Distinguished Dallas lawyer named chair of SMU Board of Trustees

DALLAS (SMU) – Civic leader Michael M. Boone, co-founder of the distinguished law firm of Haynes and Boone, has been elected chair of the SMU Board of Trustees, the University’s 42-member governing board, effective June 2014.

Michael M. Boone

“Through his longtime service and leadership on the Board, Mike Boone possesses a thorough knowledge of University operations, policies and issues, as well as opportunities for our continued advancement,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “As a practicing business lawyer, he brings special expertise to his chairmanship. His leadership will be critical as the University moves into the final years of its campaign and centennial commemorations in 2015, and as we prepare for our second century of achievement.”

Boone has been an SMU trustee since 1996. Throughout his service on the Board, he has been a member of virtually every Board committee, among them Finance, Audit and Trusteeship. A former adjunct professor of corporate securities law at the Dedman School of Law, he currently serves as vice chair of the Dedman Law School’s Executive Board. In leading the Board of Trustees, Boone now serves as a co-chair of SMU Unbridled: The Second Century Campaign, which seeks $1 billion for scholarships, faculty and academic excellence and the campus experience.

Dedicated to the progress of his hometown and his alma mater, Boone has nurtured and advanced the partnership between Dallas and SMU, which began 100 years ago when the city competed and raised funds to secure the University for Dallas. He is a vice chair of SMU’s Second Century Celebration Organizing Committee. He also led the development of “Dallas & SMU: The Power of Partnership,” a community and economic impact report that outlines the unique contributions SMU has made and is making to North Texas.

“SMU has made great strides in improving its academic standing nationally, its value to the DFW region and the state, and its global reputation,” Boone said. “I look forward to serving SMU in this new capacity. We have a great leader in our president, R. Gerald Turner, and a fully engaged Board of Trustees.”

A member of the Haynes and Boone Board of Directors and an active partner, Boone brings to his clients more than 40 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities transactions and corporate governance. After earning a B.B.A. degree in accounting from SMU in 1963 and a J.D. degree at the Law School in 1967, he worked for the late Richard D. Haynes, an SMU law professor and attorney in private practice. In 1970 the two formed the Dallas firm of Haynes and Boone LLP, which has become one of the largest and fastest growing law firms in the United States, with more than 500 attorneys in 13 cities, including Mexico City, New York City, Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai.

Boone has been selected as one of the 25 greatest Texas lawyers of the past quarter-century and the “Go-To-Lawyer” in Texas in the field of corporate/business law by Texas Lawyer Magazine. He has been recognized as a leading corporate finance/mergers and acquisitions lawyer by several publications.

Beyond SMU, Boone has served as chairman of the Dallas Citizens Council, president of the Highland Park School Board and member of the Special Committee on School Funding of the Texas Association of School Boards. Boone has received numerous honors for his civic leadership, including Distinguished Alumni Awards from the University as well as from the Dedman School of Law and the Cox School of Business. He also has received the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award from SMU’s Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, the Robert S. Folsom Leadership Award from the Methodist Health System Foundation and the Jack Lowe Sr. Award for Community Leadership from the Dallas Bar Association.

Boone is married to Marla Hays Boone, who graduated from SMU in 1968. They have two grown children – Michael Hays Boone and Maryjane Boone Bonfield – and five grandchildren.

“Mike Boonecarries on a tradition of outstanding leadership among our Board chairs,” President Turner added. “We are grateful to be guided by his vision and expertise during this special time in the University’s history.”