A Q&A with Mike Hernandez, a regent with Texas A&M University System

WESLACO, Texas – Ron Whitlock Reports recently held a Q&A with Mike Hernandez, a regent with Texas A&M University System. 

The session followed two recent public speeches Hernandez gave in the Rio Grande Valley. The first was at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new $30 million advanced manufacturing training facility Texas A&M is building at the Port of Brownsville. The second was the keynote address at small business summit the Governor’s Office held in Weslaco.

Ron Whitlock Reports pitched eight questions to Hernandez. Here are the questions and answers:

Q: In your remarks at the Governor’s Small Business Summit in Weslaco last week, you spoke about the time Gov. Abbott appointed you to the Texas A&M System Board of Regents. You said Gov. Abbott could have chosen someone more important politically to him, perhaps someone who had given him bigger campaign contributions. But that Gov. Abbott wanted someone on the board who could help South Texas. So, he chose you. Can you elaborate on that?

A: I originally approached Gov. Abbott right after he took over from Gov. Perry. I did make a contribution but asked to see him regarding the horrible economic conditions in Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley at that time. We discussed the fact that there was a real opportunity to revive manufacturing along the border now that the United States was decoupling from China. 

Initially, that made sense because of the low cost of labor on the Mexican side of the border but overtime it started shifted to robotics. The border offers the perfect combination of both without the security risk that is currently involved in doing business in Mexico. 

Gov. Abbott agreed with that vision, and I worked with his staff for about a year. After that, then-state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., asked the Governor to consider appointing me to some position to assist in my efforts. Gov. Abbott then offered me the regent position for the Texas A&M University System. When he did, he said to utilize all the tools that were available to me to try to help the RGV accomplish its goals. Then he specifically said, I want you to be a voice for south Texas. 

Q: Why do you personally want to give back so much to South Texas? What drives you, in this regard?

A: I was born and raised in Brownsville until the age of 16, after which we moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. While we were very active in coming down and visiting family and friends, all of whom remained in the Valley, I always missed the people, the island, the hunting and fishing, the weather, etc. Our family goes back seven generations on my father’s side and so my entire family and extended family has a connection to the area. I didn’t see a legitimate reason why the area shouldn’t be thriving economically with everything that it has available to it.

Q: Last week you were at the Port of Brownsville to help announce an advanced manufacturing training center. Why is this important and why did you choose to locate it at the Port?

A: To me the Port of Brownsville is actually the Port of the Rio Grande Valley. Whatever economic development is happening at the Port will reverberate throughout the entire Valley. Tier 3 type manufacturing, which applies to things like steel mills, aluminum smelters, rubber plants, plastics, etc., many times must have the raw materials brought in by ships. Given the fact that every other deep-water port in Texas is fully occupied it only makes sense that the Port of Brownsville will be attractive to major manufacturers, assuming we can figure out how to provide ample power and water.

Q: Let’s say the new training facility at the Port is successful and it produces lots of skilled workers, engineers, technicians, etc. How do we ensure they stay in the Rio Grande Valley and not continue the region’s traditional “brain drain”?

A: If the Port and local economic development corporations do not coordinate with the workforce training boards and R&D for the recruitment of major manufacturers and their vendors to our area, that is exactly what will happen. The workforce training facility Texas A&M is building will also be for upscaling the workforce for local companies so that they can take advantage of the economic development progress as well. You can’t have economic development without workforce training and there’s no use in having workforce training if you don’t have an effective economic development plan.

Q: There is a lively debate going on right now in economic development circles about the Valley needing to brand itself better in order to attract more investment from around the world. Do you have any thoughts on that?

A: Yes. I envision it in one sentence: The Rio Grande Valley is the future Silicon Valley of advanced manufacturing and space travel. 

Q: Is there anything the Valley needs to do more of in order to benefit from the near-shoring phenomenon currently underway in Mexico?

A: Everything that we have discussed to this point needs to be followed through with an order to benefit greatly from this near-shoring process. 

Q: Texas A&M has built a higher education center in McAllen that is part of College Station. It has engineering students there and soon there will be nursing students. How big can that campus get?

A: I envision Texas A&M having three areas of excellence in McAllen: engineering, agriculture, and medical. Engineering would include teaching, R&D and workforce training. This would be in coordination with the new facility at the Port of Brownsville. As you mentioned, we already have a building going up for our nursing program. Texas A&M expects to expand on that to include some veterinary teaching, R&D, workforce training and community outreach. Lastly, it would be agriculture, which would include the same basic principles, issuing degrees, performing research and development and community outreach through our state agencies. 

Q: Does Texas A&M have any plans to reproduce what it has built in McAllen in Brownsville? Could the lower Valley have a Texas A&M higher education center?

A: Texas A&M does not intend to expand its presence in the lower valley beyond its presence at the Port of Brownsville for the foreseeable future. Thank you for your interest in these efforts and developments.

Ron Whitlock of Ron Whitlock Reports and Texas A&M University System Regent Mike Hernandez at the Port of Brownsville.

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