Updated with full version
Construction magnate Alonzo Cantu of McAllen and attorney David Oliveira of a Brownsville law firm have been appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to a special advisory council tasked with helping businesses strategically reopen while containing the spread of COVID-19.
The appointment, which tasks Cantu and fellow council members to share innovative ideas to assist reopening efforts, comes after Abbott issued three executive orders Friday to begin the process of reopening the state of Texas.
Cantu is CEO and president of Cantu Construction and Development Company, as well as the chairman of Lone Star National Bank and a board member of Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg.
This also isn’t the first gubernatorial appointment for Cantu. In November 2019, Abbott appointed him to the University of Houston System Board of Regents, with a term set to expire Aug. 31, 2025.
Also appointed to the special advisory council was David Oliveira, a partner with Roerig, Oliveira & Fisher, LLP of Brownsville.
David Oliveira, a McAllen resident, has practiced for over thirty years and serves on the Lone Star National Bank Advisory Board, as well as a gubernatorial appointee to the Texas Commission on Judicial Selection.
He is a member and former chair of the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Development Board, and the University of Texas Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee.
Cantu and Oliveira will join 37 other business leaders representing the state’s regions and industries in Abbott’s special advisory council.
“The advisory council will collaborate with working groups to devise strategies, statewide standards, and appropriate time frames to reopen the Lone Star State while prioritizing the health and safety of all Texans,” a governor’s news release stated.
