Meet Art

Art A. Hall

Art A. Hall, 37, has been touted as a "breath of fresh air to politics," "one with a bright future in politics," and "Texas' Barack Obama!" Art, a lifelong Democrat, is a fifth generation Texan whose great great grandfather came to Texas as a slave, settling in East Texas near the Trinity River.

Art was born in Hempstead, Texas on December 13, 1970 to Archie Hall of Crockett, Texas (Houston County) (Air Force retiree) and Clarita Alcausin Hall of Vigan, Ilocus Sur (the Philippines) (nurse). He and his younger brother, R-T (West Point, 1995), grew up in Lubbock, Texas, where their parents still live. Today, Art and his wife, Stephanie, of Lufkin, Texas and a lawyer at Valero Energy Corporation, and their 2-year old daughter, Londyn, live in San Antonio.

At times living in trailer houses growing up, today, Art is an attorney, private equity investor, and investment banker, serving as President/CEO of artah Holdings, Inc., his investment company. He is also a partner in two private equity funds totaling $6.5 million, farming 25,000 acres of corn, soybean, and cotton in Brazil (Bahia), and his new venture is constructing a $50 million biodiesel plant in Brazil.

Art is a graduate of Harvard University (BA, 1993), Texas Tech Law and Business Schools (JD/MBA, 1996), and the University of Wales (UK) (LLM, 2000). He received the Pforzheimer Foundation Scholar Award at Harvard, and the Clifford Chance Business Law Prize for the highest academic award and the Calcott Pryce Subject Prizes in Banking and Finance, Corporate Insolvency, International Copyright, and Consumer Law at the University of Wales. He has several articles that have been published in law and finance journals, including his most recent article on international banking regulation published in the Journal of International Financial Markets (based in London) and the New York Law School Journal of International and Comparative Law.

Having always had an interest in politics, after arriving in San Antonio in 1998, Art ran for Mayor in 2001. When he placed 3rd of 11 candidates, behind two two-term sitting City Council members, Art became the first African American since the late 1800s to make such a strong run. He was later elected to San Antonio's City Council District 8 in 2003, becoming the youngest person ever elected to represent his district, the first African American to be elected to Council outside of the City's East side, the first Asian American to be elected to San Antonio's City Council, and although San Antonio City Council is non-partisan, one of only a few Democrats statewide elected to predominantly Republican areas (District 8 being around 60% Republican). District 8 is recognized as having the largest number of neighborhood associations, the City's two highest voting precincts, the two neighborhoods with the highest per capita income, and hosting USAA and the South Texas Medical Center (San Antonio's two dominant economic generators.). He was re-elected in 2005 and term-limited out of office in 2007. He is a member of Leadership San Antonio Class XXVII, was selected in 1999 by the San Antonio Business Journal as one of the city's "Top 40 Under 40 Rising Stars," and was recognized by the SA Scene Monthly, along with Mayor Phil Hardberger, as one of San Antonio's "Most Influential of 2005."

Art is an Associate Minister at Grace First Baptist Church, an Eagle Scout, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (Rho Nu then Delta Rho Lambda Chapters), a former intern for a U.S. Senator (D), a Massachusetts Governor (R), and a Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice (R), and a former Treasurer of the Bexar County Democratic Party. He has served as a Professor of International Law and Business at La Universidad Espiritu Santo in Guayaquil, Ecuador, an Administrator and Adjunct Professor at St. Mary's Law School, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the St. Mary's University School of Business. He is a Board member of the Texas Tech Law School Alumni Association, the San Antonio Symphony, the Alamo Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the San Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund and Health Pre-fund, and the San AntonFoundation, and he has previously served on local boards of the YMCA, NAACP, and the Carver Cultural Center.

His hobbies include equestrian eventing, golf, soccer, piano, poetry, traveling, languages, collecting stamps and coins, and spending time on his small ranch near the city of Crockett in East Texas, part of his great grandfather's original estate which he recently purchased.

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