The Midweek #85: San Antonio to Host Texas Business Hall of Fame and state’s top business leaders

Texas has more than its fair share of halls of fame. The state and many of its cities honor distinguished women, aviators, sports legends, musicians, cowboys, even Texas Rangers. The most impactful of those, I would argue, is the Texas Business Hall of Fame (TBHF), which for 44 years has been showcasing the state’s most accomplished and philanthropic business leaders and companies.

The Texas economy is so powerful and so diverse that, year after year, a steady flow of worthy inductees are welcomed into the fold. There never seems to be a down year. A selection committee sorts through 70-100 nominations each year to select 20 finalists, based on their business impact and how they have leveraged their success to give back. All living members of the hall are invited to vote on new inductees, which this year include eight individuals, including two entrepreneurial partnerships, meaning six distinct honoree groups.

The TBHF’s annual induction dinner, a black-tie event that rotates among the state’s three largest cities each year, will be held at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio River Walk on Nov. 12. The city of Austin is being added to the rotation, a reflection of the city’s growing number of successful  business founders.

Rackspace Co-Founder and Weston Urban Chairman Graham Weston, a 2019 inductee, is this year’s honorary chairman, and San Antonio businesswoman LaRhesa Moon is the Texas Business Hall of Fame's current board chair.

Even as the state grows, the media footprint in the major metro areas continues to shrink. The event goes largely uncovered in the media, perhaps due to its hyper focus on the business and entrepreneurial community. I believe the organization and its event next week in San Antonio merit wider awareness.

I also know and admire this year's two San Antonio inductees, Walter M. Embrey Jr., 80, and Peter J. Holt, 39, who represent two very distinct generations of business leadership and community philanthropy.

Younger readers and transplants to San Antonio might not recognize the Embrey name, but it is hard to overstate his and his family’s impact on housing development at a time when this city and many others face acute inventory shortages, in addition to his development of office, retail, and commercial spaces throughout Texas. All told, the company bearing his name has developed more than 50,000 household units over its 52-year history, and more than 6 million square feet of commercial space. The name is synonymous with high quality work and community integration.

Holt is the face of next-generation leadership as the Chairman and Managing Partner of the five-time NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs, and as CEO and General Manager of HOLT Group and Co-Founder and General Partner of Ironspring Ventures. Holt has led the community-wide initiative to bring the Spurs back to the team’s first home at Hemisfair with a new $1.3 billion arena slated to be built on the site of UT-San Antonio’s former Institute of Texan Cultures. San Antonio City Council approved a term sheet confirming the deal last year, and Bexar County voters approved the project last November.

The Class of 2026 includes other inductees whose bios can be read here:

• Cody Campbell & John Sellers, Co-CEOs & Co-Founders, Double Eagle Energy, Fort Worth.

• Miguel Garza & Veronica Garza, Co-Founders, Siete Foods, Austin.

• J. Luther King, Jr., CFA, Founder, Luther King Capital Management, Fort Worth.

• John B. Poindexter, CEO, Chairman & Owner, J.B. Poindexter & Co., Inc., Houston.

Embrey and Holt will join 16 other living San Antonio inductees: Latino advertising guru and artist Lionel Sosa, former AT&T Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre Jr., Valero Energy and NuStar Energy Founder William “Bill’ Greehey, former Spurs and Holt Caterpillar Chairman Peter M. Holt, Kinetic Concepts founder Dr. James Leininger, former Frost Bank CEO Dick Evans, computer entrepreneur and philanthropist Harvey Najim, Hearst Corp. Chairman Frank Bennack Jr., SWBC Co-founders Charlie Amato and Gary Dudley, former Whataburger Chairman and CEO Tom Dobson, developer and Morgan’s Wonderland Founder Gordon Hartman, Rackspace and Weston Urban Co-Founder Graham Weston; Silver Ventures Founder and Pearl developer Christopher “Kit’ Goldsbury Jr., Spurs legend and Naismith Hall of Fame center, private equity investor, real estate developer and philanthropist David Robinson, and Supergoop! Founder Holly Thaggard.

There are 16 San Antonio inductees who are no longer alive who represent a who’s who of 20th century business leadership: Home builder Ray Ellison, USAA’s former Chairman Gen. Robert McDermott Jr., Luby’s restaurateur Robert M. Luby, developers and construction magnates H.B. Zachry Sr. and H.B. Zachry Jr., Frost Bank’s Tom Frost, auto dealer and sports team owner Tom Benson, auto dealer, rancher, and  sports team owner Red McCombs, Clear Channel co-founder Lowry Mays, Broadway Bank’s Charley Cheever Jr., Hixon Development’s George “Tim” Hixon, RK Group founder Rosemary Kowalski, former Kinetic Concepts CEO  Dennert Ware, Republic National Distributing Company leaders Eddie Block and Alan Dreeben, and Gambrinus’ founder Carlos Alvarez.

The first woman inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame was Oveta Culp Hobby, former publisher and chairman of the Houston Post, in 1984. She was followed by Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, in 1986. Kowalski, founder of the RK Group, was the first woman from San Antonio inducted in 2004. San Antonio’s Supergoop! Founder Holly Thaggard was inducted in 2025 at the Houston gala, becoming the city’s second woman inductee.

There are now 18 women members, a reflection in no small part on the leadership of Executive Director Meredith Walker and the changing business leadership climate in Texas where women are no longer as marginalized as they once were.