Kathleen Hartnett White
Distinguished Senior Fellow-in-residence & Director, Armstrong Center For Energy & The Environment
The Honorable Kathleen Hartnett White joined the Texas Public Policy Foundation in January 2008. She is a Distinguished Senior Fellow-in-Residence and Director of the Armstrong Center for Energy & the Environment.
White formerly served a six-year term as Chairman and Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). With regulatory jurisdiction over air quality, water quality, water rights & utilities, storage and disposal of waste, TCEQ’s staff of 3,000, annual budget of over $600 million, and 16 regional offices make it the second largest environmental regulatory agency in the world after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition to TCEQ, White also served on a dozen other commissions/boards to include the Texas Water Development Board, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and the Texas Wildlife Association. She has appeared on many nationally syndicated radio and national television to include Fox Business, Fox News, CNN and CNBC. A Contributor for The Hill, her writing has appeared in numerous publications including National Review, Investors’ Business Daily, Washington Examiner, Forbes, Daily Caller, The Hill, Townhall, Roll Call, and Forbes. She is regularly invited to testify before the US Congress.
In addition to many published research studies, she is the author of Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy, Regnery Publishing, 2016 (co-author Steve M. Moore.) Her many awards include the TPPF Ronald Reagan Award for Outstanding Leadership, the Colorado River Foundation Friend of the River Award, and the Texas Chemical Council’s Leadership Award.
White was named to the Donald Trump Campaign’s Economic Advisory Council and was twice nominated by President Trump to become Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
White received her bachelor cum laude and master degrees from Stanford University where she held the Elizabeth Wheeler Lyman Scholarship for an Outstanding Woman in the Humanities. She was also awarded a Danforth National Fellowship for doctoral work at Princeton University and there won the Jonathan Edwards Award for Academic Excellence. She also studied law under a Lineberry Foundation Fellowship at Texas Tech University
White was Director of Private Lands and the Environment for the National Cattlemen’s Association in Washington, D.C. She has served as director of the Ranching Heritage Association, and worked in the White Office of First Lady Nancy Reagan.
A long-time breeder of national Champion Jack Russell Terriers, Kathleen Hartnett White lives with her husband Beau Brite White in Bastrop County, Texas outside of Austin and in Presidio County Texas where the fifth-generation family “Brite Ranch” is located on the far southwestern border of Texas.