About Our Speakers

Board Member, Texas Water Development Board

Kathleen Jackson was reappointed to the Texas Water Development Board by Governor Greg Abbott on March 9, 2017. She was appointed to the Board by Governor Rick Perry on March 18, 2014.

Jackson has a diverse background representing agricultural, environmental, industrial, and wholesale-supply interests, which includes developing and implementing water management strategies for Southeast Texas. As a registered professional engineer, Jackson served as public affairs manager for one of the world’s largest petroleum and petrochemical producers.

Additionally, she was involved in production agriculture with her late husband, who ran a cattle operation and farmed rice. She served as a past member of the Lower Neches Valley Authority Board of Directors, the Texas Water Conservation Association, and participated on the Sabine and Neches Rivers Bay and Estuary Environmental Flows Assessment Program Stakeholders Committee.

She is also a board member and past president of the Lamar Institute of Technology Foundation, a sustaining member of the Junior League of Beaumont, a member of the Texas Farm Bureau, past president of the American Cancer Society of North Jefferson County, and a past board member of Junior Achievement of the Golden Triangle.

Jackson received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University.

Jackson has three children, sixth-generation Texans who all reside and work in Texas, and four grandchildren. She is a long-time resident of Beaumont.