Unexpected announcement

METRO president and CEO George Greanias makes it official: He's moving on

Last Friday, METRO made an unexpected announcement in an otherwise routine agenda for the transit authority's monthly board meeting: George Greanias, president and CEO since May 2010, would be stepping down from his post.

An official resignation letter later released didn't shed much light on Greanias' abrupt decision. In it, he enumerated all of METRO's accomplishments over the past several years: An on-track METRORail expansion bolstered by millions of dollars in federal grants, improved relationships with local and national entities, positive change to the General Mobility Program and, as he put it, an improved "culture of openness and transparency."

"There's never a perfect time to leave, but you pick a time that makes sense to you," Greanias said.

These are the same positive organizational changes that he touted in a presentation to the Greater Houston Partnership in early December, when he gave little indication that he'd be leaving at the end of the month.

Only in the last two lines of the letter did Greanias make his intentions clear:

I have decided that it is an appropriate time for me to step down and create the next chapter in my career. Accordingly, I am resigning the position of President and Chief Executive Officer, effective December 31, 2012."

Since the news, journalists and community members have postulated on the reason. Was it a result of the METRO referendum on Nov. 5, which has been widely perceived as the end of light rail expansion in Houston? Was he pushed out for political reasons?

No answers were forthcoming during the public session of Thursday's METRO board meeting, where it was business-as-usual, with no flowery public speeches or acknowledgement of Greanias' departure.

In a closed-door executive session, the board members discussed options for finding a replacement president and CEO, and offered Greanias a six-month consulting agreement as that search begins. The board members later thanked Greanias for his service.

"There's never a perfect time to leave, but you pick a time that makes sense to you," Greanias told CultureMap in a phone interview afterward. He is confident that, although not everything that he is involved with will be completed before he leaves METRO, it will get done — and get done well.

Greanias said that he has been working "more than full time on METRO for two and a half years" and plans to take some time to consider his next career move, one that will be both "interesting and challenging."

METRO executive vice president Thomas C. Lambert will serve as interim executive of the organization.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”