UH System Board of Regents Elects Officers

Welcome Wilson Sr. to Serve as Chair for Third Term

The University of Houston System Board of Regents elected new officers for the coming year at its board meeting on June 5.

Welcome Wilson Sr., chairman of GSL Welcome Group, a Houston real estate developer, was elected to a third term as chairman. He was appointed to the board in April 2006 by Gov. Rick Perry and will serve through Aug. 31, 2011. Wilson received a B.B.A. degree from the University of Houston in 1949, where he received its UH Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1970 and the C.T. Bauer College of Business Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1996. He received an A.A. degree from Texas Southmost College in 1946, and received its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005.

The board elected Jim Wise as its vice chairman. He is a managing member of Haddington Energy Partners III. Wise was appointed to the UH System Board of Regents in 2006 by Gov. Perry and will serve through Aug. 31, 2011. Wise graduated from the University of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business in 1966 with a B.B.A. degree with a major in accounting. He is a member of the college's Dean's Executive Advisory Board, and was named Distinguished Alumnus in 2001.

Nelda Luce Blair was elected secretary. Blair is an attorney, president and owner of The Blair Law Firm. She was appointed to the board in 2008 by Gov. Rick Perry and will serve through Aug. 31, 2013. Blair received a bachelor's degree from Baylor University and a law degree from the University of Houston Law Center.

The Board of Regents is the governing body of the University of Houston System (University of Houston, University of Houston-Clear Lake, University of Houston-Downtown, University of Houston-Victoria, UH System at Cinco Ranch, UH System at Sugar Land, KUHT Television, and KUHF Radio). The board is composed of 10 members (chair, vice chair, secretary and seven members, one of whom is a student appointee to the board). Every two years, the governor of the state of Texas, subject to Senate confirmation, appoints three members to the Board of Regents. Each member serves a six-year term, with the exception of the student appointee, who serves a one-year term.

About the University of Houston System

The University of Houston System is the state's only metropolitan higher education system, encompassing four universities and two multi-institution teaching centers. The universities are the University of Houston, a nationally recognized doctoral degree-granting, comprehensive research university; the University of Houston-Downtown, a four-year undergraduate university beginning limited expansion into graduate programs; and the University of Houston-Clear Lake and the University of Houston-Victoria, both upper division and master's-level institutions. The centers are the UH System at Sugar Land in Fort Bend and the UH System at Cinco Ranch. In addition, the UH System includes KUHF-FM, Houston's National Public Radio and classical radio station, and KUHT-TV, the nation's first educational television station.