The Board of Trustees, SMU’s 42-member governing board, has a new chair to add to the already prestigious member line-up.
Civil leader and Dallas lawyer Michael M. Boone has been elected chair of the SMU Board of Trustees effective June 2014.
Boone, co-founder of the Dallas law firm Haynes and Boone, has been an SMU trustee since 1996. He has served on close to every committee including Finance, Audit and Trusteeship.
“Through his longtime service and leadership on the Board, Mike Boone possesses a thorough knowledge of University operations, policies and issues, as well as opportunities for our continued advancement,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner said in a press release. “As a practicing business lawyer, he brings special expertise to his chairmanship. His leadership will be critical as the University moves into the final years of its campaign and centennial commemorations in 2015, and as we prepare for our second century of achievement.”
Along with serving the Board of Trustees, Boone now serves as a co-chair of SMU Unbridled: The Second Century Campaign, which seeks $1 billion for scholarships, faculty and academic excellence and the campus experience.
Boone, who received his B.B.A. in accounting from SMU in 1964 and his J.D. from SMU Dedman School of Law in 1967, has worked to advanced the partnership between Dallas and SMU. He is a vice chair of SMU’s Second Century Celebration Organizing Committee and also led the development of “Dallas and SMU: The Power of Partnership,” a community and economic impact report that outlines the unique contributions SMU has made and is making to North Texas.
“SMU has made great strides in improving its academic standing nationally, its value to the DFW region and the state and its global reputation,” Boone said in a press release.
In DFW, Boone has served as chairman of the Dallas Citizens Council, president of the Highland Park School Board and member of the Special Committee on School Funding of the Texas Association of School Boards.
Boone has received numerous honors for his civic leadership, including Distinguished Alumni Awards from the University as well as from the Dedman School of Law and the Cox School of Business. He also has received the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award from SMU’s Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, the Robert S. Folsom Leadership Award from the Methodist Health System Foundation and the Jack Lowe Sr. Award for Community Leadership from the Dallas Bar Association.
He currently serves as vice chair of Dedman Law School’s Executive Board and brings more than 40 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities transactions and corporate governance
“I look forward to serving SMU in this new capacity,” Boone said in a press release. “We have a great leader in our president, R. Gerald Turner, and a fully engaged Board of Trustees.”
