Media Contact:
Morgan Lyons

October 13, 1999

Former State Representative and District Judge

Jesse Oliver, Veteran Dallas Representative, Named Chairman of DART Board of Directors

Dallas attorney Jesse Oliver has been elected Chairman of the DART Board of Directors. Oliver, who has served on the board since 1993, succeeds Irving representative Norma Stanton.

Board members also elected Plano representative Robert Pope vice chairman, Dallas representative John De La Garza, Jr. was elected secretary and Garland representative Jerry Russell was named assistant secretary. Officers serve one-year terms.

A graduate of Dallas Baptist University and The University of Texas School of Law, Oliver was elected to the Texas Legislature in 1982. He was appointed state district judge by Governor Mark White in 1987. He is presently employed at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Pope was appointed to the DART Board in 1996, and serves as chairman of the board's Planning Committee. He is president of Robert W. Pope & Associates and is a former Plano Assistant City Manager.

De La Garza was appointed to the DART Board in 1996, and serves as chairman of the board's External Communications Committee. He is government relations manager for Bank of America Corporation.

Russell also was named to the DART Board in 1996, and serves as vice chairman of the Project Management and Planning committees. A former state representative, he is an attorney in Garland.

-- 30 --