Nelda Luce Blair Leading UHS Board of Regents

Blair to Serve as Board’s Chair, Michelle Mosbacher Elected Vice Chair and Jarvis Hollingsworth Fills Role of Secretary

The University of Houston System (UHS) Board of Regents has new leadership for fiscal year (FY) 2012. Nelda Luce Blair is its new chair, Michelle (Mica) McCutchen Mosbacher is serving as vice chair and Jarvis Hollingsworth is the board’s secretary.

“Being selected as the chair for the UHS Board of Regents is an amazing honor, especially as a native Houstonian and UH graduate,” Blair said. “It’s a particularly rewarding time to be a UH regent with the system’s unprecedented growth and endless opportunities.  Of course, I am most excited to accept this leadership role in the wake of the University of Houston being recognized as a Tier One institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. I look forward to working with the board in assisting each of the system universities as we continue to serve our students and communities within the state of Texas.”

The board is the governing body of the UH System, which includes UH, UH-Clear Lake (UHCL), UH-Downtown, UH-Victoria, teaching centers in Sugar Land and Cinco Ranch and branch campuses Lone Star College-University Park and UHCL Pearland.  The board consists of Blair, Mosbacher, Hollingsworth, Jacob M. Monty, Nandita V. Berry, Tilman J. Fertitta, student regent Tamecia Harris and newly appointed members Spencer D. Armour III, Roger Fleming Welder and Welcome W. Wilson Jr.

The UHS Board of Regents 2011 – 2012 committee structure is as follows:

  • Academic and Student Success: Jacob Monty (chair), Roger Welder (vice chair), Spencer Armour III, Tamecia Harris
  • Audit and Compliance: Nandita Berry (chair), Mica Mosbacher (vice chair), Roger Welder, Tamecia Harris
  • Endowment Management: Mica Mosbacher (chair), Jarvis Hollingsworth (vice chair), Jacob Monty
  • Facilities, Construction and Master Planning: Tilman Fertitta (chair), Welcome Wilson Jr. (vice chair), Nandita Berry
  • Finance and Administration: Jarvis Hollingsworth (chair), Spencer Armour III (vice chair), Tilman Fertitta, Welcome Wilson Jr.


A graduate of the UH Law Center, Blair succeeds Carroll Robertson Ray as the board’s chair. Blair was appointed to the board in 2008 and is serving through 2013. During the past fiscal year, Blair served as the board’s vice chair. She also contributed her expertise to positions on several board committees, including chair of the Academic and Student Success Committee; vice chair of the Facilities, Construction and Master Planning Committee; board liaison for Governmental Relations; and as a member of the Executive and Compensation Committee.


Nelda Luce BlairBlair is president and owner of The Blair Law Firm, P.C., and is certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in real estate law. She chairs the boards of The Woodlands Township and The Woodlands Convention and Visitors Bureau. She also serves as president of the Conroe Independent School District Foundation and on the Lone Star College System Chancellor's Advisory Council. Blair has been named a “Hometown Hero” of The Woodlands, one of “Houston’s Most Influential Women of 2009” by Houston Woman magazine and “Citizen of the Year 2009” by the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce. A noted attorney, Blair’s legal expertise has been showcased on CNN, MSNBC, FOX News and Court TV.

 

Michelle McCutchen MosbacherMosbacher was appointed to the board in 2008 and will serve through 2013. In 2010, she was appointed as the Honorary Consul of Iceland in Houston and has an extensive history of community service. An award-winning former journalist, Mosbacher has chaired numerous fundraising events for many organizations, including the Houston Ballet, Best Friends Foundation, the American Hospital of Paris Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Contemporary Arts Museum and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She served as co-chair for the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Birthday Celebration honoring former President George H.W. Bush. In 2007, Mosbacher was named Philanthropist of the Year by the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault for her fundraising and advocacy efforts.

Jarvis HollingsworthAn alumnus of the UH Law Center, Hollingsworth is a partner in the Houston office of Bracewell & Giuliani, LLP, and was named a “Texas Super Lawyer” by Texas Monthly Magazine. He previously served on the board of directors of the State Bar of Texas and as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. He also served on the board of directors of the Texas Growth Fund and is a former director of the Lehman Brothers Private Equity Advisory Board. He is a member of
the National Association of Securities Professionals New York’s Wall Street Hall of Fame and was named as one of the “75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street” by Black Enterprise magazine. He also has received honors from the State Bar of Texas, The Texas Lawyer magazine, the Houston Bar Association, the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and the NAACP. He is a 2007 recipient of the UH Black Alumni Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award and the 2006 recipient of the UH Law Alumni Association's Private Sector Achievement Award. Hollingsworth is also a former director of the UH System Alumni Organization. A former captain with the U.S. Army, Hollingsworth received a Meritorious Service Medal. He received his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

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ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM

The University of Houston System is a comprehensive system of higher education institutions serving to further the intellectual capital and economic strength of the Gulf Coast region. The UH System includes the University of Houston, a nationally recognized Tier One public research university; the University of Houston-Downtown, a four-year undergraduate university expanding into graduate programs; the University of Houston-Victoria, a four-year university with undergraduate and master’s level degree programs; and the University of Houston- Clear Lake, an upper-division and master’s level institution. The system also includes two branch campuses, UH-Clear Lake Pearland and Lone Star College-University Park, as well as two multi-institution teaching centers, UH System at Sugar Land and UH System at Cinco Ranch. In addition, the System owns and operates KUHF-FM, Houston’s National Public Radio station; KUHA-FM, Houston’s 24-hour classical music station; and KUHT-TV, the nation’s first educational television station. To learn more about the UH System, visit http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/