Teodoro (Ted) Benavides

Ted Benavides currently serves as a faculty member for the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences’ Public Affairs Program.

He also served as a Senior Vice President for the Waters Consulting Group from 2006 to 2008 which does executive search, compensation studies, and organizational analysis for public sector organizations.

Ted Benavides served from 1998 to 2004 as city of manager of Dallas, Texas. Mr. Benavides was responsible for administering all programs and services for the city’s 1.2 million people and overseeing an annual $1.9 billion municipal budget and directing a workforce of 12,000 employees.

From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Benavides was city manager of the City of Denton, and from 1990 to 1996, he served as one of five assistant city managers in Dallas. Previously, he held a number of other positions with the City of Dallas, including director of the Budget and Research Department, assistant director of the Health and Human Services Department, assistant director of capital budget programs, capital budget administrator and budget analyst. He joined the City of Dallas in March 1978.

Benavides earned a bachelor’s degree in education, political science, and history from Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville) and a master’s degree in public administration from Southern Methodist University. He is also a graduate of both Leadership Dallas and the Executive Institute of the Texas Municipal League at the LBJ School of Public Affairs in Austin and is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Benavides serves as the Vice-President for the North Texas Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.