you very very successful in whether it's politics or in working in and around policy Thank you, Brian, do you remember? Well in thinking about when you hire What kind of skills do you look for when you are hiring and how can the students Or those who are entering The workforce build those skills So I think Depending on the role that they're going to fill within your your area, but at large It goes without saying that she wants Excellent writing and and oral skills. I think that's kind of a given But I would look for and help someone gain how to become concise and very articulate Uh, there are times where in a position of of talking on policy or politics You might get 15 minutes to explain a perspective or you might get 15 seconds And so being able to adapt to whichever the situation might be and to be prepared with details And to be prepared with the one statement you want people to leave with So in hiring and in interviewing skills, I would look for someone who's articulate and someone who can be concise Another thing that I would look for based on this type of role specifically for Let's say lobbying or or government relations affairs would be Outgoing it doesn't mean that an introvert per se can't do this type of role But it but it someone who is is comfortable at being outgoing and is seeking conversation Is going to be just a bit more comfortable and maybe not as taxed at the end of the day Because it is something that that they almost refuel by doing I have Two people on my team one that's very extroverted and one that's introverted and I've hired them for different reasons The the person who's a little bit more introverted can certainly do the same that the extrovert is doing But he's an excellent writer. He's an excellent reporter and he brings back information reports it back to the utility in a very excellent manner and the the other person is able to be the outward Spokesperson to to engage and to build those relationships. And so in hiring those are those are some some criteria some skill sets that I would look for I thought of my other one So being inquisitive was the other skill that I thought was really important to you because Particularly when you're thinking about public policy, there's always there's always another side of the story. There's always another angle so Having that skill and developing that skill to dig deeper to do the research that you need to do um, I think it's important but in It relates really to this topic in terms of things that I would be looking for an individual to Support our work is the other thing I would add to what to what kafia said is is a critical thinker somebody who can really carefully analyze and think through situations and and Do the research that needs to get done so that we're really informed on all angles of issues Before kind of moving forward And so I think even in the work that that we do here at the institution is sort of Understanding and knowing the resources that we have as an institution how to how to leverage those well in the community But also it requires us to really know the issues in the community well And so having somebody that can help us really do that as something that i'm looking for and folks that would be working with us Um, I look for authenticity. I want to know if you know who you are And why you do the things that you do So I ask a lot of questions and interviews about Um, how you feel about certain things what makes you happy what makes you sad What do you who are you as a person? um In hiring spokespeople for a company a really large company with a lot of complex issues um Being authentic in knowing who you are Um will give me a good Feel of how you're going to react under pressure So reacting under pressure under um speaking in public forums or whether it be a group of media Of a journalist badgering you with questions I want to make sure that you're comfortable and confident and You know why you do the things you do why you believe the things you you do And um, so that's that's really important for me as well as of course the communication skills is is Is a given but I think authenticity and Confidence and and presence is something that Is important At least for for us when we're hiring on the on the public affairs side of the business good um Well, I think this is really really informative because so much of what we heard this morning had to do around revolved around electeds and running for office and um having an impact and the the information terms the careers in Politics goes well beyond that and it's often careers that we're not always familiar with And we don't know how to make our way into those areas So what I'd like to do is open open up questions from the audience because I believe that They provide our panelists provide such interesting perspective coming from a different kind of world that we're not familiar with Dealing with politicians and elected officials. What would what would you say is? The kind of the approach that you that you go into their office with you have to approach them a certain way Are you worried about them kind of you know dealing you or are you trying to like pull something on them? I mean, how do you expect day-to-day businesses to be conducted in you know the capital? Well from from my experience, it's it's different. So I spent a lot of time getting to know who they are Um, but they're I mean I study any elected official extensively before I go in and talk to them I want to know What they do for a living who their parents were where they grew up what's meaningful to them? What church they go to how many kids they have I do all of that That background work before I walk in and it's different working in in house in a large company Typically the first thing I get asked when I walked in when I walk into a legislature's office is You know, I love my h eb. You know, we need an h eb in my town if it's somebody in in north texas And so once we get past all of that You know, we get down to okay. Here's a policy that we're working on And I always try to find something that is beneficial to them in their communities and their constituencies And it's just h eb has a very different style and approach to government affairs than Then a lot of other companies that that I've represented in the past And so through my experience of lobbying for Numerous different companies everybody from the Dallas Cowboys the Houston Rockets AT&T has been a client and so After gaining all that experience and learning the styles of different companies We've cultivated a culture of government affairs at h eb that is more of a shared value culture You guys may have read about shared value concept From a lot of that is discussed from Harvard Business School Clay Christensen in this concept of shared value But when you look at that in in terms of government affairs really Finding a common shared interest that you have with an elected official in their constituency And being able to bridge That that gap that you may have with them is really a really powerful thing and actually extremely rewarding Yeah, I'll just add I mean a lot of my work is with municipal government So in terms of city council and the county officials and again, it kind of goes back to the to the shared values ideas is Working with them on issues that they're concerned about for their constituents for their district Where the university can can bear some resources or be helpful to them And so that's kind of the approach that I always take but it's also about building relationships, right? So now it's to the point where you know most of the city council knows who I am and the role I have at the university and feels comfortable calling me up or sending me an email when when they need something And so that's part of the idea as well It's a partnership You you're going into that office And you're going to meet with that member or their chief of staff their legislative director And they need to get to know you you have to allow them that opportunity to Visit with you to share what what they feel is important their perspectives on things And and just listen and over time you become a trusted resource And it's really not until you become that trusted resource that you can really find That true partnership working and it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort to do that As you've heard the other two panelists mentioned the relationships is so critical To being able to be successful, but it's not just about cps energy's success It's also about the success of the delegation that's representing us And so together in that in that partnership and in that trusted resource When when we go to visit with members We not only need to explain our perspective on something But we need to be able to say what the other stakeholders perspectives are We need to be upfront and and understand and know who's going to come in and speak something different And prepare them for that type of of dialogue and maybe even controversy at times Sometimes you're going to agree to disagree and that's going to be okay too provided you've been True and you've been honest and forthcoming in the things that you know And over time you really do develop a very powerful partnership They want to do good by representing you they care about you as a constituent or as a company that's in their district And what can they do to help you and then what can you do to help them help you? So it's a very cyclical thing. I think a good case study for you guys if you're truly interested would be this past session The tesla motor company versus the automobile dealers. This past session was a great great case study And i'm a huge along musk fan, you know a huge fan of tesla. So there's my disclaimer camera But it was really interesting how they decided to handle the politics of influence of influencing legislators because You know, they developed this huge political action committee and threw a ton of money at the issue and that's the one thing I think that That is kind of a A myth in politics is the more money you throw at it The uh, you'll get what you want and this is a great case that resembles that's not exactly How it works, um, you have to build relationships. You have to come to a middle ground, you know Riding huge checks, especially In one election cycle is is not going to necessarily help. So if anyone's really interested and I think that's a great case study to look at It's kind of a two-part question. So how did you find yourselves where you are? Uh, was it a planned progression? Did you see yourselves being where you are now and worked towards that? Or was it just kind of a happenstance progression through your career And now you're just doing what you're doing because you're good at it. Um, and that being said How do you deal with the negative statement of being a lobbyist? Yeah, that is a great question Uh I'm sure others up here will get asked this too, but I I'll find myself in a situation where someone will say, what do you do? And I'll say I'm in government relations and they'll look at me and say, what is that? And then I say I'm a lobbyist and they go, oh And so That's a great question. And there are words that just sometimes have negative connotations to them Um, that's kind of unfortunate in this world, but it is it is the it is the case Um, and there's a variety of reasons for that But I generally when I find myself in a situation trying to explain or handle the negativity that's associated with lobbying Um There is absolutely no way that our elected officials or appointed officials can know everything about everything And they do need someone to help them understand the issue. Again, you might agree to disagree But they need people that they can trust and that they can receive information from And so it is a valuable part of the process and that is being able to go in and explain Explain an issue explain a perspective And uh in the folks that I continue to talk with about the negativity of it There there is great Opportunity for the industry as a whole to to change that over time But I do I do believe that uh, the liaison work that occurs between the lobby And whoever is being lobbied Is an essential part of education. It's an essential part of being able to share a perspective Um, and then I think and I'll stop there and see if others want to answer that and then we can take on your other question Yeah, um, I mean, I don't necessarily do lobby work. So so I'm off the hook a little bit on that one But in terms of where I'm at now. No, I really did not see myself where I'm at now Um, and so in some ways, I'm grateful for the opportunities that have presented themselves for me to be where I am, but I would say Uh, you know, it's it's all it's also sort of looking at it as a challenge to grow into any particular position You may take on, um, you know and to be open to The opportunity to learn in those new positions. Um, you know, for example The transition I made from from private higher education to public higher education was huge It's like it's a different world and so having to learn that that difference in that challenge And to execute the work and and vision that I want for for the center here at UTSA was it was a whole Whole new ballgame for me. And so, you know, not being afraid of those challenges when you have Opportunities presented to you. I think for your for your future career and to kind of take them on It would be my advice You know, mine, uh, it's it's a constant tug of war for me every day I think I wake up and I just want to do product development at hb And and not and not because it's difficult and and doing government affairs in a really large company in a changing landscape Where you have 20 new members of the legislature every cycle. It's really difficult. Um But you know, it's it's just this this tug. I keep getting pulled back into it You know after undergrad all we want is a job You know, and so when I was offered a full-time job at vinson elkins law firm lobbying Right out of undergraduate school. Um, you know, I couldn't turn that down the job market was so tight and You know after I did that I I we had a lawyer in our firm dixon monagu who great man Uh represented a lot of companies and eminent domain issue and I took the issue very seriously And the way that I became a great lobbyist is reading I read the rules and that's rarely something people do because there are a lot of them And it's very easy to kill bills if you know the rules and um, I knew the rules better than anybody and uh, we Vincent and elkins had a huge win over a very popular home builder who has now passed on bob parry Who were they were in the middle of this huge legislative battle harris county issue and we beat them And it's very rare that hill co gets beat. It doesn't happen And so how that happened is hill co came and recruited me because I happened to beat one of their largest clients And you know right out of under I was like two years out of undergrad when that happened and that was You know pretty good money for somebody who was just out of undergrad So I really couldn't turn it down And that's kind of how I fell into things and I never loved lobbying. I never loved it And uh, that's why I made the decision to go to to h e b and I think that I would only lobby For uh clients and for a company who I I truly believe in because it's very easy to get this illusion The lobby world and with the politics of it. You have to truly love impacting change and you have to be extremely resilient and um And constantly not be jaded by by by things that happen So it's something I constantly struggle that I struggle with now is very happy to get off of that lobbyist list As soon as I could But it's a good question. So I I'll add that I love Lobbying I think it's fantastic And and but it goes to show true being true to who you are and what you like and what drives you and what you're comfortable with But uh, but it's a little different for me too. I'm in house and I work for a municipal utility So we don't have a public a political action committee and there there are things that we are not doing So it's about substance and it's about building those relationships and being a trusted resource I'm constantly challenged every day with finding out who's who's now coming into the legislature Who's now in congress? Who's appointed to this this agency and who do we have to go in and build a relationship with And let's make sure they know who cps energy is and let's make sure they understand our goals and our objectives for this community And that they recognize it's a community owned utility I I get up every day and I am so impassioned by what I do and when I get to go into the state capital I find it to be a tremendous honor to be there. I feel the same way about being in dc So it's it's a true passion There there are a lot of opportunities that probably come and go and it would be really hard for me to leave this one And notice while the mic is coming up notice that this wasn't a skill that they highlighted that was before but Knowing where to find information and doing your homework Seems to be really key here in terms of this particular career So, yeah, my name is west food road. I'm with Austin community college. This question is more important toward uh happy I'm a local business owner in austin and we've worked with Austin energy not a lot Um on energy management projects lighting solar things like that. I was wondering what you And anybody really but like specifically with your case. I mean, what do you do whenever the public opinion is trying to get you guys to allocate funding for a lot of different technologies that might not make the most sense and might not Provide the best return on investment just because they don't have to have the knowledge Or other various reasons. I mean how do you know that and make the public citizens happy and allocate the funding for You know that resources that will actually improve overall results, you know Yeah, well, that's tough So municipal utilities are accountable to their owners Which is everyone that lives in that community whether it's residential commercial industrial and those are very very different customer classes And they're difficult to please with one fell swoop So it's a challenge But that is the beauty in in my opinion the beauty of a municipal utility is it is accountable back to its customers And and you bring up austin energy and cps energy They're different models and they're structured a little differently even though they are municipal utilities So i'll speak to cps energy in the fact that Cps energies the way it's structured Is that it it provides a return back to its investor which is the city and so those dollars that cps energy Sends back to the city help to pay for the variety of things that the city wants to do whether it be parks police libraries So it's it's a partnership in the ownership the city owns the municipal utility and the municipal utility sends revenue back As part of its return on the investment So when you talk about trying to please everyone in a situation that is difficult to do it can be turbulent at times But it is one of the best forms of local control that exists where the customers are Asking demanding that the utility do certain things And we have an obligation to listen and to try to deliver on that And generally we try at cps energy the the leadership tries to be diverse and try to To manage all those interests by bringing stakeholders to the table by listening to what the community has to say By holding town hall meetings and allowing the community to have a say So we we work very hard. We pride ourselves on on trying to do just that This question might actually be more for brian, but if you guys can answer it Um, because it seems like you guys already work for a pretty awesome company So my experience with higher education is there's they have so many things to focus on what they want to do Um, what advice would you have for anyone who wanted to go to a higher institution or a company who Wants to cynically engage not only those people who are in that Community or that institution, but also in the That's I don't know if that makes sense or not But how do you do that when they have other Goals and other things that they want to accomplish and that's kind of all the backburner How do you make that important to someone? Yeah, I think I understand what you're saying. So Um, there are a lot of competing interests in higher education. Is that what you're getting? So for example, utsa the big interest is that we become a tier one Institution, you know heavily on on the research angle of things and at times, you know That's that's the focus and the priority pretty much now it's over times this whole piece of community engagement We want to ensure that we don't lose that that angle of the institution because it is part of our mission Public service and community outreach or community engagement is a big part And so that's why I'm here I mean that's part of of the reason of having staff members in In higher education focused on this work to kind of continue to steer the mission back That way when we when we drift off too far on on one angle And and what I hope to do is kind of marry the two so the idea of community-based participatory research or community-based research You know is really engaging Faculty and students in the community on important issues of research that can impact public policy or shape public policy in many different ways And so trying to help Help those things kind of come together. I think are really important In terms of a career in this angle in higher education It's really interesting There's a lot more that we know now in terms of some studies that have been been done over the last years And there's actually a an effort underway now of looking at what are the criteria that that One needs to be a community engagement professional in higher education So there's um, I think it's the it's a partnership with campus compact campus compact is a national organization of affiliated institutions of higher ed Looking at these issues of of community engagement in higher education And so they're working on a pretty long-term Initiative right now looking at what are the criteria that one needs? What are what are ways for people to prepare for these types of profession in higher education? You know because there are a number of there are a number of ways of being engaged in in community engagement initiatives in higher ed so institutes of economic development for example like we have here or P 20 or p 16 initiatives where you're engaging k through 12 education and sort of the pipeline Extended education the work the work I do in civic engagement So there are a number of kind of different ways to to be engaged and roles professionally that way But it's it's a growing field. There's a growing field of study I just saw a statistic the other day in the last 30 years I think it's the last 25 or 30 years There's almost been a journal a year So we now have about 30 to 40 academic journals focused on community engagement in higher education That are publishing scholarship and work of both students and faculty on this topic I have a question too. So an issue that students sometimes come to me with is How do I know it's time to move on? When they're out there, they've entered their first job And it's either a bad fit or they want to move up and take on something new How do you make that determination? So if I had an employee come in and ask that, uh, I I think uh candid conversation would take place Is is that person growing? Are they still facing challenges? Have they mastered truly mastered what they're doing and are they ready for that next step? How has that next step been defined in their mind? Possibly versus my mind if it's maybe within the same organization or for instance at the utility So I I think it's about making sure that you have open candid conversations with with someone and really identifying the goals that you want to achieve And is the current position that you're in Giving you the opportunity to to work and achieve on those goals. And if you've accomplished those Can you can you realign and recalibrate? Is there more to be done? Or have you reached the potential there and hopefully whoever you're working with and for will be honest in that regard And help help you to define What that next step is and what those those next set of goals look like and what your next challenges look like I think um, there's a really great book out there and workbook uh by bill george called true north That's a really great resource We used it at harvard business school. He's also a professor there And I think that kind of addresses this issue and what I've learned from that and and in the different positions I've been in is it's time to move on when you stop learning When you feel like you're not learning anymore And another critical decision that you're going to have to make is who you work for You want to be working for Somebody or for a group that has your best interest in mind that is going to coach you To higher levels and somebody that you respect that you align with their values It's much like, you know selecting. I imagine a a partner a life partner You know is this company is this organization somebody who aligns with your values aligns with what you believe in in life And are you learning from from them? Right now if you think you're working for somebody who you don't respect and you think they're unethical It's time to move It's time to go and that happens a lot in politics will happen a lot in policy And uh in the corporate world I uh, I remember defining moments like I knew I was done at at certain levels in my life and uh making that bold decision to To move on and to seek out those people who you align with their values is the most critical critical thing We have time for one more question Hi, so my question, uh, do you really have touched on a couple times which was when you're working in public policy or politics It's different than another career path because the things that you're advocating for have impacts on people's lives Um, so like in a really real way. So you all obviously have your personal beliefs uh, and how do you how do you Square the circle kind of between career advancement and your personal beliefs or Or whatever it is and and maybe you can talk about a time or two that you've got to choose between those things Yeah, I've um, you know, I've been putting a lot of very, um compromising Situations with with clients that I did not believe in and how they were treating people or what they wanted me to lobby for And um, you have to make those difficult decisions. I mean, I'm in a very fortunate position right now that I work for a group and a company and a group of partners who um I walk into work every morning and I think who can I help today? And knowing that if I make a decision, um, for the right thing for our customers and for our employees There's there's going to be no wrong decision made there and that's a really happy place to be Um, but that's not always the case. It's actually pretty rare And in the policy world, so I know a lot of career fantastic policy people Um, who have made a very very good career long term policy professionals like, um A really good good friend of mine that some people from Austin here may know don green Who was um at the legislative budget board for years served as a director of budget for um for speaker um Craddock and uh, it's now, you know, the cfo I guess at that tr at the texas retirement or the ers employee retirement He was served on the board there long term policy professional very very respected in the state That's on the policy side and great policy people Can can work through politics can work through parties can Exist and and achieve really high levels of government Despite their politics and their personal politics never impact Uh, their careers because they are really really good at what they do on the policy side. That's possible There we have a lot of extremely uh talented policy professionals Uh, john keel who recently retired as a state auditor is one of them whose long term policy professional work through many different political situations on the politics side You really have to you really have to be careful who you choose to work for And that's my my best advice Kathy you want to add anything? Uh to that I I would add that it is about aligning with An organization that you feel strongly working for if you are questioning that that you feel uncomfortable with what you're doing or Doesn't align with what you believe in It might be worth looking for something different I think uh in the world of politics you will get faced with that a lot And you just have to be true to who you are and you have to uh know what you what you're willing to do and um, and hopefully you can find a good fit where You feel very comfortable and empowered in the right ways to do the things you're being asked to do Thank you so much. And um, I always knew dia was awesome Uh, it's just reiterated it. Brian is fantastic to work with here at utsa and now I have a new found respect For cps energy and what they have with kathy garcia. So thank you so much for joining us Thank you so much. Uh, we're going to break the panel, but what we're going to do is real quick We're going to uh do an exercise with all of our Conference goers. So if everybody can stand up in your where your seat is And then the front row