Oscar L. Garza is an accountant and licensed attorney in Houston, Texas. He is married to Lani Garza and has two daughters and four granddaughters. Oscar and Lani are members of Atascocita Methodist Church (“AMC”). They joined AMC when their previous church did not disaffiliate. During his forty-year professional career, Oscar worked for companies such as Exxon Company USA, Shell Oil Company, General Electric Company, Arthur Andersen and Deloitte before starting his own tax consulting firm and law firm in 2012. In 2022, he sold the tax consulting firm to a global tax consulting organization.
Oscar is one of three lay leaders in the Trinity Conference. He is also co-chair of the Trinity Conference 2024 Global Methodist Church (“GMC”) General Conference delegation.
Prior to joining the GMC, Oscar was actively involved in various agencies of the United Methodist Church (“UMC”). His service included the following:
• Member of the General Board of Global Ministries.
• President of the United Methodist Church Foundation.
• Member of the Investment Committee of GCFA.
• 2016 General Conference alternate delegate from the Texas Annual Conference.
• 2019 Special Called General Conference delegate from the Texas Annual Conference.
• President of Houston Chapter of Justice for Our Neighbors an immigration legal services organization.
Outside of the UMC, Oscar served as president of the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans, a $15 million per year non-profit charter school and social services organization located in Houston, Texas.
During Oscar’s time in the UMC, he was finance chair at his local church and was able to move the church to pay 100% of apportionments. He also served on the Staff Parish Relationship committee and developed measurable metrics for clergy compensation and bonus.
Oscar’s skill sets and experiences include organizational structures, parliamentary procedures, governance and legal jurisdiction.
