The Hon. Steve Adler
Mayor Adler, along with his brother, were the first in their family to graduate from college. After completing his undergraduate studies at Princeton, Mayor Adler moved to Austin to work his way through law school at The University of Texas. Like many others, he fell in love with Austin and has made it his home for nearly four decades.
Mayor Adler practiced civil rights law for many years, and later founded a successful eminent domain law practice representing landowners. Mayor Adler also served nearly ten years as Chief of Staff and General Counsel for Texas State Senator Eliot Shapleigh, working primarily on school finance, equity and access issues.
Mayor Adler has been deeply involved with, and has chaired, many Austin civic and non-profit institutions over the past twenty years. He has fought discrimination and promoted the benefits of diversity as chair of the Anti-Defamation League. As board chair of the Texas Tribune, he helped build a business model for the thoughtful, factual and independent media Texas needs. He has worked to expand opportunity for girls, women, and first-generation college students as a board member of GEN-Austin and Breakthrough. At the Long Center and as chair of Ballet Austin, he helped ensure that all communities have access to the arts.
Together with his wife, Diane Land, Mayor Adler is the proud parent of three daughters.