Q1 2020 Texas CEO Magazine

BUILDING
A BRIGHTER FUTURE
FOR CENTRAL TEXAS KIDS
A CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD TAGLE,
CEO OF THE ANDY RODDICK FOUNDATION
For 20 years, the Andy Roddick Foundation has worked to give youth in low-income communities across
Central Texas access to education and learning opportunities. Richard Tagle was born and raised in Manila
and built his career in DC, but he’d only been to Texas twice when he accepted the job as the Andy Roddick
Foundation’s CEO. Richard talked to us about his DC-to-Texas transition, the unique challenges of the
nonprofit CEO, and how his passion for data gives him an edge—and, sometimes, gets him in trouble.
WHETHER YOU’RE
A DEMOCRAT OR
REPUBLICAN IN AUSTIN,
YOU’RE STILL OPEN-MINDED
ABOUT THINGS. YOU STILL
CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS
IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
AND COMMUNITY.
How did you get into this interesting position as a nonprofit
CEO? I was born and raised in the Philippines, in Manila. I
was groomed to be an investment banker because most of my
aunts and uncles were in investment banking. But at 16, I left
the Philippines. I basically ran away. I love my family, but it
was “This is the college to go to, this is the right course to take,
this is the right girl to date.” Those expectations weren’t what I
wanted for myself. I was ready to get out and go see the world.
So I counted my Christmas money and my money from my
summer job and got a one-way ticket from Manila to Hawaii
to see my grandmother. I asked her if I could stay there. She
said, “You can’t run away from home and live with me. Dignify
it. If you really want to see the world, then see the world.”
So I moved to San Francisco. Later, in graduate school in
Washington, DC, I shifted gears from finance to public
administration, then later on to social policy. I became more
and more curious about how nonprofit organizations work and
how communities change. Up until then, I had no idea what a
nonprofit organization was or the role it played in civil society.
For my first foray in nonprofit work, I worked for the
United States Conference of Mayors. I was 22, and I
had to go to 88 of the poorest towns in the South to
oversee the grants that USCM forwarded to them.
60 Texas CEO Magazine Q1 2020