Susan Combs is a successful, experienced executive at both the state and federal level. She has 16 years of statewide leadership in Texas, providing strategic and innovative management, as well as nearly three years at the U.S. Department of the Interior in executive management. At Interior, Combs was the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget and Chief Financial Officer. In that role, she led the transformation and reorganization of the Department. On behalf of the Department of Interior, she served as the Chair of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, which was created by Congress to coordinate the national celebration of the 19th Amendment centennial throughout 2020.
Combs is presently a Fellow at the University of Texas Center for Identity where she is working to assist on matters relating to personal data privacy. She is also the Advisory Board Chairwoman of the Carbon Neutral Coalition. The Carbon Neutral Coalition is an advocacy group based in Texas focused on advocating for regulatory and legislative policies that facilitate the process of removing and storing carbon from the energy sector.
In Texas, Combs served in various elected positions between 1993 and 2015. Combs served as the state’s Comptroller from 2007 to 2015. One of her most important accomplishments was to establish an educational online tool to evaluate all public schools in Texas– comparing academic results and spending decisions, so that everyone could understand school performance. Combs was the first woman Agriculture Commissioner and served from 1998 to 2007. She transformed the school lunch program to ensure healthier meals in an effort to reduce childhood obesity, and was featured in TIME magazine. Combs was a state legislator from 1993 to 1996 with a proven record of writing and passing landmark legislation. As head of two state agencies, she streamlined operations, ensuring more efficient and cost-effective programs, and received national recognition. She has written a memoir, Texas Tenacity, outlining her path towards public service, and urging women to find their destiny. Her articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, the Austin American-Statesman, the San Antonio Express-News, the Houston Chronicle, among others.
Combs is the manager and owner of a more than 140-year-old family ranching, hunting and grazing management operation in West Texas. She and her husband have three sons and four grandchildren.
