H.C.R. No. 130

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Honorable Ken Mercer is retiring from USAA on February 28, 2019, drawing to a close an outstanding career in the insurance and financial services industry that has spanned nearly three and a half decades; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Mercer earned a bachelor's degree in biology from The University of Texas at Austin, a bachelor's degree in business administration from UT San Antonio, and a master's degree in business administration from St. Mary's University; he joined USAA in November 1984, and over the course of his 34-year career in information technology, he has played a leading role in implementing the first information engineering workstations, processes, and procedures, and he has served as lead internal consultant for the company's first use of rapid application development (RAD) technologies; and

WHEREAS, Later in his career, Mr. Mercer led projects to develop financial systems, telecommunications accounting, disaster recovery, and enterprise software and hardware asset management, and he helped implement new acquisition processes to select company-wide software suites and hardware; he is retiring as a project manager for critical enterprise-wide migrations of several important software systems; and

WHEREAS, From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Mercer represented District 117 in the Texas House of Representatives, and he served on the Higher Education, House Administration, and Transportation committees; during his tenure, he worked to ensure that children of military families serving overseas could pay in-state tuition, and he played an instrumental role in legislation that created the San Antonio campus of Texas A&M University and brought Toyota to San Antonio; he also helped create the city's Memorial Highway in honor of the U.S. Army's 2nd Indian Head Division, and he became only the second civilian to be made a "Lifetime Member" of the division; and

WHEREAS, Currently, Mr. Mercer is serving his fourth term as a member of the State Board of Education, where he represents 13 counties and 1.6 million Texans; as chair of the board's Charter School Committee, he helped establish the first dual-language Hebrew-English immersion program in Texas and the first trilingual Spanish-English-Mandarin program; he has also worked to ensure that history and government curriculum includes the contributions of our men and women in uniform; and

WHEREAS, In all his endeavors, Mr. Mercer enjoys the love and support of his wife, Rosalia, his daughters, Rebekah Mercer and Sarah Fisher, and his son-in-law, Ryan Fisher; and

WHEREAS, Ken Mercer's dedication, professionalism, and commitment to excellence have earned him the respect and admiration of his professional peers, and he may indeed reflect with pride on his outstanding record of achievement; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby congratulate the Honorable Ken Mercer on his retirement from USAA and extend to him sincere best wishes for the future; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for Mr. Mercer as an expression of high regard by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate.

Biedermann

______________________________ ______________________________

President of the Senate Speaker of the House

I certify that H.C.R. No. 130 was adopted by the House on March 21, 2019, by a non-record vote.

______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.C.R. No. 130 was adopted by the Senate on March 25, 2019, by a viva-voce vote.

______________________________ Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: __________________

Date

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Governor