Susan Combs, a fourth-generation rancher from Marathon, Texas, in Brewster County, was sworn into office in January as the state’s 10th commissioner of agriculture. She also is the first woman to hold this position in the department’s 92-year history.

Susan runs a cow-calf operation on her family’s 100-year-old ranch in West Texas. A former assistant district attorney in Dallas, she served in the Texas Legislature from 1993 – 1996 writing the state’s major private property rights legislation. Susan served on the House committees on Natural Resources and Criminal Jurisprudence. In 1996 she managed the state offices for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Susan currently serves on the boards of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the Texas Wildlife Association. She has also served on the board of directors of the Texas Beef Council and the Texas Production Credit Association. A graduate of Vassar College and the University of Texas School of Law, Susan has been married 23 years and currently lives in Austin with her three sons.