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John is running

for Mayor of Brownsville

After consulting with my family and friends, I feel that I am ready to step up to the plate and continue the legacy of civic engagement. If elected Mayor, I am prepared to work hard for our community to direct its development and advancement and create a thriving city for present and future generations. I am a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Finance with honors. Prior to moving back to Brownsville in 2007, I was a senior consultant for a Big 4 professional services firm where I assisted multinational corporations with cross-border tax issues around the world. As president of the Cowen Grows aup since 2007, I oversee day-to-day operations, strategic planning, and growth initiatives of the organization which facilitates international commerce with Mexico and other countries and provides well-paying jobs to local workers. I manage a complex family business and deal with issues of commerce and trade, I feel amply qualified to guide us to improve our city’s economy.

“To whom much is given,

much will be required”

(Luke 12:48)

This biblical saying resonates

strongly with the Cowen family

across many generations.

To us, it means you have an obligation to give something back in return. It is not a responsibility I take lightly. Two of my ancestors, William Neale and John S. Ford, served as Mayors of Brownsville in the mid-1800s during the early formation of our city. We are proud of their service and other members of my family that have served in various elected positions. That is why, after serving one term as your City Commissioner, I feel I can contribute at a higher level to our development and growth to benefit all of Brownsville.

"I strongly believe in forging strong partnerships with our community stakeholders including BISD, Texas Southmost College, UTRGV, Texas A&M, the Brownsville Navigation District, Cameron County, the State of Texas, the U.S. Government, our Mexican neighbors, and the investment community to work together to address our needs and provide the opportunities that our people need to prosper and flourish. Our partnership with SpaceX is a prime example of the heights we can reach when we work together as a unified team."

We have provided stronger oversight to our city economic development organizations (i.e., the Greater Brownsville Incentive Corporations & Brownsville Community Investment Corporation) which provide opportunities and support to businesses of all size while supporting quality of life projects that benefit all our residents. As Chairman of GBIC, I have overseen the development of the North Brownsville Industrial Park which is on its way to be fully sold out after being mostly vacant for 15 years. We are also working on creating a partnership with a professional developer to build out the 729-acre industrial park on FM 511 to increase our industrial tax base. We have also brought in millions of workforce training resources from the State of Texas to help companies develop and train our local talent.
The City Commission’s landmark investment in our broadband infrastructure will allow all residents and businesses access to high-speed fiber internet at an affordable price. This $90 million public-private partnership will increase our city’s competitiveness, provide better healthcare through tele-health services, and create new technical jobs to service the new fiber system. It will also create a new revenue stream for the city to be able to provide better service levels to the residents without increasing taxes.
We went through a 12+ month process to implement a new Unified Development Code system to help streamline the permitting and development process to make it easier to do business in Brownsville. We also approved a digitized system to replace the legacy paper system.
The city is in the best financial health in recent memory and maintains a very healthy fund balance as well as a strong bond rating. We have lowered the property tax rate each year that I have been in office while supporting our city employees through a recent compensation adjustment and signing collective bargaining agreements with both our police and fire departments. I fully support our continued investments in our Brownsville Police and Fire Departments to provide a safe and secure community.
As a member of the Budget Committee, I helped oversee the 5 Year Financial Forecast System to help manage our Capital Improvement Project Fund and proactively budget for large expenses related to streets, drainage, heavy equipment, and our fleet. We have made a lot of headway here, but there is still much work to be done. My priorities will be to continue making improvements to our streets and drainage and investment in modernizing our traffic synchronization systems.
I am proud to have helped include the Audit & Oversight & Ethics Committees in our Charter amendment election in 2021 which passed with over 90% voter approval despite the Audit Committee being disbanded by the previous City Commission before I was elected. As the Chairman of the city’s Audit & Oversight Committee, I helped shed light on the Brownsville PUB Tenaska Power Generating Plant Project by overseeing the forensic audit that identified the fiscal and conflict of issues with the project. We are continuing to work to strengthen the relationship with PUB, ensuring we provide the lowest utility rates to the rate payers, and working expeditiously towards returning the money related to the Tenaska rate increases.
I fully supported the completion of the 6.6-mile West Rail Trail will increase the well-being and quality of life for our residents and help promote a more active lifestyle, ultimately lowering the incidence of chronic health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. I also believe in providing more resources to beautify Brownsville, which includes increased landscaping at city parks and facilities and increasing the amount of code enforcement personnel to ensure our standards are being followed.
I continue to support downtown redevelopment to create a vibrant and safe sense of community for businesses, residents, and consumers. I also supported and participated in the first master plan ever for Gladys Porter Zoo. I also continued to fully support our Housing Authority with to provide more affordable housing to our community, including the redevelopment of the El Jardin Hotel into affordable housing.

John's Bio

John F. Cowen, Jr. is the President of Cowen Group, LTD which is involved in various businesses including Customs brokerage, warehousing and distribution, commercial real estate and multifamily development. Since 2007, John has overseen the day-to-day operations as well as strategic planning and growth initiatives of the organization. Previously, John worked for Deloitte in Chicago and New York City in where he advised on Value Added Tax and Customs issues around the world. John is a licensed U.S. Customs broker and graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Outside of work, John was elected in June 2019 to the City Commission of the City of Brownsville where his main focuses have been economic development, fiscal stewardship, and transparency and oversight. John is currently Chairman of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, Chairman of the City of Brownsville Audit & Oversight Committee, Director of IBC Bank Brownsville, Director of the Texas Business Leadership Council, Trustee of the Saint Joseph Academy Endowment, and Director of the Brownsville Community Foundation. He is a former Director the Housing Authority of the City of Brownsville, Chairman of the Saint Joseph Academy School Board, and Director of the Emerging Leaders Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. John is married to Robin Cowen and they have three wonderful children: Grace, Jack, and Will.