Regents appoint new member to University Lands Advisory Board

A new member with extensive real estate experience was appointed to the University Lands Advisory Board Thursday by the UT System Board of Regents.

John L. Zogg, Jr., managing director for Crescent Real Estate Equities in Dallas, was appointed to a three-year term. Zogg is a graduate of UT Austin and earned an MBA degree from UT Dallas. He also is an executive member of the Advisory Council for the Real Estate Center at the UT Austin McCombs School of Business.

The University Lands Advisory Board was created by the Board of Regents in 2014 to provide strategic guidance to the University Lands Office and serve in an advisory capacity to regents on land operations and management. The University Lands Office manages activities on 2.1 million acres of land that stretch across West Texas in the oil-rich Permian Basin that generate revenue for UT and Texas A&M institutions.

Since the University Lands Advisory Board was created, revenue generated for the Permanent University Fund and Available University Fund has increased 28 percent, even though the price of oil has decreased by 26 percent.

The University Lands Advisory Board is composed of nine members, including the Texas Land Commissioner, five members selected by the UT System Board of Regents (including two regents) and three members selected by the A&M System Board of Regents (including one regent). Zogg will replace Frank Tsuru as a UT representative on the Board.

Earlier this month, the A&M Board of Regents appointed Regent Jay Graham to serve the remainder of a two-year term. The term previously was held by Elaine Mendoza, who was recently appointed chairman of the A&M Board of Regents.

About The University of Texas System
For more than 130 years, The University of Texas System has been committed to improving the lives of Texans and people all over the world through education, research and health care. With 14 institutions, an enrollment of nearly 240,000 students and an operating budget of $21.1 billion (FY 2020), the UT System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. UT institutions produce more than 60,000 graduates annually and award more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees and more than half of its health professional degrees. Collectively, UT-owned and affiliated hospitals and clinics accounted for more than 8.2 million outpatient visits and 1.6 million hospital days last year. Across UT institutions, research and development expenditures total $2.9 billion – the highest in Texas and the second highest in the nation among public higher education systems – and the UT System is regularly ranked among the top 10 most innovative universities in the world. The UT System also is one of the largest employers in Texas, with more than 21,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates and members of the National Academies – and more than 83,000 health care professionals, researchers and support staff.