On June 5, 2014, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ board of directors elected Jack A. Lyons as the Show’s chairman 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 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™.
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 and Tejas Vaqueros, and is a board member of the Harmon Family Foundation. Lyons is a supporter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and CanCare.
