State Rep. Mano DeAyala

Born Emilio Fernando DeAyala, Rep. DeAyala is of Cuban heritage and the youngest of five brothers. His father, Rafael DeAyala, was a member of Brigade 2506 and a survivor of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business in 1988, and his Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University in 1992. In 2010, he joined the Houston-based law firm Buck Keenan LLP as a partner, where he now serves as a senior partner concentrating on disputes in the oil and gas, contract, real estate, construction, business torts, corporate governance, and employment law fields. Licensed in many U.S. courts and as a solicitor in England and Wales, he holds the AV Preeminent peer rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

In April 2017, Governor Greg Abbott appointed Rep. DeAyala to a six-year term on the board of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, where he served as Chair of the Business & Finance Committee and as a Trustee of the Windham School District. In July 2020, the United States Trade Representative appointed him to a three-year term as an arbitrator to adjudicate trade disputes under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Rep. DeAyala has served on Spring Branch Independent School District’s Finance and Long-Range Planning committees, on the board of Heritage Ed (a prospective K–8 charter school serving northwest Houston), and with the Spring Branch-Memorial Sports Association as a youth football coach and board member from 2012 to 2022. He served on the executive committee of the “C” Club of Houston from 2012 to 2021 (including as President in 2017), as a Trustee of the Houston Region Business Coalition in 2020–2021, and on the board of the Hispanic Leadership Alliance since 2012, serving as Chairman from 2017 to 2022.

In the 88th Legislative Session, Rep. DeAyala was appointed to the Appropriations Committee, the Elections Committee, and later named to the Select Study Committee on Sustainable Property Tax Relief during a special session. Following his reelection in 2024, Speaker Dustin Burrows reappointed him to the House Appropriations Committee, where he serves as Vice-Chairman of the Subcommittee on Articles I, IV, & V, and appointed him to the House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism.

Rep. DeAyala and his wife Melissa, married for 30 years, reside in west Houston. Their three sons, Marcus (and his wife Maddie), Matthew, and Mitchell, also live in Houston. All three sons, as well as Rep. DeAyala and Melissa, are products of Spring Branch ISD.