Texas State President Kelly Damphousse named Austin Business Journal’s 2026 CEO of the Year

The Austin Business Journal has named Texas State President Dr. Kelly Damphousse its 2026 CEO of the Year. The award, announced at the Best CEO Awards on 6 October, honours Central Texas leaders with a record of innovation, outstanding performance and roles in philanthropic, civic or political life.

The period being recognised

Dr. Damphousse came to Texas State in 2022 from Arkansas State University, where he was chancellor. According to the university, the period since includes:

• Record enrolment — more than 47,000 students in Fall 2026; the fastest-growing university in Texas four years running.
• Research expenditure doubled in three years and tripled in ten.
• 32 new degree programmes, aimed at workforce readiness, research capacity and educational quality.
• Pac-12 membership from 2026.
• On track for Carnegie R1 research status by 2027.

How to read this

And this is a business newspaper’s award to an organisation’s leader — not a ranking of teaching quality. What is worth keeping, if you are choosing a university, is not the title but the figures behind it: more programmes, more research investment, and a target of R1. For a student about to spend four years there, that is the direction of travel.

See also: Texas State leadership · research at Texas State · the programme list.

Source: TXST President Kelly Damphousse named Austin Business Journal’s 2026 CEO of the Year, news.txst.edu, 7 October 2026 (all details and quotations). The photographs in the original are copyright the Austin Business Journal and the president’s family and are not reproduced; the cover is a Texas State campus photograph.