Y’all Street Is Rising
A Conversation with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins
April 2nd, 2026
Texas has long been a capital of energy, entrepreneurship and economic growth. Increasingly, it is becoming something else as well: the Capital of Capital.
That transformation was the backdrop for a recent Crosswind Media & Public Relations Cocktails & Conversation gathering in Dallas featuring U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul S. Atkins.
Crosswind periodically brings together influential leaders for small, candid conversations about issues shaping Texas and the nation. This gathering was particularly timely.
The rise of “Y’all Street,” the emergence of the Texas Stock Exchange and Texas’ increasingly important role in the nation’s financial services industry are creating a new center of gravity for American capital markets.
So, who better to join the conversation than the person at the helm of the agency responsible for overseeing those markets?
A Texas Conversation About the Future of Capital
Held at Dallas’ historic Old Parkland campus, the invitation-only gathering brought together leading investors, business executives and financial stakeholders for a substantive discussion about capital formation, regulatory policy, market resilience and Texas’ growing role as a national financial hub.
Crosswind co-hosted the evening with Deason Capital Services, Dallas Opportunity Partners and Cooley LLP.
What made the evening particularly valuable was its format. This wasn’t a ballroom speech or scripted conference appearance. It was intentionally designed as an intimate gathering where business leaders could hear directly from Chairman Atkins and engage in a candid conversation about the direction of America’s capital markets.
Chairman Atkins discussed the strength and resilience of U.S. markets, the evolution of regulatory policy and the importance of making it easier for American companies to access capital.
He also recognized the emergence of the Texas Stock Exchange as a serious new competitor in the national exchange landscape.
For those of us who have watched Texas’ economy evolve over the past several decades, the significance is hard to miss.
From Wall Street to Y’all Street
Texas is already home to one of the world’s largest economies. It has become a magnet for corporate headquarters, entrepreneurs, private capital and institutional investment.
Now the financial infrastructure is following.
The development of TXSE and the broader “Y’all Street” ecosystem represents more than another chapter in Texas’ economic growth. It signals that Texas is increasingly becoming a place where capital itself is raised, deployed and put to work.
That creates enormous opportunities for Texas businesses and investors, but it also makes conversations between policymakers, regulators and the business community increasingly important.
That is precisely the kind of conversation Crosswind wanted to facilitate.
Relationships Create Opportunities
The event also illustrates something we believe deeply at Crosswind: communications is ultimately about relationships.
Our job extends well beyond press releases and media coverage. At its best, strategic communications brings the right people together, creates trusted environments for meaningful conversations and helps clients participate in the discussions shaping their industries.
I’m especially grateful to Doug Deason of Deason Capital Services, Derek Wilson and Reid Hooper of Dallas Opportunity Partners, and Harlan Crow for helping us bring together such an extraordinary group of Texas business and financial leaders.
More Conversations to Come
It was my first opportunity to meet Chairman Atkins. I found him whip smart, technically adept and, perhaps most importantly for an evening billed as Cocktails & Conversation, very entertaining.
At the conclusion of the evening, he encouraged us to organize more conversations like it around Texas.
We intend to take him up on that.
Texas is a special place. Our entrepreneurial culture, favorable business environment and willingness to challenge established ways of doing things have helped make this state an economic powerhouse.
Now, as Y’all Street rises alongside the continued growth of the Texas Stock Exchange and the state’s financial services ecosystem, Texas has an opportunity to become something even bigger:
America’s Capital of Capital.
And Crosswind looks forward to continuing to bring together the people who are helping make it happen.
Thomas Graham is the founder and CEO of Crosswind Media & Public Relations, headquartered here in Austin. For more than 30 years, he has called Austin home.
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