When Rudy Metayer ’06 was inducted into the Texas Lyceum as a director in January 2024, he followed in the footsteps of influential leaders like President George W. Bush and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.
The nonprofit identifies and develops future leaders from across Texas to help solve some of the state’s most pressing problems. For the last 40 years, Texas Lyceum directors—including politicians, judges, and attorneys from across the political spectrum—have brainstormed bipartisan solutions to issues like home ownership, the environment, gambling, and most recently, marijuana legalization.
The role marks an important milestone for Metayer, who brings years of experience as a litigator, government relations professional, and community leader to the position. Metayer earned his bachelor’s degree in government and philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin, then his juris doctor at Texas Law. A decade later, Metayer returned to UT and earned his master’s degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs in 2016.
Now, in addition to the Texas Lyceum, Metayer—the son of Haitian immigrants and the first generation in his family to graduate from college—continues to argue cases and has served as a City of Pflugerville, Texas council member for the last seven years. He’s also an adjunct professor at Texas Law, where he participates in the school’s mentoring program. And in February 2024, Metayer was recognized as an Outstanding Alum at nonprofit Leadership Austin’s Community Engagement Awards.
Metayer recently discussed Texas Lyceum’s bipartisan work, how Texas Law prepared him to be a litigator, and how he’s passing on lessons learned to the next generation of attorneys.
Texas Lyceum focuses on some of state’s most important issues
What kind of work are you doing with them?
Texas Lyceum’s work has made a demonstrative difference to our state. We truly do have a bipartisan effort to get things done, which is atypical. This past spring, our quarterly meeting was a deep dive into water. It’s the new oil, and the most undervalued underappreciated resource that we have. So many people don’t understand its scarcity. They just assume that the water coming out of their tap is clean water, and that as soon as you turn your tap on, it will always just come out. The reality is that if you can’t flush a toilet because you can’t find clean water, then you can’t start a business or build a subdivision. In Texas, we’ve got to do something about this, and we’ve got this group of people trying to make a concerted effort to find more resources.
In September, we also met in Abilene about the state of mental health in Texas, which is equally as important. Oftentimes when we talk about these types of issues, we get stuck in political gridlock because you have either a “D” or an “R” behind your name. But we need input and concepts from all kinds of people. The Texas Lyceum is a group that does a great job of educating people, but also in making a difference by getting things done. I’m humbled I was able to get inducted.
Original source can be found here.