Distinguished Alumni
John L. Hall
Awarded 1993
John L. Hall, appointed by Governor Ann Richards, serves as the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission Chair-a new state agency formed by merging the Texas Water Commission and the Texas Air Control Board on September 1, 1993. Prior to this appointment, Hall had served as the Chair of the Texas Water Commission.
Hall graduated from Sam Houston State University in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and graduated summa cum laude from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs in 1978.
As Chair Hall has focused efforts on three primary goals: 1) to reduce the amount of pollution that is being generated and discharged into the Texas environment; 2) to ensure that Texas has an adequate supply of clean water for the future; and 3) to revamp and streamline the agency to function as an efficient business that is responsive to the people of the state.
Prior to his appointment by Governor Richards, he was a senior staff member at the Lower Colorado River Authority. Earlier he served as deputy Commissioner at the General Land Office and before that served on the Washington staff of U. S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen.
He is a member of the Austin Area NAACP, Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, University of Texas Minority Alumni Task Force, and a deacon in the David Chapel Baptist Church.
He is married to the former Mary Edison. Their daughters are Jacqueline, Ashley and Adrienne.