The Board of Regents, the 19-member governing body for the University System of Georgia, elected Regent James M. Hull to a one-year term as the Board’s chair and Regent Don L. Waters to a one-year term as the Board’s vice chair.

Hull will serve as Board Chair from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2018. Governor Nathan Deal first appointed Hull to the Board of Regents in 2013 as an at-large member and reappointed him in January 2016.

“I am truly honored to be elected as chair by my fellow Regents,” says Hull. “Higher education is critical for our state in order to have a growing and educated workforce. Through my work on the Board, I see firsthand the direct and positive impact education has on the lives of our students. I look forward to continuing to work with the Board on behalf of the faculty, staff and students of the University System of Georgia.”

Hull is the founder and managing principal of Hull Property Group. He has led the acquisition, development and redevelopment of over 70 big-box retail, neighborhood and regional shopping centers including 30 enclosed regional malls, which comprise the Company’s 15 million plus square feet of owned retail portfolio.

Hull is a lifelong resident of Augusta, Georgia and currently serves as the vice chairman of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. He is also on the boards of the Medical College of Georgia Foundation, Augusta University Health System, State of Georgia’s REACH Scholarship Program, the Georgia Research Alliance, the Community Foundation of the CSRA, America’s Warrior Partnership and is past Chair of the University System of Georgia Foundation.

He endowed the Hull Scholars Program at Paine College and Vanderbilt University and is a long-standing member of the United Way’s Alexis de Tocqueville Society and has been honored with the United Way’s Founders Award. Hull received the President’s Award from Augusta University, the Liberty Bell Award from the Augusta Bar Association and the Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Society of Fundraising Professionals. He is a Rotary Club Paul Harris Fellow, past president of the Augusta Assembly, and has been inducted in Junior Achievement’s Business Hall of Fame and Beta Gamma Sigma’s Honor Society. Hull is a recipient of an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Augusta University.

Waters was appointed in 2013 to the Board of Regents to represent the First Congressional District. He is the CEO of Waters Capital Partners, LLC, an investment company and family office.

“The University System of Georgia, and its 28 public colleges and universities, is a vital resource for the State of Georgia,” says Waters. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve as vice chairman and working with the Board to support our 325,000 plus students toward college completion.”

From 1993 through 2016, Waters was the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Brasseler USA, Inc., an international manufacturer of dental and medical surgical instrumentation. Prior to that he practiced both as a Certified Public Accountant, as a Partner with Price Waterhouse & Co., and as an attorney with HunterMaclean. A native of Savannah, Waters currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Chatham County Hospital Authority, the Board of Trustees of the Augusta University Health System, and on the Board of Curators of the Georgia Historical Society. Waters graduated from Armstrong State College with a BBA in Accounting and the University of Georgia School of Law with a JD. He and his wife Cindy have two daughters and four grandsons.