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http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/11278213-123/jindal-names-appointees-to-southern
Gov. Bobby Jindal dealt a diverse hand to Southern University on Wednesday, naming five new appointees to the system’s Board of Supervisors. Among them are a central Louisiana businessman, a former prosecutor who is making a return to the board, a mechanical engineer, a specialist at an alumina refinery and a doctor who dabbles in hip-hop.
It remains to be seen what the new members will mean for the cash-strapped historically black university system’s search for a new president, which had been put on hold pending Jindal’s decision on filling the five vacancies that came open Jan. 1.
The Board of Supervisors will meet Friday and is expected to discuss the presidential search.
The old board voted 9-4 against extending President Ronald Mason Jr.’s contract beyond its June 30 expiration date. The members, whose terms expired Dec. 31 either voted against Mason’s extension or were absent. Jindal could have reappointed any of the outgoing members, but the five named late Wednesday are all new faces.
The new appointees are:
Gaines and Company Inc. CEO Curman Gaines, of Alexandria, who previously served as executive director of the Central Louisiana Business Incubator
Donald Ray Henry, of Donaldsonville, a Noranda Alumina technical specialist
Manitowoc Company senior mechanical engineer Richard Hilliard, of Shreveport
Voorhies & Labbé attorney Pat Magee, of Lafayette, who was formerly assistant district attorney for the 15th Judicial District and served on the Southern board from 2008 to 2012
Dr. Rani Whitfield, a Baton Rouge doctor and health advocate known as “Tha Hip-Hop Doc.â€
Members whose terms expired Dec. 31 were Darren Mire, of New Orleans; Walter Dumas and Murphy Bell, of Baton Rouge; Myron Lawson, of Alexandria; and the board’s past chairwoman, Bridget Dinvaut, of LaPlace.
Mire was absent the day that the board voted against Mason’s contract extension. The rest of the former members voted against Mason.
Mason said he wouldn’t have accepted a contract extension and didn’t want one because the board didn’t agree to a list of demands that would have given him more power to work on a strategy for Southern’s future.
Gov. Bobby Jindal dealt a diverse hand to Southern University on Wednesday, naming five new appointees to the system’s Board of Supervisors. Among them are a central Louisiana businessman, a former prosecutor who is making a return to the board, a mechanical engineer, a specialist at an alumina refinery and a doctor who dabbles in hip-hop.
It remains to be seen what the new members will mean for the cash-strapped historically black university system’s search for a new president, which had been put on hold pending Jindal’s decision on filling the five vacancies that came open Jan. 1.
The Board of Supervisors will meet Friday and is expected to discuss the presidential search.
The old board voted 9-4 against extending President Ronald Mason Jr.’s contract beyond its June 30 expiration date. The members, whose terms expired Dec. 31 either voted against Mason’s extension or were absent. Jindal could have reappointed any of the outgoing members, but the five named late Wednesday are all new faces.
The new appointees are:
Gaines and Company Inc. CEO Curman Gaines, of Alexandria, who previously served as executive director of the Central Louisiana Business Incubator
Donald Ray Henry, of Donaldsonville, a Noranda Alumina technical specialist
Manitowoc Company senior mechanical engineer Richard Hilliard, of Shreveport
Voorhies & Labbé attorney Pat Magee, of Lafayette, who was formerly assistant district attorney for the 15th Judicial District and served on the Southern board from 2008 to 2012
Dr. Rani Whitfield, a Baton Rouge doctor and health advocate known as “Tha Hip-Hop Doc.â€
Members whose terms expired Dec. 31 were Darren Mire, of New Orleans; Walter Dumas and Murphy Bell, of Baton Rouge; Myron Lawson, of Alexandria; and the board’s past chairwoman, Bridget Dinvaut, of LaPlace.
Mire was absent the day that the board voted against Mason’s contract extension. The rest of the former members voted against Mason.
Mason said he wouldn’t have accepted a contract extension and didn’t want one because the board didn’t agree to a list of demands that would have given him more power to work on a strategy for Southern’s future.