Bill Jones Elected Board Of Regents Chairman, John White Named Vice Chair

Bill Jones of Austin was elected chairman of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, and John D. White of Houston was elected vice chairman, both unanimously, during a meeting of the governing board this afternoon. Since 2005, Jones has served as vice chairman of the board. He will now serve a two-year term as chairman.

Also since 2005, White has served as chairman of the board, and he will now serve a two-year term as vice chairman.

“I am honored that Governor Perry entrusted me with the awesome responsibility to serve our state as an A&M System regent,” said Jones. “I thank the board for its vote of confidence in Vice Chairman White’s and my leadership. I look forward to working with each of them as we seek to educate our students and maintain stewardship over the System’s resources.”

John White said, “The A&M System continues to have terrific success in developing initiatives to benefit many sectors of our economy, including our BioEnergy Alliance, Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine (TIGM), and the related Texas Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS). It’s exciting work to help A&M System universities and agencies provide leadership in these and other critical fields for our state’s educational and economic priorities. I am delighted that Bill Jones’ leadership has been recognized and look forward to continuing our close working relationship.”

Jones, a native of Caldwell, is a 1981 business management graduate of Texas A&M University and a 1985 graduate of Baylor University Law School. He is a partner in the law firm of Vinson & Elkins LLP in Austin, and he previously served as the general counsel to Governor Rick Perry.

In 1996-97, Jones served as president of the 20,000-member Texas Young Lawyers Association and is serving, or has served, as a member of several other boards including the Baylor Law School Alumni Association Executive Board, the Capitol Area Boy Scouts of America Board and the Texas A&M Association of Former Students Board.  He also serves on the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System Foundation Board and the Texas Public Policy Foundation Board.

Jones was elected vice chairman of the Board of Regents in 2005 and currently chairs the Committee on Audit and serves as a member of the Committee on Academic and Student Affairs. He also serves as a member of the Presidential Library Committee and the Public Policy and Planning Committee, as the board’s liaison to the Texas A&M Research Foundation, as the A&M System’s athletics liaison, and as a member of the Herman F. & Minnie Belle Heep Texas A&M University Foundation.

White, a fifth generation Texas rancher and a second generation Aggie, received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Texas A&M University in 1970. He is a founder and general counsel for Standard Renewable Energy Group and was previously the managing partner in the Houston office of the Jones Walker Law Firm.

White earned his juris doctor from the University of Texas. He is a fellow of the American, Texas and Houston Bar Associations and past chairman of the Texas Young Lawyers Association. He currently serves as chairman of the board of the Ed Rachal Foundation and the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine (TIGM), and he is a director of the Texas Lyceum Association.

He formerly served as a director of the Greater Houston Partnership, a director of the Texas A&M Association of Former Students and a past member of the Board of Visitors at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

White was elected chairman of the Board of Regents in 2005. He currently chairs the Public Policy and Planning Committee and serves as a member of the Presidential Library Committee and as the board’s special liaison to both the Texas A&M Association of Former Students and Board for Lease of University Lands. He also serves as a member of the Herman F. & Minnie Belle Heep Texas A&M University Foundation.

As students at Texas A&M University, both Jones and White were members of the Corps of Cadets and Ross Volunteers honor guard, where they served as Major Unit Commanders. Both were appointed in 2003 to the A&M System Board of Regents by Gov. Rick Perry, with terms set to expire Feb. 1, 2009.

Today’s meeting was the first for new regents, Morris E. Foster of Houston, J.L. Huffines of Dallas, and James P. Wilson of Sugar Land, who were appointed to the board by Governor Rick Perry earlier this month and sworn into office yesterday.