San Antonio already has the pieces international companies say they want: cybersecurity talent, a growing bioscience corridor, defense and advanced manufacturing, and a city built on relationships instead of transactions. Dr. Lina Rugova’s job is to make sure those companies actually see it.

Dr. Rugova is Operations Chair and a founding member of the San Antonio Applied Innovation Council, founder and president of Emerge and Rise, and co-lead of Founder Institute San Antonio. She looked at Dallas, Austin, and Houston, then moved from New York in 2019 because San Antonio was the better fit. In this episode she and Justin McKenzie talk about how the city gets on the list.
In this episode:

How San Antonio gets added next to Dallas, Houston, and Austin
The Applied Innovation Council’s four lanes: advanced manufacturing, defense and cybersecurity, biomedical and health innovation, and talent
VentureFest San Antonio’s reverse pitch, built around arts, culture, media, tourism, and hospitality.

A soft-landing path with greater:SATX for international firms and the small businesses ready to supply them.

UTSA, Trinity, UIW, and Alamo Colleges as a South Texas talent pipeline, and the quality of life that brings people back
A big city with a small-town pace: family-friendly, walkable, and rooted in Texas history.

Chapters
0:00 Put San Antonio on the list
0:46 What the Applied Innovation Council is building
2:11 The corridor shows up: Austin, Kyle, Buda, New Braunfels
2:47 Why she chose San Antonio
4:35 VentureFest, and this year’s reverse pitch
6:18 South Texas talent, and the life that brings people back
8:01 Soft landing, greater:SATX, and a city international firms can land in
10:17 BiomedSA, UT Health, UTSA, and cyber
12:10 Come as a Texan: the Alamo, the rivers, the frontier town
13:53 Creators, open doors, and businesses of every size
15:51 San Antonio’s own story, not a copy of Dallas
17:56 How Dr. Rugova is building Texas

Dr. Lina Rugova, DBA, advises organizations on innovation, intrapreneurship, and systems thinking. She is an immigrant from Kazakhstan who landed in the Bronx at 16, founded Emerge and Rise for underserved entrepreneurs, and teaches at Palo Alto College.
San Antonio Applied Innovation Council: https://sanantonioinnovates.com
Dr. Lina Rugova: https://linarugova.com

The Building Texas Show: https://www.buildingtexasshow.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebuildingtexasshow
Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmckenzie/
#SanAntonio #BuildingTexas #EconomicDevelopment #TexasStartups #VentureFest

A new Texas outdoor site is about to open between Boerne and Bandera, and it is not a state park. Stephanie Kwiatkowski, superintendent of the Albert & Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area, explains why that distinction matters, what 28 miles of trail will actually feel like, and why late fall 2026 is the target to let the public in.

ABK sits on 3,814 acres along Highway 46 at Pipe Creek, on the Bandera County and Kendall County line. Albert and Bessie Kronkosky willed the ranch to Texas. The state accepted it in 2011. The monument is already up. Cabins, screened shelters, tent sites, backcountry camping, and hike-and-bike trails are part of the build. Texas Parks and Wildlife has not posted an exact opening day.

This is a return visit. James Rice, the first site superintendent, joined the show while the land was still in survey and planning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W62mo3ffdK0

In this conversation:
→ State natural area vs. state park, and why ABK lands on the conservation side
→ What changed from James Rice's solo-ranger years to a six-person team
→ The volunteers who surveyed nearly 4,000 acres before staff arrived
→ Canyon viewsheds the site owns on both sides, Bigtooth maples, Red Bluff Creek, and Pipe Creek
→ The July Hill Country flood, and why seeing it before opening was useful
→ What to expect when you reserve: lighter on the land than a recreation park
→ Late fall 2026, cooler weather, and maple color on the trails

Steph came up through Lost Pines (Bastrop and Buescher) and Pedernales Falls before taking the ABK superintendent role in June 2026.

Plan ahead: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/albert-bessie-kronkosky
Location: 7690 Highway 46, Pipe Creek, Texas

Subscribe for more conversations with the people building Texas: https://www.youtube.com/@thebuildingtexasshow?sub_confirmation=1
More on the show: https://www.buildingtexasshow.com

Chapters

00:00 Both sides of the canyon
00:19 Welcome back to ABK
01:03 First 90 days, and a team of six
02:18 Why this is a state natural area, not a state park
05:25 The volunteers who built the baseline
07:12 How Stephanie got to Texas Parks and Wildlife
10:29 The July flood, before the public arrives
12:49 Camping, and coming prepared
13:42 What Highway 46 does not show you
16:40 Albert and Bessie Kronkosky's gift
17:29 Late fall 2026, and the Bigtooth maples
18:26 Thank you to the full team

#TexasStateParks #HillCountry #Boerne #BuildingTexas

CTEC at VentureFest: $12K wins and a $100K student pitch.

Central Texas Electric Co-op sponsors VentureFest and Incubator EDU in Fredericksburg. Tachi Hinojosa, CEO and President of CTEC, breaks down why a Hill Country electric co-op coaches student teams, shows up at the pitches, and backs kids who can raise real money—including a first-place VentureFest team that won $12,000 and another team that raised over $100,000 at a Fredericksburg Chamber banquet.

On The Building Texas Show, Justin McKenzie talks with Tachi about CTEC’s role across 11 counties: student entrepreneurship, high school and college internships, 1,000 employee volunteer hours, and the line that sticks—“when you call Central Texas Electric Co-op, you’re calling the Hill Country.”

This week’s episode lands during VentureFest season. If you’re in Fredericksburg or the Texas Hill Country, this is the co-op-and-classroom side of the event.

In this episode:
• What VentureFest and Incubator EDU look like from CTEC’s chair
• $12,000 first-place win (Fredericksburg) and a $100,000+ Chamber pitch
• Why CTEC employees coach teams on public speaking and real business pitches
• Student pipeline beyond the stage: tours, shadows, internships (1 student to 6)
• Brodie Smith: facility tour at 16 → groundman → apprentice at 19
• Concern for community: VFDs, youth sports, line crews hauling tables for fundraisers
• 80 years next year serving the Texas Hill Country

Guest: Tachi Hinojosa, CEO & President, Central Texas Electric Co-op (CTEC)
Focus: VentureFest · Incubator EDU · Fredericksburg · Texas Hill Country
Host: Justin McKenzie, The Building Texas Show

00:00 Cold Open: VentureFest $12K Win and a $100K Student Pitch
00:23 Meet Tachi Hinojosa, CEO of Central Texas Electric Co-op
00:53 How Tachi Built 19+ Years in the Electric Co-op World
02:36 Why CTEC Runs High School and College Internships
02:58 Growing CTEC Internships from 1 Student to 6
04:20 Facility Tours and Careers Beyond the Lineman Role
05:00 Brodie Smith: Tour at 16 to Apprentice at 19
06:55 Powering 11 Texas Hill Country Counties
07:57 80 Years Next Year: Rural Service and Local Growth
09:25 Co-ops, Cities, and Who Owns the Power in Texas
10:48 Concern for Community and 1,000 Volunteer Hours
12:30 VentureFest, Incubator EDU, and Student Pitch Skills
13:20 “When You Call CTEC, You’re Calling the Hill Country”
13:39 Keeping Talent and Ownership in the Hill Country
15:28 Watch the Pitches: $12K First Place and a $100K Raise
18:09 Why CTEC Sponsors VentureFest and Shows Up in Person
19:58 Hill Country Character: Why These Students Keep Going
20:43 Closing: CTEC, VentureFest, and Building Texas

Central Texas Electric Co-op · CTEC · VentureFest · Incubator EDU · Fredericksburg Texas · Texas Hill Country · pitch competition · student entrepreneurship · startup pitch · youth entrepreneurship · elevator pitch · high school entrepreneurs · electric cooperative · Building Texas Show

Subscribe for Texas business, infrastructure, and leadership stories:
https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingTexasShow

#VentureFest #CTEC #Fredericksburg #HillCountry #Texas #StudentEntrepreneurs #PitchCompetition #BuildingTexas

Big bank deposits leave Texas for New York. In Fredericksburg, community banks put that capital back into the Hill Country. John Wells, Market President of Texas Regional Bank, on local banking, brain drain, and the high school incubator keeping talent in Fredericksburg Texas.

John Wells runs Texas Regional Bank’s Fredericksburg market. He walked the path from frontline banker to market president, and he draws a hard line between national banks and community banks: deposits that leave town fund giant loans in New York, Chicago, and LA. Community banks reinvest where the money was earned.

We cover how Fredericksburg grew from peaches, antiques, and German culture into a real destination that still keeps its Texas identity. Why relationship banking still beats a pure rate shop. Why the best owners keep an attorney, a CPA, and a banker on speed dial. How brain drain pulls kids out of the Hill Country, and how Fredericksburg ISD’s incubator and CTE work, with the Chamber and local banks, give them a reason to build here instead of only in Austin or Houston.

John’s line on Austin: Never Neverland, where people go and never grow up. In Fredericksburg, people are excited to grow up, and excited to see the town grow up. Credit along the way to Jim McCullough and the Fredericksburg Chamber, Dan Kemp and David Pedregon at Security State Bank, and the teachers and sponsors behind the incubator. Next stop for those students: Texas Venture Fest in Mason.

If you care about Texas economic development, community banking, living in the Texas Hill Country, or how small cities keep capital and talent local, this one is for you.

John Wells
Market President, Texas Regional Bank
Fredericksburg, Texas

Chapters:
0:00 Big Bank Deposits Go to New York
0:15 Welcome to Fredericksburg with John Wells
1:04 Peaches, Antiques, and a Grown-Up Hill Country City
1:51 Why They Moved When Options Were Thin
2:46 Ground-Up Banking to Texas Regional Bank
4:13 Community Bank DNA After 15 Years
6:00 Relationship Banking Beats Transactional Banking
7:44 Attorney, CPA, Banker: The Holy Trinity
9:13 Where Your Deposits Actually Go
10:01 Little League Uniforms and Local Reinvestment
10:33 Brain Drain in Fredericksburg Texas
12:00 Incubator, CTE, and the Chamber’s Bet on Youth
13:07 Austin Never Neverland vs Fredericksburg Growing Up
14:05 Community Lift, Not One Person’s Crusade
14:49 Dan Kemp, David Pedregon, and Servant Leaders
15:20 Venture Fest Mason and Go Billies

Subscribe for more Texas business, economic development, and the people building the state:
https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingTexasShow

#FredericksburgTexas #CommunityBank #TexasHillCountry #BuildingTexas #TexasEconomy

Texas kids are pitching on stage in Mason while a Hill Country co-op backs the schools and the tents behind them.

Madysen McDonald of Hill Country Telephone Cooperative sits down with Justin McKenzie in Ingram, Texas, ahead of Hill Country VentureFest. HCTC is putting $10,000 into each of 26 schools, showing up under Friday Night Lights, and wiring rural members with landline, fiber, and fixed wireless — then showing up again when student founders take the mic.

In this conversation:
• What Justin is seeing as VentureFest emcee in Mason
• Kids at the HCTC tent: “My parents have HCTC”
• $10,000 donations to 26 schools across the service region
• Football tents at Comfort vs Ingram and Mason vs Junction
• Youth culture from Friday Night Lights to the pitch stage
• Landline, fiber, and fixed wireless for Hill Country ranches
• How families join: HCTC.net · 830-367-5333 · Sonora, Mason, Junction offices
• Why a telephone cooperative still feels local — grocery store, T-ball, owners in the stands

Chapters:
0:00 Cold open — kids, HCTC, and VentureFest energy
0:35 Ingram, Texas with Madysen McDonald of HCTC
1:09 $10,000 to 26 Hill Country schools
2:00 Friday Night Lights tents on both sides of the stadium
2:56 Where HCTC serves (Fredericksburg to Big Lake)
3:20 Landline, fiber, and rural wireless for ranch country
5:58 How to join HCTC
7:10 Co-op family: local employees, local owners
8:10 Hill Country VentureFest in Mason — youth on stage
9:21 How to support HCTC and the next generation
10:10 Closing — cooperative spirit and building Texas

VentureFest — Mason, Texas
Emcee: Justin McKenzie

Join HCTC:
https://HCTC.net
830-367-5333
Offices: Sonora · Mason · Junction
Facebook · Instagram · TikTok: Hill Country Telephone Cooperative

The Building Texas Show covers Texas economic development, rural broadband, small-town growth, youth entrepreneurship, and the people building the Texas economy.

Subscribe:
https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingTexasShow

#Texas #VentureFest #TexasYouth #HillCountry #BuildingTexas #Entrepreneurship #RuralInternet #HCTC #MasonTX #TexasBusiness

Ashe juniper, the "mountain cedar" covering the Hill Country, is native here. There just used to be a lot less of it. Grass fires swept through and killed the young trees, because a juniper dies once it loses its green. We stopped letting those fires burn, and now the hillsides are thick with a tree full of oils that goes up fast once it catches.

Firefighters call that a ladder fuel. It's how a grass fire, already moving faster than you can run, climbs into the canopy and turns into a crown fire.

In the final episode of our Sisterdale VFD series, a Sisterdale firefighter explains why one house makes it through a wildfire while the rest of the street burns. After Maui, people looked at the satellite photos and decided the surviving homes must belong to someone rich. Usually the answer is duller than that: nothing flammable planted under the soffit vents, and a cleared strip right around the walls. He also makes the case for sprinklers in new rural homes. Last he saw, they added about 2 or 3 percent to construction cost, and only the head nearest the fire goes off.

Kendall County's Community Wildfire Protection Plan has now completed 50 property risk assessments. If you're looking at a hillside that worries you and can't pay to clear it yourself, the Hill Country Fire Coalition exists to help you find the resources.

Three things to do this month:
1. Walk the first 5 feet around your house and pull anything that burns.
2. Clear ladder fuels from the 5–20 ft zone.
3. Call your volunteer fire department and ask what their real response time to your address is.

Resources:
Texas A&M Forest Service, defensible space and wildfire prep: https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/education-outreach/
Firewise USA guidance (NFPA): https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa
Hill Country Fire Coalition: https://www.hcfcoftx.com/

This is Episode 3 of our 3-part series on Sisterdale VFD.
Episode 1, 50 Years of the Sisterdale Fire Department: https://youtu.be/44s6faM8uH0
Episode 2, Your Volunteer Fire Department Needs You Right Now: https://youtu.be/Z5p_gtDL8ck

0:00 Why Hill Country cedar burns so fast
1:00 Ladder fuels and crown fires
1:25 Building into the danger zone
2:16 Why one house survives when the rest burn
2:50 The Community Wildfire Protection Plan
4:10 Defensible space, explained
5:05 Residential sprinklers aren't like Hollywood
6:10 Brush piles and fighting fire with fire
7:12 Three things to do this month

Subscribe for more stories about the people Building Texas:
https://www.youtube.com/@thebuildingtexasshow

Thank you to our sponsor, Chisos Boots, and their d*mn comfortable cowboy boots.
Music License: MJVDDMG9HNXUAMKQ

Your content has two audiences now: humans and machines. Mark Willaman of Newsworthy.ai breaks down why the press release is still the perfect document for AI search, SEO, and brand discoverability.

SEO can get you into the library. AI retrieval decides whether you get pulled off the shelf. We cover structured, entity-rich press releases, the 28-day news cycle, multi-format distribution (articles, audio, Shorts, FAQs), generative engine optimization, and why “I want press releases to drive sales” is usually the wrong first question.

Mark co-built this path after PR Web. Justin maps it to Texas founders, mayors, and EDCs who still need to get found when local news is thin.

Free start: https://www.newsworthy.ai

Guest: Mark Willaman, Founder, Newsworthy.ai
Host: Justin McKenzie, The Building Texas Show, https://www.buildingtexasshow.com

Location: San Antonio, Texas

Chapters:
0:00 Your content has two audiences
0:13 Mark Willaman and Newsworthy.ai
0:40 From PR Web to Newsworthy.ai
2:01 HR marketing background
2:46 Why press releases fit the AI era
4:01 Multi-format distribution and NewsRamp
6:01 Specific search and the SPECIFIC framework
7:53 AI training bots, RAG, and grounding
11:26 Hook in the water and AI discoverability
12:59 SEO gets you in the library
13:31 Meet people where they search
16:51 On the shelf vs off the shelf
19:39 How to start with Newsworthy.ai
21:06 Texas mayors, EDCs, and measurable messaging
22:40 Close

Key ideas in this episode:
• Press releases = current, factual, structured, entity-rich
• SPECIFIC: Structured, Public, Entity-rich, Current, Informative, Factual, Indexable, Consistent
• 28-day news cycle for ongoing discoverability
• One source document → articles, audio, Shorts, FAQs, social
• Full press release dumped into LinkedIn usually dies
• AI bots visiting your site ≠ guaranteed AI answers
• Brand trust takes repeated touches across platforms

Resources:
Newsworthy.ai — free account, blog, and David McInnis’s book (free digital on site)
NewsRamp.com — multi-format news distribution

The Building Texas Show covers Texas economic development, Texas business, founders, mayors, and the leaders building the state.

Subscribe for more Texas growth stories.
Guest PR / episode inquiries: use the Building Texas Show contact path on the channel.

#TexasBusiness #PressRelease #AISearch #SEO #GenerativeEngineOptimization #SanAntonio #BuildingTexas #DigitalPR #ContentDistribution #TexasEconomy

Roughly 70% of America's firefighters are volunteers, and most of those departments can't find enough people to keep trucks staffed. Kendall County is one of them. Modern homes reach flashover in five minutes, but rural fire response takes twenty. Your volunteer fire department needs help.

Chief Brian Riley runs Sisterdale VFD, in the Texas Hill Country, with a roster that floats between 30 and 35 volunteers. Rural dispatch and drive time can run 20 to 30 minutes. You could hire 40 fire engines and a hundred career firefighters and it wouldn't close that gap — the station is still 20 minutes away. The only thing that closes it is the guy who lives four houses down.

This isn't a uniquely Kendall County problem. It's the model for most of rural America. If your town has a volunteer department, it is running on the same math, the same thin roster, and the same assumption that someone nearby will show up. Find out who yours is. Ask what they need. A department that's short-staffed at 2 AM doesn't care whether you can fight fire — they need drivers, radio operators, grant writers, and people willing to show up for training on a Tuesday night.

This is Episode 2 of our 3-part series on Sisterdale VFD. Episode 1 covered the department's 50-year history. Episode 3 gets into why the cedar tree in your yard is fuel.

Watch Episode 1 — 50 Years of the Sisterdale Fire Department: https://youtu.be/44s6faM8uH0

0:00 The Reality of Rural Fire Response Time
0:56 The Hidden Challenges of Volunteer Departments
2:15 Why Relying on Luck Is Not a Strategy
4:23 Preventing Catastrophic Firestorms

Subscribe for more stories about the people Building Texas:
https://www.youtube.com/@thebuildingtexasshow

Thank you to our sponsor, Chisos Boots — their d*mn comfortable cowboy boots.184