Bush School graduate student and Texas Lyceum Research Fellow Rebecca Nelson presented her research on women’s leadership in Texas chambers of commerce to the Texas Lyceum.
One of the sessions at Friday’s Texas Lyceum conference in McAllen, Texas, on “The State of Texas Women” was a presentation by Rebecca Nelson, a master’s degree student at the Bush School of Government & Public Service. Nelson spoke on women’s leadership in Texas chambers of commerce. Her work was supported by a research fellowship from the Texas Lyceum and supervised by Dr. Maria Escobar-Lemmon, Associate Dean for Research and Graduated Education at the Bush School.
Nelson’s research findings can be found in a policy brief titled “Leadership of Local Economic Engines: Women in Texas Chambers of Commerce,” published in the latest issue of The Takeaway. In the article, she reveals the promising result that while there is considerable variation across Texas counties, on-average women constitute half of chamber of commerce boards of directors and half of the leadership positions of those boards—a level of leadership that far exceeds the level of female representation among S&P 500 board directors. Nelson notes that, “Because leadership experience is typically a requirement for other influential roles, chambers are a great place to look for experienced women leaders for additional elected or appointed positions.”
The Takeaway is a publication of the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy at the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University. The Texas Lyceum is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide leadership organization focused on identifying the next generation of top Texas leaders.
