Hughes Abell is founder and General Partner of Llano Partners, Ltd., a family partnership with ranching, farming, and cattle feeding operations in Texas, New Mexico, and Florida. He also actively manages private investments in oil and gas, timber, and commercial real estate.

He currently serves as First Vice President of the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and as a director of the Texas Livestock Marketing Association, National Finance Credit Corp, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Abell is a former chairman of the Board of Trustees of St. Edwards University and continues to serve on the board as a director of Humanities Texas. He is a former board member of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, former vice chairman of the Lower Colorado River Authority, past chairman of the Board of Trustees of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, and a former trustee of the Texas State History Museum Foundation.

Abell is a native of Monroe, Louisiana, and a 1972 graduate of Vanderbilt University. He and his wife, Betsy, reside in Austin. They are parents of two grown children, both of whom are involved with the family ranching operation.