The TSTC Foundation names two new board members

(WACO, Texas) – The TSTC Foundation, the support arm of Texas State Technical College, has named two new board members.

Larry Gonzales, of Round Rock, and Mark Robinson, of East Mountain, will begin their three-year board terms on Sept. 1 and attend their first Foundation meeting in October in Waco.

“I am excited about the experience both of these folks bring,” said Michael Smith, TSTC’s vice president of institutional advancement. “They have demonstrated that they bleed TSTC and are willing to go above and beyond not just talking about it, but also acting on it.”

Gonzales is a senior advisor at Husch Blackwell Strategies in Austin and a former member of the Texas House of Representatives.

“Educating our Texas population is the most important task we have as a state,” he said. “Everything in society and our communities begins with a trained and trainable workforce. TSTC is the backbone of educating Texans who deliver core services.”

Gonzales is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University.

Robinson is external affairs manager at Southwestern Electric Power Co., a subsidiary of American Electric Power, in Longview. 

“I like the agility that TSTC provides for our workforce development initiatives,” Robinson said. “To me, it is about looking at the trends of the employer from the economic development side.”

Robinson grew up in Corpus Christi and is a graduate of Texas Baptist College and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He has worked in the electric industry for more than 15 years.

The TSTC Foundation has 11 board members, who are nominated by campus provosts or Foundation development officers and ratified by the board. Board members are expected to attend meetings and special events, serve as chairs on the college’s regional Council of Advocates, and work with Foundation field development officers and staff on fundraising efforts.

“At the end of the day, what we are looking for are folks who believe in the mission, who support what we are doing and want to be an active part of helping with that,” Smith said.

The TSTC Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the sole purpose of assisting and supporting TSTC and its students.

For more information on The TSTC Foundation, go to tstc.edu/give/.