The Houston Business Journal has named Planning & Development Department Director Margaret Wallace Brown among the 2023 honorees for Houston Business Journal's Women Who Mean Business Awards.  

The awards recognize women in leadership roles who have demonstrated excellence in their careers and community. Selection criteria included career achievement, contribution to company and city success, community involvement and leadership. Brown will be recognized as one of two “Outstanding Business Leaders in Government” recipients. 

Brown has been with the City of Houston for more than 30 years. She was named interim planning director of the Planning and Development Department in December 2018, and officially named director in October 2019. 

She graduated from the University of Houston in 1983 with a degree in architecture. She has postgraduate work in business administration from the University of St. Thomas, a certificate in Principles and Practices in New Urbanism from the University of Miami, College of Architecture and a Charette Manager Certificate from the National Charette Institute. 

Brown served as a board member for the Nature Discovery Center and with as an ex officio board member with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, among other volunteer efforts. 

All the honorees will be recognized in a special section of the Houston Business Journal's Oct. 13 weekly edition and during an in-person awards luncheon on Oct. 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Marriott Marquis Houston.