Ed Castillo/Houston Public Media
Pictured is the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building at the University of Houston.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed the son of Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta to the University of Houston System Board of Regents, which Fertitta chaired until resigning earlier this year to become the U.S. Ambassador to Italy.
Abbott announced the appointment of Patrick Fertitta on Tuesday, saying his term on the board of regents would expire on Aug. 31, 2027.
Shortly after the announcement, UH Chancellor Renu Khator welcomed Patrick Fertitta to the board.
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“With his passion for advancing our region and his business acumen, I am confident that he will further elevate our universities’ academic standings and student success,” Khator said in a statement.
Patrick Fertitta, 31, is the director of Fertitta Entertainment — a Houston-based conglomerate founded by his father, which owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Landry’s, Inc. and Golden Nugget Casinos. He earned his business degree from the University of Southern California.
According to Abbott’s office, Patrick Fertitta is also an alternate governor on the NBA board of governors as well as the director of the Space City Home Network and the Clutch City Foundation.
His appointment comes several months after Tilman Fertitta resigned from the UH board of regents and Landry’s, Inc. Shortly after, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the ambassador to Italy and San Marino.
The elder Fertitta resigned from his business and the board of regents, which he chaired for more than 15 years, in compliance with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Tilman Fertitta still holds investments in his companies but wrote in a March letter to the U.S. Department of State that he would no longer actively participate in running them.
President Donald Trump tapped Tilman Fertitta for the ambassadorship in December 2024, shortly after winning his second term in the White House. Tilman Fertitta has been a longtime Republican donor and has had a more than decade-long business relationship with Trump, including taking ownership of an Atlantic City casino in 2011 that was owned by Trump.
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