| 5 | 6 | | WHEREAS, The Honorable Ken Mercer is retiring from USAA on |
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| 6 | 7 | | February 28, 2019, drawing to a close an outstanding career in the |
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| 7 | 8 | | insurance and financial services industry that has spanned nearly |
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| 8 | 9 | | three and a half decades; and |
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| 9 | 10 | | WHEREAS, Mr. Mercer earned a bachelor's degree in biology |
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| 10 | 11 | | from The University of Texas at Austin, a bachelor's degree in |
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| 11 | 12 | | business administration from UT San Antonio, and a master's degree |
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| 12 | 13 | | in business administration from St. Mary's University; he joined |
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| 13 | 14 | | USAA in November 1984, and over the course of his 34-year career in |
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| 14 | 15 | | information technology, he has played a leading role in |
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| 15 | 16 | | implementing the first information engineering workstations, |
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| 16 | 17 | | processes, and procedures, and he has served as lead internal |
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| 17 | 18 | | consultant for the company's first use of rapid application |
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| 18 | 19 | | development (RAD) technologies; and |
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| 19 | 20 | | WHEREAS, Later in his career, Mr. Mercer led projects to |
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| 20 | 21 | | develop financial systems, telecommunications accounting, disaster |
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| 21 | 22 | | recovery, and enterprise software and hardware asset management, |
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| 22 | 23 | | and he helped implement new acquisition processes to select |
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| 23 | 24 | | company-wide software suites and hardware; he is retiring as a |
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| 24 | 25 | | project manager for critical enterprise-wide migrations of several |
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| 25 | 26 | | important software systems; and |
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| 26 | 27 | | WHEREAS, From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Mercer represented District |
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| 27 | 28 | | 117 in the Texas House of Representatives, and he served on the |
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| 28 | 29 | | Higher Education, House Administration, and Transportation |
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| 29 | 30 | | committees; during his tenure, he worked to ensure that children of |
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| 30 | 31 | | military families serving overseas could pay in-state tuition, and |
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| 31 | 32 | | he played an instrumental role in legislation that created the San |
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| 32 | 33 | | Antonio campus of Texas A&M University and brought Toyota to San |
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| 33 | 34 | | Antonio; he also helped create the city's Memorial Highway in honor |
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| 34 | 35 | | of the U.S. Army's 2nd Indian Head Division, and he became only the |
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| 35 | 36 | | second civilian to be made a "Lifetime Member" of the division; and |
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| 36 | 37 | | WHEREAS, Currently, Mr. Mercer is serving his fourth term as |
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| 37 | 38 | | a member of the State Board of Education, where he represents 13 |
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| 38 | 39 | | counties and 1.6 million Texans; as chair of the board's Charter |
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| 39 | 40 | | School Committee, he helped establish the first dual-language |
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| 40 | 41 | | Hebrew-English immersion program in Texas and the first trilingual |
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| 41 | 42 | | Spanish-English-Mandarin program; he has also worked to ensure that |
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| 42 | 43 | | history and government curriculum includes the contributions of our |
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| 43 | 44 | | men and women in uniform; and |
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| 44 | 45 | | WHEREAS, In all his endeavors, Mr. Mercer enjoys the love and |
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| 45 | 46 | | support of his wife, Rosalia, his daughters, Rebekah Mercer and |
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| 46 | 47 | | Sarah Fisher, and his son-in-law, Ryan Fisher; and |
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| 47 | 48 | | WHEREAS, Ken Mercer's dedication, professionalism, and |
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| 48 | 49 | | commitment to excellence have earned him the respect and admiration |
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| 49 | 50 | | of his professional peers, and he may indeed reflect with pride on |
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| 50 | 51 | | his outstanding record of achievement; now, therefore, be it |
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| 51 | 52 | | RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 52 | 53 | | hereby congratulate the Honorable Ken Mercer on his retirement from |
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| 53 | 54 | | USAA and extend to him sincere best wishes for the future; and, be |
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| 54 | 55 | | it further |
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| 55 | 56 | | RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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| 56 | 57 | | prepared for Mr. Mercer as an expression of high regard by the Texas |
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| 57 | 58 | | House of Representatives and Senate. |
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