Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is tapping John Sharp, the chancellor of Texas A&M University, to lead the rebuilding effort in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
Sharp will chair the newly formed Governor’s Commission to Rebuild Texas, according to Abbott’s office. The governor is expected to unveil the commission at a news conference Thursday at the state Capitol.
Sharp has served as chancellor of the A&M system since 2011. Years before that, he was a longtime Democratic elected official, serving as the comptroller, in both houses of the state legislature and on the Railroad Commission.
When he served in the state Senate in the 1980s, Sharp’s Victoria-based district included communities that were hardest hit by Harvey when it made landfall last month as a Category 4 storm.
Abbott’s appointment of Sharp to lead the commission was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Sharp is not expected to have to leave his job at A&M for the new position.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors is available here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/09/06/abbott-selects-sharp-lead-harvey-rebuilding-effort/.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.