2016 Outstanding Alumni

Huerta graduated from Texas Tech University in December of 1984 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and began her career in August 1985 as a reporter with a small suburban newspaper in the Dallas market covering four northern suburbs: Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Addison and Coppell. Less than five months later, she had secured a position with the City of Farmers Branch as the public information officer where she worked for 13 years. In 1998, Huerta took a position as communication manager for the Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills. She was there for two and half years and then went to work in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville, Texas, in 1999, and she was there for almost three years. Each move Huerta made was to a larger market.

For each of those suburbs Huerta served as the communications director/public information officer and provided media relations for the city and the public safety departments, produced the cities' print and electronic newsletters, administered the cities' websites, helped organize and promote all special events, and managed the local cable access TV stations.

In 2002, Huerta became the first public information officer/communications director for the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA). In this role she provided media relations, marketing, and legislative communication for the entire DFW area. During her time with the NTTA, Huerta's marketing campaigns almost doubled the number of TollTag customers to over a million and lowered the toll violation rate by almost four percent with a three-month marketing campaign.

Huerta returned to her municipal career in 2006 by serving four years as the communications director for Rowlett, a community located just east of Dallas. Huerta retired from Rowlett in 2011 after a 25-year career in communications and promptly began consulting work in marketing and public information. Missing the action, she came out of retirement in 2012 and joined the team at the Texas Department of Transportation as a public information officer handling media relations and public relations for construction projects, each of which exceeded $1 billion, in the Dallas region. She remains at TxDOT today and especially enjoys the thrill of handling public information and PR for the almost $1 billion Dallas Horseshoe Project, which is the total reconstruction of the downtown Dallas Mixmaster, including the construction of the Margaret McDermott Bridge, Dallas' second signature bridge. This 350-foot tall double-arched bridge on I-30 over the Trinity River will change the Dallas skyline forever.

Huerta lives in downtown Dallas and has two grown daughters. Lindsay and her husband Kyle, along with Huerta's pride and joy, 4-year-old grandson Jaxon, live in Denver, Colo., where Lindsay, who has a doctorate from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is an audiologist. Huerta's youngest daughter, Casey, lives in Dallas and is a top moderator for FAVOR, the hottest new delivery service in the country. Casey is also the co-founder and creator of Rosie Riveters, a nonprofit organization that encourages girls ages 4-14 to become engaged in science, technology, engineering and math programs.

 

Donna Huerta