A lifelong resident of San Antonio, Adriana Rocha Garcia, Ph.D., was raised in and continues to call Southwest San Antonio home. Dr. 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.
After graduating from Southwest High School, Dr. 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. After 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, Dr. Garcia has held various administrative and consulting positions in communications and marketing at organizations like SAMMinistries Furniture for A Cause, the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the City of San Antonio, Southwest ISD, and Project QUEST. Dr. Garcia is molding tomorrow’s leaders as an Associate Marketing Professor at Our Lady of the Lake University, where she is tenured and teaches in the School of Business and Leadership. She is a past recipient of the 1895 Commencement Award for Faculty Excellence.
During her first term in office, Dr. Garcia formed part of the first women- majority elected City Council. Her current council committee assignments include Economic and Workforce Development, Governance, and Community Health. She is now in her second term as the Chair of the Planning and Community Development Committee.
As a National League of Cities member, Dr. Garcia is the Chair of the Human Development Committee and First Vice President of the Women in Municipal Government constituency group. She also forms part of the Hispanic Elected Local Officials and Large Cities Council. Dr. 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, Dr. Garcia was inducted to the San Antonio Women's Hall of Fame. She has served as a Texas Lyceum Director since 2022. Dr. Garcia 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 Dr. Garcia to serve on the Committee on Emergency Preparedness. Since 2020, Dr. Garcia serves as one of two council liaisons to the SA Ready to Work Advisory Board. She also serves on the Visit San Antonio Board of Directors and as a liaison to the Port San Antonio Board of Directors.
Dr. Garcia serves on the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) board and Committee of Six. During her first council term, she served as the Chair of the Council Aide Compensation Ad Hoc Committee and now is the Chair of the City of San Antonio Council Aides Local Government Corporation Personnel Subcommittee.
She previously served as honorary commander of the US Space Force and JBSA Air Base Wing Honorary Commander.
Since December 2021, Dr. Garcia has served as the President of the San Antonio Housing Trust (SAHT), SAHT Foundation, SAHT Public Facility Corporation, and the SAHT Finance Corporation. She forms part of the Bexar Appraisal District Board of Directors since 2022. Dr. Garcia also serves on the San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Fund Board of Trustees.
Prior to being elected to City Council, Dr. 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 ten 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.
Dr. 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 elderly residents and the extended community. Dr. Garcia also serves 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, Dr. 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 non-profit’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, Dr. 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, the Civic Engagement Day team.
Dr. Garcia is a single mom to her son Steve, who graduated from Our Lady of the Lake University. She visits her octogenarian parents daily in the home where she grew up in Southwest San Antonio, even if it is simply to get a good night’s blessing from them before heading home.
Council Committee Assignments
Appointments
- Alamo Area Council of Government (AAACOG)/Committee of Six
- Bexar County Appraisal District Board of Directors, Secretary
- City Council Liaison to Port San Antonio Board of Directors
- San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Fund Board of Directors
- San Antonio Housing Trust Finance Corporation, President
- San Antonio Housing Trust Foundation, President
- San Antonio Housing Trust Public Facility Corporation, President
- San Antonio Ready to Work
- Visit San Antonio Board of Directors