http://www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/press/appointments/Appointment.2005-10-11.3611
Oct. 11, 2005
Gov. Perry Appoints Colleen McHugh To the University of Texas System Board of Regents
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today announced the appointment of Colleen McHugh of Corpus Christi to the University of Texas System Board of Regents for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2011. This is only the second appointment of a Corpus Christi resident to the University of Texas System Board of Regents in its 120 year history.
McHugh has a distinguished record of public service. She was appointed in 1998 as the first woman to serve on the Texas Public Safety Commission, where she has served as chair since 2001. Gov. Perry also appointed her to serve on the Task Force on Homeland Security. McHugh is a past president of the State Bar of Texas, where she was the first woman to chair the Board of Directors. She is a board member of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation and vice-chairman of the Christus Spohn Health System Board of Trustees. She is a past president of the Corpus Christi Bar Association and the U.S.S. Lexington Museum.
A graduate of Southern Methodist University, McHugh received a law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law. She currently is a partner with Bracewell & Giuliani, LLP.,
Regent Colleen McHughOfficial term: October 2005 - February 2011
Editor's Note: This is the ninth of a 10-part series on each member of the UT System Board of Regents, the board of operating directors for all 15 UT campuses. All have been appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.
Before her ascension to the Board of Regents, Colleen McHugh had a history of appointments by the current occupant of the governor's mansion, Rick Perry. In 2001, he appointed her to the Governor's Task Force on Homeland Security, and in 2004 he reappointed her to the Texas Public Safety Commission, after then-Gov. George W. Bush made her the first woman to serve the commission in 1998.
She later resigned that post to serve as a UT System regent when Perry appointed her in October 2005.
McHugh has no education experience from the University - she received her undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist University and her law degree from St. Mary's University School of Law. But she has spent a good deal of time in the legal world and until recently was a partner with the corporate law firm
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP., She was also appointed by Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Phil Gramm to serve on the Federal Judiciary Evaluation Committee, which vets federal judges and U.S. attorneys.
In the 1990s, McHugh served on the board of directors for the Texas Bar Association, becoming the first woman chairman of the board. McHugh later served as the second female president of the Texas bar, from 1996 to 1997, after her friend Harriet Miers served in 1992.
McHugh sits on the board of directors for the University of Texas Investment Management Co., which controls more than $18 billion in donations and endowments for the UT and Texas A&M University Systems, investing much of that money back into the private sector. She has business interests with American Bank, N.A., where she sits on the board of directors and has more than 1,000 shares of stock.
McHugh is treasurer of the Governor's Business Council, a collective of some of Texas' most wealthy businesspeople.
As of July, Colleen McHugh additionally served on the boards of directors for:
• UTIMCO
• Governor's Business Council
• 3200 Ocean Inc.
• American Bank N.A
• CHRISTUS Spohn Health System
• American Red Cross
• U.S.S. Lexington Museum on the Bay
• Center for American and International Law
• Texas Board of Legal Specialization
• Federal Judiciary Evaluation Committee
• Corpus Christi Regional Economic
Development Corporation
Notable contributions:$3,137 to Rick Perry (R) from 2001 to 2002; $750 to George W. Bush (R) on June 4, 1999; $1,000 to John Cornyn (R) on Jan. 23, 2002; $250 to James Laney (D) on Feb. 24, 2000
Sources: Texas Ethics Commission, OpenSecrets.org