Texas Gov. appoints Gerald McElvy to be UH System’s newest regent

Former Exxon Mobil executive McElvy is an alumnus with a bachleor’s degree in economics and accounting

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed alumnus Gerald McElvy as the University of Houston System’s newest Regent and extended the service of Regents Beth Madison and Tilman J. Fertita.

Regent McElvy is a UH alumnus and holds a bachleor’s degree in economics and accounting. He also earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mr. McElvy worked for the Exxon Mobil Corp. for 33 years, spending his final six years with the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company as the president of the ExxonMobil Foundation, the corporation’s primary philanthropic arm in the United States.

Regent McElvy sits in the seat held by former Regent Jarvis V. Hollingsworth, whose term expired Aug. 31. During his time on the Board, Hollingsworth served as its chair and vice chair.

The UHS Board of Regents is comprised of nine regular members and a student regent. Every two years, the Texas governor appoints three members to the Board. Each regular member serves a six-year term, and student regents serve for one year.

In addition to Fertitta, Madison and McElvy, Board members include Welcome W. Wilson Jr., Spencer D. Armour III, Roger F. Welder, Durga D. Agrawal, Paula M. Mendoza, Peter K. Taaffe and Student Regent Garrett H. Hughey.

Regent Fertitta is the current Board chair. He was appointed to the Board in 2009 and elected as chair in 2015.  Alumnus Fertitta attended Texas Tech University and UH, studying business administration and hospitality management

Regent Madison is the Board’s secretary. She was appointed to the Board in 2014 to replace CLASS alumna Nandita Berry, who departed to serve as Texas Secretary of State. Regent Madison served the remainder of Berry’s term, which expired on Aug. 31.

Alumna Madison previously served on the board for the Moores School of Music Society and its Madison Artist Lecture Series bears her name.

-        By Mike Emery