TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Program Outreach Specialist
Job Titles:
- Assistant Commissioner for Communications and Trade and Business Development
Dan Hunter serves as Assistant Commissioner for Communications and Trade and Business Development. He oversees programs involving external relations, grants and services, marketing, and rural affairs, including rural health care. He is also a top advisor on the critical issues of water and the important role it plays in agriculture and the Texas economy.
Hunter has an extensive background in agriculture, research, water, and policy development. Most recently he served as Executive Director of the Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research (TIAER) at Tarleton State University.
When TIAER was established by the Texas Legislature in 1991 one of its charges was to "provide national leadership on emerging environmental policy". Hunter's background in working with national constituencies, including state and federal agencies, Congress, and producer and consumer organizations is vital in providing the national leadership the Legislature envisioned. TIAER is a leader in the field of environmental research around the world.
When Hunter joined TIAER in 2006, he was already a part of the Tarleton State University family, serving as an adjunct professor for the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences for several years.
Prior to joining the Institute he was the Executive Officer/Manager of the Southwestern Peanut Growers' Association, where he managed a multi-million dollar producer cooperative. As the chief executive, Hunter provided the primary guidance on all legislative, research, marketing, regulatory and media related issues.
Earlier in his professional career he served as the Government Relations Representative for the National Cotton Council, a multifaceted trade association in Washington, DC. He also worked as a primary legislative staff member for former Congressmen Larry Combest and Fred Grandy.
Hunter received degrees from Texas Tech University and Tarleton State University. He has written numerous articles for several publications, and provided testimony for legislative and regulatory committees. Additionally, he has given presentations around the world including the United Nations Foreign Agriculture Organization in Rome.
Job Titles:
- Interim Regional Director
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director, Communications
- Media Questions ( Communications Division )
Job Titles:
- Coordinator for Agriculture Commodity Boards and Producer Relations
Job Titles:
- Administrator for Agriculture and Consumer Protection
An eighth-generation farmer and rancher, Sid Miller is the 12th Commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). He has devoted his life to promoting Texas agriculture, rural communities, and the great state of Texas. Born in De Leon, in Comanche County, in September 1955, Sid Miller graduated with honors from Tarleton State University in Stephenville with a Bachelor of Science degree in Vocational Ag Education.
A recognized community leader, Miller was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2000. He quickly earned a reputation as a staunch defender of Texas agriculture, constitutional freedoms, and individual liberties for all Texans.
He was elected statewide as the 12th Texas Agriculture Commissioner in 2014 and re-elected to his second term in office in 2018; followed by a third term in 2022, receiving almost 4.5 million votes--more votes than any candidate for Texas Agricultural Commissioner has ever received.
Since taking office as Agriculture Commissioner, Commissioner Miller has brought real common sense reform to TDA. Within six months, he eliminated a two-and-a-half-year backlog in organic certifications. He reshaped field operations to maximize efficiency for Texas taxpayers. This included increasing the number of consumer protection inspections by as much as 183 percent while slashing the miles traveled by TDA inspectors by more than half a million miles a year.
Commissioner Miller also launched Operation Maverick, a consumer protection initiative to round up businesses that failed to register their commercial scales with TDA. Registrations have increased 35 percent, and more than 2,000 previously unregistered businesses are now monitored by TDA to ensure consumers are protected.
A former ag teacher and school board member, Commissioner Miller is committed to fighting childhood obesity and promoting healthy lifestyles for Texas schoolchildren. His creation of Farm Fresh Fridays and other farm-to-school initiatives resulted in a $14 million increase in the amount of Texas products purchased by schools. Commissioner Miller is also passionate about ensuring rural communities have the water and infrastructure they need to thrive. To that end, he created TDA's Office of Water to secure access to clean water for Texans today and their future generations. Additionally, under his guidance, TDA has directed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding through the Texas Community Development Block Grant program to local communities for infrastructure improvements and repairs.
Commissioner Miller is the state's leading advocate around the world for Texas agriculture, Texas-grown products, and Texas-owned businesses. He oversees TDA's world-renowned GO TEXAN program - a marketing effort to showcase the best products, companies, and communities that call the Lone Star State home. Since taking office, Commissioner Miller's passion to increase market exposure for Texas agriculture has led him and his staff to mount trade missions to Cuba, Ecuador, Argentina, Israel, China, and every continent on the globe except Antarctica.
Job Titles:
- in 2015 As the Deputy General Counsel / Ethics Officer
As the General Counsel for the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), Susan Maldonado supervises all attorneys and legal support staff and activities related to the agency's legal services. This includes regulatory enforcement, licensing, administrative law matters, agency procurement and contracting, and litigation related to the agency's program areas of Agriculture & Consumer Protection, Food & Nutrition, and Trade and Business Development, as well as administrative support to commodity boards, the Prescribed Burning Board and the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority.
Susan has dedicated her legal career to public service with more than 20 years of experience working in state government in Texas. In addition to serving as briefing attorney at the Third Court of Appeals, Susan has gained varied legal experience over her career at several state agencies, including the Texas General Land Office, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Texas Building and Procurement Commission/Texas Facilities Commission.
Susan joined TDA in 2015 as the Deputy General Counsel/Ethics Officer responsible for personnel matters before her promotion to Lead Deputy General Counsel in 2021. She was appointed by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller to General Counsel in August 2023.
Susan earned her Bachelor of Arts in Government from The University of Texas at Austin and a juris doctorate degree with honors from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas where she served on law review. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering, traveling around Texas and is an avid college sports fan.
Terry Keel was appointed by Commissioner Sid Miller on January 12, 2015, to serve as Assistant Commissioner for Administration. On June 28, 2023, Commissioner Miller named Mr. Keel Interim Deputy Commissioner. Mr. Keel's responsibilities include assisting with the day-to-day management of 650 TDA employees and promoting Texas' $115 billion agriculture industry, as well as administrative duties related to licensing, agriculture and consumer protection.
Prior to joining TDA, Mr. Keel served from Dec 2009 to Jan 2015 as executive director of the Texas Facilities Commission. TFC administers for state government all facets of professional real estate services, space planning, project management for design and construction and surplus property asset management.
From May 2007 to Jan 2009 Mr. Keel was Parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives, serving as the counselor to the Speaker and Texas House members on matters of legislative procedure and applicable provisions of the Texas Constitution and state statutes.
Mr. Keel served five terms (Jan 1997 to Jan 2007) as a State Representative (District 47, Austin) in the Texas House. He chaired the Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, the Select Interim Committee on Sex Offender Statutes and the Select Committee on Election Contests. Rep. Keel also served as Vice Chair of the Committee on Public Safety, a member of the General Investigating and Ethics Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the House Administration Committee. Representative Keel was the lead House rules author in the 79th legislative session.
Mr. Keel was Sheriff of Travis County from Nov 1992 to Jan 1997, supervising a staff of over 1,200 personnel. Sheriff Keel successfully managed inmate populations exceeding 2,500 during the worst jail over-crowding era in Travis County history and established a program for housing jail prisoners in tents. He implemented the construction of corrections facilities using inmate labor and expanded inmate agriculture, labor and education programs.
From July 1984 to Nov 1992, Mr. Keel served as a Travis County Assistant District Attorney. He was lead prosecutor in over fifty contested felony jury trials and held the position of chief prosecutor over several high level programs, including major crimes, narcotics, organized crime, the repeat offender program, child abuse and juvenile prosecution.
Mr. Keel holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston (1983) and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Texas (1980). He is a licensed attorney and a founding partner of the Austin firm Keel & Nassour, LLP. Mr. Keel is also a licensed master peace officer and licensed instructor of peace officers by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
Walter "Walt" Roberts has served as an assistant commissioner for TDA since 2015. He oversees the agency's Agriculture and Consumer Protection division, which also encompasses field operations.
Prior to working at TDA, Roberts was the V.P. of External Relations at Lutheran Social Services of the South (LSS). The faith-based non-profit organization is based in Austin and serves Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. LSS is a 132-year-old organization committed to serving people in need.
Roberts has been called a Renaissance Cowboy. He was born into a ranching family and roped steers and rodeoed his way through high school and college. He attended the University of Central Oklahoma, earning a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, both in Criminal Justice.
At the age of 24, Roberts became the youngest person to be elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives. During his three terms, he worked on issues addressing agriculture, criminal justice and children in poverty.
Roberts is an accomplished auctioneer. He attended the old Missouri Auction School, called the "Harvard of Auction Schools" by Newsweek magazine. Walt started an auction business specializing in estate and farm sales. His auctioneering skills are so good that for several years the school invited him back to provide instruction for classes. He still performs high-end charity auctions in Texas and across the nation.
Music is also a passion of Roberts's. He is a champion fiddle player. He has played with a number of Western Swing bands including the Texas Playboys and Asleep at the Wheel. One of his most memorable concerts was at Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., where President George W. and First Lady Laura Bush enjoyed the performance.
Roberts is also an accomplished actor, appearing in movies, television and on stage. One of his most famous roles was a principal supporting performance in the movie "Parkland." The award winning ensemble included Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti and Marcia Gay Harden. The film's executive producer was Tom Hanks.
While Roberts has been blessed to rub shoulders with the bright stars of Hollywood, he prefers the prairie life and working hard to grow the Texas agriculture industry.