Aggie Legends Podcast S1E6: Chancellor Glenn Hegar ’93

GLENN HEGAR:

No matter what, lean into who you are and be able to identify that, and use that strength.

BEN WIGGINS:

Welcome to Aggie Legends, where we talk with founders, CEOs, and other successful Aggies about the lessons in leadership they’ve learned throughout their careers. I’m your host, Ben Wiggins, Mays, MBA, class of 2018. And today we’re speaking with Glenn Hegar, the chancellor of the Texas A&M System.

Glenn, thanks for joining us today.

GLENN HEGAR:

Great to be with you. Absolutely.

BEN WIGGINS:

It is our pleasure to have you. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, Mr. Hegar has spent his career in public service. He was one of the youngest ever members of the Texas House of Representatives, and went on to become a state senator and then Texas comptroller. In July 2025, he became chancellor of the Texas A&M System.

So you grew up on a farm and even made the decision to do your first year of college at a community college to be able to help your family on the farm. Tell us about that.

GLENN HEGAR:

So one of the things, you know, growing up on a small family farm, rural community, coming to A&M, even back in the late ’80s, early ’90s. May not have been as big as it is today, but it was intimidating, right? It was very intimidating for a small, rural community kid. So one of the things that’s important is my family. That connectivity has always been important to me. And so being able to make the decision at that time, even though I was admitted going, you know, maybe that’s not quite the step for Glenn Hegar. So I made the decision to stay at home. Go to community college. I think that was the best decision for me because it was that one step. My family had not been college graduates before. My parents were very young. So as my mom said, we were children raising a child. So it was the best fit for me to take that one step. And I think a lot in life is about that first step leads to the second and the third and the fourth.

BEN WIGGINS:

Without a doubt.

In terms of your student experience here at Texas A&M, what was surprising or subverted your expectations in some way that would eventually shape your career path?

GLENN HEGAR:

I think a lot of being here, you know, Texas A&M University is very unique in so many ways. And we’re proud of that. We’re proud of how you walk down and somebody says, Howdy. Somebody comes from somewhere else and they go, wait, what? But then they get into it because it’s very friendly. It’s welcoming.

People that come and work here go oh, well, I’m not an Aggie. In other words, they don’t have a ring. But what they don’t know is you talk about, you share the values, you’re welcomed into the family. You’re into the network. And that’s what so many other people talk about is unique from other places is how welcoming, friendly, how we stick together, how that Aggie Network, across not just the state of Texas, the nation and the world, it’s unique. It’s different. Even for a kid in a small community that came here who was intimidated like probably so many others. Even still to the freshman class of this year. Having that unique opportunity and experience kind of sticks with you, not just through the days you’re here, but continues to carry forward into a career.

BEN WIGGINS:

Being a part of that welcoming environment, then as you proceeded forth into the working world, how did that change the way that you approached your professional life?

GLENN HEGAR:

Yeah, I think that’s a really good question.

One of the things is knowing that you’re part of a bigger group, a bigger network, a bigger organization, a bigger culture kind of gives you the ability as in that first step that I took going to community college. The next step to have that support around you. Right? Now, you know, as every, individual in life, in college kid, I’m glad that, I didn’t live in today’s era. Good thing we didn’t have cell phones back then. Good thing we didn’t have video recording back then. Like everybody, you may not have always made the best choices in life, but through those, you get through those together.

And I think one of the things that has helped me through leadership roles that I have led is one the network, the values, that base that you have, and the education and the skill set that we got. You know, being able to take the next question, wonder why. I’ve always been somebody who’s just inherently curious, you can almost give me any subject and I’m curious about it. And being able to have that educational foundation to be okay, to continue to explore, to question why, and come up with real life solutions, common sense.

BEN WIGGINS:

Where that took you then was a career and the next step was public service. And you’ve spent a lot of time in that sector.

GLENN HEGAR:

About a quarter of a century, yes.

BEN WIGGINS:

Yes, yes.

So what was the moment where you said, okay, this is the next thing for me?

GLENN HEGAR:

One of the things that, when my wife and I, Dara, when we started dating and we knew it was probably getting kind of serious, I made the comment to her. I said, okay, I can’t explain why, I can’t tell you the moment, but I feel pulled into some type of public service. I don’t know where it will be. Maybe it will never happen. Maybe that door won’t be cracked. Maybe the door won’t open up for us, and if so, that’s fine. But I always felt pulled. My family was not politically involved. They voted like most citizens, but they weren’t politically involved. And so I always felt pulled in that direction. There wasn’t a particular office. It was not a particular, you know, thing that was burning as a passion. Some people have a particular issue that’s their burning thing that they’ve got to work on.

But I always felt pulled in that way. And so I think, you know, being involved in high school and a lot of different organizations, that’s where we really get our first experience to leadership. When we’re younger, you know, we’re all in sports or activities and you start learning how to play well with others or work with others or work on a team. But it’s kind of like in your teenage years, that’s when that starts forming. Then it forms even more in college and it kind of pulls you to go, hey, wait, I can do that. I can be part of this.

And so really, that was the lead push to open the door when there was a brand new state rep seat and nobody served in it. So if you’re going to run, we didn’t have kids. That was the time. I mean, I was in my early 30s and, you know, we both took that leap of faith and one goes to the next to the next and then look a quarter century later. I get to come back and serve in a role where, you know, I’m over 12 universities, 170,000 students, and eight amazing state agencies that serve the state. Couldn’t be better than a dream job like this.

BEN WIGGINS:

What was it like then balancing a burgeoning political career with eventually then having a young family and this conversation that you had with your wife? Like what were the challenges of dealing with all of that?

GLENN HEGAR:

One of the things that I kind of talk about, at least where I’m at in my life personally, with with a daughter who’s a junior in college and twins that are juniors in high school and a lot of nieces and nephews and their friends. One of the things is talking to them and trying to help them through some of those highs and those lows of life, particularly the lows, in other words.

The point being is, what I trying to tell people today is that, you know, pick a direction. You want to go north or you want to go south. You got to pick a direction. Now, as you go through life, you’re not really sure if you’re going to go truly north. You’re going to deviate to the east or to the west. And here’s the point, even if you are just one degree off east or one degree off west, that is still north, but those are almost 180 degree difference.

So as you go through life, and Dara and I, as we started down this path with our own individual careers working, but also serving in legislature then having families. We don’t know where it’s going to go. But at least what we always decided is that we were going to do it as a family and the day that political office interfered with our family. That’s the day I’m going to get out. And so, at least for our North Star was our family unit and we worked through all of that together. And we were able somehow, because of a lot of supporting family and friends. Because we couldn’t have done it on our own. Where my wife has had an amazing career for her life so far, and I was able to have a pretty amazing career in elected office.

BEN WIGGINS:

You’re then representing a huge group of constituents. In addition to speaking for your family, you’re now speaking for thousands or millions of families. How did that responsibility influence your leadership style then?

GLENN HEGAR:

Yeah, I think those are good questions. You know, the fact is, one of the things that I think for, in my opinion, I tell people in leadership, I think what you need to do is first lean in. Lead with character. You need to have humility. If you don’t have those foundations it’s going to be pretty hard.

I’ve seen a lot of people in a lot of different positions, especially in elected office. It’s amazing how a title can change a person’s attitude pretty quick. How it’s, for lack of better words to say it, it’s intoxicating. And so I think that character and that humility are the foundation that can keep you focused and grounded no matter what your role or position is. And I think part of that is also knowing you always surround yourself with people that are smarter than yourself. Always know someone in this room, same as this room here, is going to be smarter than you on a lot of things. And that’s a good thing though because you lean in and work together and that’s how you start solving some problems.

And lastly, to know every problem is a little more complex and it’s a little more complicated than you originally think. So, you got to keep asking questions and listening to other people.

BEN WIGGINS:

Do you think, you mentioned earlier how a title can often change somebody or change the way they’re interacting with others …

GLENN HEGAR:

Not often, a lot.

BEN WIGGINS:

A lot. The phrase I’ve heard a lot is money doesn’t change people. It reveals people. Do you think that’s true of political power as well?

GLENN HEGAR:

Yeah, I think there’s a lot to that. But it’s also, you know, one of the things we made the decision is that even when I moved from elected office in the legislature, which is supposedly 140 days every two years in Austin. You go back to your district, but when I moved to the executive branch. Which was based in Austin, we did not move from our home west of Houston. We kept our family rooted where our bigger family is at. Part of that reason is that bubble it’s kind of a fake bubble, you know, I didn’t want people to be around that where, you know, their job is to kind of impress you. Their job is their clients and I got that and that’s understandable, but it’s transactional is my point. And I didn’t want my kids to go where people say, oh, your dad’s so smart. No, they get paid to do that. They get paid to make you feel good about yourself.

BEN WIGGINS:

They want something.

GLENN HEGAR:

Part of it, sometimes it does reveal the person. But I think also it’s easy for people to lose the path. It’s easy to take a left or right off the path. I think it’s really easy, so it’s a combination of the two, in my opinion.

BEN WIGGINS:

I like that. What then, so the move into the Chancellor’s role. What made you say okay, this now?

GLENN HEGAR:

You know, it’s a role several years ago my wife and I were at some event and, you know, she looked at me and said wait that would be an amazing job if you could do that one day. And, of course, you know, I didn’t think Sharp was going to retire here earlier this year. Thought that was years out and actually, we kind of looked at each other and I said, no, you’d be better at that job. And, you know, she’s an Aggie, she served on the alumni board eight years, she charity, we both been involved here on campus and in the system. But one of the things, as we were going through the interview process with the Regents, we had talked to our family as a unit. Is this a family decision? If we’re asked to go to the next round or to the next round. And as we got partway through that process, it kind of hit me. You know, how some things just hit you? Where what hit me is that wait, for the first time in my life, my personal interest, which, as I said earlier, is the direction and trying to help give guidance. A little bit of the gray hair that I have.

I’ve learned the hard way, you know, we learn more from our mistakes and failures than we do our successes. In my opinion, you have to have some of those. But trying to help today’s generation, which is my daughters, my son, their family, their friends, their nieces and nephews then think, wait, I get to do a job where I’m over 12 universities and 170,000 students.

So in other words, it’s where I’m at in my personal life, and I get to do that for my job. That’s pretty amazing because most people don’t ever get to have those two cross.

BEN WIGGINS:

Your predecessor and several other, you know, leaders of other university systems in Texas and around have come from state government rather than academia. Why do you think that is?

GLENN HEGAR:

You know, that’s a good question. I’ve had a couple people that have asked me that question. I think if you look across higher education over decades, over centuries, you’ve always had a combination of people that come from different backgrounds. They could be in corporations. They could be in academia. They may be in politics. Some of those people may be from a combination of both. And I think you just happen to have, in my opinion, in the last few years, there’s a few more of us that came from a legislative background. At least here in certain higher ed. institutions and jobs here in Texas.

And I think part of one of the comments, I would say serving in the role of Chancellor is very different than serving in the role of a president of a university. So in other words, you know, I’m running an organization of 12 universities, eight state agencies, over $8 billion operation, that has 28,000 plus employees. And so from that role, that is very different than running a higher ed. Institution, which that skill set is different. And so I think that may be one piece of it.

But my point is, no matter what, if you look at time, it’s always been a combination of different people. And I don’t think it’s that much different today in my personal opinion.

BEN WIGGINS:

Okay.

Well let me push back on that last part just a little bit. So you say you’re managing this huge group of people like a ton of complexities to consider. But it is, as I understand it, and educate me, it is a group of primarily higher ed. Institutions. So I guess I’m it’s not fully adding up for me yet.

GLENN HEGAR:

Yeah, well my job is different than a university president. My job is different than a dean. My job is different from, and if I go to eight state agencies who are serving the people, you know, our university system is very different than most because we have eight state agencies and nobody else has such a thing like that. And so we have say, for example, the tragic floods, over July 4th. Within 36 hours, we had 700 men and women that have the Texas A&M seal on it over in Kerr County, in rescue operations. No other university system does that. So we serve the state in different roles than other university systems do.

So, you know, my job is really to bring a collection of people that are much smarter than me to help lead them in a direction and give them guidance on where we want to go. In our state, you know, one of the things that I remind people every day when you woke up this morning, there were about 1500 more people that call Texas home than were here yesterday morning when you woke up.

If you take ten years ago we were the 12 largest economy in the world. In the last ten years, we had to stop saying 12, we moved to 11, stop saying 11, moved to ten, stop saying because we’ve moved to nine, and now we’re number eight. And so this state is growing rapidly. And so therefore, where is the state going and how do we meet that capacity for the educational needs and the service needs You know, my background of where I was before hopefully puts me in a position to bring a team together that can help continue to grow the system to meet the needs and the service of not just the state, but as the nation too.

BEN WIGGINS:

All right, so then the lessons in leadership that you’re now implementing in the accomplishment of that objective, what’s the stuff that would surprise our viewers? I mean the integrity, the humility. Yes. All of that’s important. But what’s the stuff that would make people say, oh …

GLENN HEGAR:

I think more than anything else is for me, you know, it’s the little successes in life that make a difference for people. When people say, what do you want to be remembered about? You know, the fact is, some want to be remembered about this massive thing they built and they did. And it’s the little things that make people’s lives better. It’s the little things that helps our students make sure that they’re able to get a job. They have less debt. That they’re able to be successful, not just because they have a degree, because they have leadership skills. And I think that’s constant reminder across our entire system. Not just our 80,000 students here at Texas A&M University, but across all of the system with our other 80,000 students.

And so for me, it’s not about, what are you doing when people are watching. It’s what do you do when people are not watching. It’s about that character. It’s about that vision and taking the pieces that we have and going, finding other tools for the toolbox, whether it’s resources in Austin, resources in D.C., whether it’s our proud alumni and donors. To bring them into the fold, which is extremely important. We do a good job, but it’s all these different pieces that we’re trying to build this system and continue to grow it, which is where absolutely we have to be if we’re going to continue to meet the needs for the state and for the nation.

BEN WIGGINS:

All right, now let’s zoom in a little bit on you, yourself. Like I think everything that you just said, that makes total sense. But what puts you in the best possible position to be at the tip of the spear to implement this?

GLENN HEGAR:

I think first and foremost, that I listen to other people. I think that’s imperative. As I was working in the transition phase coming, you know, one of the things I’m trying to constantly find out is let’s figure out what part of the team members are critical. What part of the team members do I want to be part of my team? Who are the people that I need to bring on? We all have strengths, but we all have weaknesses. So you’re looking for people to supplement your weaknesses. You’re looking for team members. And so, you know, I make the point. If you talk to four people and, three say you’re great, and one says, yeah, well, the one there’s some personal story we’re not too worry about, probably. But if there’s three now, that may be something we need to look into. And so if you just listen it’s amazing what you can learn. Most people talk more than they listen. I think that’s number one.

You know number two is constantly being curious and asking questions. You know, my team that used to work for me in the old job, and they know that now, in the months that I’ve been here, the fact is, is know that it’s not just the question he asked. It’s the next two and three, that’s going to come after that because when you bring an answer back, it usually brings another question or two. And so you got to really find to the root of the issue because again, as I said earlier, most things are more complex and complicated because if they were easy, they would have already been solved. Right? And then so helping a team move in that direction and believing in I firmly believe in a team. A team atomosphere, you have to surround yourself with a strong team, and we all have to work succinctly and we need to check our egos. And I think too many teams, they don’t check their egos. Everybody’s got an ego and I have no tolerance for that on my team.

BEN WIGGINS:

Appreciate that for sure.

In terms of the questions that you ask, do you have like one that you feel like this one is kind of my secret weapon? Like this is the question that I feel like reveals everything or lays the groundwork.

GLENN HEGAR:

I think one of the times I like we’ve gone through some new CEOs that that we’ve been hiring for different roles. And one of the things I wouldn’t say it’s a secret weapon, but I do like to ask people if you’re going to give a self-evaluation on yourself and it’s yourself. So I get it. You’re looking at a mirror. I understand that. But, I mean, what do you think is your greatest strength? And what do you think is your weakness? If you had to hire somebody to shore up your weakness, what is that weakness? And it’s funny because some people, you can see them pause because they’re not really sure what to say, because they’re trying to reveal something.

But I think it’s important for you know, any team, as we always say, is the weakest link. I think we always need to know that weakest link. And, you know, another part of it is kind of checking people to find out where do you want to be in the next five years? Where do you see yourself? Now that could change tomorrow. I get it right, life happens. But I do like people to be honest in their own evaluation of themselves.

BEN WIGGINS:

Yeah, yeah, that’s a hard thing to do. My biggest weakness professionally is like individual long term strategic thinking.

GLENN HEGAR:

But that’s okay, if you know that you surround yourself with people who can help supplement you, right?

And that’s what a good leader does, in my personal opinion.

BEN WIGGINS:

Yeah.

What was an example of a time where you got to put all this into practice? Like what’s your best story kind of all that experience?

GLENN HEGAR:

Yeah, I’d say a couple moments of clarity.

Let’s look at it like that. Back when I was in legislature and I was telling this story the other day that I was a new member, it was a critical issue that I had to work on. I felt like I had to solve it for my district. It was a bigger state issue that had to be resolved. We worked so hard, put so much time, had all this heavy lifting and it came together and it fell apart. And, you know, the legislatures, I give the example, it’s all these obstacles and hurdles put into place. Two chambers, a lot of committees, and we were right on the finish line. And I remember going, back to our little two bedroom condo, I laid in bed. I got there like, two in the morning, you know, it’s long nights at the end of session. And I just couldn’t go to sleep because I’m like, how did this happen? And what could I have done better? And so, finally, I probably dozed off, got up early, was at the Capitol before dawn, and little did I know that there was another bill that was moving. It wasn’t mine. My name wouldn’t be on it, but that’s okay. We were able to resurrect, bring back to life, and we were able to get it across the finish line. And so part of what that taught me is even when you think there is no way whatsoever, sometimes the miracle does happen.

And there’s other times, is this, what I’ve also learned is even if you can’t get it across the finish line, sometimes that’s okay, because all the prep work that you’ve done will help you with something else later, right? You can’t force a square peg in a round hole, but sometimes all that work, It’s not for not. Right? You can use that later. And so, you know, I take a few of those sometimes or, you know, one where it wasn’t that big a deal. I thought it wasn’t the right thing. The state was making a decision. I looked and I looked and I couldn’t figure out that needle in the haystack. And finally I found one. And so, you know, you finally found a needle in a haystack. You found a way to get what you needed done, and boom, it happened.

And so persistence. Constantly trying to find a new angle and a new … and I think part of in leadership and especially in the private sector and in academia too, part of our job is to find solutions to real problems for people. And having that curiosity to keep looking for them. And eventually sometimes you find some pretty monumental things that can make a difference in people’s lives, and that’s rewarding.

BEN WIGGINS:

Yeah, we love that.

All right. Very quickly. What’s your best life hack? We talked about secret weapons from a question perspective, but just what’s your thing? Like what is the thing that you feel like you’ve got your hands around and it makes things better for you?

GLENN HEGAR:

You know, I think I’m just at that point in life to where I have a better perspective. You can kind of take a step back. That was an event not too long ago in the office, and people were worked up and they’re like, it’s a crisis. And I’m thinking, this is not a crisis. Is it a mini for us? Sure it is. And so I stood up and I said, look out the window. You see the houses, you see the view. There’s people in the houses, there’s people in their cars, there’s people walking. And guess what? None of those people have any clue that we’re dealing with this. Life is just moving on for them. And so while this is important to us, let’s take a step back, let’s check ourselves, and now start working the problem. So I think, you know, one thing that when you get through life enough, you get enough gray hair. It gives you perspective to take a step back, and get the team reset and start working the problem.

BEN WIGGINS:

Absolutely.

For you then, what is the highest purpose of higher education and how does your presence here serve that?

GLENN HEGAR:

So, one of the things for me and coming into this role, that’s extremely important, if you look at higher education, what’s the purpose of higher education throughout all of history and time. It’s our students. I mean, that’s what we’re here for. We’re for giving them the tools to go out and be successful in their career and hopefully more than anything else, giving them leadership skills that they can be a leader in a different role. Whether that’s in their job, in their community, in their church, whatever, in their family, whatever that may be.

And so for me, as I was just walking through campus earlier today, it’s just as I was walking in here, I mean what gives me greater joy every single day and purpose is, oh my gosh, we got amazing students on every single campus. You know, and seeing, as I was telling somebody earlier, I just said, you know, that youth, that hope, that optimism, that excitement. At my age I get exhausted real quick. But they give me that energy. Which is pretty exciting. Just being able to be in this role and no matter where I go on any of our campuses, you always feel that energy, which is pretty awesome.

BEN WIGGINS:

Yeah. That’s wonderful. The final word, then. Any stuff for students and young professionals to keep in mind as they move forward?

GLENN HEGAR:

Yeah, somebody, a young student the other day, in an internship, that I had from my old job had asked me here a while back. Said, what could you tell your … What advice would you give your younger self? I thought that was a pretty amazing question. Nobody had ever asked me that. And so one of the things that as I was pondering, okay, how do I answer this question? How do I answer this intelligently? What am I going to say? And so what I pulled out and I said, okay, well one of the things that I would suggest to you is try to be yourself. Don’t try to be somebody you’re not. And part of the point that I went through is we all have strengths. We all have weaknesses. We talked about that. And so the point in this answer is we all have unique capabilities and lean into what that is.

And one of the points that I made, people always ask me, say, oh, what book are you reading? I read all the time, but I usually tell people that’s a trick question because I don’t read books because I have attention span issues, so I can’t read a book because I switch back and forth. And here’s where I’m coming with that, for me, I used to think my greatest weakness is that I couldn’t concentrate. I had to force myself to do it.

What I didn’t realize then is it’s okay to switch to something else, to something else, and come back to it because I can’t force myself to get through it. And then what I learned in life, that actually was probably what I thought was my weakness. Actually, it’s probably one of my greater strengths. And so lean into who you are.

Now, the problem is there’s some things where it takes us a long time to figure who we are, right? But I think that’s one thing that no matter what, lean into who you are and be able to identify that. Use that strength.

BEN WIGGINS:

Fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing your lessons in leadership with us.

GLENN HEGAR:

Yep, glad to be here. Absolutely.

BEN WIGGINS:

Chancellor Hegar, on behalf of Mays Business School, I’m Ben Wiggins.

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