Three Appointed by Abbott to MSU Board of Regents

Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed three members to the Midwestern State University Board of Regents. Warren T. Ayres and Dr. Shelley Sweatt have been appointed as new members and Tiffany Burks was reappointed. Their terms will expire February 25, 2022.

Ayres, of Wichita Falls, is executive vice president and chief financial officer for Eagle Oil & Gas. He serves as a director for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, board member for Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation, trustee for Midwestern State University Foundation Inc., director for the Northwest Texas Council of Boy Scouts of America, board member for University United Methodist Church, member of Independent Petroleum Association of America, and advisory board member for Midwestern State University Dillard College of Business. He previously served as president of the Wichita Falls 4B Economic Development Board and chairman of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Through his volunteer and leadership efforts with the Boy Scouts of America, he earned a Silver Beaver award, Baden Powell Founders award, and the Wood Badge award. Ayres earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from MSU.

Sweatt is executive director of The Priddy Foundation. She has held numerous positions within the Burkburnett Independent School District as a high school chemistry teacher, high school assistant principal and executive director of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Sweatt is an honorary life member of Texas Association of School Administrators, Exponent Philanthropy, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Philanthropy Southwest, sustaining member of the Junior League of Wichita Falls, and a member of the First United Methodist Church. She has previously served as a trustee of The Priddy Foundation, board member for River Bend Nature Center, board member for the Appraisal Review Board of Wichita County, steering committee member for Falls Fest, committee member for the Council for the Advancement of Science Teaching, and member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and Learning Forward.

Sweatt earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from Texas Tech University, a Master of Education in Educational Supervision from Texas Woman's University and a Doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of North Texas. She lives in Wichita Falls.

Burks, of Grand Prairie, is deputy chief of the criminal division for the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney. Prior to that, she served as an instructor at The University of Texas at Arlington and an assistant district attorney for the Fort Bend County District Attorney. Burks is currently a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas District and County Attorney's Association and the Tarrant County Bar Association. She is formerly president of the L. Clifford Davis Legal Association, past member of the Black Women Lawyers of Tarrant County and a 2015 recipient of Texas Lawyer Magazine Extraordinary Minorities in Texas Law Award.

Burks earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from The University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor from Texas Southern University.

Ayres and Sweatt replace Mike Bernhardt and Kenny Bryant, whose terms expired.