From Comptroller to Chancellor, Hegar prepares to lead Texas A&M
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Glenn Hegar has served as State Comptroller for more than 10 years, but he’s leaving that job behind for a new challenge.
Next week, Hegar will become Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. While wrapping up his duties as Comptroller, which included certifying the budget passed by Texas lawmakers, Hegar has also been preparing for the transition to his new role.
“I’ve been in College Station, usually a couple days every week. I’ve probably been spending more time on that job than I have my current role,” Hegar said. “Essentially, just visiting with staff, traveling our campuses across the state of Texas, trying to learn and ramp up, engaging in this transfer, in this transition to make sure I have my team in place, and making sure that it’s just a another day at the office come July 1 when we make the transition.
Affordability is one challenge for colleges around the country. Some Texans are forgoing higher education, in part because of the cost. Hegar said affordability is an important issue for A&M.
“Every single way that we can make affordability better for our students is a way that we can help them make sure they don’t have debt, they have an opportunity in the beginning when they get a job, and making sure, not just that they enter college, they graduate college, have the affordability and also being able to obtain a job when they get out of school is all at the forefront,” Hegar said.
In his final weeks on the job as Comptroller, Hegar certified the state budget. It comes at a time of economic uncertainty, with tariffs looming and military conflicts creating concern. Hegar expressed confidence in the Texas economy amid the uncertainty.
“You know, the first and foremost to realize is the state’s Foundation is a very strong foundation in the state of Texas,” Hegar said. “The direction of the Texas economy is strong. We have people that continue to move here every day. We have businesses that want to set up shop, businesses that want to move here. And so the trajectory is really strong, even though we don’t know what’s on the horizon globally today, tomorrow, and especially as we look off into the next year.”
Looking back at his time as Comptroller, Hegar said he’s proud of how the agency has evolved during his tenure.
“I think first and foremost is just driving a culture at the agency of customer service. Our job is the people of the state of Texas serving them, the taxpayers of the state of Texas, making sure that that culture in that agency, when someone reaches out to us for customer assistance, for help, that we are doing everything that we can, and using all modes of communication to make it easier for them,” Hegar said.
“The less time people are spending trying to figure out, ‘How do they set up a business? How do they get their taxes filed?’ Those are things they can be doing to make real-life impacts for their employees, for their coworkers, and making sure they’re growing state economy, rather than worrying about, ‘How do I do this and how do I do that?’ So that culture of customer service is first and foremost,” Hegar said.
