Terry Keel

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Personal Information

Terry Keel was selected by the TFC Commissioners as the agency's Executive Director effective December 31, 2009. Mr. Keel's association with the agency goes back to his work as an entry-level clerk from 1976 to 1980. He is an attorney with extensive experience in state and county government.

From May 2007 to January 2009 Mr. Keel was the Parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives, serving as counselor to the Speaker and House members on matters of legislative procedure and applicable provisions of the Texas Constitution and state statutes.

He served as an elected State Representative, (District 47 - Austin), for five terms from January 1997 to January 2007, chairing several committees, including the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. He also served as vice chair of the Committee on Public Safety, as a member of the General Investigating & Ethics Committee, the Redistricting Committee and the Judiciary Committee. He was also a member of the House Administration Committee which oversees the administrative operation of the House, including all property and the assignment of office space. Mr. Keel was the House rules author for the 79th legislative session.

Mr. Keel was Travis County Sheriff from November 17, 1992 to January 1, 1997, supervising over twelve hundred corrections, law enforcement and administrative personnel and managing extensive facilities spread across Travis County, including correctional (booking, dormitory and minimum through maximum security), patrol substations, office, warehouse, and other support facilities with diverse operations such as medical, commissary, laboratory, firing range and training. He managed inmate populations exceeding two thousand five hundred during an era of severe jail crowding, implemented the planning, design and construction of correctional facilities using inmate labor, put into operation a tent housing compound to relieve crowding and expanded prisoner programs in the areas of agriculture, labor and education.

From July 1984 to November 1992, Mr. Keel was a Travis County Assistant District Attorney and served as lead counsel in over fifty felony jury trials. He also served the office as an administrator of high level programs and personnel including the repeat offender program, major crimes and the child abuse division.

Mr. Keel has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Texas at Austin (1980) and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston (1983). He is a founding partner of the Austin law firm of Keel & Nassour, LLP, and has represented clients in commercial real estate matters as well as residential landlord/tenant litigation. In addition to his law license, Mr. Keel holds master peace officer and instructor licenses from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.