Martin, Besa

Besa Martin grew up in Marfa, Texas and graduated from Marfa High School in 1980. She went to Texas A&M University because she considered A&M the premier university in Texas and had several friends in attendance along with a family lineage of going to A&M. Besa majored in Agricultural Economics because she wanted a type of business degree while staying within agriculture and she graduated in 1984 with her B.S. Next, she entered The Land Economics Real Estate Program (LERE) at Texas A&M, from which she graduated in December of 1985. During her time at A&M, Besa played on the women’s handball and polo teams. She also worked in the Real Estate Center while in graduate school and was a TA for Dr. Schmedemann.

After graduating from the LERE program, Besa went to work for the accounting firm Arthur Andersen & Co. in Houston and Dallas, Texas. She worked there January 1986 to August 1992 and did appraisal work for audits all over the country and reviewed appraisals of bank closures. From 1992 to 1995, she did contract appraisal work for various companies while her children were young. Also beginning in 1992, Besa took over operations of her family ranch, which became the first private wind turbine farm in the state of Texas in 1994. In 1995, Besa founded Lord Miller Inc., where she stayed until 1997, doing ad valorem tax valuation for several different companies, including Tejas Gas Corporation. In 1997, she decided to leave Lord Miller, Inc. and attend St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio where she received her Juris Doctorate. During her time at St. Mary’s, Besa worked from 1998-2000 at the St. Mary’s Law Journal where she became their Outstanding Staff Writer. During that same time, she also assisted Dr. Schluter, a law professor at St. Mary’s, in updating the Texas Rules of Evidence Manual and on publishing a military law book. In spring of 2000, Besa interned in Justice Garza’s chambers on the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals. She also worked as a briefing attorney for Justice Angelini on the Fourth Texas Court of Appeals. In 2001, she started the Law Office of Elizabeth R. Martin where she specialized in Real Estate Law. At the end of 2010, she renamed her business ER Martin LLC as it is currently called.

At ER Martin LLC, Besa represents clients on real estate transactions, investments, oil and gas, water, development, and tax matters. Her favorite part of her current responsibilities is being able to provide people with expertise to manage their assets and also in helping people protect their assets. Along with her work in real estate law, Besa is a member of the Capital Campaign Committee for the Patrick Heath Public Library in Boerne, Texas that raised funds to build a new library in cooperation with the City of Boerne. She is also a member of the Kendall County Appraisal Board where she oversaw the construction of the new district building. Besa was a frequent speaker in Doc Schmedemann’s real estate class and was recruited to be an author for the TAMU Real Estate Program. She is currently the author of materials for the Women’s Democracy Network, an international organization that is seeking to empower women to become leaders.

Besa and her husband Roy support two endowments and scholarships at TAMU. They have been married for 20 years and, between both of them, have five daughters: Zane, who lives in New York City with her husband Rick Jones and grandson Dawson, Whitney ’06 who lives in Austin, Texas, Danielle who lives in Denton, Texas, Madelin ’13 who lives in Washington D.C., and Delaney ’24.