New York has had a duopoly on U.S. stock exchanges for over 200 years. Texas is coming for it.

In this episode, Jeff Webster sits down with Nicole Chambers, Global Managing Director at the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE), to talk about why America's public markets are broken, what it's going to take to fix them, and why Texas is the only place bold enough to try.

Nicole spent nearly 20 years at Nasdaq running IPOs across Texas and the Southwest before joining TXSE as one of its first five employees. Now she's helping build the first serious challenger to NYSE and Nasdaq, backed by BlackRock, Citadel, Charles Schwab, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs, with a trading platform set to launch in Q3 2026.

They dig into why public companies have dropped 45% since the mid-90s, the private equity bottleneck choking off the IPO market, how Texas is becoming a rival to Delaware for corporate incorporations, and what it would mean to bring retail investors back into the wealth-building power of public markets.

Chapters:

• (00:00) – Meet Nicole Chambers: From Nasdaq to TXSE
• (02:41) – Why She Left Nasdaq and What Was Broken in the Public Markets
• (04:33) – Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC Overreach, and How Exchanges Became Regulators
• (06:18) – The Texas Miracle: 170 Relocations, 52 Fortune 500s, and a Rising Financial Hub
• (08:53) – The Backers: BlackRock, Citadel, Goldman and $275M Raised
• (09:29) – How NYSE and Nasdaq Responded When Texas Came Knocking
• (13:15) – The 2026 Roadmap: Trading Platform, ETFs, and the First Company Listings
• (15:24) – The IPO Bottleneck: More PE Funds Than McDonald's Locations
• (18:05) – The Real Tripwire: Taking On a 230-Year Duopoly

Links and Resources:

• Texas Stock Exchange: https://www.txse.com/
• Greater San Antonio Chamber: https://www.sachamber.org/

Podcast Production Services by https://EveryWord.Media

The Alamo Colleges District serves 89,000 students across five campuses and has quietly become one of the best community college systems in the country. Most San Antonians still think of it as just a place to get an associate's degree.

In this episode, Jeff Webster sits down with Chancellor Dr. Mike Flores to dig into what Alamo Colleges has actually become: a two-time Malcolm Baldrige Award winner, a bachelor's degree granting institution, and the region's largest workforce development engine -- graduating 14,000 credentialed students every year.

They talk about the Alamo Promise, how the college-going rate jumped from 45% to 65%, the push to raise Bexar County's educational attainment from 41% to 50%, and how frozen tuition rates and smart state funding have kept costs down while enrollment explodes.

About Dr. Mike Flores

Dr. Mike Flores is the Chancellor of the Alamo Colleges District, the largest community college district in the region. Under his leadership, Alamo Colleges enrolls more than half of all college students in the area and graduates more students than any other community college district in Texas. He views the district as the region's most powerful economic development strategy -- offering a path to a better life for residents across San Antonio and Bexar County.

Chapters:

• (00:00) – Meet Chancellor Mike Flores and the Alamo Colleges District
• (02:00) – From Two Colleges to Five: 80 Years of Growth Across Bexar County
• (04:46) – Beyond the Associate's Degree: Bachelor's Programs in Nursing, IT, and Business
• (07:18) – Aligning Workforce Programs with San Antonio's High-Demand Sectors
• (09:26) – Who's Actually Enrolling: First-Gen Students and the $500K Lifetime Earnings Gap
• (12:24) – The Alamo Promise: Free College for Every Bexar County High School Graduate
• (16:24) – Keeping Costs Down: No Tuition Increases Since 2018
• (24:38) – Malcolm Baldrige, Aspen Top 10, and Why This System Ranks Among the Best in the U.S.

Links and Resources:

• Alamo Colleges District -- https://www.alamo.edu/
• Alamo Promise -- https://www.alamo.edu/promise/
• Greater San Antonio Chamber -- https://www.sachamber.org/

Podcast Production Services by https://EveryWord.Media

The Valero Alamo Bowl is one of college football's premier bowl games. But most people only see one day a year.

In this episode, Jeff Webster sits down with President & CEO Derrick Fox to talk about what it really takes to run a bowl game that has generated $1.2 billion in economic impact and donated over $185 million to local education over 34 years.

They dig into conference realignment, the future of the bowl system, what it will take to bring a national championship to San Antonio, and why upgrading the Alamodome may be the most important sports decision this city makes in the next decade.

Chapters:

• (00:00) – Who Is Derrick Fox and How the Alamo Bowl Began
• (02:05) – The Numbers: $1.2B in Economic Impact and $185M+ in Scholarships
• (04:18) – TV Ratings, Sellouts, and Competing at the Top of College Football
• (07:16) – Conference Realignment and What It Means for Bowl Games
• (08:55) – Behind the Scenes: How the Team Selection Committee Works
• (11:31) – The Future of Bowl Games: Which Ones Will Survive?
• (13:07) – Contracts, CFP Conversations, and What's Next for the Alamo Bowl
• (14:28) – Why Upgrading the Alamodome Is San Antonio's Most Important Sports Decision
• (19:18) – How to Get Involved: Sponsorships, Volunteering, and Season Tickets
• (21:18) – This Year's Bowl by the Numbers and the Road Ahead

Links and Resources:

• Valero Alamo Bowl – https://www.alamobowl.com/
• Greater San Antonio Chamber – https://www.sachamber.org/

Podcast Production Services by https://EveryWord.Media