San Antonio Water System

A lifelong resident of San Antonio, Adriana Rocha Garcia, Ph.D., was raised in and continues to call Southwest San Antonio home. Rocha Garcia is passionate about organizations that help the most underrepresented populations in San Antonio. Growing up in a Spanish-speaking household to parents with a first- and second-grade Mexican education, she became the first in her family to earn a college degree. Rocha Garcia was the first woman to be elected to represent District 4 on the San Antonio City Council in 2019, where she served three terms.

Rocha Garcia is currently serving as president and CEO of the Center for Health Empowerment in South Texas, a nonprofit organization focused on meeting the needs of the south, west and east sides of San Antonio and South Texas with access to health care in their neighborhoods, increasing access to health careers for students in underserved areas, and closing the life expectancy gap that divides those with access to health care access and those without.

After graduating from Southwest High School, Rocha Garcia stayed in San Antonio to care for her parents. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Incarnate Word, she was offered a job in the university’s Office of Public Relations and completed her Master of Arts degree from the same university one year later. In 2004, she was in a cohort of 12 students accepted into the University of Texas at Austin’s Doctoral Advertising program. Ten years and many miles later, she became one of the first Hispanics to earn a Ph.D. in Advertising from UT’s prestigious Moody College of Communication.

Throughout her career, Rocha Garcia has held various administrative and consulting positions in communications and marketing at organizations like SAMMinistries Furniture for A Cause, San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, City of San Antonio, Southwest ISD and Project QUEST. Rocha Garcia was a Distinguished Faculty Member at Our Lady of the Lake University, where she was tenured and taught in the School of Business and Leadership for 16 years. She is a past recipient of the 1895 Commencement Award for Faculty Excellence.

During her first term in office, Rocha Garcia formed part of the first women-majority elected City Council. Her council committee assignments included Economic and Workforce Development, Governance and Community Health. She served as the chair of the Planning and Community Development Committee and the Municipal Utilities Committee. As a National League of Cities member, Rocha Garcia served on the NLC Board of Directors, served as the chair of the Human Development Committee and was the second Texan elected President of the Women in Municipal Government constituency group. She also forms part of the Hispanic Elected Local Officials and Large Cities Council. Rocha Garcia formed part of the Housing Supply Accelerator Steering Committee, a partnership between the National League of Cities and the American Planning Association, composed of local leaders and planners sharing their unique perspectives and experiences in housing policy, planning or development.

In 2020, she received the Women of Excellence Award from the National Foundation of Women Legislators and in 2022, Rocha Garcia was inducted to the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame. She has served as a Texas Lyceum Director since 2022. In 2024, Rocha Garcia was selected to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee. As an advocate for workforce and education training, she formed part of the Workforce Solutions Alamo’s Workforce Leadership Academy, led by the Aspen Institute. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Dee Howard Foundation and Communities in School – San Antonio.

In response to the devastating effects of the winter storms of February 2021, Mayor Ron Nirenberg appointed Rocha Garcia to serve on the Committee on Emergency Preparedness. Since 2020, Rocha Garcia served as one of two council liaisons to the SA Ready to Work Advisory Board. She also served on the Visit San Antonio Board of Directors and as a liaison to the Port San Antonio Board of Directors. Rocha Garcia served on the Alamo Area Council of Governments board and Committee of Six. During her first council term, she served as the chair of the Council Aide Compensation Ad Hoc Committee and later became the chair of the City of San Antonio Council Aides Local Government Corporation Personnel Subcommittee.

She previously served as honorary commander of the U.S. Space Force and JBSA Air Base Wing Honorary Commander. Since December 2021, Rocha Garcia has served as the President of the San Antonio Housing Trust, SAHT Foundation, SAHT Public Facility Corporation and the SAHT Finance Corporation. She forms part of the Bexar Appraisal District Board of Directors since 2022. Rocha Garcia also served on the San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Fund Board of Trustees.

Prior to being elected to City Council, Rocha Garcia served as the chair of the City of San Antonio’s Ethics Review Board for nearly three years, where she was responsible for leading a team of 10 representatives appointed to represent their districts in the recently passed changes to the Ethics and Municipal Finance Code that further enhance the public’s trust in local government. She is a past president of the San Antonio Chapter of the Texas Exes and has served as a Chapter Advisory Board Member for the Texas Exes organization in Austin.

Rocha Garcia has served as chair of the Finance Council, is currently on the Pastoral Advisory Council at Divine Providence Catholic Church, has led the community’s participation in multiple Archbishop’s Appeal campaigns, and the Archbishop of San Antonio’s Capital Campaign, through which the Divine Providence community invested in a multi-purpose facility for residents and the extended community. Rocha Garcia also served as a member of the Archbishop’s Appeal Steering Committee, which annually distributes the city-wide Archdiocese’s Appeal campaign funds to Catholic organizations belonging to the Diocese.

As a Board member of Chef Johnny Hernandez’s Culinary Arts Foundation, Kitchen Campus, Rocha Garcia is ushering in a new “ERA” of culinary arts through Education, Resources and Advocacy for students in need and helps oversee marketing efforts for the nonprofit’s annual flagship fundraiser, the Paella Challenge. She has extensive experience as a community leader as Communications Chair for the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas San Antonio Chapter.

In 2018, Rocha Garcia was named to the San Antonio Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 and accepted into Leadership San Antonio 300, where she was a member of the Best Day Ever Foundation Civic Engagement Day team. Rocha Garcia is a single mom to her son Steve, who graduated from Our Lady of the Lake University. She visits her octogenarian parents daily, even if it’s simply to get a good night’s blessing from them before heading home.