Climbing the corporate ladder

2 Dallas companies clock in as the top employers in Texas, says Forbes

UT Southwestern is a top place to work.

Photo courtesy of UT Southwestern

Dallas reigns as the capital of Texas when it comes to the best big and small employers, according to Forbes magazine.

New rankings from Forbes put University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas at No. 9 among the country’s best large employers in the country and Dallas-based life insurance platform Bestow at No. 16 among the country’s best startup employers. Looking at Texas employers as a whole, UT Southwestern and Bestow hold the top positions on their respective lists.

“UT Southwestern has a dynamic culture of integrity, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration, and accountability that shapes the way we deliver on our mission of providing expert medical care, academic achievement, and transformative research,” Holly Crawford, executive vice president for business affairs at UT Southwestern, says in a news release.

On the career section of its website, Bestow touts its mission of revolutionizing the “old” industry of life insurance.

“Our goal is to simplify a traditionally complicated product, and give more families than ever before access to affordable financial tools. Our incredible team is devoted to craft, cooperation, and making hard things easier,” the company says.

UT Southwestern isn’t the only Dallas-Fort Worth employer to pop up on the Forbes list of the best large employers. Richardson-based software company RealPage sits at No. 49; Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, No. 56; Plano-based Toyota North America, No. 253; Plano-based Cinemark, No. 370; Dallas-based Jacobs, No. 375; Dallas-based Topgolf, No. 394; Dallas-based Primoris Services, No. 399; Irving-based Fluor, No. 422; Dallas-based CBRE, No. 423; Irving-based McKesson, No. 429; Fort Worth-based American Airlines, No. 446; and Plano-based Keurig Dr Pepper, No. 483.

Meanwhile, Dallas-based software company Slync.io, holding the No. 290 spot, joins Bestow on the list of the country’s best startup employers.

Other Texas employers ranked among the best large employers in the U.S. are:

No. 10 — MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
No. 37 — Houston Methodist, Houston
No. 38 — H-E-B, San Antonio
No. 135 — USAA, San Antonio
No. 140 — Keller Williams Realty, Austin
No. 143 — Dell Technologies, Round Rock
No. 214 — Texas Tech University, Lubbock
No. 245 — Waste Management, Houston
No. 279 — University of Texas at Austin
No. 314 — Sysco, Houston
No. 318 — Daikin Industries, Waller (North American operations hub for manufacturing, marketing, research, R&D, and customer support)
No. 324 — Whole Foods Market, Austin
No. 361 — Shell Oil, Houston
No. 389 — Halliburton, Houston
No. 403 — Schlumberger, Houston
No. 440 — ExxonMobil, Houston
No. 487 — BP, Houston (North American headquarters)

What follows are the other Texas employers ranked among the best startup employers in the country.

Austin

No. 104 — Apty
No. 121 — Homeward
No. 169 — SparkCognition
No. 186 — Outdoor Voices
No. 255 — Outdoorsy
No. 323 — ICON
No. 324 — The Zebra
No. 330 — TrustRadius
No. 335 — Innovetive Petcare (Cedar Park)
No. 387 — AlertMedia
No. 400 — Iris Telehealth
No. 410 — Wheel
No. 455 — Billd
No. 460 — Aceable
No. 470 — Shipwell

Houston

No. 120 — Imbuit
No. 310 — Code Ninjas (Pearland)
No. 353 — Axiom Space
No. 462 — Liongard

Forbes teamed up with data and research company Statista to develop the rankings of the best large employers and best startup employers.

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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