Robert Gates on leadership and public education

At a Place the Ladder event on Feb. 11, 2026, Holdsworth President Dr. Lindsay Whorton sat down with Dr. Robert Gates—former U.S. Secretary of Defense and current Chair of the Holdsworth Center Board—to talk about leadership, public service and the role schools play in preparing young people for the world they’re entering.

When asked how a non-Texan came to serve as board chair for Holdsworth, Gates said, “I come from a family of public educators… My brother was a high school principal, my nephew a high school teacher, my niece a middle school teacher. My wife was in public higher education. They always told me that a principal is the single point of failure in a school.” 

When Holdsworth founder and H-E-B Chairman Charles Butt cold-called Gates and told him about his vision for a nonprofit focused on building stronger leaders for public schools, Gates said, “He sort of had me at ‘hello.’” 

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