Longtime board of trustees member and Texas Wesleyan University graduate Beverly Volkman Powell has been elected chairman of the board, the Fort Worth university announced April 25. She replaces outgoing Chairman Kenneth Jones. Powell, who earned her undergraduate degree from Texas Wesleyan in 1992 and her MBA in 1999, has served for 14 years on the board and has chaired the academic affairs, personnel, and buildings and grounds committees. She previously served as vice chairman of the board.
“Beverly has been a key member of the Texas Wesleyan Board of Trustees,” President Frederick G. Slabach said. “As a business and education leader, and a Texas Wesleyan graduate, she has a keen understanding of the university’s future and its strategic vision, and her expertise will be very important in the coming years.” Powell, a residential and commercial developer for more than 35 years in her hometown of Burleson, is the immediate past president of the Burleson Independent School District Board of Trustees. Hill College will honor Powell next month with its Pillar of the Community award for her work with Burleson’s Higher Education Initiative, which has increased scholarship funding for Burleson’s college-bound students.
Texas Wesleyan also named Dan Boulware ’68 vice chairman of the board and John R. Murphey ’71 as secretary. Boulware is a partner in the Law Firm of MacLean & Boulware, and is director of the Texas Legal Protection Plan and chairman of the advisory board for the Texas District and County Attorney Foundation. Murphey served more than 40 years at Textron, operating companies in the United States and abroad. He served as president, and then as chairman and CEO, of the Bell Helicopter Co. until his retirement in 2004. Murphey was CEO of AgustaWestland’s U.S. operations until his retirement in July 2005. He is business-executive-in-residence for Texas Wesleyan’s School of Business Administration.
Betty Dillard bdillard@bizpress.net