Burrows announces senior staff, including former TTU Chancellor Robert Duncan

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lubbock Rep. Dustin Burrows, newly elected Speaker of the Texas House, announced the first members of his senior staff on Wednesday, including a former TTU Chancellor as his Chief of Staff.

These six names are joining his senior staff effective immediately:

• The Honorable Robert Duncan – Chief of Staff
• Zak Covar – Deputy Chief of Staff
• The Honorable Tracy King – Senior Advisor
• Matt Crow – District Affairs Coordinator
• Paige Holzheauser – Director of the Office of the Speaker
• Cait Wittman – Communications Director

Burrows released this statement on Wednesday night:

“The value, knowledge and decades of combined experience that this team brings will be fundamental to not only the success of our office, but the entire Texas House,” said Speaker Burrows. “I am deeply appreciative to each of these individuals for their commitment to our mission and readiness to serve. With this team at the helm, the Speaker’s office is hitting the ground running and looks forward to working closely with all members of the House to address the most pressing needs of Texans in the 89th legislative session.”

The Honorable Robert Duncan will serve as Chief of Staff. A distinguished former legislator, Duncan represented Lubbock’s District 28 in the Texas Senate from 1996 to 2014 and District 84 in the Texas House from 1992 to 1996. He was Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System from 2014 to 2018 and has been practicing law as a partner at the Lubbock firm of Crenshaw Dupree & Milam LLP prior to his selection as Chief of Staff.

Zak Covar will assume the role of Deputy Chief of Staff. Covar, the outgoing President and CEO of the Texas Aggregates & Concrete Association, has a rich background in environmental policy and government relations, including roles as Executive Director and Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, a position he was appointed to by former Governor Rick Perry and reappointed to by Governor Greg Abbott in 2015. He has previously served as a policy advisor in the Office of the Governor and as Chief of Staff in the Texas House.

The Honorable Tracy King will join as Senior Advisor, with an emphasis on member relations. King is the outgoing State Representative for House District 80, representing Uvalde, TX and surrounding areas. Having served fifteen elected terms in the House, including a recent leadership role as chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, King brings to the team over 30 years' worth of legislative relationships, strategy and policy experience to the role.

Matt Crow will serve as District Affairs Coordinator. Based in Lubbock, TX, he has worked as District Director and Communications Director in Rep. Burrow’s office since he first took office in 2015. His decades of political experience includes working in the presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, for Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour and Texas Congressman Randy Neugebauer.

Paige Holzheauser will serve as Director of the Office of the Speaker. She has worked for Speaker Burrows in various capacities since 2019, including most recently as his Chief of Staff and Committee Clerk for the House Calendars and Ways & Means Committees. She began working in the Texas House in 2015, first as a legislative aide and later as Calendars Committee Clerk for Rep. Todd Hunter.

Cait Wittman will join Speaker Burrows' administration as Communications Director, a position she has held since 2019 under various House Speakers. Prior to first joining the Speaker’s office, she served as Vice President for Texas Government Relations at a national consulting and advocacy firm and as a spokesperson for Texas Governor Greg Abbott in his state and campaign offices.

Additional senior staff announcements will be made in the coming days.