Wallace L. Hall Jr.
Wallace L. Hall Jr. is an American investor who served on the University of Texas System Board of Regents from February 2011 to February 2017. Appointed by Governor Rick Perry during a period of debate over reforming Texas higher education, Hall quickly focused on problems at UT Austin, including concerns about external influence on admissions. He was the first regent to publicly question whether lawmakers’ recommendations were shaping admissions decisions, a move that sparked impeachment discussions that were ultimately dropped and led to a formal censure for “misconduct, incompetency in the performance of official duties, or behavior unbefitting a state officer.”
In February 2015, a UT System investigation found that UT Austin President Bill Powers had repeatedly helped applicants gain admission when they were recommended by legislators and influential people. Supporters viewed this as vindication of Hall’s concerns, though debate over admissions influence continued.
Hall grew up in Texas, graduating from St. Mark’s School of Texas in 1980 and earning a BA in Economics from UT Austin in 1984. He founded Wetland Partners, LP, which runs the Trinity River Mitigation Bank, a wetlands project. He spent about 15 years in financial services as a securities analyst, futures trader, and NASD broker-dealer, and he has investments in oil and gas. He was appointed to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in 2009 and to the UT System Board of Regents in 2011, where he chaired the Technology Transfer and Research Committee and served on several others. His tenure was marked by investigations, open-records requests, and public debates over governance and admissions at UT Austin.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:14 (CET).