Abbott appoints LCRA board members
Llano County rancher Hatch C. Smith Jr. and Llano banker David Willmann are the newest members of the Lower Colorado River Authority Board of Directors. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed five LCRA board members on Wednesday, May 10, for terms due to expire on Feb. 1, 2029.
Three are reappointments: Nancy Yeary of Lampasas, Stephen Cooper of El Campo, and Tom Kelley of Eagle Lake.
All five must be confirmed by the Texas Senate.
Smith, who was profiled in the March 2021 issue of The Picayune Magazine, is a fifth-generation Llano County cattle rancher and chief executive officer and administrator of MidCoast Medical Center-Central. He owns and operates RedSmith Genetics, which focuses on registered red and gray Brahman cattle. The governor appointed Smith to the state’s new Broadband Development Council in August 2021.
Previously, Smith worked in business and finance positions in New York City, Boston, and Dallas. He is a board member of the American Brahman Breeders Association and American Tarentaise Association and a member of the Rural Capital Area Workforce Development Board and the Broadband Development Council. He received a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University.
Willmann is chairman of the board of Llano National Bank and executive chairman of the bank’s management team. He volunteers on the Texas A&M Rural Health Committee in Llano County.
Previously, he served in leadership positions with the Llano Chamber of Commerce, Independent Bankers Association of Texas, Hill Country Livestock Raisers Association, Llano Lions Club, and the board of his local church. He received a Bachelor of Science in agricultural economics and a Master of Science in agricultural finance from Texas A&M University.
Of the 15 board members, four are now from Llano County. One, Yeary, is listed on the website as a resident of Burnet County, although the governor’s office cited Lampasas as her home.
Llano County board members are Smith (listed as residing in Boerne by the governor’s office), Willmann, Carol Freeman, and Raymond A. “Ray” Gill Jr.