Members

The members of the TTRC were selected by Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Tom Craddick for their private sector leadership and vast knowledge of the complex tax challenges facing the state. The group represents a diverse cross section of the Texas economy.

Truman Arnold of Texarkana is chairman of the board of Truman Arnold Companies, a privately-owned regional petroleum marketing company. Arnold is a National Advisory Council member on the National Petroleum Council. He is also a member of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, the Texas Oil Marketers Association and the Arkansas Oil Marketers Association. Arnold is chairman of the board of directors of Christus St. Michael Health System in Texarkana and of the Texarkana College Foundation board. He is former president of the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce. Arnold received his bachelor's degree from Lamar University in Beaumont.

William B. Blaylock of Dallas is vice president and tax director at Texas Instruments (TI), where he is responsible for the administration of TI tax matters, including public policy issues involving taxation. He also has been a member of TI teams that analyzed site selection decisions for manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and abroad. Blaylock has served as the chairperson and in other capacities on many tax committees for such organizations as Manufacturers Alliance, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Semiconductor Industry Association, and he has testified on tax policy issues at the state and federal levels. A certified public accountant and attorney, Blaylock received his undergraduate degree from Baylor University and his law degree from Baylor Law School.

A.J. Brune III of Midland is chief financial officer and executive vice president of Wagner and Brown, Ltd., an independent oil and gas producer where he has worked for since 1986. Brune is also a certified public accountant. He was recommended for appointment to the commission by House Speaker Tom Craddick. He previously held the position of vice president - taxation of Conquest Exploration Company, an American Stock Exchange-listed oil and gas exploration and production company. Brune also worked for Arthur Andersen and Company for 12 years, eventually serving as a partner in the tax division of their Houston office. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Houston.

T. Randall Cain of San Antonio, a certified public accountant, is managing partner of Ernst & Young's San Antonio office, where he also serves as the Gulf Coast area tax managing partner. A graduate of Texas A&M University where he received a bachelor's degree in business administration, Cain is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, and Texas A&M University Mays College Development Council. He also has served as treasurer of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, chairman of Junior Achievement of South Texas, and on the 12th Man foundation and the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

Alonzo Cantu of McAllen is president of Cantu Construction Co., which was awarded the National Minority Construction Firm of the Year. Cantu serves as chairman of the board for Lone Star National Bank and is involved in civic organizations including Court Appointed Special Advocates, Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, United Way, and the National Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. He co-founded and is chairman emeritus of Valley Alliance of Mentors for Opportunities and Scholarships, which has raised more than $8 million to provide scholarships for Hispanic students in the Rio Grande Valley. Cantu received a bachelor of business administration in finance from the University of Houston.

James D. Dannenbaum of Houston is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation. During his time with the company, he has served progressively as a design engineer, associate, executive vice president and in 1972, became president. Dannenbaum is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Consulting Engineers Council of Texas, Inc., and the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. He is a member and former finance committee chair of the UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Chaplaincy Fund Board. Dannenbaum is chairman of the Texas Cancer Council and is a member of The Chancellor's Council of The University of Texas System. Dannenbaum received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

Printice L Gary of Dallas is managing partner of Carleton Residential Properties, a position he has held since founding the firm in 1991. Before that, Gary was a division partner for Trammell Crow Residential Co. from 1986 to 1991, where he oversaw the acquisition, financing, development, construction, asset management, and property management of more than 6,000 multifamily housing units. From 1978 to 1985, he was vice president and corporate controller for Fox & Jacobs, Inc. He started his career as an investment banker with Piper Jaffray, and he also is a former division president with the Centex Corp. Gary is active in civic organizations, having served on the Dallas Citizens Council, Southwestern Medical Foundation and the North Texas Tollway Authority. He currently serves on the board of C.C. Young, Inc., a multiple service retirement organization in Texas, and the National Equity Fund, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Carleton College, where he currently serves as a trustee, and a MBA degree from Harvard University.

Wendy Lee Gramm of Helotes is a distinguished scholar and founder of the regulatory studies program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia. Gramm serves on the executive committee of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and is on the Board of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. She served as chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading commission for five years and was administrator for information and regulatory affairs at the Office of Management and Budget for three years. Gramm is also former executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief and former director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Economics. She has been a member of the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System since 2001. A graduate of Wellesley College, Gramm received a doctorate degree in economics from Northwestern University.

Jodie L. Jiles of Houston has been in the municipal finance business for 20 years with various Wall Street, regional and minority firms. He currently serves as senior vice president with First Albany Capital and his responsibilities include coordinating municipal finance operations; implementing strategic marketing plans with targeted clients throughout the Southwest. Jiles is currently chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership for 2005. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The One Hundred Club, The Greater Houston Visitors and Convention Bureau and The Pyramid/CDC, and he is a director of the Houston Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Jiles serves on a number of boards and commissions, including the Baylor College of Medicine Board of Directors, Texas Children's Hospital Board of Directors and the University of Texas Health Science Center Development Board. He also is a board member of the Center for Reform of School Systems, board member of Charter Schools Policy Institute and a former member of Houston Independent School District Foundation. Jiles has also served as chairman of the Governor's Business Council Math Initiative and former vice chairman of the Reading Initiative for the Governor's Business Council. Jiles has a bachelor's degree in accounting from the Texas Southern University and a master's degree in professional accountancy from The University of Texas at Austin.

Hunter Hunt of Dallas is senior vice president of Hunt Oil Co., where he focuses on the company's liquefied natural gas efforts and other energy operations, including Hunt Power. He previously worked for Morgan Stanley in London and New York. He is vice chair on the economic steering committee of the Bill J. Priest Institute for Economic Development and a member of the executive board of the School of Engineering of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Hunt is a graduate of SMU, where he received his bachelor's degree in both economics and political science.

Woody L. Hunt of El Paso is chairman and chief executive officer of Hunt Building Company, Ltd., a privately owned development, construction and property management company. Hunt was previously vice chairman of The University of Texas System Board of Regents. Serving as a member of the Governor's Business Council, Hunt is a member of the Executive Committee and chairs the Higher Education Task Force. He is involved in community organizations such as the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the El Paso Junior Achievement Board. Hunt is president of the Cimarron Foundation, a private family foundation he and his wife established, which supported the creation of the Public Policy Research Center and other university organizations at UT El Paso. Hunt received both a bachelor's degree and master of business administration from The University of Texas at Austin. He later received a master of arts degree from the Claremont Graduate School in California.

Kenneth M. Jastrow II of Austin is chairman and chief executive officer of Temple-Inland Inc., an Austin-based company, which he has been with for 27 years. Jastrow serves as director of MGIC Investment Corporation, KBHome and the American Forest and Paper Association. He is past chairman of Texas Taxpayers Research Associations and Texas Mortgage Bankers Associations. Jastrow is past chairman of The University of Texas Development Board, advisory council of the McCombs School of Business and Neighborhood Longhorns. He is a member of President Faulkner's Executive Council and Governor Perry's Business Council. Jastrow is a member of the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from The University of Texas at Austin.

Victor E. Leal of Canyon is a small-businessman and owner of Leal's Restaurants, a chain of four family restaurants, a business started by his parents in 1957. A former mayor of Muleshoe, he also has served as a regional vice president of the Texas Municipal League, on the Region 17 Service Center and as a director of the Muleshoe Chamber of Commerce. He has received a number of regional business awards, including the 1991 Business of the Year award from the Whitesboro Chamber of Commerce, the 1994 Business of the Year award from the Muleshoe Chamber of Commerce, and the 1996 Employer of the Year award from the Muleshoe Chamber of Commerce. He also is a member of the Texas Restaurant Association and NFIB and serves on the board of directors of the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce and on the United Way cabinet.

Judith A. Lindquist of San Antonio is general counsel and corporate secretary of H-E-B grocery chain. Lindquist was recently appointed to the Board of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association. Previously, she worked for Hewitt Associates; Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty and Bennett, PA; and Fredrikson and Byron, PA. Lindquist currently serves on the Fredrikson's outside advisory board. She has served on the American Law Institute's Continuing Professional Education Advisory Group, has served as co-chair of the ABA National Conference on Executive and Employee Compensation and was a member of the Journal of Taxation of Employee Benefits Advisory Board. During her tenure as a practicing attorney, Lindquist was named in The Best Lawyers in America, published by Woodward White, Inc. A graduate of the University of Illinois, she received a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

William A. McMinn of Houston is currently involved in various aspects of nanotechnologies and bio-pharmaceutical industry. McMinn spent 34 years in the corporate world working for such companies as Petro-Tex Chemical Co. and FMC Corp. He was vice president of FMC and general manager of its Industrial Chemical Group in Philadelphia. McMinn served on the company boards of Cain Chemical, Arcadian Corp., Texas Petrochemicals and Lexicon Genetics. He was president and chief executive officer of Cain Chemical and chairman of Arcadian and Texas Petrochemicals. McMinn currently serves on the board of directors of Carbon Nanotechnologies, Rational Technology and Legend Ventures. He is also chairman of the board of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. McMinn received his bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Ernest A. Morales of Devine is co-owner and general manager of Morales Feedlots, Inc., a family-owned commercial cattle feeding and ranching business that he has worked for since his youth. Morales has served in different capacities in the Texas Cattle Feeders Association and served on the board of directors for both the Texas Beef Council and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. He has also served as commissioner of the Texas Animal Health Commission and as a member of the Devine Independent School District board of trustees. Morales received a bachelor's degree in animal science from Texas A&M University.

Jan Newton of Austin is president of SBC Texas. During her 29-year career, Newton has held several positions including executive director in the office of SBC Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre, and as executive director of wholesale policy and resale marketing. She is active in the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, the Texas Telephone Association and the Roundtable Advisory Committee for TexasOne. She serves on the board of the Women's Museum in Dallas and has been active in chambers of commerce, the United Way, Junior Achievement, and Boy and Girl Scouts. A graduate of Texas Tech University, Newton completed post-graduate management programs at Duke University and the University of Southern California.

Dennis Patillo of Houston is chief executive officer of ERA Stephen Properties in Houston and president of Stewart Title in Victoria and chairman-elect of the Texas Association of Realtors. As a small-business owner, Patillo commits much of his time to legislative issues that affect the real estate industry. At the national level, Patillo served on the National Association of Realtors (NAR) board of directors as well as NAR's Multiple Listing Service, governmental affair and business issues committees. Since 2002 he has served on NAR's Federal Tax Working Group, where he reviews in detail federal tax proposals as they relate to the real estate industry and recommends policy positions for NAR. Patillo is a national authority on real estate-related consumer trends, and taxation and legislative issues.

John V. Roach of Fort Worth is currently Chairman of the Board Emeritus of Tandy Corporation, which is now Radio Shack Corporation. Roach has worked in different capacities with the company since 1967, holding such positions as general manager of Tandy Computer Services, vice president of Radio Shack Manufacturing, and president and chief executive officer of Tandy Corporation. He serves as a board member on the Texas Christian University (TCU) Board of Visitors, the Scott and White Memorial Hospital and as chairman of the Fort Worth Executive Roundtable. Roach is a former board member of the Texas Department of Commerce, former chairman of the United Way and former president of Fort Worth Country Day School. He received a bachelor's degree in physics and math and later a master's degree from TCU.

Robert Rowling of Irving is the owner and chairman of TRT Holdings, Inc., a privately owned, diversified holding company that owns the Omni Hotels chain and Tana Exploration Co. Rowling serves as chairman of Omni Hotels. He is a member of the board of trustees of The University of Texas System, the board of directors of the Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) and chairs the Task Force on U.T. Dallas Lands. Rowling is also the past chairman of the Corpus Christi Area Economic Development Corp. He currently chairs SMU's Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series and serves on the national board of trustees for Young Life. In October 2003, Rowling was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame, and he received the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award from SMU's Dedman School of Law. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, Rowling received his law degree from SMU's Dedman School of Law.

Ronald G. Steinhart of Dallas is a private investor who serves as a director of Prentiss Properties Trust. Steinhart also served as chairman and chief executive officer for the Commercial Banking Group of Bank One Corp. from 1996 until his retirement in 2000. He also served as chairman and CEO of Bank One Texas, a company he joined in connection with the merger of Bank One and Team Bank, which he founded in 1988. He also has served as a director of United Auto Group, Inc., and Carreker Corp., and as a trustee of MFS/Compass Group of Funds. He also has served on a number of civic groups, including as director of the Dallas Citizens Council, the State Fair of Texas, the Dallas Museum of Art, Zale Lipshy University Hospital, the Tate Distinguished Lecture Series and the Dallas 2012 Committee. He has a bachelor's degree in accounting and a MBA in finance from the University of Texas at Austin and is a certified public accountant. He also chairs the University of Texas at Austin Capital Campaign and is past chairman of the university's Development Board.

Dr. David Teuscher of Beaumont is a partner and member of the board of directors of the Beaumont Bone & Joint Institute as well as the team orthopedist for Lamar University's men's and women's NCAA teams. He is an orthopaedic surgeon at the Beaumont Bone and Joint Institute, Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital and Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital. Teuscher received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his doctor of medicine degree from the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio. He did his post-graduate internship and residency at Brooke Army Medical Center. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, managing editor of Orthopedic Medical Legal Advisor, and previously served on the faculty of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine and Baylor University. He also is the recipient of several military awards, including the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf, the meritorious Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and the Southwest Asia Campaign Ribbon with Oak Leaf.

Howard Wolf of Austin is chairman of the board of Stewart & Stevenson Services and acting chairman of the Falcon Seaboard Companies. Wolf, who was recommended for appointment to the commission by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, also is a member of the board of directors of Simmons & Co. International and a retired senior partner of the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski, where he practiced law for more than 40 years. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a law degree. While at UT, Wolf was elected president of Student Government and president of the Intrafraternity Council. While in law school, Wolf was elected to the Order of the Coif and was associate editor of The Texas Law Review. He also is an Eagle Scout.

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Staff

Robert Howden, a former communications director for Perry, will serve as staff director for the commission. Before working for Governor Perry, Howden was the executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) in Texas for more than 10 years. While at NFIB/Texas, Howden worked with then Governor Bush to create the first ever small business franchise tax exemption. He also worked with then Lt. Governor Perry to create the Lt. Governor's Small Business Summits which were held in seven cities throughout Texas.

Also serving as staff to the commission will be James LeBas, former revenue estimator in the comptroller's office and currently chief financial officer for the Texas Water Development Board, who will serve as research director for the commission, and Karey Barton, former director of tax policy for Sharp when he was comptroller.

The phone number for the Texas Tax Reform Commission staff office is (512) 463-8209.