Fort Worth Chamber
Robert Allen
As a graduate of the University of Texas, Robert Allen will find plenty of friends in Fort Worth.
The good Lord knows that burnt orange flesh tones roam the corridors of our city, north to south and east to west.
Allen says that he, too, is “very proudly” a tea-sip.
“I do bleed burnt orange,” Allen says in a recent phone call, “although I’ve been told I have to look at the color spectrum and start understanding purple very quickly, which I will gladly do.”
Allen obviously is a savvy guy, too.
Allen is new to town, of course, as the CEO of the newly created Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, a 501(c)(6) formed through the Fort Worth Chamber to lead economic development and business attraction efforts.
The job is vital to the city’s economic development aspirations. Allen started his new job on the first week of April. Much of his first weeks on the job have been digging into the business community.
“Fort Worth was certainly not a stranger to me,” Allen says. “It’s been great. It’s been really, really wonderful. I’ve met some amazing people so far. I’ve had some really great conversations and learning a lot. It’s been a whirlwind.
“There's a lot of unbelievable positive things that are happening here, a lot of great momentum — knowing how to work with partners, open lines of communication, sharing information, dialogue to ultimately help close the deal.”
Allen spent the past six years leading the Texas Economic Development Corporation in Austin. During that time, he was credited with spearheading initiatives that advanced the organization’s mission to market Texas to business interests, including major international business missions to Japan, India, and Europe.
Texas is home to the most Fortune 500 headquarters in America. Allen was credited with building relationships with top executives and creating a dialogue among them to share information between industries.
Additionally, under Allen’s leadership, TxEDC hosted many premier events featuring industry executives from across the state. He engaged economic development conferences, and alongside his team, he raised nearly $20 million to promote Texas and support the day-to-day activities of TxEDC.
“I feel very confident in my ability to bring that talent and skill set here and utilize that to help us raise all of our boats because I think that's very important,” he says. “That's something I believe in, that a rising tide raises all boats.”
Allen says being closer to his native home, Dallas, was one reason the job in Fort Worth appealed to him. Allen, married with two children, went to UT by way of Highland Park High School.
His career trajectory began with an internship with then-Attorney General John Cornyn, who left for Washington, D.C., in 2002 to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm. Allen’s resume “was in the stack” when incoming Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was seeking executive staff.
That began a years-long professional association with the now Gov. Abbott. Allen rose to deputy chief of staff in the attorney general’s office and assumed the same role when Abbott was sworn in as governor in 2015.
Abbott stopped in for a Fort Worth Chamber lunch in March. He joked that the chamber had committed “robbery” by “stealing” Allen away from the TxEDC. He praised his former surrogate as one with the national and worldwide connections to spur economic growth in Fort Worth.
And, as always, the governor had a football analogy in his back pocket at the ready.
“As great as Fort Worth is, this is just the beginning of what it can be,” the governor said. “I know that Robert Allen working in conjunction [with the city] can take Fort Worth to new heights when it comes to economic development.
“This is a win-win situation [with the state]. Just know that you’re getting a five-star recruit who will be a boon to your economy here as well as the economy of Texas.”
Said Allen: “Fort Worth is a wonderful place to live, to work and to play. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in the fastest-growing state in the country. It's a place where you can still get business done … it’s a place where you can have an impact, make a mark. I found that that's very important for business leaders. You know, as you talk to them about their workforce, they really want the best, of course, for their employees and their teams, both personally and professionally.
“You hear a term sometimes in this business called ‘quality of life.’ I heard it described the other day at a conference as ‘character of life,’ and I thought that was particularly interesting, right? Quality of life can mean so many different things [including] a certain character of a place. And that's important to me. And when you talk to these business leaders, sharing the character of Fort Worth, recognizing the past, a very proud past, and using that to chart our future, it's gonna be very, very important.”