Katharine Armstrong

Katharine Armstrong

Katharine Armstrong is a fifth-generation Texan raised on her family’s historic Armstrong Ranch (founded 1852). She is an avid outdoorsman and has an intense interest in Texas history. She is married to Ben Love, a rancher in west Texas and is the mother of three grown children.

Katharine’s Texas roots run deep. She is a direct descendant of John Smith, one the messenger boys at the Alamo in the spring of 1836 and later mayor of San Antonio. Her great grandfather was John Barclay Armstrong, the Texas Ranger who, in 1877 captured the notorious outlaw, John Wesley Hardin.

Katharine was appointed to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in 1999 by Governor George Bush. In 2001, Governor Rick Perry appointed her Chairman, the first woman to lead the Commission. She was the founding president of Texan by Nature, former First Lady, Laura Bush’s conservation initiative. Katharine is a director of the Texas Wildlife Association and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. In 2015 she was the recipient of T. Boone Pickens Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in wildlife conservation. Additionally, she has served on many nonprofit and corporate boards.

Her passionate belief in private property rights and the integrity of private landowners as stewards of the natural heritage of Texas have guided all her efforts.