Economic downturns, political battles, and even a global pandemic have forced many leaders to reinvent themselves. Dan Huberty has done it more than once. The former state representative and business executive recently spoke with Texas Dispatch about the experiences that shaped his professional career and evolution.
Huberty currently advises aspiring entrepreneurs. He tells them to focus on long-term investments, take calculated risks, and ignore distractions. “If you really want to be an entrepreneur, you’ve got to take risks,” he says. “If you’re unwilling to take risks, then you’re just going to be an employee.” He also emphasizes discipline and preparation, echoing advice he received from Texas businessman T. Boone Pickens: “Make sure you have a plan and execute on that plan.”
Huberty grew up in an Irish Catholic family in Ohio, where his father worked for General Motors and his mother was a teacher. He says ambition pushed him beyond his hometown. “I knew that I was never going to make it there,” he says.
He attended Cleveland State University, worked construction jobs to help pay for school, and graduated during a difficult economic period. He went on to live in Oklahoma City, Hawaii, and eventually Texas as he built a career managing parking operations across the country. “I think that successful people are portable, and they’re able to move.”
Huberty says the parking business taught him lessons that apply to every industry. “It’s relationship-driven,” he says. “You have good relationships with the building owners or the property owners and they trust you.” He spent decades in the business, eventually helping build a parking-focused real estate investment trust that acquired hundreds of millions of dollars in assets.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought one of the biggest challenges of his career. Parking revenues collapsed almost overnight as offices, sporting venues, and courthouses shut down. “When your revenue goes down 95% in one day and you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he says, survival becomes the priority. He spent months negotiating with lenders and restructuring obligations as he worked to keep the company afloat before it was ultimately sold in 2021.
After serving on the Humble ISD school board, Huberty won a seat in the Texas House in a crowded primary. He credits old-fashioned campaigning for the victory. “I ended up knocking on about 12,000 doors myself,” he says. “At the very beginning, you’ve got to make those connections.”
Education was a focus throughout his legislative service. Huberty says his interest was shaped by family members who worked as educators and by his own struggles with dyslexia. “I was not a great student,” he says. “I had dyslexia. I didn’t know it until I was a junior in college.” Those experiences eventually led him to teach college courses and later seek a seat on the House Public Education Committee, where he eventually became chairman.
After leaving the Legislature, Huberty says he wanted to stay involved in education. “I knew that I wanted to continue to advocate for public education.” That led him to acquire Moak Casey, a firm known for its expertise in school finance and economic development. He joined the company in 2023 after helping complete the acquisition.