Texas Women‘s Foundation has appointed Renda Mathew, Truist’s Dallas market president, as its board chair-elect. Mathew will assume the full board chair role on July 1, 2027, for a two-year term ending June 30, 2029. She succeeds current chair Cris Zertuche Wong, who remains in the position through June 30, 2027.
“I’m honored to serve as Board Chair-Elect during such a pivotal time for Texas women, their families, and their futures,” Mathew said. She added that she looks forward to working alongside the foundation’s board and staff to build what the organization calls a “strong and vibrant Texas for all.”
New Board Directors From Texas Instruments, Hunt Oil, And WBR Partners
Alongside Mathew’s appointment, the foundation added three new directors. Laura Baldwin, executive vice president at WBR Partners, joins the board along with Ashleigh Everett, senior vice president and general counsel at Hunt Oil Company. Julie Knecht, the newly named CFO at Texas Instruments, rounds out the trio. Knecht joined the Dallas chipmaker in 1999 and stepped into the CFO role on August 1, succeeding the retiring Rafael Lizardi.
The expanded board reflects the foundation’s broader leadership refresh as it enters a new strategic cycle. President and CEO Karen Hughes White noted the board will guide a three-year plan centering research as a core competency that informs grantmaking, advocacy, education, and workforce development.
A Strategic Plan Built Around Research And Systemic Change
Hughes White described the plan’s aims in concrete terms. “The plan also calls for increased collaboration with grantees and funders to drive measurable, systemic change and scalable impact,” she said. The foundation invests nearly $5 million annually in grants, research, and leadership programs.
As chair-elect, Mathew joins the foundation’s executive committee immediately. That committee includes board secretary Jana Etheridge of Capital One, finance committee chair Lisette Mendez of AT&T, governance committee chair Aracely Muñoz of Children’s Health, Hattie Hill of Hattie Hill Enterprises, and Holly Tucker, a partner at Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory.
The appointments come as senior women executives are building influence across major institutions. Governance roles at grant-making foundations carry real weight, directing funding toward workforce pipelines and economic security programs. For context on how women leaders are consolidating operational influence in both corporate and civic settings, the pattern extends well beyond nonprofit boards.
The structural support that Mathew and the incoming directors bring, spanning banking, energy, legal, and semiconductor finance, positions Texas Women’s Foundation to deepen both its research credibility and its funding reach. Whether the new strategic plan translates its research mandate into measurable outcomes will be the clearest test of this leadership class’s impact.
Readers interested in how executive leadership programs are evolving for senior women, or how new funding programs are narrowing capital gaps for women-led ventures, can find those developments covered in depth elsewhere.
