Great Conversations
Save the date!
Monday, February 24, 2025
Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom, Texas Union
The University of Texas at Austin campus
2308 Whitis Avenue, Austin, Texas 78712
2024 Honorees
Presenting the Shirley Bird Perry Longhorn Citizenship Award to
Senator Judith Zaffirini
Texas State Senator Judith Zaffirini is not only the Senate’s longest-tenured member, she has never missed a vote. During the 2023 legislative session she marked her 70,000th consecutive vote, a total that now stands at 72,132. She has passed 1,388 bills, more than anyone else in the history of the Texas Legislature. Elected to the Senate in 1986, Senator Zaffirini is now Dean of the Senate, a role in which she hopes to “reinforce bipartisanship, to reinforce friendship, to reinforce the decorum and the protocol and the efficiency of the Texas Senate.” She is a proud graduate of the University of Texas, receiving her BS, MA, and PhD from the Moody College of Communication, and began her career in communication as a reporter and editor at the Daily Texan. Throughout her time as a leader in our state, Senator Zaffirini has been a champion of higher education generally and of the University of Texas specifically. She has previously received many honors from the University of Texas, including the 2016 Outstanding Communication Alumna, 2013 Presidential Citation recipient, 2009 Distinguished Hispanic Alumna and 2003 UT Distinguished Alumna.
Presenting the inaugural Corporate Citizenship Award to
H-E-B
The Annette Strauss Institute is excited to announce that H-E-B will receive its inaugural corporate citizenship award. A bedrock pillar of every community they serve, H-E-B sets the standard for how companies can contribute to the health of their community as an employer, neighbor, and community partner. Known for their community philanthropy, including critical disaster relief efforts and hunger relief programs like the Feast of Sharing holiday dinners, it is the everyday shopping experience at H-E-B that makes it one of the most beloved brands in the state of Texas. H-E-B’s commitment to its Partners creates an in-store environment that makes one of Texas’s largest employers feel like a family-owned neighborhood store. H-E-B exemplifies the principle that good citizenship is good business, as consumer research firm dunnhumby last year ranked it the top grocery retailer in the nation, citing “a strong emotional connection with more of their shoppers.” As we all learned during a global pandemic, grocery stores and the people who work there are a foundational building block of civilization – which makes H-E-B such a deserving recipient of the Annette Strauss Institute’s inaugural corporate citizenship award.
2024 Sponsors
PLATINUM
Carlos Zaffirini
H-E-B
ANNIVERSARY
CPS Energy
Janie and Cappy McGarr
Linda Moore
Lower Colorado River Authority
Rodney and Cristie Schlosser
GOLD
AT&T
Texans for Lawsuit Reform
