95 Power Principles: Strategies for Effective Leadership in Local Government

San Antonio, Texas is the seventh largest city in the United States, with a population of 1.5 million people.

Bexar County encompasses the city of San Antonio, as well as 26 other suburban cities and a large unincorporated area.

Nelson Wolff served two terms as Mayor of San Antonio and five terms as County Judge for Bexar County-Chief Executive Officer and its highest authority-as well as the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate.

Under his leadership, the San Antonio/Bexar County community became recognized as a leader in environmental restoration, therapeutic justice, the arts, sports and healthcare, among many other accomplishments.

These 95 principles are derived from his 33 years in government as well as 36 years as a business leader. The principles can be applied in any American city or county-and are equally relevant to success in the private sector as they are to achieving political goals.

Nelson Wolff was a founder, together with his brother George and his dad, of Alamo Enterprises, a building materials store that established eight locations in San Antonio and South Texas. They sold the company in 1978 to a national corporation.In 1979, he and his brothers, George and Gary, along with Ron and Don Herrmann, founded Sun Harvest Farms, a natural foods supermarket that became a nine-store chain in central and south Texas. They sold that company in 2000 to another national corporation. Wolff has served over 33 years in public office. He served in the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate in the 1970s. From 1987 to 1995 he served two terms as a city councilman and two terms as mayor of San Antonio, the seventh-largest city in the United States.He was appointed Bexar County Judge (the top executive officer in Texas county government) in 2001 and was re-elected five times. He chose not to run for a sixth term and completed his term of office in December 2022.A San Antonio Express-News editorial on December 30, 2022, said Wolff had redefined county government and that "...he retires from political life as the most consequential public official of the modern San Antonio era."He has written eight books and co-authored one book with his wife Tracy, the founder and chairperson of the Hidalgo Foundation. Together they have six children and eight grandchildren.