Officers & Board of Trustees

James R. Huffines

Chairman of the Board

James R. Huffines has more than 35 years of experience in banking and finance. He most recently served as COO of Subsidiaries of Hilltop Holdings from 2016-2017 and was on the Hilltop Holdings board of directors from 2012-2017. Huffines spent 14 years at PlainsCapital Bank, joining in 2001 as Central and South Texas Region Chairman. He provided strategic direction for PlainsCapital’s entry into Austin in 2001 and later San Antonio, in 2004. He was then President and COO of PlainsCapital Corporation from 2010-2015.

Huffines attended The University of Texas at Austin and graduated with a B.B.A. in finance. He also attended the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. Huffines served twice as chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, and the legacy of his leadership stretches across the university and includes laying the foundation for the establishment of Dell Medical School and service on boards and committees of the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO).

In 2008 he was inducted into The University of Texas McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame. In 2011 he received the UT Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is currently on the Dallas Citizens Council board of directors and Executive Committee, chairman of the Governor’s University Research Initiative Advisory Board, a member of the Texas Philosophical Society, and chairman of the University of Texas Chancellor’s Council. Huffines was also previously a trustee of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. He served on the Texas State History Museum board of trustees from 2003-2011 and is a former vice chairman of the Texas Business Leadership Council.

Kathleen M. Gibson

President and CEO

Kathleen Gibson became President & CEO of Southwestern Medical Foundation in 2012.  Prior to that, she worked in financial services at Citi, as President of Central US Commercial; also, at Bank of America in various roles including Head of Asset Management Risk, President of Southwest Private Banking, Head of Southwest Corporate Banking, and President of Bank of America Dallas. Gibson is the 10th President in the Foundation’s more than eighty-year history and the first woman to be asked to lead the organization.  Under her leadership, the Foundation has established key priorities for growth and long-term sustenance.  She is responsible for new efforts to engage a broad community of advocates and contributors, while overseeing the business, endowment, and core programs driving engagement, affinity, and impact.  During her tenure, the Foundation celebrated its 75th year – an opportunity to showcase the critical role the Foundation played in building quality health care in our region and re-engage community leadership in advancing the progress essential in health care today.

Gibson has served as both a leader in business and in community.  She serves on the board of Southwestern Medical Foundation, as Board Chair for Texas A&M Foundation, and Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas (VNA), among others. Her north Texas civic involvement has included service on the boards of the Dallas Regional Chamber, Children’s Medical Center, Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, The Dallas Opera, The Lamplighter School, Dallas Citizens Council, and the Dallas 2012 Olympic Bid Committee.

She is active at Texas A&M University, serving as the Board Chair, as past Chair of The Association of Former Students, and as a member of the Advisory Board of The Bush School of Government and Public Service.  She has been recognized by Texas A&M as a Distinguished Alumnus, with the Tyrus R. Timm Honor Registry and Women’s Legacy Awards, as Fish Camp Namesake, and as 2018 Campus Muster Speaker. In 2021, Gibson received the Outstanding Alumni award from Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Gibson has been recognized by the Dallas Business Journal as a ‘Top 25 Industry Leader in Women in Business,’ and by the Profiles in Diversity Journal in the 10th Annual “Women Worth Watching” edition.

Born in Texas, Gibson lived several early years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University and attended school at SMU in Oxford and SMU in Russia.  Kathleen and her husband, Robert, have two daughters, Catherine and Sarah.