Baylor Names 3 New Regents, Honors Outgoing Members

WACO, Texas - Baylor University's Board of Regents today elected State Sen. David Sibley of Waco, Houston businesswoman and civic leader Mary Chavanne-Martin and Houston businessman Harold R. Cunningham as regents, effective immediately.
The three will fill board positions left open by four regents whose terms had expired. The remaining board position will be determined by the Baptist General Convention at its meeting next month in Fort Worth.
Regents leaving the board following nine years of service include John F. Baugh of Houston, senior chairman of SYSCO; A.W. "Bill" Bailey Jr. of Waco, chairman of Bailey Insurance and Financial Services; John G. Wilkerson Jr. of Lubbock, chairman of Wilkerson Storage Co.; and the Rev. Roger McDonald, retired pastor of the First Baptist Church of Garland.
Each was honored and presented a plaque by Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. during a special ceremony Friday.
Baylor regents are elected to three 3-year terms, for a maximum of nine years on the board. Re-elected to new three-year terms were Judge John Boyd of Amarillo; W. Fred Cameron, Houston attorney; Dr. William B. Long, a Belton physician; Jaclanel M. McFarland, a Houston attorney; Ralph Storm, a Corpus Christi businessman; and Nancy A. Thurmond, a Fort Worth businesswoman.
Sibley, a 1970 Baylor graduate, holds a dental degree from Baylor College of Dentistry (1974) and graduated from Baylor law school in 1989. He is a board certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon and practiced in Waco for seven years until a neck injury forced him to give up his practice in 1985. He enrolled in Baylor law school and upon graduation, joined the McLennan County District Attorney's Office as a prosecutor. He opened his own law practice and in October of 1995 he became affiliated with the Waco firm of Naman, Howell, Smith and Lee.
Sibley was elected to the Texas Senate in 1991 and represented 16 Central Texas counties in Senate District 22. He was appointed chairman of the Economic Development Committee and is also a member of the Finance, Education and International Relations committees. Texas Monthly
named him to its list of Top Ten Lawmakers in 1993 and earlier this year, he won the 1996 Instructional Telecommunications Council Award for his contributions to the field of distance learning. In 1993 and 1995, Sibley was named "Texas Medicine's Best Legislator" by the Texas Medical Association and he was presented the Presidential Award of Merit by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.
Sibley and his wife Pam have one son in high school and a son and daughter attending college.
Chavanne-Martin earned a business degree in 1972 from Baylor and is a former employee of the Rice University Development Office. From 1974-95 she ran Chavanne Enterprises and was responsible for 15 apartment properties, ranching and investment interests.
She is currently a director of the First National Bank of Lake Charles, La., and is a former director of the Lakeside National Bank of Lake Charles, Lakeside Bancshares of Lake Charles and First Commerce Corp. of New Orleans. She has been a member of the Hankamer School of Business Advisory Board since 1994, the Baylor Alumni Association Board, the Baylor Women's Association of Houston and the Houston Junior Woman's Club.
She is vice president of the Susan G. Komen Breat Cancer Foundation in Houston, is a member of the Professional Women's Exchange Group and is a trustee of South Main Baptist Church in Houston.
Cunningham earned a business degree from Baylor in 1956. He joined Arthur Andersen and Co. later that year and was named a partner in 1967. He retired in March after serving the firm for 39 years, 32 of those in the Houston office and seven in the world headquarters in Chicago.
During his partnership with Arthur Andersen, the company grew from 3,500 employees to more than 85,000. Cunningham was in charge of the Financial Services Division and later became Managing Partner-Professional Practice Litigation where he managed all legal and insurance matters for the company. He served on the Arthur Andersen Foundation for 17 years and helped to manage retirement funds totaling $2 billion.
He is active in the National Association of Accountants (NAA), where he has served as director, and the International Management Association, the Houston Symphony, the Houston Botanical Society and numerous other groups. He has been a director of the Baylor Alumni Association and chairman of the Hankamer School of Business Advisory Board. He and his wife Ann, whom he met at Baylor, are members of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston and they have two children, Chrisann, a Baylor graduate, and Kevin, a Texas A&M graduate.