Texas Senate Confirms Three Members to DIR Governing Board

The Texas Senate has confirmed Keith Halman, Frank Coppersmith and Catherine Bellah to the Department of Information Resources (DIR) Board of Directors.

Initially appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, the candidates required Senate approval before their official confirmation to the 10-member board.

Representing higher education, Halman has served as the associate vice chancellor and chief information officer for the Texas Tech University System for the past two years. Prior to joining Texas Tech, he served more than 15 years at the University of Texas at Arlington.

In addition to his public service, Halman has more than a decade of private-sector IT experience with companies such as Datamatic, Inforte and Deloitte. He holds a Master of Science in Business Administration from Texas Tech University.

Coppersmith and Bellah are both CEOs from the private sector, the former for the custom software development firm Smarter Reality and the latter for the consulting firm Plumaven.

Coppersmith has been at Smarter Reality, which designs training and simulation software, for nearly a decade. His professional IT experience spans more than 20 years. He holds a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School and a Juris Doctor from Samford University.

Bellah founded Plumaven in 2022. She previously served as principal deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce in both 2017 and 2020 and as deputy assistant to the president and deputy White House staff secretary from 2018 to 2020. She holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law.

The complete list of governing board members can be found on the DIR website.