Political People and their Moves

Some of this was done a few weeks ago, but the announcement is now official: Gov. Rick Perry named Jeff Boyd chief of staff and David Morales general counsel. He also named Allison Castle communications director, Josh Havens deputy press secretary, and Jonathan Hurst director of Budget, Planning and Policy. Boyd most recently served as general counsel for the Governor’s Office. Morales was deputy first assistant to Attorney General Greg Abbott. Castle, Havens and Hurst were working — with different titles — where they're working now.

Phillip Martin joins Progress Texas and the Texas Research Institute as research and policy director. He joins Matt Glazer there; the two once worked at the Democratic Burnt Orange Report together. Martin also worked as chief of staff Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston.

The governor has been making appointments between road trips. He appointed:

Jeff Austin III of Tyler to the Texas Transportation Commission. Austin is vice chairman of Austin Bank and Texas NA.

Jason Kevin Patteson of Austin as director of the Office of State-Federal Relations. Patteson is an attorney and special counsel on federal initiatives for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Terry Hazell of Georgetown chair of the Texas Emerging Technology Advisory Committee. Hazell is director of RampCorp at Texas State University. Perry also named 13 members to the committee, including Susan “Sue” Georgen-Saad of Austin, a certified public accountant and chief financial officer of Cenoplex; Thomas Halbouty of Southlake, corporate vice president, chief information officer and chief technology officer at Pioneer Natural Resources; former Rep. Judy Hawley of Portland, a retired business developer for Advanced Acoustic Concepts; Randal “Randy” Hill of Baird, a NASCAR team owner and president and CEO of Randy Hill Racing; David Miller of Lubbock, COO of Flat Wireless, and former vice chancellor of Research and Commercialization for the Texas Tech University System; Ofer Molad of Bellaire, president and CEO of Persys Medical. He is credited with innovating modern military medical technology by commercializing products such as the “Israeli Bandage,” used during operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom; Richard Schoephoerster of El Paso, dean of the University of Texas at El Paso College of Engineering; John Schrock of McAllen, president and CEO of Lifetime Investments; Wesley Terrell of Richardson, an attorney for AT&T; Jaye Thompson of The Woodlands, senior vice president of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs for Opexa Therapeutics; Richard Williams of Richardson, director of strategy and mergers and acquisitions for Energy Future Holdings; Robert “Bob” Wright II of Dallas, an attorney and consultant for Executives in Action.