General Manager / Chief Executive Officer

Description

Posting: Full-time, on-site. General Office, 5300 South Collins Street, Arlington, Texas 76018. Regular presence is also required at the Southern Region office in Huntsville and at operating facilities across the basin.

Reports to: The 25-member Board of Directors, appointed by the Governor of Texas and confirmed by the Texas Senate.

Direct reports: Deputy General Manager and the Executive Management Team, including Northern and Southern Region executive managers and the staff groups supporting finance, engineering, operations, legal, human resources, and external affairs.

About the Authority

The Trinity River Authority of Texas was created by the Legislature in 1955 as a conservation and reclamation district. Its mission is to promote conservation, reclamation, protection, and development of the natural resources of the Trinity River basin for the benefit of the public. Its vision is to promote the natural, economic, and recreational benefits of the Trinity River as the foundation for future generations. Core values are Integrity, Accountability, and Service.

TRA is the largest river authority in Texas and the largest wholesale provider of wastewater treatment services in the state. It owns and operates four regional water treatment facilities and five regional wastewater treatment facilities, operates the Lake Livingston Dam, manages water sales from four reservoirs, and operate and oversee multiple recreation facilities around Lake Livingston. It serves more than 50 wholesale customers — cities, municipalities, and districts — across an approximately 18,000-square-mile basin covering all or part of 17 counties, from the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to the upper Texas coast.

The Authority is self-supporting. It receives no ad valorem taxes, sales taxes, or annual state appropriations. Each operating project is an independent financial entity, funded by the customers that contract for its services. The General Manager is accountable for an annual budget of more than $490 million and assets in excess of $3.7 billion, and for a workforce of more than 500 employees. TRA also maintains a basin-wide master plan, serves as a conduit for tax-exempt financing of municipal projects, and acts as local sponsor for federal water projects.

Position summary

Under the policy direction and oversight of the Board of Directors, the General Manager is the Authority’s chief executive officer. The General Manager is responsible for the overall leadership, strategic direction, administration, financial stewardship, and operational performance of the organization, and for carrying out the Authority’s statutory mission.

The General Manager implements policies established by the Board, recommends policy where the Board has not acted, and provides the Board with timely, complete, and candid information on operations, finances, capital programs, regulatory exposure, customer relations, and strategic risk. The position does not set Board policy. It executes it, and it is accountable to the Board for results.

What the Board is Looking For

• A Chief Executive Officer that is able to establish and maintain strong working relationships with all Board members, understanding their interests and being responsive and supportive to their needs in order for them to fulfill their duty in service to the State.
• A General Manager of all aspects of the Authority’s business lines, fostering relationships with the elected officials, customers, stakeholders and regulatory and funding agencies that are key to success in achieving desired business and policy objectives.
• A responsive and resourceful leader capable of navigating complex situations in times of dire emergency requiring emergency response and decisive action.

Essential duties

• Direct all operations, programs, services, and resources of the Authority, including water treatment, wastewater treatment and reclamation, reservoir and dam operations, water sales, recreation, basin planning, and the general office.
• Lead development and execution of the Authority’s strategic plan, and report progress against Board-adopted goals, including support for basin communities, future water supply and reclamation, flood-risk reduction, and workforce continuity.
• Prepare and recommend the annual operating budget and multi-year capital improvement program; manage enterprise-fund finances, debt service, reserves, and rate recommendations to wholesale customers; and maintain the independent financial integrity of each operating project.
• Oversee a large, bond-financed capital program driven by population growth, aging infrastructure, capacity thresholds, nutrient and emerging-contaminant requirements, and resiliency. Ensure planning begins before plants reach capacity limits, and that design, procurement, construction, and commissioning stay on scope, schedule, and budget.
• Establish and enforce contracting, procurement, and contract-monitoring controls appropriate to high-dollar critical infrastructure, including consultant and construction oversight, change-order discipline, and documented enforcement of contract terms.
• Ensure compliance with federal and state environmental, drinking-water, dam-safety, and financial requirements, including TCEQ permits and the Authority’s role with the Texas Water Development Board, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies.
• Serve as the Authority’s chief representative before the Legislature, state and federal agencies, elected officials, industry organizations, and intergovernmental bodies. Protect the Authority’s statutory role and long-term interests without committing the Board.
• Maintain effective relationships with more than 50 wholesale customers.
• Lead the Executive Management Team. Set expectations for coordination between the Northern Region (Arlington) and Southern Region (Huntsville) offices and territories, and across finance, engineering, operations, legal, human resources, information technology, and external affairs.
• Build and sustain an organizational culture consistent with Integrity, Accountability, and Service. Plan for succession as long-tenured employees retire, and compete for licensed operators, engineers, and technical staff in a tight labor market.
• Direct emergency preparedness and incident command for flood, drought, dam and reservoir events, treatment upsets, security incidents, and other crises affecting public health, the river, or wholesale service.
• Recommend Board action on special studies, contracts, rates, capital projects, policies, and litigation posture. Attend Board and committee meetings, and ensure members receive materials in time to exercise oversight.
• Provide strategic direction of the Authority’s security governance requirements for the management of cybersecurity, technology and physical program.
• Lead public communications, media relations and community outreach.

Experience requirements

Experience is the primary screen for this appointment. Education and certifications do not substitute for executive accountability at comparable scale. Candidates who cannot document the required experience will not qualify.

Required

• Ten (10) or more years of progressive leadership in water resources, drinking-water or wastewater utility management, a river authority or comparable special-purpose district, or a public infrastructure enterprise of similar technical and regulatory complexity. In addition, at least seven (7) years as a chief executive, general manager, executive director, deputy or assistant general manager, or as the senior manager of a large operating division. A division manager qualifies when the division was substantial in its own right and the candidate owned that division’s budget, workforce, operating performance, and capital or regulatory results. Accountability may be to a governing board or, for a major operating division, to the chief executive. A staff or support role, or a title that did not carry budget and employee accountability, does not qualify.
• Demonstrated executive responsibility for an organization comparable in scale to TRA: a multi-facility utility or authority, an annual budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars, a workforce of several hundred, and a multi‑jurisdictional customer or member base. Finalists should be prepared to quantify budget, workforce, facilities, and customer counts they personally directed.
• Working knowledge of regulatory compliance in drinking water, wastewater, water rights, or dam and reservoir operations, including permit compliance, enforcement response, and interaction with state or federal regulators.
• Executive responsibility for public‑sector financial stewardship: enterprise or proprietary fund accounting, annual budget adoption, debt management, reserves, and audited financial reporting. Hands‑on executive leadership of a multi‑year capital improvement program in the hundreds of millions of dollars, including board‑approved construction budgets, revenue‑bond or comparable financing, engineering and construction procurement, and contract oversight through completion. With a record of working effectively with an appointed or elected governing body: preparing policy recommendations, respecting the board–executive boundary, managing recusals and conflicts, and communicating bad news early.
• Working knowledge of crisis leadership — flood, drought, treatment failure, dam or reservoir incident, security event, or comparable public‑health or environmental emergency — with after‑action accountability to a board.
• Demonstrated ability of effectively communicating with federal, state and local officials and their staff, with track record of success in accomplishing organizational objectives. Working knowledge of the Texas legislative process and of TCEQ, the Texas Water Development Board, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sponsorship or contracting.

Preferred — material advantage in screening

• Executive experience inside a Texas river authority, municipal utility district, regional water or wastewater provider, or state water agency.
• A documented record of wholesale or regional utility leadership, including customer contracts, cost‑of‑service or rate recommendations, and service‑level accountability to cities, districts, or member agencies.
• Experience in a self‑supporting agency that does not levy a tax is strongly preferred.
• Experience with nutrient limits, water reuse, emerging contaminants (including PFAS treatment strategy), biosolids, or dam‑safety programs.
• Experience leading an organization through a Sunset review, comparable legislative oversight, or a major bond‑financed expansion.
• Experience operating both a metroplex‑scale system and a more rural or reservoir‑based system, or an equivalent north–south regional span.
• Professional licensure is preferred, not required, and does not replace the experience requirements.

What will not substitute

• Consulting, advisory, or interim roles without sustained executive accountability for operations, budget, and a workforce.
• Private‑sector plant, industrial, or corporate leadership with no public‑board, wholesale‑customer, or utility‑regulatory record.
• Elected office alone, or legislative or trade‑association experience alone, without operational command of a utility or authority.

Education

• Required: a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in civil or environmental engineering, public administration, business administration, environmental science, finance, or a closely related discipline.
• Preferred: a master’s degree in a relevant field, or a professional certification used in executive practice (PE, CPA, or an equivalent credential).

Knowledge

• Working knowledge of water resources, environmental management, and drinking‑water and wastewater utility operations, including treatment, collection and distribution, residuals, and reuse. Required.
• Public finance for a self‑supporting enterprise: revenue bonds, rate covenants, reserves, wholesale cost recovery, and project‑level accounting. Preferred.
• Federal and Texas environmental and water regulatory frameworks, and the practical difference between compliance, enforcement, and legislative change. Required
• Dam and reservoir operations, flood and drought management, and the Authority’s role as local sponsor of federal projects. Strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of the Texas Open Meetings Act and of the General Manager’s role in supporting the Board’s compliance, including notice, agendas, quorums, executive session, and the record of Board actions required.

Skills and executive competencies

• Strategic planning tied to measurable operating, financial, and capital outcomes, not a planning document that sits on a shelf.
• Financial management at enterprise scale, including the ability to explain rate and debt choices to a board and to wholesale customers.
• Regulatory judgment: knowing when to settle, when to contest, and when to brief the Board before a position is taken.
• Stakeholder engagement across customers, member counties, legislators, and regulators, with a single consistent account of the Authority’s position.
• Crisis management and calm public communication under pressure.
• Contract and capital‑program discipline. The Board should expect the General Manager to own oversight, not merely to receive contractor reports.
• Talent judgment: hiring, evaluating, and if necessary, replacing members of the executive team, and building internal successors.
• Written and oral communication suitable for Board books, legislative testimony, customer briefings, and public explanation of technical decisions.

Other conditions

• On‑site executive role. Residence in the Trinity River basin or one of its defined counties, or relocation within a period set by the Board, is required.
• Frequent travel within the basin, regular evening Board and customer meetings, and availability for dam, flood, treatment, and security incidents outside business hours. Required.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States and able to pass a background check appropriate to a chief executive with fiduciary and critical‑infrastructure responsibility. Required.

Equal opportunity

The Trinity River Authority of Texas is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal or state law. Applicants will be notified of their rights under federal employment laws, including the Know Your Rights notice issued by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Compensation

Salary commensurate with experience, qualifications and proven track record.