New TEA Leadership Team also includes Lizzette Reynolds
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas
High standards and accountable public schools are essential to our states future success and no two people understand that better than Michael Williams & Lizzette Gonzlez Reynolds.
Together they will build on the improvements achieved during the tenure of Robert Scott & Todd Webster and ensure our children are prepared for the challenges of college and the workplace"
Gov. Rick Perry while naming Williams the State Commissioner of Education and Gonzlez Reynolds as Chief Deputy Commissioner effective September 1 to lead the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and oversee the states 1200 school districts & charter schools.
Michaels pioneering leadership in both public and private sectors combined with Lizzettes nearly two decades of public education experience guiding and implementing statewide reforms create a powerful and dynamic team that will fortify our states public education system" said Perry. Williams is a past commissioner and former chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas with more than 12 years of service to the state and is the first African-American in Texas to hold a statewide elected post. He is past Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. DOE)
and past Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Treasury under President George H.W. Bush.
Additionally Williams is a former adjunct professor at the Texas Southern University School of Public Affairs and Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.
Among Williams many past positions are:
- Chairman of the Governors Competitiveness Council
- Chairman of the Governors Clean Coal Technology Council
- Past member of the Southern State Energy Board National Coal Council and Interstate Mining Compact Commission
- Past chairman of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission
- Former honorary chairman of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas
- Past board member of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School
accreditation and school improvement. Prior to joining TEA she served as Region VI Representative for Secretary Margaret Spellings at the U.S. DOE where she also served as a special assistant for the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs.
Reynolds is a former assistant director of the Institute for Public School Initiatives at the University of Texas System has worked in the private sector as a principal at Public Strategies Inc. and served as deputy legislative director for the Texas Governors Office under Governor George W. Bush.
Reynolds received a bachelors degree from Southwestern University.
