Margaret Justus is a former broadcast journalist and Austin-based media consultant with more than 30 years of experience in strategic communications. A Kansas City native and proud alumna of the University of Kansas, she has lived and worked in Texas for nearly four decades, including in Houston and Austin.
She has led communications for ten Texas political campaigns and specializes in media relations, media training, government affairs, and crisis communications. From 1989 to 1994, she served as deputy press secretary to Governor Ann Richards. She later served as communications director for the Texas reelection campaign of Bill Clinton and Al Gore in 1996.
In 2019, she served as Executive Director of Transit for Austin, building one of Central Texas’s largest and most diverse coalitions to support a comprehensive public transit program.
Her clients have included Foundation Communities, Texas Lyceum, Texas Impact, Annie's List, and the Justin Nelson campaign for Texas Attorney General.
She led a statewide effort honoring her former boss, Texas Governor Ann Richards and in 2022 collaborated with Austin philanthropists to publish The One Ann Only: Wit and Wisdom from Texas Governor Ann Richards, distributed by the University of Texas Press and featured at the Texas Book Festival that year.
Justus serves on the board of the Texas Library and Archives Foundation and is a founding board member of the Giris’ School of Austin. She competes in 5K races and sings jazz standards with her husband, John Burnett, in two Austin bands. Together, they are active members of St. David's Episcopal Church in downtown Austin.