New TASB Officers Elected for 2025-26
Austin— The 2025-26 officers for the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) were elected during the Association’s 2025 Delegate Assembly, which was held Sept. 13 in Houston. New TASB President Tony Hopkins of Friendswood ISD succeeds Immediate Past President Rolinda Schmidt of Kerrville ISD. Mary Jane Hetrick of Dripping Springs ISD now serves as president-elect. First vice-president is Dan Micciche of Dallas ISD, and second vice-president is Sylvia Sánchez Garza of South Texas ISD. Justin Chapa of Arlington ISD serves as secretary-treasurer.
Tony Hopkins, President
Hopkins has served on the Friendswood ISD Board since 2008 and was elected to his fifth four-year term in 2020. Hopkins currently serves as board president. He is a Leadership TASB graduate and a Master Trustee. Hopkins has served on the TASB Board since March 2018.
Hopkins was the president of the Gulf Coast Area Association of School Boards for 2019-20 and 2020-21. He is president of Four Creek Investments LLC, an independent energy consulting and investment firm, and serves as chief financial officer of 14 companies, including Modular Plant Solutions, LLC; Woven Metal Products, Inc and TF Companies LLC.
Hopkins earned a bachelor’s degree from Lamar University and a master’s degree from Rice University.
Mary Jane Hetrick, President-Elect
Hetrick is in her fourth term on the Dripping Springs ISD Board of Trustees, currently serving a third year as vice-president after serving two years as president. She is a 2017 Leadership TASB graduate and Master Trustee.
She earned a bachelor’s in business administration from The University of Texas-Pan American (now UT-Rio Grande Valley), a master’s in public administration and certificate in nonprofit management from Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM), and a doctorate in public administration and public policy from Auburn University.
Hetrick’s professional experience includes working as an adjunct professor for AUM, TROY University, and Austin Community College. In 2014, she founded a nonprofit consulting business.
Active in her community, Hetrick was honored by the Dripping Springs Chamber of Commerce with the Hometown Hero award in 2020. She serves on the Dripping Springs Education Foundation Board and as president of the Foster Village Board and was co-founder and vice-president of Patriots’ Hall of Dripping Springs.
Dan Micciche, First Vice-President
Micciche is partner emeritus at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. During his time with Akin Gump, Micciche started and chaired a school partnership program with James W. Fannin Elementary School in Dallas. The program won the State Board of Education’s highest award for community partnerships in 2011.
He has received numerous recognitions for his work in public education, including the No Kid Hungry Award from Share Our Strength, The Closing the Gap Award from Leadership ISD, and the Voice of Children Award from Children at Risk.
He received his undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University, his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, and his master’s degree in education policy and analysis from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Micciche also holds a master’s degree in public leadership from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.
He has been recognized by D Magazine as one of the Best Lawyers in Dallas and by Texas Monthly as a Super Lawyer.
Micciche’s civic and charitable activities include serving on the boards of the American Red Cross Dallas, Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce, and Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas. He previously served on the School Finance Task Force of the Greater Dallas Chamber and the State Bar of Texas Board. He was a member of the Comptroller’s Tax Advisory Group under three different comptrollers.
Sylvia Sánchez Garza, Second Vice-President
Sánchez Garza has served on the South Texas ISD Board since 2008 and is currently the board vice-president. She has also served on the Education Foundation of South Texas ISD since 2004. She is a 2012 Leadership TASB graduate and Master Trustee. Sánchez Garza is also a member of Mexican American School Boards Association and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and is the past National Hispanic Council Southern Regional Director.
Active in her community, she currently serves on the South Texas Literacy Coalition Board and is a past chair of the Museum of South Texas History Board. She grew up in Weslaco, where the local library is named after her father, a former migrant farmworker, superintendent, mayor, and author. Sánchez Garza is a founder of the Mayor Joe V. Sanchez Memorial Book Festival and an ex officio board member of the Mayor Joe V. Sanchez Public Library.
She has a doctorate in leadership studies from Our Lady of the Lake University’s School of Business and Leadership, a master’s in educational administration from Lamar University, a master’s in creative writing, and a bachelor’s in English from The University of Texas–Pan American.
Sánchez Garza and her husband own B.I.C. Development and Garco Ranch Communities. She is the author of three books and is featured in three anthologies and several literary magazines. Her books have won several literary awards.
Justin Chapa, Secretary-Treasurer
Chapa has served on the Arlington ISD Board of Trustees since 2017 and currently serves as the board’s president. He previously served on the district’s Financial Futures, Citizens Bond Oversight, and Capital Needs steering committees.
He spent his undergraduate years at Harvard University, earning a bachelor’s in government. Upon graduating, he joined Teach for America and taught 12th grade government and economics classes at Rivera High School in Brownsville, Texas. He then pursued his Juris Doctorate at Stanford Law School, where he concurrently earned a master’s in education. Currently, he is a senior attorney at McDowell Hetherington LLP.
Chapa co-founded a scholarship program for graduating seniors at his alma mater, Sam Houston High School. The program has awarded more than $50,000 in scholarships since 2007. He has served on the boards of United Way Tarrant County, Arlington ISD Education Foundation, Arlington Public Library Foundation, and Leadership Arlington, among other groups.
Rolinda Schmidt, Immediate Past President
Schmidt has served on the Kerrville ISD Board since 1996 and has held the positions of board president, vice-president, and secretary.
Before serving as a trustee, she was involved in campus PTOs and was a board member and volunteer for the Kerrville Public School Foundation. Schmidt is actively involved in local youth education programs, including the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, Rotary Club Foreign Exchange Student Program, Head Start, and the Kerrville ISD sixth-grade outdoor education program. She was named Families and Literacy’s 2014 Champion of Education.
Schmidt has a bachelor’s degree in social services from San Jose State University. She is a managing partner in her family-owned-and-operated commercial real estate development and management company.
She is a graduate of the Leadership TASB program and a member of the School Board Advocacy Network.
About TASB
TASB is a nonprofit organization established in 1949 to serve local Texas school boards. School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state. The districts they represent serve more than 5.5 million public school students.