New TASB Officers Elected for 2024-2025

Austin— The 2024-25 officers for the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) were elected during the Association’s 2024 Delegate Assembly, which was held Sept. 28 in San Antonio. New TASB President Rolinda Schmidt of Kerrville ISD succeeds Immediate Past President Armando Rodriguez of Canutillo ISD. Tony Hopkins of Friendswood ISD now serves as president-elect. First vice-president is Mary Jane Hetrick of Dripping Springs ISD, and second vice-president is Dan Micciche of Dallas ISD. Sylvia Sánchez Garza of South Texas ISD serves as secretary-treasurer.

Rolinda Schmidt, 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.

Tony Hopkins, President-Elect

Hopkins has served on the Friendswood ISD Board since 2008 and was elected to his fourth 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 and is active in the TASB grassroots process. He is president of Four Creek Investments LLC, an independent energy consulting and investment firm, and serves as chief financial officer of 11 companies.

Hopkins earned a bachelor’s degree from Lamar University and a master’s degree from Rice University.

Mary Jane Hetrick, First Vice-President

Hetrick is in her fourth term on the Dripping Springs ISD Board of Trustees, currently serving a second 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, as president of the Foster Village Board, and as co-founder and vice-president of Patriots’ Hall of Dripping Springs.

Dan Micciche, Second Vice-President

Micciche was elected to the Dallas ISD Board in 2012. 

He recently retired from the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. He joined the firm after his graduation from law school in 1981. During his time with Akin Gump, he 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 received the No Kid Hungry Award from Share Our Strength in 2014 and The Closing the Gap Award from Leadership ISD in 2017.

He received his undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University in New York and his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. 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, Texas C-BAR (Community Building through Attorney Resources), and American Foundation for the Blind-Southwest Region. 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, Secretary-Treasurer

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.

Active in her community, she currently serves on the South Texas Literacy Coalition Board and is the co-founder of the Annual Mayor Joe V. Sanchez Memorial Book Festival. Sánchez Garza is a member of the Mexican American School Boards Association and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. 

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. Her books have won several literary awards. She is a member of the Authors Guild, Texas Authors, and the Writer’s League of Texas. Her latest young adult novel, Ghost Brother, is published by Piñata Books. 

Armando Rodriguez, Immediate Past President

Rodriguez is serving his fifth term on the Canutillo ISD Board, where his fellow trustees have elected him as president, vice president, and secretary. He has the distinction of being one of the youngest people ever to be elected to office in El Paso County. Rodriguez is a Leadership TASB graduate and Master Trustee.

A graduate of Canutillo High School and The University of Texas at El Paso, Rodriguez is one of the founding members of the Canutillo Alumni Foundation for Education — the only organization specifically designed to award scholarships to Canutillo graduates.

Rodriguez’s work on behalf of students extends beyond El Paso. He is involved with a variety of education and community boards in Texas and nationally. He currently serves on the board of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund.

Other previous leadership positions include serving on the National School Boards Association Board of Directors, as chair of the National Hispanic Council, and as secretary of the National School Boards Action Center. Rodriguez has also served as president of the Mexican American School Boards Association and president of the Far West Texas School Boards Association.

Professionally, he is the business development manager of Hellas Construction, Inc.