25 Workplace Culture Leaders in Texas to Follow

Workplace culture becomes real in the choices leaders make about trust, voice, growth and the way work gets done. Across Texas, people executives, advisers and researchers are shaping those choices inside companies, health systems, public institutions, universities and professional communities.

In 2026, that work carries extra weight. Leaders are asking teams to adapt quickly while employees are judging whether new expectations still feel fair, clear and human.

These 25 workplace culture leaders offer different ways into the same practical challenge. Their work spans employee voice, authentic leadership, workplace fairness, talent systems, creativity, collaboration and the day-to-day behaviours that turn stated values into an actual experience.

1. Betsy Allen-Manning

Founder and CEO, Destination Workplace

Betsy Allen-Manning is the founder and CEO of Destination Workplace. Her work connects leadership behaviour with the practical challenge of becoming a workplace people choose to join and stay with.

That attraction and retention lens makes culture concrete. It asks leaders to look beyond stated values and pay attention to the everyday experience their decisions create for employees. Follow Betsy Allen-Manning on LinkedIn.

2. Caroline Bartel

Professor and Department Chair, McCombs School of Business

Caroline Bartel chairs the Rosenthal Department of Management at the McCombs School of Business, where she is also a professor. Her research explores identity, collaboration and the social conditions that shape how people experience work.

This perspective matters because culture is partly about belonging and how people understand their place in a group. Bartel’s work gives leaders a stronger way to think about collaboration than simply asking people to work better together. Follow Caroline Bartel on LinkedIn.

3. Rod Branch

Chief Human Resources Officer, ARCXIS

Rod Branch is chief human resources officer at ARCXIS and a director of HR Houston. That combination connects an executive people remit with a wider professional community across the Houston region.

Branch brings an operating view of how culture shows up in hiring, leadership, expectations and the systems employees meet every day. His community role also creates a useful bridge between one organisation’s challenges and the shared questions facing people leaders. Follow Rod Branch on LinkedIn.

4. Tony Bridwell

Chief Talent Officer, Encompass Group, and Adjunct Professor, SMU

Tony Bridwell is chief talent officer at Encompass Group and an adjunct professor at SMU Cox. His work combines executive talent leadership with teaching in management, strategy and entrepreneurship.

That mix keeps culture tied to both the workplace and the development of future leaders. Bridwell’s focus on purpose, leader behaviour and talent systems is useful for organisations trying to turn cultural intent into repeatable management practice. Follow Tony Bridwell on LinkedIn.

5. Ethan Burris

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor, McCombs School of Business

Ethan Burris is senior associate dean for academic affairs and a professor of management at the McCombs School of Business. His research examines employee voice, feedback and what leaders do when people raise ideas or concerns.

A culture can invite honest input in theory while quietly punishing it in practice. Burris’s work helps leaders see that speaking up is only half the issue, because the response from authority shapes whether employees will risk doing it again. Follow Ethan Burris on LinkedIn.

6. Andrea Clayton

Chief People Officer, TELUS Digital

Andrea Clayton is chief people officer at TELUS Digital. Her remit covers the people systems that support a global digital workforce, including talent, culture, leadership development and employee experience.

Distributed organisations cannot rely on proximity to carry their culture. Clayton’s work is relevant to leaders who need expectations, growth and connection to remain clear across locations, teams and different kinds of work. Follow Andrea Clayton on LinkedIn.

7. Stephen Courtright

Director and Professor, Texas A&M University

Stephen Courtright directs the Flippen Leadership Institute at Texas A&M University and is a professor of management. His work examines leadership, teams and the demands people face while trying to perform.

This is a useful culture lens because pressure changes how leadership is experienced. Courtright’s research helps organisations think about the conditions that allow both executives and employees to sustain strong work without treating strain as a personal failure. Follow Stephen Courtright on LinkedIn.

8. Carla Dawson

Chief People Officer, Texas Health Resources

Carla Dawson is chief people officer at Texas Health Resources. She leads the people agenda inside a large North Texas health system where workforce experience and organisational performance are closely connected.

Health care makes cultural gaps visible quickly because teams work across professions, locations and demanding situations. Dawson’s remit offers a practical view of how people strategy, leadership and employee experience need to operate as one system. Follow Carla Dawson on LinkedIn.

9. William Gardner

Paul Whitfield Horn Professor and Director, Institute for Leadership Research, Texas Tech University

William Gardner is a Paul Whitfield Horn Professor, holds the Jerry S. Rawls Chair in Leadership and directs Texas Tech’s Institute for Leadership Research. His research includes authentic leadership, ethics and social influence in organisations.

Culture depends heavily on whether people believe a leader’s words and behaviour belong together. Gardner’s work gives leaders a grounded way to examine authenticity without reducing it to personality or performance. Follow William Gardner on LinkedIn.

10. Pete Havel

President, Fireproofed Leadership

Pete Havel is president of Fireproofed Leadership and works as a speaker, trainer and consultant from Dallas. His focus includes toxic workplace behaviour, accountability and the choices leaders make when culture is under strain.

Havel’s contribution is a reminder that culture is shaped by what leaders tolerate as much as what they promote. Trust can be repaired, but only when harmful patterns are named and leaders take responsibility for changing the conditions around them. Follow Pete Havel on LinkedIn.

11. Paul Hawtin

Chief People Officer, CBRE

Paul Hawtin is chief people officer at CBRE and leads the company’s global people organisation. His remit brings culture, talent and leadership into a business that operates across many markets and professional disciplines.

Scale tests whether a culture can remain clear without becoming rigid. Hawtin’s work is relevant to people leaders balancing a shared organisational direction with the different needs of local teams and clients. Follow Paul Hawtin on LinkedIn.

12. Darcie Henry

Chief Human Resources Officer, AT&T

Darcie Henry is chief human resources officer at AT&T. Her remit includes talent, culture, leadership development, compensation, benefits and employee experience.

Those responsibilities show how many systems combine to create the experience people call culture. Henry’s work is especially relevant to leaders managing change in a large workforce where clarity, capability and trust need to move together. Follow Darcie Henry on LinkedIn.

13. Cheryl Lim

Chief Human Resources Officer, Jacobs

Cheryl Lim became chief human resources officer at Jacobs in May 2026. Her background spans global human resources operations, talent development, succession, employee relations and large organisational change.

Lim’s appointment puts people and culture close to the company’s wider business direction. Her emphasis on strong teams and data-informed people strategy is relevant to leaders who want cultural change to produce a better employee experience and clearer organisational outcomes. Follow Cheryl Lim on LinkedIn.

14. Cristi Lockett

Chief Human Resources Officer, Baylor Scott & White Health

Cristi Lockett is chief human resources officer at Baylor Scott & White Health. Her people remit includes listening to employee feedback and shaping the experience of a large health workforce.

In a health system, culture touches both how employees are supported and how teams care for others. Lockett’s work brings attention to the practical signals that tell people whether an organisation listens, responds and follows through. Follow Cristi Lockett on LinkedIn.

15. Juan Madera

Curtis L. Carlson Endowed Professor, University of Houston

Juan Madera is the Curtis L. Carlson Endowed Professor at the University of Houston’s Hilton College and also holds an appointment with Bauer. His research covers workplace discrimination, selection, evaluation, training and development.

Madera’s work helps leaders connect culture with the decisions that shape who gets hired, heard and developed. That evidence is particularly useful in hospitality and other people-intensive workplaces where daily interactions strongly affect both employees and customers. Follow Juan Madera on LinkedIn.

16. Scott Marshall

President, HR Houston

Scott Marshall serves as the 2026 president of HR Houston and is affiliated with Worley. His board role places him close to the professional development and shared concerns of people leaders across the region.

Professional communities shape culture by spreading practical knowledge between organisations. Marshall’s role matters because it connects the experience of one employer with a broader conversation about how Houston workplaces lead, develop and support their people. Follow Scott Marshall on LinkedIn.

17. Shannon McKain

Workplace Culture Expert and Speaker

Shannon McKain is a Dallas-based workplace culture expert and speaker. Her work addresses the emotional divide created by different generations, experiences and viewpoints at work.

That focus gives leaders a practical way to think about inclusion as understanding rather than simple agreement. McKain’s work encourages teams to build communication and emotional intelligence that can hold up when people see the world differently. Follow Shannon McKain on LinkedIn.

18. Tori Phillips

Chief Human Resources Officer, Lufkin Industries, and Vice President, HR Houston

Tori Phillips combines an executive human resources role at Lufkin Industries with service as vice president of HR Houston. She brings both an employer view and a professional-community view to the culture conversation.

That combination is valuable because people practices improve when leaders can compare what works across settings. Phillips’s work sits where operational demands, employee experience and the development of the HR profession meet. Follow Tori Phillips on LinkedIn.

19. Andrea Coughlin Rowley

Chief People Officer, Harris County

Andrea Coughlin Rowley is chief people officer for Harris County. Her work includes a county-wide compensation project focused on pay equity, market competitiveness and clearer career progression.

Culture is shaped by whether systems feel fair and understandable, not only by how leaders communicate. Rowley’s public-sector remit shows how transparency, pay design and employee trust can become part of the same practical change effort. Follow Andrea Coughlin Rowley on LinkedIn.

20. Enrica Ruggs

Associate Professor of Management and Leadership, University of Houston

Enrica Ruggs is an associate professor of management and leadership at the University of Houston. Her research examines bias, discrimination, authenticity and subtle workplace mistreatment.

Ruggs focuses on translating that evidence into policies and management practices. Her work helps leaders notice cultural harm that may be easy to dismiss in isolation but becomes costly and exclusionary when it is repeated. Follow Enrica Ruggs on LinkedIn.

21. Kim Rutledge

Chief People Officer, Q2

Kim Rutledge is chief people officer at Q2, where she leads human resources, culture and community, and real estate. Her remit makes culture part of both the employee experience and the physical and organisational environment around the work.

Rutledge has also spoken publicly about the human side of artificial intelligence change. That focus is timely for leaders who need to introduce new tools without losing trust, judgement or the sense that people still matter. Follow Kim Rutledge on LinkedIn.

22. Jenn Saavedra

Chief Human Resources Officer, Dell Technologies

Jenn Saavedra is chief human resources officer at Dell Technologies and leads its global human resources and facilities function. Her role connects people strategy, culture and the environments in which employees do their work.

Saavedra’s background in industrial and organisational behaviour brings a useful behavioural lens to enterprise people decisions. Her work is relevant to leaders trying to use evidence and insight without losing the human experience behind the data. Follow Jenn Saavedra on LinkedIn.

23. Scott Sonenshein

Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management, Rice University

Scott Sonenshein is the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management at Rice University. His research examines how employees act resourcefully and contribute to organisational, social and personal change.

This work matters to culture because employees do not only receive systems from above. They interpret constraints, create meaning and find ways to act, which means leaders can either support that agency or quietly close it down. Follow Scott Sonenshein on LinkedIn.

24. Jason Treu

Executive Coach and Workplace Culture Adviser

Jason Treu is a Dallas-based executive coach and workplace culture adviser. His work focuses on teamwork, employee engagement, culture change, conflict resolution and manager development.

Treu’s practical emphasis is on helping teams surface conversations that often remain unspoken. That matters because trust rarely improves through a statement of values alone, but it can grow when people have safer and more useful ways to address tension together. Follow Jason Treu on LinkedIn.

25. Jing Zhou

Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs and Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Management, Rice University

Jing Zhou is deputy dean of academic affairs and the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Management at Rice University. Her research examines the conditions that encourage or restrict creativity and innovation at work.

Zhou’s work shows that creativity is not simply a trait that some employees possess. Leadership, feedback, team design and the wider environment all affect whether useful ideas emerge and whether an organisation is ready to receive them. Follow Jing Zhou on LinkedIn.

Conclusion

Across these profiles, three themes keep returning. Culture is built through systems as well as words, employees need real ways to speak and be heard, and leaders shape trust through what they consistently reward, tolerate and repair.

The mix of executives, advisers and researchers also matters. Operating leaders show what culture requires at scale, practitioners turn ideas into conversations and habits, and academics help explain why those choices affect how people behave.

For a leadership team, the useful starting point is not a new slogan. It is one cultural tension that people can name clearly, followed by a change in the decision, system or behaviour keeping that tension alive.

About the Author

Jonno White is the author of Step Up or Step Out and a Certified Working Genius Facilitator. The Working Genius framework was created by Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group.

Jonno is Brisbane-based and works with schools, organisations and leadership teams around the world.

Next Read

For a practical look at the systems behind a strong workplace, read How to Build a Company Culture Employees Will Move Cities to Join. You can also explore Why Culture Change Fails for the patterns that quietly undo well-intended programmes.

If your leadership team is trying to build more trust, clarity and consistency, I can help through a practical keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership session. Tell me what is happening in writing at jonno@consultclarity.org.