The Honorable Margaret S. C. Keliher lives and works in Dallas.  She is a practicing attorney with a primary focus of litigation consulting. Margaret is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Dallas Breakfast Group, which hosts civic participation events for Dallas area business and community leaders. Previously, she served as Dallas County Judge from 2002 to 2006. She is the first and only female to hold the position of head of the Commissioners Court. While County Judge she fought for healthcare for all, clean air, and programs to divert the mentally from jail. Prior to that, she served as Judge for the 44th State Civil District Court. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Dallas Bar Association, American Law Institute, and the Texas Society of CPAs.

Margaret has been called the “clean-air champion.” As executive director of the nonprofit Texas Business for Clean Air Foundation, Keliher is mobilizing companies to help clean up the air in Dallas-Fort Worth. That’s important because the Environmental Protection Agency has classified North Texas as a “non-attainment area” for ozone formation. “We risk losing our federal funding unless we address this,” says Keliher, who joined the foundation in the fall of 2007.

Margaret's volunteer activities include serving as a board member of the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, Advisory Council member of SPARK! Dallas, an arts education non-profit, a board member of the Center of American and International Law, and an executive board member of the SMU Dedman School of Law. Margaret is a Past President of Executive Women of Dallas, International Women’s Forum-Dallas, and Charter 100. Additionally, she is the former board chair of the Trinity River Audubon Center. Margaret received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor degree from SMU Dedman School of Law.  She is married and has three children.

Cristal Retana’s personal mission is to ensure equitable access to opportunities and resources so that everyone can have an overall better quality of life. Her career has been dedicated to advocacy through public policy, establishing strategic partnerships, and bringing forward innovative solutions to reimagine systems and have hard conversations on the issues that face our communities.

She has been involved in government/community affairs professionally for over 12 years. She joined the healthcare/non-profit sector in January 2018 and serves as Director of Government/Community Relations overseeing community relations efforts with a focus on health access and city and county public policy. Through this work, she has participated in a number of initiatives and coalitions to help ensure Children’s Health has a voice when it comes to the quality of life of children and families. In 2020, along with a number of other Latino serving organizations, she helped form La Alianza, a coalition aimed to unite trusted organizations across DFW to enhance the quality of life of our Latino communities.

Cristal’s passion for advocacy and service inspired her to serve on the Farmers Branch City Council from May 2019 through May 2022. She was appointed as Deputy Mayor Pro Tem to the City Council in November of 2020 and Mayor Pro Tem in 2021. Equity was a focus of her tenure which drove her to implement a number of initiatives including city’s first ever night court to ensure working individuals have access to services after hours and she also implemented an UNIDOS program, similar to Dallas, to bridge conversations between police and the Latino community.  However, her most cherished initiative was organizing the city’s first Hispanic Heritage Festival with almost 1,000 attendees in its inaugural year. Given the city’s history surrounding race relations, this initiative was an important part of her goal to help make Farmers Branch a more welcoming city.

In 2022, she co-founded and chaired the Noche de Carnaval Scholarship and Awards Gala for the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas Dallas, a non-profit organization working to promote the advancement of women in public, corporate and civic life through education, personal and professional development. The fundraiser, which raised over $22,000 in scholarships, supports the Latinas in Progress program which aims to help Dallas area Latina students attend a higher education institution.

Cristal is a first-generation Texan and proud daughter, sister, mother and military wife. After graduating from RL Turner High School in Farmers Branch, she became a Pioneer, attending the Texas Women’s University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Government and received the Senior Trailblazer award for her advocacy efforts upon graduation. Prior to joining Children’s Health, she was with the Office of the Dallas Mayor and City Council and Chief of Staff in the Texas House of Representatives. Her key roles included policy research and project management with a focus in public safety, transportation, planning, and quality of life issues.

She has been recognized with nominations to several leadership organizations and government service awards including Altrusa's Women of Tomorrow, Women in Government, Dallas Assembly, International Women’s Forum, Leadership Texas and was the recipient of the La Cima Young Professional of the Year Award in 2022 and the Blake Anderson Community Service Award in 2019.  She holds and has held leadership roles across several organizations including the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas, DFW Hispanic 100, Metrocrest Hospital Authority, Metrocrest Services, The Family Place, Dallas Friday Group, North Dallas Chamber of Commerce and held appointments for the National League of Cities Human Development and Federal Advocacy Committee, HELO Board and more.

On her free time, she enjoys running, mentoring, and spending time with her husband Eric, her son Mateo and her family who still reside in the DFW area.