Baylor Board Elects New Regents, Officers

WACO, Texas - Baylor University's Board of Regents filled nine board slots, elected officers for the coming year and adopted recommendations from its governance committee during the annual Homecoming meeting today.
W. Fred Cameron, senior partner with the Houston law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski, was elected board chairman, succeeding Randall Fields of San Antonio. Cameron has served as vice chairman for the past year. New vice chairs are Seventh Court of Appeals Chief Justice John T. Boyd of Amarillo, Halliburton Co. Vice Chairman Dale P. Jones of Dallas, and attorney Jaclanel Moore McFarland of Houston.
New regents who will be joining the board for three-year terms are Joe L. Allbritton of Houston, chairman and chief executive officer of The Riggs National Bank of Washington, D.C.; Joe Coleman, senior partner with the Houston law firm of Fouts and Moore; Will D. Davis, partner with the Austin law firm of Heath, Davis and McCalla; and Laree Estes Perez, vice president of Loomis, Sayles & Co., L.P. in Albuquerque, N.M.
Allbritton, a 1949 graduate of Baylor Law School, also serves as chairman of the board of University Bancshares Inc. of Houston and owns nine television stations across the country. He is former chairman and publisher of The Washington Star and has been chairman of Houston International Bank of Luxembourg and Citizens Bank and Trust Co., as well as Pierce National Life Insurance Co. A former member of Baylor's board of trustees and a former chair of the Baylor College of Medicine board, Allbritton is a 1974 recipient of the Baylor Distinguished Alumni Award. He is a member of Garden Oaks Baptist Church in Houston and a member of numerous civic, professional and business organizations. The president's home at Baylor is named for Allbritton.
Coleman earned a B.B.A. from Baylor in 1955 and received his J.D. from Baylor Law School in 1957. He is a member of the Texas, Houston and American Bar Associations and has served on the board of directors for Allied Bank and Farfield State Bank. He is a trustee of the Ralph and Ruth McCullough Foundation and the Wm. A. Smith and Madeline Walden Smith Foundation, and formerly served as president and board member for Homes of St. Mark. Coleman, a member of First Baptist Church of Rosenberg, was a member of Baylor's Sesquicentennial Council of 150 and is a current member of the university's Development Council.
Davis is a former Texas assistant attorney general and former general counsel for the State Board of Insurance. He graduated from Baylor in 1954 with B.B.A. and law degrees and was editor of the Baylor Law Review. Davis also was student body president at Baylor and played football for the Bears. He served on Baylor's board of trustees from 1972-1982 and is a former president of the Baylor Alumni Association. Baylor honored him with the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985, the Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award in 1992, and the W.R. White Meritorious Service Award in 1982. He serves, or has served, on the boards of Dillard's, Texas Commerce Bank of Austin, Independent County Mutual Insurance Co. of Texas, and Foremost County Mutual Insurance Co. Davis, a member of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, is a former member of the Coordinating Board for the Texas College and University System and has served as president of the Austin ISD board of education. He is currently a member of the State Board of Education and has served as its vice chairman.
Perez earned a B.B.A. degree from Baylor in 1976 and is a licensed investment adviser. She formerly served as president and chief executive officer of Medallion Investment Management Co. and was a vice president with Merrill Lynch. A former Republican national committeewoman for New Mexico, Perez has served on the Norwest Bank board of directors and the board of trustees of the University of New Mexico Hospital. She is currently president of the New Mexico State University Board of Regents. She is a former board member for the Albuquerque Community Foundation and Albuquerque Academy. The Baylor Alumni Association named her as an Outstanding Young Graduate in 1994 and she is a former advisory board member for the Hankamer School of Business, which presented her with its Young Graduates Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in 1983. Perez is a member of Hoffmantown Baptist Church in Albuquerque.
Current regents who were re-elected to three-year terms include Ella Prichard of Corpus Christi; Dale Jones of Dallas; Ted Snider of Little Rock, Ark.; Neal Jones of Falls Church, Va.; and David McCall of Plano.
Three additional regents will be elected to the board next month in Austin during the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Outgoing regents include Randy Ferguson of Austin; Gale Galloway of Austin; Drayton McLane of Temple; Jim Phenix of Henderson; and Tom Powers of Houston.
A governance committee was appointed last spring to study the structure, operation and responsibilities of the board. Among the recommendations adopted by the board Friday are:
- Expanding the officers from three to four members (chair and three vice chairs).
- Reorganizing the committee structure to create 10 committees: committee on regents, academic affairs, development, finance, student life, facilities and technology, marketing and public relations, audit, compensation, and management review.
- Reducing the number of meetings from six to five per year.
- Implementing new goal setting and assessment procedures.
Dale Jones, chair of the governance committee, said the changes will allow the board to operate more strategically.
"This puts in place a number of good processes that will allow us to focus on those things that are necessary for Baylor to fulfill the mission we've agreed upon," Jones said. "It will improve our ability to achieve the goals we have before us. I believe it will be very helpful to the regents and the administration."
In other action, the board approved plans for a new master of social work degree that will be offered once funds are in place to support the program.
The board's next meeting will be held Feb. 5-6, 1998.