The Texas A&M System Board of Regents will potentially select the new chancellor by the end of the day, Monday, Feb. 24, according to a public agenda. The Board is deliberating on the final selection in an all-day meeting in Houston.
According to The Texas Tribune, the regents have narrowed the finalists to five candidates for the position of chancellor, which include a mix of prominent leaders in state and federal government, a university president and the president of the Texas A&M Foundation:
- Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar ‘93
- Texas A&M Foundation President Tyson Voelkel ‘96
- University of Alabama President Stuart Bell ‘79
- State Rep. Trent Ashby ‘96 (R-9)
- U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-10)
Hegar is an attorney who has served as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts since 2015 and was elected twice in 2018 and 2022. He previously served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives representing Texas House District 28 from 2003 to 2007 before being elected to the Texas Senate representing the 18th Texas Senate District from 2007 to 2014. Hegar graduated from A&M in 1993 with a degree in political science and history and acts as Texas’ chief financial officer.
Voelkel has served as president and CEO of the Texas A&M Foundation for eight years. Since his hiring, he has led the $4 billion Lead By Example campaign for A&M, and the Foundation has provided over $1.5 billion in cash and assets to the university under his leadership. He graduated in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and served in the U.S. Army before teaching at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Today, Voelkel still serves in the U.S. Army Reserves as Lieutenant Colonel.
Bell has been the University of Alabama’s president since 2015 and announced he would step down earlier this year. He graduated from A&M in 1979 with a nuclear engineering degree and pursued a master’s and Ph.D. in the same subject area. Before stepping in as Alabama’s president, he held several university leadership positions, including executive vice president and provost at Louisiana State University and dean of the University of Kansas’ College of Engineering.
Ashby represents the 9th Texas House district as a member of the Texas House since 2023. Before his election, he represented the 57th Texas House District from 2013 to 2023 and served as president and member of the Lufkin Independent School District Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2012. He served in the Student Government Association as a senator while studying at A&M and was elected Senior Yell Leader and class treasurer before graduating in 1996. He remains active through A&M’s Letterman’s Association and the Association of Former Students.
McCaul is an attorney who has represented Texas’ 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005. He sits as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — a position he has held since 2023 — and previously chaired the House Committee on Homeland Security during the 113th, 114th and 115th Congresses. Before his election to the U.S. Congress, he served as a federal prosecutor. He is the only candidate who is not an A&M alumnus.
The selected finalist would succeed Chancellor John Sharp ‘72, who announced he would retire on June 30. He is the longest-serving chancellor in the history of the A&M System. Whoever steps into the position would lead eight state agencies and 11 universities educating over 150,000 students.
If the regents choose a finalist today, it would begin a 21-day wait before the candidate can be officially appointed.
