These Houston startups and companies clock in as the top employers in the U.S.

best of the rest

MD Anderson Cancer Center is a top place to work in the U.S. and Texas. Photo by F. Carter Smith/courtesy of MD Anderson

Whose boss is doing something right in Houston? Forbes set out to find out.

New rankings from Forbes identified the top employers in Houston and beyond, and that included both bigger companies and the country’s best startup employers. In Houston, the startups ranked as top employers are:

No. 120 — Imbuit
No. 310 — Code Ninjas (Pearland)
No. 353 — Axiom Space
No. 462 — Liongard

When it comes to more traditional businesses, Dr. Pete Pisters, CEO of MD Anderson Cancer Center, continues his reign. He was named a top boss in 2021. Now, the cancer treatment facility/research center he leads has been named one of the best employers in a new report.

MD Anderson Cancer Center ranked No. 10 among the country’s best large employers in the country. Staffing some 22,000 employees, the world-renowned cancer center also landed at No. 25 in Forbes list of America's Best Employers in 2021.

Other Houston-area companies on the list include: Houston Methodist (No. 37), Waste Management (No. 245), Sysco (No. 314), Shell Oil (no. 361), Halliburton (No. 389), Schlumberger (No. 403), ExxonMobil (No. 440), and BP (No. 487).

Other Texas employers ranked among the best large employers in the U.S. are:

  • No. 10 — MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
  • No. 37 — Houston Methodist, Houston
  • No. 38 — H-E-B, San Antonio
  • No. 135 — USAA, San Antonio
  • No. 140 — Keller Williams Realty, Austin
  • No. 143 — Dell Technologies, Round Rock
  • No. 214 — Texas Tech University, Lubbock
  • No. 245 — Waste Management, Houston
  • No. 279 — University of Texas at Austin
  • No. 314 — Sysco, Houston
  • No. 318 — Daikin Industries, Waller (North American operations hub for manufacturing, marketing, research, R&D, and customer support)
  • No. 324 — Whole Foods Market, Austin
  • No. 361 — Shell Oil, Houston
  • No. 389 — Halliburton, Houston
  • No. 403 — Schlumberger, Houston
  • No. 440 — ExxonMobil, Houston
  • No. 487 — BP, Houston (North American headquarters)

Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas reigns as the capital of Texas when it comes to the best big and small employers, according to Forbes, which put University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas at No. 9 among the country’s best large employers in the country and Dallas-based life insurance platform Bestow at No. 16 among the country’s best startup employers.

UT Southwestern isn’t the only Dallas-Fort Worth employer to pop up on the Forbes list of the best large employers. Richardson-based software company RealPage sits at No. 49; Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, No. 56; Plano-based Toyota North America, No. 253; Plano-based Cinemark, No. 370; Dallas-based Jacobs, No. 375; Dallas-based Topgolf, No. 394; Dallas-based Primoris Services, No. 399; Irving-based Fluor, No. 422; Dallas-based CBRE, No. 423; Irving-based McKesson, No. 429; Fort Worth-based American Airlines, No. 446; and Plano-based Keurig Dr Pepper, No. 483.

Dallas-based software company Slync.io, holding the No. 290 spot for best startups.

What follows are the other Texas employers ranked among the best startup employers in the country.

Austin

No. 104 — Apty
No. 121 — Homeward
No. 169 — SparkCognition
No. 186 — Outdoor Voices
No. 255 — Outdoorsy
No. 323 — ICON
No. 324 — The Zebra
No. 330 — TrustRadius
No. 335 — Innovetive Petcare (Cedar Park)
No. 387 — AlertMedia
No. 400 — Iris Telehealth
No. 410 — Wheel
No. 455 — Billd
No. 460 — Aceable
No. 470 — Shipwell

Forbes teamed up with data and research company Statista to develop the rankings of the best large employers and best startup employers.

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4 Houston innovators join prestigious group of inventors as senior members

top honor

Houston is home to four new senior members of the National Academy of Inventors.

To be eligible to be an NAI Senior Member, candidates must be active faculty, scientists and administrators from NAI member institutions that have demonstrated innovation and produced technologies that have “brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society,” according to the NAI. The members have also succeeded in patents, licensing and commercialization, and educating and mentoring.

The University of Houston announced that three professors were selected to join the prestigious NAI list of senior members. UH now has 39 faculty members on the NAI list.

“We congratulate these three esteemed colleagues on being named NAI Senior Members,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at UH, said in a news release. “This recognition is a testament to their dedication, research excellence and pursuit of real-world impact by knowledge and technologies. Their achievements continue to elevate the University as a leader in innovation and entrepreneurship.”

UH’s new senior members include:

  • Birol Dindoruk, the American Association of Drilling Engineers Endowed Professor of Petroleum Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering. He is known for his research in carbon capture and storage, fluid-rock interactions and hydrogen storage. He holds three patents.
  • Megan Robertson, the Neal R. Amundson professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UH’s Cullen College of Engineering. She is developing new polymers and groundbreaking strategies for recycling and reusing plastics. Robertson currently has three patents and two more patent applications pending.
  • Francisco Robles Hernandez, a professor of mechanical engineering technology at the UH College of Technology. He holds four patents, and several others are under review. His work focuses on carbon materials, including pioneering work with graphene and designs with steel and aluminum used in automotives and railroads.

“As an inventor, this is one of the highest honors you can be awarded, so I am very proud to receive it,” Robles Hernandez said in a news release. “UH has been instrumental in supporting my research and innovation efforts, but it’s the creativity of the students here that makes it successful.”

Allison Post, associate director of electrophysiology research and innovations and manager of innovation partnerships at the Texas Heart Institute at Baylor College of Medicine, also made the list.

Post was recognized for her work in biomedical engineering and commitment to advancing cardiovascular care through innovations. Post is the youngest member to be inducted this year.

Other notable Texas honorees include Emma Fan from the University of Texas, Arum Han from Texas A&M and Panos Shiakolas at UT Arlington.

In 2024, Edward Ratner, a computer information systems lecturer in the Department of Information Science Technology at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering, and Omid Veiseh, a bioengineer at Rice University and director of the Biotech Launch Pad, were named NAI fellows.

The Senior Member Induction Ceremony will honor the 2025 class at NAI’s Annual Conference June 23-26 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Plans revealed for $2 billion expansion of Houston convention district

coming soon

Mayor John Whitmire and Houston First Corporation shared a new master plan for the George R. Brown Convention Center and its surrounding area last week. The plan features expanded exhibition space, a living roof, a pedestrian plaza with access to Toyota Center and more.

The project will be funded by the state’s portion of incremental Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue growth within a three-mile radius of the GRB for 30 years, which is estimated to total about $2 billion, according to a release from Houston First.

The first phase of the project, which is slated to be completed by 2028, will focus on developing a 700,000-square-foot convention facility known as GRB South.

GRB South will feature:

  • Two exhibition halls, totaling 150,000 square feet
  • A 50,000-square-foot multipurpose hall that opens to the new Central Plaza
  • The 100,000-square-foot Central Plaza, an extension of the Avenida Plaza that will connect to Discovery Green and Toyota Center
  • Atrium flex hall totaling 25,000 square feet
  • 225,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space
  • A 60,000-80,000-square-foot ballroom
  • Ground-level spaces for retail and restaurants
  • A central atrium, providing each level with natural light

The design of the space is inspired by the Houston area's native prairies and will use low-carbon materials, high-efficiency building systems with rainwater collection and water-reduction strategies. A living roof on top of the GRB South will also have the potential for solar integration.

"It is imperative for us to stay competitive and meet the needs of our meetings and convention customers,” Michael Heckman, president and CEO of Houston First, said in the release. “This project will not only accomplish that but will establish a gathering space that will be the epicenter for entertainment, sports, and city-wide events, accentuating our ability to capitalize on Houston's unique offerings.”

The full campus renovation is expected to wrap in 2038, and construction will be managed in phases. Houston First reports that construction should not impact events currently scheduled as GRB.

“This project is truly transformative for downtown Houston, a lasting legacy that will solidify our position as a top-tier convention and entertainment destination,” Mayor John Whitmire said in the release. “Most importantly, we are creating a space that will build community, foster connection, and shape the future of Houston.”

Explore renderings of the plans below.

  

Rendering courtesy Houston First.

Tech company floats plan for futuristic shipyard on Texas Gulf Coast

Anchors Away

Armed with $600 million in fresh funding, Austin-based Saronic Technologies has set its sights on building a shipyard for producing remotely operated military vessels — and the futuristic shipyard could be located along the Texas Gulf Coast.

The shipyard, dubbed Port Alpha, would manufacture unstaffed midsize and large Navy ships known as “maritime drones.” Defense Newsreported that Texas — with the Gulf Coast being a prime target — is among the places under consideration for the shipyard. A timeline for construction of the shipyard hasn’t been set, and a cost estimate for the project hasn’t been revealed.

“A core principle of Saronic is that we design our vessels for autonomy from the keel up,” Saronic co-founder and CEO Dino Mavrookas, a former Navy SEAL, says in a news release. “We will take the same approach with Port Alpha, designing a shipyard from the ground up to produce at a speed and scale not seen since World War II.”

Saronic says Port Alpha would boost the U.S. shipbuilding industry, which is practically nonexistent. Consulting giant McKinsey & Co. reported in 2024 that the U.S. has gone from building about 5 percent of the world’s ocean-going ships in the 1970s to about 0.2 percent today. China, Japan, and South Korea now dominate global shipbuilding.

“The last years have seen a degradation in the capacity for the United States to build ships and to manufacture core needs of the country. I am excited to back Saronic and its focus on revitalizing shipbuilding in America, while also building products to defend those interests,” says investor and tech entrepreneur Elad Gil, who led the $600 million funding round.

The $600 million round, announced February 18, pushes the value of Saronic to $4 billion. Investors in Saronic, founded in 2022, include Gil, General Catalyst, a16z, Caffeinated Capital, and 8VC.

Last year, Saronic raised $175 million from investors, lifting the company’s value to $1 billion. In 2023, the startup collected $55 million from investors.

In the past three years, Saronic has focused on manufacturing three small remotely controlled vessels, or “maritime drones,” for the Navy: the six-foot-long Spyglass, 14-foot-long Cutlass, and 24-foot-long Corsair. Port Alpha would specialize in much bigger remotely controlled ships for the Navy. The Navy has expressed interest in assembling a modern fleet that combines staffed and unstaffed vessels.

Saronic’s nearly 420,000-square-foot factory in Austin manufactures the Spyglass, Cutlass and Corsair boats.

“The velocity and economics of warfare have fundamentally evolved, and several of our own team have witnessed firsthand how unmanned systems became true force multipliers in Afghanistan and in other theaters of conflict,” says Paul Kwan, managing director of General Catalyst.

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This story originally was published on our sister site CultureMap Austin.

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