Texas A&M’s new president Katherine Banks has announced changes in seven top positions at the university and the creation of an eighth position.
Among the changes, Corps of Cadets commandant Joe Ramirez becomes A&M’s interim vice president for student affairs. An A&M official says the corps’s chief of staff, Byron Stebbins, is staying on as interim commandant. Stebbins, a retired Marine colonel, was supposed to retire in August.
Four of the eight people in new places previously worked for Dr. Banks when she was dean of the engineering college and when she led TEES…which is the system’s engineering experiment station.
The changes includes a new chief financial officer, a new vice president of marketing and communications, a new vice president of governmental relations, an interim vice president of the health science center, an interim vice president of research, and an interim vice president for information technology. The new position is chief operations officer.
Texas A&M Community:
Earlier this week, I announced that I am conducting a comprehensive review of the university’s operations with the goal of developing an administrative structure that is effective, efficient and flexible, while directing our valuable resources toward our mission: the success of our students, faculty and staff.
As a first step in this process, I have identified several individuals who will serve in university leadership roles. The following newly-appointed individuals will assume their roles effective June 3, 2021.
Joe E. Ramirez, Jr. ’79, Brigadier General, USA (Ret.) has been appointed interim vice president for student affairs. In this role, Ramirez is responsible for leadership of student affairs departments, programs and services designed for the success of more than 71,000 students. For the past 10 years, he has served as commandant of the Corps of Cadets and has 31 years of military service and leadership positions in various joint and operational commands.
I would like to thank Dr. Danny Pugh for serving as vice president of student affairs for the past six years where he has been a passionate advocate for our students.
Greg Hartman has been appointed chief operations officer and will be responsible for all university operations, including human resources, transportation services, IT, facilities, safety and security. Hartman previously served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of Texas A&M Health. A former industry executive with more than 30 years of experience and responsibility in executive management, strategy, policy, marketing, communications and government, Hartman joined The Texas A&M University System as vice chancellor of strategic initiatives in January 2019.
John W. Crawford ’93 has been appointed chief financial officer and will be responsible for managing all financial resources for the university, including fiscal operations, short- and long-range planning, budgeting, financial analysis, payroll, procurement and contracting. Crawford previously served as assistant vice chancellor for business management and chief financial officer for the Texas A&M Engineering Program for the past eight years and, prior to that, served as controller at Texas A&M University for five years. He has more than 23 years of service to the university.
The previous position of vice president of finance and operations and chief financial officer was held by Dr. Jerry Strawser since 2014. I want to thank Jerry who supervised unprecedented growth while ensuring our university’s resources were used appropriately.
Dr. Jon Mogford ’90 has been appointed interim vice president and chief operating officer of Texas A&M Health, replacing Greg Hartman. Dr. Mogford will be responsible for implementing a comprehensive strategic plan to leverage system resources and modernize the Health Science Center. Previously, Mogford served as vice chancellor for research for The Texas A&M University System and worked in close collaboration with The Texas A&M System’s 11 universities and eight state agencies to facilitate the growth of research for all system members.
Marilyn M. Martell has been appointed vice president for marketing and communications and chief marketing and communications officer. Martell will be responsible for university-wide brand management, media relations, digital communications, campus sponsorships and trademark and licensing of the Texas A&M brand. For the past 19 years, Martell was senior assistant vice chancellor for marketing and communications for the Texas A&M Engineering Program, where she led strategic direction and coordination of public relations, communications and marketing.
I would like to thank Amy Smith for serving as senior vice president of marketing and communications for the last five years. During that time, Amy expanded the Texas A&M brand globally and addressed many challenges.
Dr. Jack G. Baldauf has been appointed interim vice president for research. In this role, he will lead Texas A&M’s Division of Research, which delivers strategic support to further the university’s research mission by facilitating collaborations to increase federal funding, strengthening the research infrastructure, encouraging commercialization partnerships and ensuring research compliance. Baldauf, a professor in the College of Geosciences, currently serves as senior associate vice president for research in the Texas A&M Division of Research.
I want to thank Dr. Mark Barteau for his service as vice president for research since 2018, where he worked closely with university researchers to build collaboration and momentum.
Norman Garza, Jr. has been appointed vice president of government relations. He will lead the implementation of Congressional and legislative initiatives through coordination with The Texas A&M System Offices of State and Federal Relations. He served as assistant vice chancellor of government relations and external affairs for three state agencies since 2014, and was previously associate legislative director for Texas Farm Bureau.
Garza replaces Michael O’Quinn ’86, who will assume a new role as senior advisor where he will assist with strategy development and organizational effectiveness. O’Quinn previously served as vice president of governmental relations in several Texas A&M administrations.
Ed Pierson ’82 has been named interim vice president for information technology and chief information officer. Previously, Pierson served as director of IT, chief information officer and assistant vice chancellor of industry partnerships for the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station since 2014. Prior to Texas A&M, he worked for healthcare, energy, public safety, and data center operations companies.
I want to thank M. Dee Childs for serving as vice president of information technology for the past five years. Childs implemented many operational changes that advanced our cybersecurity, IT and service offerings.
I appreciate the significant contributions of those who previously served the administration and welcome the new members of the team.
Sincerely,
M. Katherine Banks
President
Texas A&M University