Don Forse ’96

Mr. Forse is a Regional Vice President and Government Relations lead at Tidal Basin Government Consulting, an industry leader in disaster recovery, preparedness and federal grant management. He has extensive experience in assisting state and local jurisdictions with disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Prior to joining the team, Don served as Director of Government Relations and Policy for the Texas General Land Office (GLO).

As the lead agency for managing Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), Don worked with federal and state agencies, as well as dozens of local jurisdictions, in assisting the GLO to manage over $10 billion in CDBG-DR grants over multiple federally declared disasters. Following Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Don placed and managed a community outreach team across the 49-county Harvey impact area to assist local communities with their recovery efforts. This included management of both the short-term housing mission in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and CDBG-DR long-term recovery grants through the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Prior to joining the GLO, Don worked for 16 years in the Texas Legislature, serving members in both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate. While there, he worked to affect positive changes in public policy on a variety of issues, including natural resources, economic development, energy, transportation, and state budgetary issues.

A 1996 graduate of Texas A&M with a B.A. in Journalism, Don has served on the AAB since 2019, serving as President of the Board in 2021-2022. 

Don resides in Round Rock, Texas with his wife Becky. They have two children and one extremely spoiled golden doodle.