2013 Outstanding Alumni

Cathy Conley Swofford earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980 in journalism and political science from Texas Tech University. Since then, she has spent most of her career as a journalist covering education, the economy, the environment, and other issues for newspaper, radio and television audiences. Swofford started her career as a newspaper reporter in Texas' Rio Grande Valley.

Later she became a national radio consultant and eventually hosted her own one-hour program on KLRU-TV, a PBS station in Austin, Texas. As a syndicated television news reporter, Swofford provided weekly environmental news segments for KVUE-TV in Austin, KHOU-TV in Houston, KENS-TV in San Antonio, and other stations across the country.

With a passion for politics, she served as a press secretary for a state senator who became a member of the United States Congress. She provided public relations for a politician who later became Austin Mayor Pro Tem, and she secured media opportunities for a former prosecutor who is now a State District Judge.

Swofford created and implemented national public relations campaigns for sold-out events across the country featuring sports and music legends Pete Sampras, Anna Kournikova, Andy Roddick, Clint Black, and Tracy Lawrence, among others.

Her work has included successful global media strategies for high-tech companies, including one that moved its product manufacturing from China to the United States to create jobs and technology that are made in America.

She and her husband, David Swofford, own Conley Swofford Media, a public relations firm in Austin, Texas, which promotes individuals and companies that are making a difference in their communities and the world.