Dick Lavine focuses on building state and local revenue systems that meet Texans’ needs. Before coming to Every Texan in 1994, he was a Senior Researcher at the House Research Organization of the Texas House of Representatives for ten years. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Trustee of the City of Austin Employees Retirement System. He served for many years as a member and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Travis Central Appraisal District and was recently returned to the Board by the voters of Travis County to fill a newly created elective position. He is also a member of the Executive Board of AFSCME Texas Retirees, the statewide union local of retired public employees, and the Board of Directors of Progress Texas Institute, a progressive media organization. The Equity Center named him as a Champion for Equity for his work to reform our tax system to ensure it can adequately support public education and other public services. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1969, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975.