Honoree 2017, Carrin F. Patman is chair of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County. She is METRO’s first woman chair, appointed in 2016 by Mayor Sylvester Turner. She previously served on the board from 2010 to 2013.
Patman was a partner of Bracewell where for three decades she worked as a trial lawyer representing diverse clients in major litigation involving commercial disputes, securities matters, antitrust and competition issues, and regulatory compliance. She was the first woman elected to the firm’s seven-member Management Committee. Patman retired from Bracewell in 2016.
Patman graduated from Duke University (with honors) and from the University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law Review).
In 2014, Patman completed a year‐long Advanced Leadership Fellowship at Harvard University. One area of focus concerned transportation (including urban transit) and infrastructure. She is also an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow (Class XXIX).
Patman’s civic involvement reflects her passion for community service. Currently, she is on the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Development Board. She is a founding board member of the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas, School of Law and a senior trustee of the UT Law School Foundation.
Some prior activities include serving as a board or executive committee member of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Legacy Community Health Services Endowment, Texas Appleseed, Girls Inc. of Greater Houston and Sheltering Arms Senior Services. Patman was vice chair of the Houston Bar Foundation, and former president of the University of Texas Law Alumni Association and UT Law Review Association.
Patman has chaired or co‐chaired fundraising events for worthy causes, including for Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston, American Leadership Forum, the Texas Defender Service, the Houston Area Women’s Center, Girls Inc. of Greater Houston, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and the Houston School for Deaf Children (now the Center for Hearing and Speech). She most recently served on the National Finance Committee for the ‘Hillary Clinton for President’ campaign.
Patman’s awards for professional achievements and community service include becoming the first woman to receive the Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award, given by the Anti‐Defamation League Southwest Region. In 2000, she was selected as a Woman on the Move by the Houston Chronicle, Channel 11 and Texas Executive Women. In 2012, she was inducted into the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame, and in 2013, received the Pacesetter Award from the Ivy Educational and Charitable Foundation of Houston.
Carrin F. Patman
Board Chair Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO)
1900 Main Street, PO Box 61429
Houston, TX 77208-1429
