Susan Combs serves as one of the statutorily-designated members of the Oversight Committee.  She was elected Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in November 2006 and re-elected in 2010. She immediately set an innovative course of action to transform state government and prepare Texas for the future beginning her first day in office on Jan. 1, 2007.  As Comptroller, Ms. Combs is the state’s chief financial officer. She manages the state’s treasury operations to monitor Texas’ fiscal health, guides legislative decision makers by estimating state revenues and ensures state taxes are collected fairly and efficiently to fund vital programs and services for the people of Texas.  Ms. Combs is committed to ensuring that government works as efficiently as possible.

Under her leadership, the Comptroller’s office has assessed and implemented a sweeping range of business process improvements projected to save nearly $8 million by the end of 2009 to reinvest in meeting increased demand for services.

As Comptroller, Ms. Combs was one of only three women named to Government Technology’s 2009 list of the Top 25 “Doers, Dreamers and Drivers,” recognizing leaders who use technology to solve problems, meet evolving expectations and operate more efficient government operations.

Ms. Combs won the Realtor Legacy Award for demonstrating the highest level of leadership support to Texas property owners and the Trailblazer Award from the Independent Bankers Association of Texas for support of the independent community banking industry. Ms. Combs won the inaugural Leadership Award in Obesity Prevention in 2008 from The Michael & Susan Dell Center for the Advancement of Healthy Living. And in March 2006, while working as the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, the American Medical Association presented Ms. Combs with the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service for her leadership in tackling the state’s obesity crisis and championing a groundbreaking public school nutrition policy to address it.

Ms. Combs won back-to-back elections in 1998 and 2002 to serve as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, taking the reins as the first woman elected to the office.  She also served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives, where she successfully sponsored and passed the state’s landmark private property rights legislation and authored legislation on tort reform vital to the state’s business community.