Hope Andrade

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Esperanza "Hope" Andrade
Secretary of State of Texas
In office July 23, 2008 – November 23, 2012
Preceded by	Samuel P. "Phil" Wilson
Succeeded by	John Thomas Steen, Jr.
Texas Workforce Commissioner
In office March 2013 – June 2015
Preceded by	Thomas Weir "Tom" Pauken
Succeeded by	Ruth Ruggero Hughs
Born	July 1, 1949
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Ramiro Bustillos Andrade
Residence	San Antonio, Texas
Occupation	Businesswoman
Religion	Roman Catholic

Esperanza Puente Andrade, known as Hope Andrade (born July 1, 1949), is a businesswoman from Greater San Antonio, who from 2008 to 2012 was the Texas Secretary of State in the administration of former Governor Rick Perry.. She is also the former commissioner representing employers on the Texas Workforce Commission an appointed position which she held from 2013 to 2015.

Texas Transportation Commissioner

Prior to her appointment as Secretary of State, Andrade was appointed by Governor Perry to the Texas Transportation Commission. She was elevated to the interim chairmanship of the transportation commission in January 2008, after the death of the previous chair, Richard F. "Ric" Williamson, a former member of the Texas House of Representatives; she left the commission in May 2008. Shortly thereafter, in July of the same year, Perry named her Secretary of State when Samuel P. "Phil" Wilson resigned after one year in the position.

Texas Secretary of State

As secretary of state, Andrade was the state's chief elections officer, chief international protocol officer, and border commerce coordinator for the governor's office.

As the elections officer, she toured the state encouraging registration and high voter turnout. She supported the removal of nearly seventy thousand names from the voter rolls of individuals believed to be deceased, based largely on Social Security death records. However, some of the deleted names were of the living, and four individuals sued the state for having been wrongfully stricken from the rolls. Andrade also encountered controversy when prior to the November 6, 2012 general election she objected to the use of international observers examining Texas voting procedures.

She vacated the secretary of state's office on November 23, 2012, after nearly four-and-a-half years. She was the sixth and longest-serving Texas Secretary of State and the second of three women in the post under Perry. Andrade is the first Hispanic woman to have served as the Texas Secretary of State. However, two Hispanic men, Roy Barrera, Sr., of San Antonio and Henry Roberto Cuellar, a U.S. representative from Laredo, held the position briefly in 1968 and 2001, respectively.

On November 27, 2012, Perry appointed John Thomas Steen, Jr., also of San Antonio, to succeed Andrade as secretary of state. He is an attorney who previously served on the Texas Public Safety Commission and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Steen contributed $56,000 to Perry's past gubernatorial campaigns.

Texas Workforce Commissioner

An entrepreneur and business and community leader in San Antonio for more than three decades, Andrade was confirmed by the Texas Senate as the workforce commissioner in March 2013. She succeeded Thomas Weir "Tom" Pauken, a fellow Republican who ran unsuccessfully three times for a Dallas-area seat in the United States House of Representatives and for Texas attorney general. She held the workforce commission post until June 2015.

Recent activities

Contract for River Walk barges

On May 25, 2017, Andrade and Lisa Wong, her business partner in their company called Go Rio San Antonio, prevailed in a 10-1 vote from the San Antonio City Council for the $100 million contract to operate the barges on the San Antonio River Walk. The only dissenter on the council was then mayoral candidate Ron Nirenberg, who unseated the more conservative Mayor Ivy Taylor in a runoff election on June 10. In selecting Andrade and Wong, the council rejected City Manager Sheryl Sculley's recommendation to award the contract instead to the Chicago-based Entertainment Cruises, the choice also of former Mayor Phillip Duane "Phil" Hardberger, who had appointed Sculley in 2005. On receiving the contract, Andrade told Taylor and the council: "We not only know but we understand why the River Walk is indeed our crown jewel of our beautiful city. And we understand that the barge operation is the thread that weaves it all together."

VIA Transit Board

Early in 2018, Andrade cited "personal reasons" and resigned as chair of the San Antonio VIA Metropolitan Transit board of trustees. In that position, she had called for input from residents through the city, not just the downtown sector. Mayor Nirenberg, she said, asked her to remain on the board pending selection of her replacement. Nirenberg said that Andrade's successor would be "someone who can help VIA move to a grand vision of what public transportation means to San Antonio's future."

Andrade-Van de Putte & Associates

Andrade is the Republican half her consulting firm, Andrade-Van de Putte & Associates. Her business partner is former state Senator Leticia R. San Miguel Van de Putte, a Democrat who was defeated in 2014 by Republican Dan Patrick for Texas lieutenant governor.

Civic leadership

Andrade has been affiliated over the years with the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Free Trade Alliance of San Antonio, United Way, the San Antonio Symphony, and the board of trustees of the Roman Catholic Our Lady of the Lake University. She holds the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the designation Small Business Advocate of the Year by the Small Business Administration.