UH leader also will be board member
Houston apartment developer Camden Property Trust has appointed Renu Khator to its board in hopes of tapping the University of Houston president’s experience in engaging large groups of people who typically rent apartments: millennials.
“She’s basically a rock star when it comes to anything about millennials and young people,” Camden’s chairman and CEO, Ric Campo, said Monday.
Khator was appointed to Camden’s board of trust managers, which is similar to a board of directors, earlier this month along with Heather J. Brunner, CEO of WP Engine, a private cloud content management services company.
Campo said adding a university president as an independent board member is not something the company would normally consider, but executives have been impressed with Khator’s
role as a community leader who has created “a massive amount of positive energy around UH.” He cited Khator’s efforts to achieve Tier One research status for the public university of some 44,000 students.
As a Camden board member, Khator will receive cash and stock worth $155,000 annually.
William G. Tierney, professor and co-director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California, said university presidents have long held board positions.
On occasion, questions are raised about time commitment, compensation and potential conflict, he said, but outside board positions are generally approved by an executive committee.
Campo, who is on the board of the real estate program at UH’s Bauer School, said Camden is not in the student housing business, nor does it have any business relationships with the university.
A spokesman for Khator said she serves on several boards, including another corporate board, Sage Publishing.
The UH System Board of Regents, which reviews proposed board positions for potential conflicts, has approved the Camden position.
“Camden has not and would not build anything for the University of Houston,” Campo said in an email.
Campo said trust managers attend between six and eight board meetings per year along with additional committee meetings.
Khator has been chancellor of the University of Houston System and president of the University of Houston since January 2008.
“Renu will bring her experience in overseeing a four-university organization that serves nearly 70,000 students, has an annual budget that exceeds $1.7 billion, and produces a $6 billion-plus economic impact on the Greater Houston area,” Camden’s president, Keith Oden, said in a statement. “We are very excited at the prospect of Heather and Renu joining our team and look forward to working with them.”
Camden Property Trust, an S&P 400 Company, owns interests in and operates 151 multifamily properties containing 52,506 apartment homes across the U.S.
Khator and Brunner are replacing Lewis A. Levey and F. Gardner Parker, who are retiring in May.