Team Member Spotlight

Nancy Schiller, a seven-year Texas Beef Team member, knows a thing or two about agricultural life. 

“I live on a farm, I married a farmer, and I’m a farmer’s daughter,” she laughs. “In fact, I came to join the Beef Team, when my husband (non-runner) encouraged me to look into it, after learning that the team is funded by the Texas Beef Checkoff, a program he and other cattle ranchers pay into when they sell off their cattle.” 

The Beef Checkoff program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill and assesses a fee per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle. These funds are used for promotion, marketing, research, and education programs that strive to bring more people to the table over a shared love of beef. For the Texas Beef Team, this means getting beef-loving athletes of all abilities out in the community and showing how beef helps support an active lifestyle.

“Before joining, I had noticed members at races in their team jerseys, but did not know the full extent of the program and what they did,” explains Nancy. “When I found out I could promote beef, our family business, while doing something I enjoy – running — I knew it was a perfect match.”

Nancy and Steve, her husband of almost 26 years, live on a ranch in Coupland, Texas, a small town in southeastern Williamson County.  Here she has raised four boys, all involved in 4-H and FFA during their growing-up years. 

“My children have all raised show animals,” Nancy reminisces. “Steers are a big undertaking and year-long project. Watching the boys take on the responsibility and then having it culminate on such a grand scale, such as at the Houston Livestock Show or San Antonio Livestock Show, has been such an amazing and rewarding experience.”  

 Nancy is an accountant in the Williamson County Auditor’s office, and in her free time she loves to read, fish, volunteer at the local pet shelter, and spend time with her family and menagerie of pets. And, of course, she loves to run. 

“I started running in junior high school, and then again later on after my third son was born,” explains Nancy. “A co-worker talked me into running the San Antonio Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon and I was hooked. My motivation to keep running is for my family; I want to be around for them as long as possible.”

She likes to say, “A body in motion, stays in motion” and keeps herself focused by remembering the quote, “Be stronger than your excuses.”

These days, Nancy mostly trains alone on the picturesque country roads near her home. She’s a fan of small-town races that give back to the community, and one of her favorite events is the Shiner Beer Run because it reminds her of her dad, who used to work for Spoetzl Brewery.