2 San Antonio executives inducted into Texas Business Hall of Fame

Two local business owners were among the eight men and women inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame on Thursday. Both have deep roots in San Antonio. One, at exactly twice the age of the other, is a self-made and respected multifamily developer while the other is behind major redevelopment and placemaking plans in the urban core. The Class of 2026 Hall of Famers include Embrey founder and chairman Walter J. Embrey, Jr., and Peter J. Holt, chairman and managing partners of the San Antonio Spurs and CEO and general manager of the Holt Group. Holt commands an enterprise that runs an industrial equipment dealership, HOLT CAT , and equipment rental and truck center businesses. The executive is also the third member of his family to head up Spurs Sports and Entertainment, and as co-CEO is helping lead the organization’s efforts to build a new NBA arena as the anchor of a sweeping new sports district in downtown San Antonio. The Texas Business Hall of Fame also considers philanthropy and social impact in selected inductees. For Holt, that looks like his service as co-chair of the nonprofit Early Matters San Antonio, chair of the Task Force on Early Childhood Education and Care, and a donation of the land for a Pre-K 4 SA South campus, according to a short bio on the Hall of Fame site. For Embrey, education’s also at the forefront through his support of UT San Antonio and the San Antonio Independent School District where he grew up before attending the University of Texas in Austin. The state capital is where Embrey’s career in real estate really began, he said in a conversation with the San Antonio Report just ahead of the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in San Antonio. “I was looking desperately for a job because I worked the whole time I was in school,” said Embrey, who had married his first year and had a child less than two years later. “I wound up in the office of this homebuilder in Austin, and I sat in his lobby reception area from 8:30 to 5:30, and I never went to lunch,” he said. “And he finally came out mad as hell. But he hired me.” The builder flooded him with responsibility, Embrey said, “and I learned everything about that business.” He went on to work for a high-rise office and residential builder, formed a construction segment for that company, and became chief operating officer overseeing an effort to take the company public that ultimately failed. “Then, when it all went away, I just didn’t really want to go back in to my old job,” he said. He returned with his family to San Antonio and started his namesake company in 1974, building multi-family properties. A risky land acquisition and serendipitous sale gave him the capital to start growing the company. Embrey deliberately chose to keep the company privately owned. “We controlled what we did, how we did it, when we did it,” Embrey said. “I was able to bring some incredible people to San Antonio. They participated in all the value creation of the company. We still run it that way 53 years later.” As a family-owned and partner-led real estate investment company, Embrey has developed more than 50,000 residential units and over 6 million square feet of commercial property in six states and several cities, including San Antonio. It has more than 6,000 units under construction or ind development today. At 80 years old, Embrey remains as company chairman and general partner. His son Trey Embrey is president and CEO and his two daughters serve on the board of directors, steering the development firm through today’s challenging, high-interest rate environment. Trey Embrey said the induction is a well-deserved honor for his father. “His commitment to doing things the right way, his determination, and his belief in people have shaped Embrey from the very beginning,” he said in a statement. As children, Trey Embrey and his sisters, Lisa Nichols and Stacey Rubin, tagged along with their father to look at apartment communities and visit construction sites. “It was simply part of our lives, and those experiences gave all three of us an appreciation for the business and the dedication behind it,” he said. “His influence reaches far beyond our company, touching lives across generations.” Embrey called the Business Hall of Fame recognition an eye-opener. “It really forces you to take a look back at how you got here and the decisions you made, the doors that were open for you, the mentors that helped you,” he said. “It’s been an interesting exercise for me to stop for a second and … take the look back.” Area Real Estate Principal David Adelman got to know Embrey over 30 years ago and most recently worked with the company on the Tin Top Flats and Creamery project at 847 E. Ashby Place in Tobin Hill. “So many people look up to him,” Adelman said. “He’s just a great mentor, a great friend, and I’m proud to have worked there at one time.” Other Class of 2026 inductees include Cody Campbell and John Sellers, co-CEOs and co-founders, Double Eagle Energy of Fort Worth; Miguel Garza and Veronica Garza, co-founders, Siete Foods of Austin; J. Luther King, Jr., CFA, founder, Luther King Capital Management of Fort Worth, and John B. Poindexter, CEO, chairman and owner, J.B. Poindexter & Co. of Houston. More from San Antonio Report 2 San Antonio executives inducted into Texas Business Hall of Fame by Shari Biediger Centro looks to fill void left by NIOSA pause with Guayabera Fest in 2027 by Shari Biediger Dual credit opportunities expand rapidly across San Antonio by Danya Pérez