Governor Greg Abbott appointed Kathleen Jackson to serve as a commissioner on the Public Utility Commission of Texas on August 5, 2022. She previously served as a Board Member of the Texas Water Development Board since 2014. She was first appointed to the TWDB by Governor Rick Perry on March 18, 2014 and reappointed by Governor Abbott on March 9, 2017.
Jackson has a diverse background representing agricultural, environmental, industrial, and wholesale-supply interests, which includes developing and implementing water management strategies for Southeast Texas. As a registered professional engineer, Jackson served as public affairs manager for one of the world's largest petroleum and petrochemical producers.
Additionally, she was involved in production agriculture with her late husband, who ran a cattle operation and farmed rice. She served as a past member of the Lower Neches Valley Authority Board of Directors, the Texas Water Conservation Association, and participated on the Sabine and Neches Rivers Bay and Estuary Environmental Flows Assessment Program Stakeholders Committee.
In August 2021, Governor Abbott appointed her to the Environmental Flows Advisory Group. She is also a board member and past president of the Lamar Institute of Technology Foundation, a sustaining member of the Junior League of Beaumont, a member of the Texas Farm Bureau, past president of the American Cancer Society of North Jefferson County, and a past board member of Junior Achievement of the Golden Triangle.
Jackson received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University.