Mr. Don Powell
Board Member

• Current Term: May 1, 2021 – May 3, 2025
• Occupation: Retired

Don Powell was elected to the School Board on May 1, 2021. Mr. Powell was raised in Amarillo and attended Forest Hill Elementary School and Horace Mann Jr. High School (now Mann Middle School) before graduating from Palo Duro High School in 1959. He graduated from West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M University) with a degree in economics. He received his Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology from Texas A&M University in May 2021.

After graduating from college, Mr. Powell went into banking, and eventually became President and CEO of the First National Bank of Amarillo. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Mr. Powell Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and he served in that role until 2005, when he resigned to lead the federal government’s recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Mr. Powell has served on numerous boards and committees, locally and across the state, including the Board of Regents for Amarillo College and the Board of Regents for the Texas A&M University System, serving as its Chairman for four years. He serves on the Buffalo Council for West Texas A&M, and as a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of WT125.