Robert Aguirre

District 1 Director

Robert Aguirre represents the members of District 1 and was appointed to the board in February 2021.

Robert was born the third of eight children and grew up on San Antonio's Westside with a mail-carrier father and homemaker mother. While he graduated from St. Mary's University in 1975 with a BBA degree (accounting major), his business career began in the supermarket industry as an internal auditor. He departed the grocery company after 13 years as an officer of the corporation and the Corporate Controller of what was then San Antonio's largest private employer (6,000+ employees) and the leading regional grocery chain at the time (Handy Andy).
 
After leaving the grocery business he had a varied business career in trust and asset management, project management, strategic planning, and organizational development. His varied financial and managerial background provided him with an opportunity to oversee and manage a variety of enterprises including oil and gas exploration and production, ranching and farming, financial investments, and trust and foundation management. His wide-ranging business experience garnered him a federal appointment as the only non-attorney Chapter 11 trustee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Western District.
 
A graduate of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Academy, he also spent 13 years in active law enforcement as a reserve police officer.
 
In 1986 he was selected by the Catholic bishops of Texas to organize and manage the 1987 visit to Texas by Pope John Paul II. Later, 1992, he was called upon to help Denver organize the planning efforts for their 1993 international World Youth Day papal visit.
 
Beyond his business activities, he has invested his time in a variety of undertakings including having been a Sunday editorial columnist for the San Antonio Express-News and being a life-long advocate for inner-city education reform and equal educational opportunity for low-income families. He has authored school choice legislation in 14 states and has written two books on forming non-profit entities to organize low-income communities for education reform. He also co-founded 102 K-12 private school scholarship organizations nationwide raising over $565 million in private and corporate funds between 1992 and 1999.
 
In 2007, Logos International University of Jacksonville, Florida, conferred on him a Doctor of Humane Letters degree, Honoris Causa, for his life's work in inner-city education reform.
 
He and his wife, Betsy, have been married for 52 years and live near Pipe Creek with two dogs and a horse, on a property they purchased in 1983. They have two grown children - both teachers - and three grandchildren. His hobbies include horseback riding, photography, and playing classical violin.
 
Contact: R.Aguirre@BanderaElectric.com
 

District 1