"Dan has spent his life working for leaders and causes he believes in ... and making the

difference. He's one person you can count on no matter how tough the fight. That's the

kind of true, honest leadership we need working for us in Austin."

Louis Beecherl, Jr.

Member,  Mayor's Downtown Dallas Task Force
Appointed by Mayor Tom Leppert to serve on this new Downtown Dallas task force in January 2008, Dan will join with other task force members to analyze and review revitalization efforts for the Downtown area.

Chairman, House Select Committee on Higher and Public Education Finance
Appointed by Speaker Tom Craddick in March 2007, Dan heads the committee charged with reengineering school finance funding for Texas. The committee is preparing a package of legislation for the 81st session of the Legislature to address issues that encompasses approximately 45 percent ($74 billion) of the biennial budget.

Member,  House Appropriations Committee
Appointed by Speaker Craddick, Dan was the first freshman appointee from Dallas County since 1967. Over the last three sessions of the Legislature, Branch helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for our local public school systems, community colleges and other institutions of higher education, such as UT Southwestern Medical School, the Univeristy of Texas at Dallas and the University of North Texas. The last two sessions, Branch has help secure critical funding for downtown Dallas and for numerous area transportation projects, such as the Woodall Rodgers deck park extension. He currently serves as the the ranking Dallas County member on this critically important committee that decides how state revenues are spent.

Member,  House Appropriations Sub-committee on Education
First appointed to this sub-committee in 2003, and re-appointed in 2005 and 2007, Branch continues to serve on the sub-committee tasked with devising budgets for both public and higher education institutions. In 2003, Dan was instrumental in preventing budget cuts in the Foundation School Program and in providing public schools with $1.2 billion in additional resources. Over the last three sessions of the Legislature, Branch helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for our local public school systems, community colleges and other institutions of higher education, such as UT Southwestern Medical School, the Univeristy of Texas at Dallas and the University of North Texas.

House Select Committee on Public School Finance
Appointed by Speaker Tom Craddick in January 2003, Dan served on this committee charged with devising a new system of public school funding for Texas.

Member, House Commitee on Calendars
Appointed by Speaker Tom Craddick in January 2007, Dan serves on the committee charged with determining which legislation comes before the House Chamber.

Chair of Budget and Oversight, House Public Education Committee
Appointed in his first term in the Legislature, Dan continues to serve as the liaison between the policy-making Public Education Committee and the budget-writing Appropriations Committee. During his freshman term, Dan championed an amendment that expedited the deadline for the creation of a new school finance system from September 30, 2005, to September 1, 2004. In the Special Session of 2006, Dan joint-authored the school finance reform laws that increased funding for education, reduced local property taxes, and made our K-12 system constitutional.

Former Chairman, House Appropriations Interim Sub-committee on Graduate Medical Education
During the 2003-2004 Interim, Branch served as chairman of the 16-member interim sub-committee tasked with determining the funding needs for Texas' graduate medical education programs (post-medical school internships and residencies). In 2005, Branch led the effort to create a formula funding system for Texas' graduate medical education programs. In 2007, Branch led the effort to further enhance graduate medical education funding, and increase healthcare for low-income Texans.

Former Chairman, Texas Public Finance Authority 1995-2001, Former Vice-Chair & Former Secretary
Governor George W. Bush sought out Dan Branch to lead the agency that oversees billions of dollars in state financial investments. Dan worked closely with the staffs of both Governor Bush and Governor Perry, as well as the "Wall Street" financial community to save hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars through timely re-financings of state debt.

Former Judicial Clerk, Texas Supreme Court
Dan served as a judicial court clerk and briefing attorney under The Honorable Jack Pope, Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

Former Staff Aide, United States Senate
Dan worked under the late Senator John Tower from Texas and in 1984 was appointed by Senator Tower to lead the Texas Victory Committee, a statewide effort to build support for the Republican ticket.

Former Chairman, Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce Federal Affairs Committee

Chairman, Board of Directors, John G. Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University.

Former President, The Dallas Assembly

Board of Directors, Southwestern Medical Foundation

Board of Directors, The Dallas Breakfast Group

Director, The Dallas Real Estate Council

Board of Directors, Dallas Summer Musicals

Board of Trustees , The Fund for American Studies, Washington, D.C.
An educational foundation that overseas collegiate institutes in the US and abroad that teach principles of freedom and free markets

Council on Foreign Relations, New York, NY

Executive Committee, Boy Scouts of America, Circle Ten Council