Honoring Our Texas Icon Award Winners

Thank you for your tenacity, innovation and unmatched service. We are extremely proud and honored to have two Icon winners.

Chief Executive Officer and Partner

XAG Group

Richmond, Texas

To be successful, one must truly enjoy what they’re doing – and that’s the case for Nikelle Meade.

An attorney and Partner at Husch Blackwell LLP, one of the country’s top 100 law firms, Meade‘s practice is focused on the representation of clients with all types of real estate needs, from zoning and permitting to purchases and sales, leases, and general contracts.

Meade had to learn the business from scratch. While some of her colleagues came from families that had been in the commercial real estate business for decades, Meade did not. So, she made it her mission to learn all she could. The ramp-up was a challenge. She learned early that the job didn’t come with a handbook and that success is largely based on solid, smart instincts.

“I have worked since the day I started to develop these instincts,” she said. Throughout my career, I watched others who are successful in the business and tried to repeat what they do and develop their good practices and habits. Commercial real estate is an industry in which having solid role models makes all the difference. Skill comes from experience, and watching others with experience has always helped with my work.”

Her accomplishments reflect this. Meade’s professional affiliations include the American Bar Association, the American Planning Association, the Urban Land Institute, the National Council for Public Private Partnerships, the Real Estate Council of Austin, and CREW. She has served as a director for many non-profit organizations, and she currently serves as one of three appointees of the Travis County Commissioners Court to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Board, where she serves as Vice Chairman of the Board.

What she enjoys most about the business is that no two days are the same.

“It’s dynamic,” she said. “I’ve felt since getting into the business that there is adventure included in every day. The people are dynamic an entrepreneurial, and the work is exciting and fun. It’s inspiring to wake up each day excited about what I’ll be working on. Not everyone can say that about their job, and I’m lucky and blessed that I can.