Charles Butt, CEO and chairman of H-E-B, announced Tuesday that he will invest $100 million into public education through the creation of The Holdsworth Center, an Austin-based leadership institute for public school administrators. Operating as a nonprofit organization, The Holdsworth Center will work with superintendents, principals and administrators to develop the skills needed to improve the quality of public education in Texas. The center's 17-member board of directors, chaired by Dr. Ruth Simmons, president of Smith College from 1995 to 2001 and president of Brown University from 2001 to 2012,  will select six school districts from the pool of applicants to participate in its first program, which will begin in June. "The establishment of the Holdsworth Center is uniquely timely in an era of continued erosion of confidence in our public schools,” Simmons said. “As a proud alumna of Texas public schools, I owe my career to the excellence and strong leadership of public school educators, for which I and so many others remain grateful. Mr. Butt's generous gift to the children of Texas demonstrates the level of commitment necessary to ensure a more hopeful future for our schools. I am grateful to work with him in developing and supporting leaders for our public schools." Participants of the program will partake in international travel, facilitated lectures and workshops with leadership experts. Through classes and team projects, facilitators at the Holdsworth Center will impart best practice change management, effective teaming, board relations, talent management and more. “The Holdsworth Center is about helping people be extraordinary in the job they are in today,” Butt said. “In addition, we want them to reinvent the way future leaders are selected, developed and supported within their districts so that when a position opens up, they have a tremendous bench from which to select the next superstar.” The first cohort of districts is by invitation only, however in subsequent years the application process will be open to all districts. Strong applicants are marked by a commitment to cultivating human capital and talent as well as having a unified vision among its superintendent, cabinet members and board of trustee members. School districts are invited to apply by Feb. 1 and will be selected by the end of March. Austin and Round Rock ISDs will be among the first pool of districts invited to apply.