(College Station, Texas) – Robert D. McTeer, 62, was named chancellor of The Texas A&M University System today in a vote during a special telephonic meeting of the nine-member A&M System Board of Regents.

“I look forward to serving the people of Texas in this new role,” McTeer said. “I thank the members of the Board for making this opportunity available, as well as my new colleagues—the students, former students, members of the faculty and administrative staff, government leaders and others across the state—who have made me feel so welcome. I accept this position with gratitude and enthusiasm.”

McTeer, who plans to succeed Interim Chancellor A. Benton Cocanougher in early November, was named the sole finalist for the position by the Board of Regents on Oct. 13. He had been president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas since 1991.

“Bob McTeer brings a wealth of experience from the worlds of higher education and finance,” said Board Chairman Lowry Mays. “He will provide the A&M System with visionary leadership.” Mays also praised the contributions of Cocanougher, who will return to his position as A. P. & Earline Wiley Professor of marketing at Texas A&M’s Mays School of Business.

“Benton Cocanougher served the A&M System well since Chancellor Howard Graves stepped down because of health reasons last fall,” Mays said. “We appreciate all that he has done during this transition period.”

McTeer, a Georgia native, received B.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from the University of Georgia and served on its faculty for two years before joining the Federal Reserve System. He joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Va., in 1968 as an economist and held several administrative positions there. He was named senior vice president in charge of the Baltimore, Md., branch of the Richmond Reserve Bank in 1980, a position he held until he became president of the Dallas Reserve Bank in 1991.

He has been an adjunct faculty member at several universities, including ten years at the Johns Hopkins University. He serves on the board of overseers of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, is a member of the board of directors of the National Council on Economic Education and is a past president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education.

McTeer and his wife, Suzanne, have two grown sons and will live in Reed House, the
chancellor’s residence near the Texas A&M campus.

As chancellor, McTeer will lead one of the nation’s largest higher education systems. The A&M System—nine universities, seven state agencies and a health science center—educates 100,000 students, employs more than 38,500 across Texas, reaches another 11 million people each year through its service mission, and has an annual operating budget of $2.25 billion.

In other action, the Board named Dr. Elsa Murano to the top agriculture position in the A&M System.