HCA Leadership Summit
2025 Leadership Summit – Rooted in Resilience
The Hill Country Leadership Summit is the Hill Country Alliance’s premiere annual gathering, and provides an opportunity for learning, networking, and being inspired among our region’s top community leaders, conservation practitioners, and natural resource managers.
In this year alone, communities along beloved Hill Country rivers and their tributaries have been forever changed. As our region reacts to the devastating impacts of widespread flooding, we are also grappling with other natural disasters – prolonged drought conditions, groundwater shortages, and increasing wildfire risk. This year’s Leadership Summit will be keenly focused on how we build resilience into the very fabric of our region. Now is the time to work together, to build bridges, and to create a future that balances conservation, growth, and safety.
The 2025 Leadership Summit will be held online and in-person on September 25 from 8 AM – 4 PM at The Sacred Oaks Hall at Camp Lucy, followed by a networking happy hour from 4-6 PM. Tickets are available below. Additional Summit details to come – stay tuned here and by subscribing to our newsletter.
Preview the Day
Preview Speakers at the 2025 Summit
Click to view full day’s agenda as a PDF
Featuring more than 18 speakers joining us from across Texas and the Hill Country region:
- Angela Blanchard, Keynote
- John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas State Climatologist
- Councilmember Emily Kirchner, City of Fredericksburg
- Judge Bella Rubio, Real County
- Commissioner Damon Beierle, Burnet County
- Drew Paxton, City of Kerrville
- Sarah Schlessinger, Texas Water Foundation
- Ashley Landry, Native Plant Rescue Project
- Cody Cly, University of Texas – San Antonio
- Chandler Crouch, Texas Water Trade
- Skip Preble, Land Analytics
- Carlotta McLean, Peregrine Land Investments
…and more!
Register for the Summit
Tickets are now available for the 2025 Hill Country Leadership Summit, with options available for both in-person and online attendance. Virtual attendees will receive access to a special streaming platform for a livestream of the day’s events.
| Ticket Type |
| $150 – General Admission |
| $50 – Virtual Attendance (livestream) |
| $20 – Student (virtual only) |
| $20 – Educator (virtual only) |
Angela Blanchard – Chief Resilience Officer, City of Houston
Angela is an evolutionary leader and visionary problem-solver with a whole-systems approach to caring for people facing the unthinkable. Her breakthrough strategies have revitalized neighborhoods and supported disaster recovery at the city, state, and regional levels, offering a roadmap for business, civic, and nonprofit leaders tackling complex challenges of community transformation, long-term recovery, and resettlement. Over her 40-year career, Angela has worked with leaders on six continents and has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to supporting flood recovery efforts in North Carolina in 2024. Click here to learn more about her work.
KEYNOTE: Leading in an Era of Upheaval
In this keynote address, Angela will share stories from communities all over the world where people have faced the unthinkable and gone on together to rebuild their lives and communities in ways that allowed them to call the new place home, again. Rebuilding together from the ground up is the life-changing challenge Central Texas communities are facing today. When all the cameras and earth movers are gone, the Hill Country will find a path through the horror and go on to re-create what matters. Together, we will explore steps and stages on this path to re-creation – recognizable milestones along the way, a pattern that is somewhat universal, leaders who have a set of common behaviors, and wisdom from people who’ve led through all kinds of upheaval. Our reality is on the ground, not in the headlines – and the leaders we need are already here.
Lodging Available
This year, we are happy to share a new group rate option for attendees and speakers who are interested in staying in Dripping Springs either before or after the Leadership Summit. The Sleep Inn & Suites (100 Hays Country Acres Rd, Dripping Springs, TX 78620) is offering rooms at a discounted rate of $99 per night for summit attendees on both Wednesday, 9/24 and Thursday, 9/25. Please note, the booking page defaults to a 2-night stay, so be sure to adjust your date range as needed!
Virtual Access and Reduced Rates
We are excited to offer three virtual attendance options for attendees who prefer to tune in online! Virtual attendance gives you access to the full day’s presentations, a live chat throughout the event, and unlimited online access to all recordings after the event.
closed
Student Rate - $20
Are you a student interested in getting involved with Hill Country conservation? The Student Rate is meant for you! The Summit is a great opportunity for learning, networking, and being inspired among our region’s top community leaders, conservation practitioners, and natural resource managers.
Join us online or in-person for just $20! In-person student tickets are limited. Register now to reserve your spot!
Educator Rate - $20
The Educator Rate was inspired by friends at Junction High School in 2021. We hope this will be a great way for key takeaways from the Summit to spread into additional learning environments across the Hill Country. Topics covered at the Summit will be regionally relevant and suitable for high school and college students. Excited to register as an educator or share with all your teacher friends? Submit a photo showing your class enjoying the Summit and you’ll be entered to win an HCA swag bag – featuring a t-shirt, tote, postcards, stickers, and a Hill Country map! HCA staff will follow up to coordinate details and answer any questions you may have.
For additional information, please contact leah@hillcountryalliance.org.
Virtual Rate (General Access) - $50
Can’t make it out to Dripping Springs? No worries – join us online!
Virtual attendance gives you access to the full day’s presentations, a live chat throughout the event, and unlimited online access to all recordings afterwards. It’s a great way to join the fun from wherever you are!
Sponsorship Opportunities Closed
The Leadership Summit is made possible through the generous contributions of our sponsors – both on a corporate and individual level. Thanks to an outpouring of support and limited seating availability, our sponsorship opportunities are now closed. If you are still interested in donating and supporting our work, please contact Chanee@hillcountryalliance.org with any questions.
A tremendous thank you to our partners and supporters who have signed on as sponsors for the Summit:
SIGNATURE SPONSOR
Yates Pecos River Enterprises
MULTIMEDIA SPONSOR
The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
LUNCH SPONSORS
Tres and Lida Plummer
Lake Flato
BREAKFAST SPONSOR
Native American Seed
Harkinson Investment Corp.
RECEPTION SPONSORS
Michelle Whitwell Pokorny
Steve and Melinda Winn
Pedernales River Alliance
Doucet – A Kleinfelder Company
WOODLAND SPONSORS
Mike and Pam Reese
Gary Sertich
WaterPR
National Wildlife Federation
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
W.R. Dallas Furniture Studios, Since 1929
Moseley Ranch
Shield Ranch
Re:wild
GRASSROOTS SPONSORS
Texas Agricultural Land Trust
JB Chisum
Llano River Watershed Alliance
Pedernales Electric Cooperative
Edwards Aquifer Authority
The Comfort News
Siglo Group
Devils River Conservancy
Defenders of Wildlife
Ozona Bank
Anne and David Morley Family Fund
Maas Verde Landscape Restoration
Format Construction
COMMUNITY SPONSORS
Commissioner Ann Howard
Texas Regional Bank
LVBrown Studio LLC
Past Summit Testimonials
The Leadership Summit provide an annual opportunity for learning, networking, and celebrating and features presentations and conversation with local leaders and regional experts. Learn more from past attendees:
“Congratulations on putting on a fantastic Leadership Summit! I’ve been following HCA for about 10 years now and this was my first official event to attend – I feel like I’m truly a part of the HCA family now!”
“Just a quick note to say THANK YOU for a wonderful event yesterday. It was my first in person HCA event, and I left feeling such positive energy and hopeful confidence in what we want to work on in Real County. Thank you for all you are doing and for all of the support you are providing all of these people and entities doing the Good Work. We feel it!!”
“The “rapid fire” session and the panels were extremely well moderated and helped us participants engage with so many worthwhile people, causes, and concerns… As a first-time participant, that was the best bang-for-my-buck networking and learning opportunity I could have imagined.”
“Thank you, and all of HCA for putting the Leadership Summit on. It was a fantastic event and so great to be in the presence of like-minded conservationists! It was such an honor to listen to the panelists storytelling and perspectives. I left feeling inspired to take action and continue to work with the organizations involved with HCA, and those outside of it as well with common goals.”
“Just wanted to say you all did an awesome job on the Summit! The content was varied and interesting, the venue felt more like an adventure than a conference room, and the people were fun and friendly. It was informative, restorative and inspiring.”
Venue: Sacred Oaks – Camp Lucy
Thanks to the generous support of our hosting partner, Camp Lucy, we will once again convene at the Sacred Oaks Hall at Camp Lucy. If you have not attended an event at the site, this venue is an inspiring space, with a large, air-conditioned meeting hall and spacious grounds for the evening happy hour from 4-6PM. Additional photos of the site and grounds can be found on Camp Lucy’s venue page.
Past Leadership Summits
For more than 10 years, the Hill Country Alliance has been convening partners for an annual summit. Click the button below to explore resources from past Leadership Summit events.