Texas School Business: TASB President Profile

As president of the Texas Association of School Boards, Robert Seward is often busy forging relationships between lawmakers and school board members, and communicating education and funding needs to stakeholders in public education. It’s all in a day’s work for this Dallas-area businessman, who has served on city and county boards and has acted as a trustee for Mesquite ISD since 1993.

Born in South Bend, Ind., Seward’s family moved to Mesquite when he was 14. Upon graduating from Mesquite High School, he became the first person in his family to graduate from college, earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of North Texas. Some of his credits he earned while serving in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War.

After leaving the military, Seward worked as an accountant in the oil and gas business and spent nearly 20 years with Texas Oil and Gas. He’s now a senior accounting specialist at Luminant, a subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings Company.

Throughout his professional career, Seward has pursued a parallel track in community service that focuses on public education.

“There appeared to be a lack of effective communication, active listening and understanding throughout the community with the school district, and it was causing problems,” Seward recalls.

He first served on city and county boards and commissions, before running for the Mesquite ISD board in 1991. He didn’t win that year, but two years later, he tried again and won. He has been serving on the board ever since.

As many board members discover, being a trustee is both challenging and rewarding. Seward notes that creating effective governance through shared leadership and responsibility is particularly tricky. He points to dedication, relationship building and effective communication as key elements to creating a successful school board.

“We all have to agree to disagree when needed, to develop trust among board members and the superintendent and to grow together as a team,” he says. “As trustees, we must always ask the question: What is the impact on the children? Then we can make the right decision for our kids.”

Seward says the camaraderie that develops in the process of working for the greater good of schoolchildren makes the challenges worthwhile. For him, ensuring that students have the resources and education to become lifelong learners represents the pinnacle of community service, because everyone has a stake in the future.

There are two students, in particular, who Seward keeps top of mind: his granddaughters, Monica and Sophie.

Seward and his wife, Marjorie, raised a son and daughter in Mesquite, and both children continued their education beyond high school. He says he’d like to see the same opportunities available to Monica
and Sophie — a great public school education and the resources to propel them on to higher education.

In his downtime, Seward enjoys spending time with his “lovely bride of 39 years,” playing a bit of golf when he can and rooting for the Dallas Cowboys during football season. Yet, Seward never loses his focus on — or his passion for — ensuring all kids in Texas receive a stellar education.

“My goal is to provide an atmosphere of servant leadership by sharing responsibility and empowering others, as a tenet for good governance of TASB and all local boards,” he says.

ELIZABETH MILLARD is a Minneapolis, Minn.-based writer. She frequently contributes to District Administration magazine, which reaches 75,000 school administrators nationwide.