The UT System Board of Regents elected new chairs Tuesday in a special meeting via telephone.

The nine-member board chose San Antonio real estate developer Eugene Powell to replace Colleen McHugh as its chairman. McHugh’s appointment to the board expired this month and Gov. Rick Perry did not re-appoint her. Paul Foster, Steve Hicks and James Dannenbaum will serve as vice chairmen.

The board’s regulations state only two vice chairmen should be elected, but UT System spokesman Matt Flores said the board sometimes chooses to elect three.
“It’s not unprecedented,” Flores said.

Perry appointed the new chairman Powell in 2009. Powell graduated from UT with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance. He played football for the University on full scholarship for Coach Darrell K Royal.

Appointed in 2007, Foster has served as a vice chairman of the board since 2009. He earned an accounting degree from Baylor University. He is also chairman of the board of directors of The University of Texas Investment Management Co., the nonprofit investment corporation that handles the UT and Texas A&M Systems’ investments.

In 2009, Perry appointed Hicks, who earned a government degree from UT. He is also the board’s athletics liaison and owns a private investment firm.

Dannenbaum is a member of the Board for Lease of University Lands and has served on the board since 2007. He earned a civil engineering degree from UT and is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.