Purpose & Persistence: Stories of impact View 2022 Report

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

The Holdsworth Center

Excellence in Education Leadership

  • About
    • Our Story
    • Our People
    • Campus
    • Careers
    • 2022 Impact
  • Our Programs
    • Apply to 2023 Cohorts
    • Holdsworth Partnership
    • Leadership Collaborative
    • Superintendent Leadership Program
  • Who we serve
  • Blog
  • Click here to search this site
  • Login to the Holdsworth Hub
  • Donate Your generosity will help us support insipring leaders who create schools where teachers thrive and students excel
  • Sign up for Holdsworth updates, learning resources and inspiration
Press releases

The Holdsworth Center announces new president

By The Holdsworth Center|March 5, 2019
Picture of Lindsay Whorton, President of The Holdsworth Center.
Share
Tweet0Facebook0LinkedIn0

The Holdsworth Center, a leadership institute for Texas public schools founded by H-E-B CEO and Chairman Charles Butt, has named Dr. Lindsay Whorton president of the organization by a unanimous vote of the Center’s board of directors. Whorton was previously vice president and dean. Whorton replaces Kate Rogers, who has accepted a new position with the Charles Butt Foundation in San Antonio.

“Lindsay’s vision and leadership have been critical as she worked closely with the organizing board two years before the Center was open, helping to shape what the organization would become,” said Board Chair Dr. Ruth Simmons, president of Prairie View A&M University and former president of Smith College in Massachusetts and Brown University in Rhode Island. “In addition, she has played a pivotal role by participating in the development of the Center’s curriculum, centered around best practices in leadership development both within the education sector and beyond.”

“She is the ideal person to lead the Center as we work to strengthen the effectiveness of educational leadership in Texas,” said Charles Butt.

As a consultant for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Lindsay collaborated with others to develop the blueprint for The Holdsworth Center’s inaugural program. Prior to BCG, Whorton worked as legislative director for a Colorado State Senator, where she coordinated a broad legislative portfolio including education, criminal justice and economic issues. She earned a doctorate in social policy from Oxford in the UK, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She earned degrees in English and secondary education at Drake University in Iowa where she was captain of the women’s basketball team, an Academic All-American, and a two-time Missouri Valley Conference champion.  As part of her Oxford doctoral dissertation, she spent a year in Finland as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Helsinki.

“We are grateful for Kate’s leadership as the concept of The Holdsworth Center was developed and came to fruition,” said Dr. Simmons. “Her brilliant oversight and execution made a significant difference in the launch of this important endeavor.”

Headquartered in Austin, The Holdsworth Center offers world-class training and leadership development to school districts selected to participate through a generous multi-year investment.  The Center is named after Charles Butt’s mother, Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth, who taught in a rural Texas school and later was a dedicated philanthropist.  The Center’s goal is to successfully impact, over time, the quality of education offered to Texas children.

The Holdsworth Center launched in June 2017 and currently serves seven Texas public school districts and over 190 school leaders across 30 campuses. In April, the Center will announce the selection of six additional school districts to join the program.

In November 2018, the Center broke ground on a 44-acre lakefront campus, which is scheduled to open in 2020 on the shores of Lake Austin.

|


Want to read more articles like this one?

Sign up to read more articles like this one
Recommended articles
Betty Zavala, Principal at Kaiser Elementary in Klein ISD, and Hazel Berry, Assistant Principal at Kaiser Elementary in Klein ISD, are photographed smiling as they walk along a bridge at the Campus and Lake Austin during a Holdsworth Center Campus Leadership Program session.
Press releases
Holdsworth Center opens $200 million learning facility for Texas public education leaders
By The Holdsworth Center

The Holdsworth Center, whose mission is to improve the quality of K-12 public education, announced today the grand opening of the 44-acre Campus on Lake Austin, a first-of-its-kind, $200 million facility for Texas educators designed to strengthen leadership in a systemic way.

Read more
A graphical representation of the Holdsworth Center's 5-year partnership badge.
Press releases
Holdsworth Center selects six Texas school districts for five-year partnership
By The Holdsworth Center

Six independent school districts in Texas have been chosen to partner with The Holdsworth Center, a nonprofit organization founded by H-E-B Chairman Charles Butt.

Read more
Dr. Pauline Dow
Press releases
The Holdsworth Center announces new vice president
By The Holdsworth Center

The Holdsworth Center has named Dr. Pauline Dow vice president of the organization.

Read more

Notice of nondiscrimination policy

The Holdsworth Center does not discriminate on the basis of race, color or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its admission policies or professional development programs.

  • Email sign-up for Holdsworth updates, learning resources and inspiration
  • Donate
  • Blog
  • Campus on Lake Austin
  • Join our team
  • Contact
  • Media resources
  • Privacy policy
© Copyright  The Holdsworth Center