Board of Trustees

Nicholas A. Merrick | Mayoral Appointee | Chairman

Nicholas A. Merrick is President of Mt. Vernon Investments LLC, an investment company with over $1 billion in assets principally controlled by Kenny Troutt (owner of WinStar Farm). Prior to Mt. Vernon Investments, Mr. Merrick served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Excel Communications up to its merger with Teleglobe, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Merrick served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Telco Communications Group, Inc.

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Tina Hernandez Patterson | Mayoral Appointee | Vice Chairman

Tina Hernandez is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the Sub Saharan Opportunity Fund (SSO), a private equity fund providing debt financing in West Africa. Tina has over 20 years of experience in the hedge fund industry, with specific focus and expertise in the Credit/Capital Structure trading and risk management space.

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Michael Taglienti | Police Officer Trustee | Deputy Vice Chairman

Michael Taglienti is a Dallas Police Officer with 20 years of experience in law enforcement. He holds a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University and a M.S. degree from the University of Mississippi. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Texas A&M-Commerce, where he teaches courses on criminal justice and public administration.

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Michael Brown | Mayoral Appointee

Mr. Brown is a Co-Founder and Managing Director for Adjunct Partners, LP (www.adjunctpartners.com) a boutique financial advisory firm focused on assisting emerging and lower middle market companies align their strategic business plans with the appropriate capital structure...

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Steve Idoux | Mayoral Appointee

Steve joined Lockton in 2007 as Vice President and became a Partner in 2019. In 2021, he was promoted to President of Lockton’s Dallas offices, and he was promoted again to CEO in 2024. He focuses on expanding the firm’s benefits expertise through hands-on mentoring and sharing of best practices, ultimately strengthening the support provided to clients.

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Vacant | Mayoral Appointee

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Nancy Rocha | Non-Member Trustee

Nancy Rocha has a longstanding career in financial services including investment banking, credit analytics and asset management. Currently, Ms. Rocha is a director in the public finance division of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. (“STIFEL”) where she covers regional markets and services municipal entities in structuring and issuing multi-million dollar debt instruments and direct private placements. Ms. Rocha also serves as Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Program Committee for Stifel’s public finance department.

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Tony Scavuzzo | Non-Member Trustee

Tony Scavuzzo, CFA is a Managing Principal at Castle Creek Capital, an alternative asset management firm focused on community banking. He sits on the Investment Committee for the Castle Creek funds and works with the board of directors at several portfolio companies including Mid Penn Bancorp (NASDAQ: MPB), Pathfinder Bancorp (NASDAQ: PBHC), Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ: EFSC), McGregor Bancshares, and First Bancshares of Texas. Previous board experience includes over a dozen other companies. He also serves on various board committees regarding governance, compensation, risk, and asset/liability management.

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Matthew Shomer | Fire Fighter Trustee

Matthew Shomer is a Captain in the Dallas Fire Department with 15 years of active service. He has a B.A. from Texas A&M University and an M.A. in Educational Administration from the University of North Texas. Matt owns Pioneer Realty LLC, a real estate brokerage handling both commercial & residential transactions in Texas, Oklahoma and Puerto Rico and Petrichor LLC which oversees mixed-use property development throughout the United States.

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Marcus Smith | Non-Member Trustee

Mr. Smith received a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in International Business from Howard University and an M.B.A. from Texas Southern University. After graduating in 1999, he joined Enron Corporation in Houston, where he managed large commercial and industrial accounts for energy customers. In 2001, Mr. Smith joined Reliant Energy as a Senior Marketing Analyst before moving to Rio de Janeiro in 2003 to serve as a Consultant at Brazilianbased real estate company, Spiral Carioca, Inc.

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Tom Tull | Mayoral Appointee

Tom Tull, CFA, with 40+ years of investment experience in both private and public capital markets was the Chief Investment Officer at the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) where he managed a $36 billion Trust. While at ERS Mr. Tull has been involved with over 200 completed investment transactions totaling $13 billion encompassing private equity, private real estate, global credit, hedge funds, and special situations.

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