2009 New Trustees

TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES NINE NEW TRUSTEES

The 119-year old institution adds diverse expertise from both the public and private sectors.

Nine new members of the Board of Trustees for Texas Wesleyan University were announced for the first time today by Anne Skipper, Chairman of the Board.

“It’s an honor to welcome such distinguished individuals to our board,” said Skipper. “Texas Wesleyan aspires to be recognized as a leader in small, private universities and our board is committed to making the key decisions and implementing the proper course of action necessary to drive this vision. These appointments strengthen our 42-person board as we look forward to forging new inroads in higher education.”

Vernon Bryant is CEO and President of Southwest Bank and has been a leader in the Texas banking community for more than 26 years. Prior to building the new Southwest Bank, Bryant headed TexasBank from 1989 to 2006. Subsequently, Bryant formed a holding company which in 2007 acquired Community Bank of Texas, N.A. in Grand Prairie and Southwest Bank in Fort Worth and merged the two into the new Southwest Bank.

Bryant serves as a board member of the Van Cliburn Foundation, the First Methodist Church of Fort Worth Foundation, Shady Oaks Country Club, and is the upcoming chairman of the Tarrant County United Way Campaign. He has also served as chairman of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, and member and chairman of the Texas Finance Commission. He is also a member of the Fort Worth Chapter of the Texas Society of CPAs.

Tim Carter began serving as President and CEO of OmniAmerican Bank in June 2007. Immediately before joining OmniAmerican Bank, he served as president and CEO of United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County. In addition to an outstanding 25-year banking career, Carter has served as the president and CEO of the Harris Methodist Health Foundation.

He currently serves on the board of the Van Cliburn Foundation, the Texas Christian University (TCU) Business School International Board of Visitors, the Child Study Center Foundation, the Northeast Leadership Forum, the American Heart Association Community Strategies Council, and Mayfest, Inc. He also serves on the boards of the Mayor’s Advisory Commission on Homelessness, Fort Worth Promotion and Development Fund, United Way of Texas, Fort Worth Sister Cities, Presbyterian Night Shelter and the Safe City Commission. Carter previously served on the board of Texas Wesleyan University from 1997 to 2006.

Glen Hahn is President and CEO of Innovative Developers, Inc. Hahn began with IDI in 1974 as an engineer and real estate developer. In 2003, he became the sole shareholder of the company and subsequently became the President and CEO. He has grown the company into a major force in the commercial real estate development field.

Hahn currently serves as President of the Fort Worth Chamber Foundation, and is Chairman of the Financial Oversight Committee and Treasurer of the Safe City Commission of Fort Worth. He also serves on the Board of The Research and Education Institute for Texas Health Resources Leadership Council, the Board of Directors of Casa Mañana, and has served as an Advisor to Vision North Texas. He is a founding member and on the Board of the Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council. Hahn is a licensed real estate broker and a registered professional engineer.

Kathleen Hicks is Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem, a position she has held since 2006, when she was unanimously elected by the Fort Worth City Council. In 2005, Hicks became the youngest woman ever elected to the Council. Prior to her election, she served as District 8 council aide. She chairs the East Berry Renaissance Tax Increment District and the Housing Finance Corporation.

Hicks serves on the Mayor’s Quality Affordable Housing Taskforce, the National League of Cities Community and Economic Development Steering Committee, the Board of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, and the Regional Transportation Council’s Transportation and Air Quality Subcommittee and Transit Authority Partnership Subcommittee. She currently serves on the board of the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration Fort Worth, AIDS Outreach Center, Fort Worth-Dallas Birthing Project, All Church Home for Children, Presbyterian Night Shelter, and Red Cross – Chisholm Trail Chapter.

Terri Minor was co-owner of Fort Worth-based Minor’s Landscape Services before the sale of the business in 1999 to TruGreen ChemLawn. Prior to that, she worked for the public accounting firm KPMG.

Minor has been active in the community, serving as President of the Junior Woman’s Club, as Chair of the annual fund raiser for Meals on Wheels, Inc., and as a member of the Junior League of Fort Worth. She has also volunteered for numerous organizations, including the United Way, Casa Mañana, the Tarrant Area Food Bank, CASA of Tarrant County (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children), and All Church Home for Children. She earned a BBA from Texas Wesleyan with a major in accounting and a minor in economics. She served on Wesleyan’s Blue Ribbon Committee and was a member of and later an advisor to Gamma Phi Beta

Gregory J. Phillips, MD, FACP, is a private practitioner of internal medicine and adjunct clinical professor in the department of community medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth. He teaches at the University of North Texas Health Science Center and at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

Phillips holds a Fellowship in the American College of Physicians and has been honored by the Texas affiliate of the American Heart Association as a Paul V. Ledbetter Physician Volunteer of the Year and as a member of the Honorary Life Board of Directors. He is currently a member of the American Heart Association Fort Worth Division Board of Directors, the Tarrant Council for Alcohol and Drug Abuse/Recovery Resource Council, and the Advisory Board of Directors for Circle Theatre. Phillips graduated summa cum laude from Texas Wesleyan University.

Dr. James D. “J.D.” Phillips is Senior Pastor of Spring Woods United Methodist Church (UMC) in Houston. Dr. Phillips has served on several national and conference agencies and committees in his previous conference, Central Texas. He also has served as a delegate to Jurisdictional Conference several times. He and his wife Cheryl served as delegates to the 1996 General Conference in Denver, Colo.

Prior to Spring Woods, Phillips’ appointments include Westbury UMC in Houston, Aldersgate UMC in Arlington, St. Andrew UMC in Killeen, and Morningside UMC and Eastwood UMC in Fort Worth. He earned a Master of Theology from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University (SMU) as a Crusader Scholar, a full scholarship given by United Methodist Women. He earned his Doctor of Ministry from Brite Divinity School at TCU.

Jeffrey A. Smith, D.Min., has served as a minister in the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church since he was a student at Texas Wesleyan University (class of 1983). He earned his Master of Divinity Degree from Perkins School of Theology at SMU and his Doctor of Ministry degree from Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo. Smith currently serves as the senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Burleson.

In addition to serving on the Texas Wesleyan Board of Trustees, Smith also chairs the Board of Trustees of Sears Methodist Retirement System, which operates 13 facilities and various senior community services throughout the state of Texas. He is married to Leah Smith, Texas Wesleyan class of 1987, and has two grown children, Philip and Layne.

Max M. Wayman, EA, CFE, is a Certified Fraud Examiner and is licensed to practice before the Internal Revenue Service as an Enrolled Agent. He serves as vice chairman of the IRS District Director’s Practitioner Liaison Committee and is a member of the National Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the Texas Board of Private Investigators.

Wayman began his career with the Internal Revenue Service in 1974 and served at the management level before being promoted to Special Agent in the Intelligence Division in 1977. He later conducted a major international conspiracy investigation and coordinated a large undercover operation in the United States. For his superior performance, he received letters of recognition from throughout the United States Justice Department and United States Treasury Department. Wayman earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in business and psychology from Texas Wesleyan.

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