2023 J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award

The Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility

is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2023

Peter S. Brodsky

Presenting Sponsors

Nancy Ann & Ray L. Hunt

Problem-solver. Challenge-Acceptor. Risk-taker. Leader.

Peter Brodsky’s name is synonymous with innovative servant leadership in the City of Dallas. Colleagues and friends alike agree that his intellect, compassion, and ingenuity have changed the archetype of the modern-day civic leader. Peter’s passion for public service and bettering our community is multifaceted and includes impactful work in education, homelessness, social services, and thoughtful urban development. He serves as the Board Chair of Housing Forward (formerly Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance), the lead agency of Dallas and Collin Counties’ homeless response system. He is a board member and long-time volunteer for KIPP Texas Public Schools, a network of 59 public charter schools with nearly 34,000 PreK-12 students in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. From 2016-2020, Peter chaired the Dallas Animal Advisory Commission, where he explored root causes of and solutions for Dallas’ stray dog crisis, a critical social issue that further highlighted the need for affordable services for underserved Dallas residents. He serves on the Trinity Park Conservancy Board, the President’s Advisory Board of UT Southwestern, is a member of the Dallas Assembly and has formerly served on numerous boards and committees including North Texas Public Broadcasting, AT&T Performing Arts Center, Vogel Alcove, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Eight years ago, Peter, along with his wife Lael, purchased the former Red Bird Mall and promised to turn it into one of the largest mixed-use commercial developments in southern Dallas. Though the $200 million development is not yet complete, Peter’s work has already spurred vast economic growth in southern Dallas through 1,500 new jobs in offices, shops, medical facilities, and restaurants.

Peter spent the first 20 years of his career in private equity. Over the course of his career, he was responsible for deploying or managing over $2.6 billion of equity investments, primarily at Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, and its successor firm, HM Capital Partners.

25 Years of the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award

For 25 years, SMU’s Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility has endeavored to recognize extraordinary men and women of Dallas whose deeds and character are exemplary and whose service to our community is exceptional. They look beyond what they need and see greatness in the potential of others and know that goodness is the only investment that never fails. With enterprising spirits and unbound resilience, they give life to our city by looking for and championing the good. Recipients of the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award make Dallas what it is: a global gateway with limitless possibilities.

2023 J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award
Host Committee

Ashlee and Chris Kleinert, Host Committee Co-Chairs

About the Award

Since 1997, the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award luncheon has served as the Center’s sole fundraising event, supporting our dynamic programs that serve the SMU faculty, staff, and student body as well as our community at-large. The support from this event directly funds the Center’s annual operations and ensures its continued success.

The J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award is named in honor of the public-spirited former mayor of Dallas.  It is given to individuals who epitomize the spirit of moral leadership and public virtue.  The founders of our nation foresaw that the ideal of liberty alone would not sustain our country unless accompanied by the concept of "public virtue," a sacrifice of self and resources for the public good.  The Maguire Center is proud to present this award to people whose careers should be recognized, honored, and modeled.

Past Award Recipients

Michael Sorrell (2022)
Cary M. Maguire (2021)
Ross Perot, Jr. (2020)
Nancy Strauss Halbreich (2019)
Bobby Lyle (2018)
David Brown (2017)
Terry Flowers (2016)
Lyda Hill (2015) 
Gail G. Thomas  (2014)
Nancy Ann and Ray L. Hunt (2013)
Walter J. Humann (2012)
Ruth Altshuler (2011)
Bob Buford (2010)
Ronald G. Steinhart (2009)
Michael M. Boone (2008)
Zan W. Holmes Jr., M.Th (2007)
Roger Staubach (2006)
Caren Prothro (2005)
Tom Luce (2004)
Ron Anderson, M.D. (2003)
Jack Lowe, Jr. (2002)
William T. Solomon (2000)
Stanley H. Marcus (1999)
Charles C. Sprague, M.D. (1998)
Curtis W. Meadows, Jr. (1997)

Mayor J. Erik Jonsson

J. Erik Jonsson, a founder of Texas Instruments, was a selfless civic worker, former Dallas mayor, and committed philanthropist.  He exemplified the highest ethical standards in his many business and civic endeavors. As a visionary, he sought to repay the debt that all businesses owe their community through selfless work as a civic leader and through his philanthropy in education.

Mr. Jonsson transformed Texas Instruments from a company offering geophysical services to one that pioneered the high-tech world of electronics and semiconductors. His accomplishments were recognized in 1975 when he was one of only four living Americans to be selected for the newly created National Business Hall of Fame, joining such historical luminaries as Henry Ford, J. Pierpont Morgan, Alfred P. Sloan, and Andrew Carnegie.

Mr. Jonsson insisted on the highest ethical standards for Texas Instruments. The company set an early example in formalizing a code of ethics for its executives and employees.

His own leadership in Dallas’s civic affairs culminated when he was selected to be mayor in the dark period following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Under his guidance from 1964-1971, the city built a new city hall, a new municipal library, and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. He founded and largely financed the Goals for Dallas program that, for the first time in the city’s history, involved people of all races in establishing long-range municipal goals.

A mechanical engineer educated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Jonsson was born in Brooklyn of Swedish immigrant parents, spent his early life in New Jersey, and moved to Dallas in 1934 to join the company that was a predecessor to Texas Instruments.