R.H. "Steve" Stevens Jr.

Chairman of the Board


On May 12, 2011, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ board of directors elected R.H. "Steve" Stevens Jr. as the Show's chairman of the board.

Stevens' parents began taking him to the Show as a child, and he quickly developed a love of animals that has endured to this day. After joining the Show in 1975, Stevens volunteered briefly on the Beef Scramble Sponsors Committee, as the Calf Scramble Committee was called at the time, and the Steer Auction Committee, and he later served on numerous Horse Show committees as well as the Executive Committee's audit-budget committee. Stevens was elected to the Show's board of directors in 1992. In 1998, after completing three years as General Horse Show chairman, he was elected a vice president of the Show and served as officer in charge of all 16 Horse Show committees, in addition to the Junior Horse Show Judging and Livery Team committees. Stevens has been a member of the Show's Executive Committee since 2005.

Stevens’ family has strong ties to the Show. He and his wife, Kay, have two daughters; Courtney, a past chairman of the Junior Horse Show Committee, and Elizabeth, also is a member of the Junior Horse Show Committee. One of their son-in-laws, Jim Bob Taylor, is chairman of the Breeders Greeters Committee. Their other son-in-law, Robert Becker, is a division chairman on the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Committee.

Stevens is a managing partner at the accounting firm of Stevens & Matthews LLP, in Houston. Stevens has served on the board of directors of numerous organizations, both business and charitable. In 1999, then-Governor George W. Bush appointed Stevens to the board of regents of the Texas A&M University system, where he served as chairman of the finance and audit committees and as a member of various other committees. Stevens also was a member of the board of directors of The University of Texas Investment Management Company, which is responsible for the investment of endowment funds of The University of Texas and Texas A&M University, and served as chairman of its audit and budget committee. In 2003, Stevens served as president of the American Quarter Horse Association, an organization with more than 350,000 members in the United States and worldwide.

Jack A. Lyons

Jack Lyons

Chairman-elect of the Board


On May 16, 2013, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ board of directors elected Jack A. Lyons as the Show's chairman-elect of the board.

Lyons’ in-laws, Suzanne and Frank Nelms, introduced him to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1981, when he began volunteering on the Quarter Horse Show Committee. In 1990, he joined the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Committee. He served as a vice chairman on both committees the year before being appointed chairman of the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Committee in 1998. Lyons was elected to the Show’s board of directors in 1995. In 2001, he began his term as a Show vice president and officer in charge of the Communications – Editorial, Directions & Assistance, Special Children’s, Swine Auction, Western Art, and World’s Championship Bar-B-Que committees. He has been a member of the Show’s Executive Committee since 2008. He is former chairman and president of the Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence™ board.

Volunteering for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a Lyons’ family tradition. His wife, Nina, has been a Show member since 1983, and volunteered on the Quarter Horse Committee for many years serving as a vice chairman from 2000 to 2002. She currently serves as a Lifetime Committeeman. Their oldest son, Chad, is a captain on the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Committee, and his wife, Katie, serves as a vice chairman on the Magazine Committee. Lyons’ son, Allen, is a vice chairman on the Mutton Bustin’ Committee and volunteers on the Ranching & Wildlife Committee. His daughter, Sara, also volunteers on the Mutton Bustin’ Committee.

Lyons is a managing director at Wortham Insurance and Risk Management. He attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where he was a member of the 1975 graduating class. He has three grandchildren: Berklee, Wick and Cameron. Lyons is a member of the Southwestern University Board of Visitors, Tejas Vaqueros and board member of the Harmon Family Foundation. Lyons is a supporter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and CanCare.  

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