Tommy Williams

Williams served as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee during the 2013 legislative session and previously served as chairman of the Senate's Transportation and Homeland Security Committee and the Senate's Administration Committee. He said he was proud of much of the legislation achieved in his final session, which included providing a record amount of cash flow to the Texas Department of Transportation for the next two years.

"I think it's something that's still in transition," Williams said of TxDOT. "I feel pretty good about where they're headed. There's a lot of construction going on. It's not just Montgomery County. It's all over the state like that, everywhere you go."

Williams said he was also pleased with statewide legislation passed in the last session to provide more infrastructure in state ports and with upgrades made to the state's graduate medical education program to allow Texas-educated doctors to remain in Texas. He was also the primary author of SJR1, a constitutional amendment supported by voters to transfer $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to the State Water Implementation Fund.

However, no pieces of legislation were more significant to The Woodlands than SB 1012 and HB 4109, passed in 2007, Williams said. The legislation allowed The Woodlands to avoid annexation by the city of Houston, the first time in the state's history a community within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a home-ruled city could determine its own form of governance.

"We worked with three mayors over a 12-year period," Williams said. "It was a long and complex process, but it came in with a result that has preserved the identity of our community."

Following the end of the last session, Williams and his wife, Marsha, discussed her plans for retirement in November. He said the couple did not specifically talk about his resignation from the Senate, but the discussions led to his decision.

"I jokingly tell people there's a lesson to be learned from friends that I've observed in political life and in public life," he said. "You can stay too long, and I didn't ever want to be that guy. I don't think I have. Some may argue with that, but I think it was time to turn the page."

Upon his retirement, Williams initially planned to return to his position at Woodforest Financial Services. However, Williams received a call from Texas A&M offering him the position of the vice chancellor for federal and state relations, which he called "a dream job." He began his new job in early December, overseeing state and federal relations for a college system that serves 130,000 students.

The oldest of five siblings, Williams and all of his brothers and sisters attended Texas A&M, as well as his father and grandfather.

"What happens to people when they go through to get a higher education degree, it is a life-transforming thing," he said. "[My grandfather] was the first one in our family to graduate from college, and that had a big impact on so many people. So, it's neat to be a part of that."

Although Williams said he has turned the page to a new stage in his life, and he often travels between Austin and his farm in College Station, the former state senator still calls The Woodlands home.

He said he has been proud to watch the community grow from 22,000 people when he arrived in 1987 to more than 100,000 today.

"It's been very satisfying and rewarding," Williams said. "We love it here and don't have any plans to ever live anywhere else."