Kay Bailey Hutchison stepped down from her term as U.S. Ambassador to NATO in Brussels, Belgium, in 2021. During her 3.5 year term, she focused on the importance of U.S. leadership in the alliance and strengthening the transatlantic bond that provides the security umbrella for Europe and North America. From 1993-2013, she represented Texas in the U.S. Senate. There, she was elected by her peers to chair the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-highest leadership position. She was a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and chair of the military construction committee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. She served two terms as chairman of the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Significant legislation included reauthorization and reform of NASA with Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and the Hutchison-Mikulski legislation establishing a new retirement vehicle, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA. As Texas state treasurer, 1991-1993, she proposed limits on state debt the state legislature adopted and led to the successful defeat of a state income tax. Ambassador Hutchison is the author of three books, including the bestseller American Heroines (William Morrow, 2004.) The Dallas City Council named the city’s convention center in her honor in 2013. The University of Texas at Austin, from which she earned both a B.A. and a J.D. degree, named its Energy Center the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center at The University of Texas at Austin.