Texas Comptroller Don Huffines has announced a new senior leadership team as part of what he described as an effort to streamline the agency, eliminate redundant work and flatten its management structure. The announcement assigns broad portfolios to eight executives but does not say how many jobs were eliminated or whether any agency divisions were formally combined.
Under the new structure, Vicky North will oversee treasury, fiscal and major administrative operations; Robin Robinson will supervise legal matters involving tax administration; and Jeff Norwood will oversee external affairs. Christopher Blackwell will serve as the agency’s chief legal officer, while Noah Betz will oversee the organization as deputy comptroller and chief of staff.
Kelly Hancock announced July 1 that he would resign as acting comptroller effective July 31. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Huffines on July 2 to take over Aug. 1. The highest-profile staff departure during the transition was Lisa Craven, the longtime deputy comptroller who submitted her resignation July 16, between Huffines’ appointment and his first day in office. Craven had served as deputy comptroller for nearly 12 years following three decades as a legislative staffer. The Texas Tribune did not identify a subsequent position for Craven, who did not respond to its requests for comment.
A comparison with the organizational chart in the agency’s 2026–27 Legislative Appropriations Request shows changes in titles and reporting responsibilities. The Hegar-era chart placed most divisions beneath three associate deputy comptrollers responsible for operations and support, fiscal matters and tax. Huffines’ new leadership list identifies four executives with associate deputy comptroller titles, three of whom will also serve as general counsel.
The chart was prepared under former Comptroller Glenn Hegar in August 2024, however, and may not reflect the precise structure Huffines inherited. Some changed titles may represent promotions or new reporting assignments rather than the elimination or combination of divisions.
Noah Betz, deputy comptroller and chief of staff: Betz has worked for Huffines since 2021, managing operations, finances and staff across his business and political ventures. He and his wife founded Bluestone Creatives, a political consulting firm that has worked for candidates, political committees, nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups across Texas. This appears to be Betz’s first position in state government.
Christopher Blackwell, general counsel and associate deputy comptroller: Blackwell joins the leadership team from Deloitte, where he advised companies on state and local taxation, audits and tax disputes. He previously served as an assistant general counsel at the Comptroller’s office and represented the agency in administrative tax cases. The earlier chart does not show an equivalent agencywide position carrying both titles.
Vicky North, general counsel and associate deputy comptroller for treasury and fiscal matters: North joined the agency in 2008 and most recently served as general counsel for fiscal and agency affairs. Before joining the Comptroller’s office, she worked as an assistant district attorney and in private practice.
North’s new title represents a promotion from the position shown on the earlier chart. Her portfolio includes fiscal management, revenue estimating, treasury operations, statewide procurement, information technology, agency administration, educational investments, Texas Education Freedom Accounts and property-tax assistance.
Robin Robinson, general counsel and associate deputy comptroller for tax: Robinson returns to the agency after working as a tax specialist and vice president in the tax practice of a Big Four accounting firm. She previously spent more than 13 years at the Comptroller’s office as a hearings attorney and deputy general counsel for administrative hearings.
Robinson also has worked in public accounting, environmental law and as a hearings examiner at the Texas Railroad Commission. Her new portfolio includes legal matters involving enforcement, audits, taxpayer services, account maintenance, revenue processing and revenue accounting.
Jeff Norwood, associate deputy comptroller for external affairs: Norwood previously served as Midland County judge, chief of staff to a Texas railroad commissioner and communications director for the Texas attorney general. He also founded a public-affairs and advocacy advertising firm and co-founded an electric-power aggregation company.
External affairs does not appear as an associate deputy comptroller portfolio on the earlier chart. Norwood will oversee communications, government relations, data analysis and transparency and economic development programs.
Brad Weatherford, chief of criminal investigations: Weatherford has more than three decades of experience in law enforcement, corporate security and investigations. His career includes work at Dell and the Texas Department of Public Safety, including assignments involving executive protection, public corruption, fraud and white-collar crime.
Criminal Investigations already existed as a division under the tax branch of the earlier organization. The announcement does not say whether the division’s placement or staffing will change.
Tetyana Melnyk, chief revenue estimator: Melnyk joined the Comptroller’s office in 2008 and has experience in revenue and expenditure estimating, budgeting, finance and investment. She became an assistant director of the Revenue Estimating Division and was promoted to director in 2021.
The earlier chart identified Melnyk as head of Revenue Estimating. She has since been promoted to chief revenue estimator, succeeding Brad Reynolds, who led the function for five years and had worked in the division since 2010.
Hannah Sacia, director of government relations: Sacia spent nearly a decade working in the Texas House, serving as a legislative director during the 2017 and 2019 sessions before becoming a chief of staff in 2022. She also has managed campaigns and developed political communications for Republican candidates, including serving as a spokeswoman for Huffines’ 2022 gubernatorial campaign.
The earlier chart included a Government Affairs and Programs division under operations and support. Under the announced structure, government relations will fall within Norwood’s external affairs portfolio.
North and Melnyk are continuing agency employees, while Blackwell and Robinson previously worked at the Comptroller’s office and are returning. The office has not released a current organizational chart or quantified the number of positions eliminated, consolidated or left vacant during the restructuring.
Photo courtesy of Texas Comptroller’s Office
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