CHSS Distinguished Alumni - Cultural Studies

Elaine Cardenas

MBA '88, PhD Cultural Studies '13

Elaine Hanson Cardenas has twice been elected County Clerk of Hays County, located in the Texas Hill Country between Austin and San Antonio. Since taking office in 2019, she has served residents of the fastest growing county in the United States through innovative management practices that provide accuracy and transparency for all of the county’s most important records, including birth, death, and marriage licenses; property records; and archives of the county’s elected governing body, the County Commissioners Court. She is the first County Clerk in the U.S. to automate records using artificial intelligence to achieve not only speed but nearly perfect accuracy. She places priority on serving county residents by providing transparency, convenience, and protections from threats such as property or identity theft. 

Before running for office, Cardenas worked as a senior executive at several Washington, D.C. social policy research firms, including The Gallup Organization, DRC, and Abt Associates.  In those roles, she directed national contracts on such issues as drug abuse prevention and treatment, mental health, and school violence.  She also led a team that conducted research for the Army Research Institute and the Defense Manpower Data Center on military life, including such topics as sexual harassment and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

 Cardenas grew up in Idaho and southern California and received her bachelor’s degree in English from California State University Northridge. She received her MBA from George Mason, where she also earned her PhD in Cultural Studies.

She is grateful to many but particularly to her late husband Rene Cardenas, who was responsible for their move to Texas, where she discovered the opportunity to use her leadership experience as an elected official.