This is what I could find on their backgrounds:
Rachel Davis Mersey Named Executive Vice President and Provost (from January 6)
Mersey became Dean of the Moody College of Communication in June 2023, where she focused on experiential learning through programs such as Bevo Video Productions and collaborations with Texas Athletics; partnerships across campus and with industry, particularly in Austin, Los Angeles and New York; and driving high-impact research and creative activities across disciplines. Mersey holds an appointment as the Everett D. Collier Centennial Chair in the School of Journalism and Media and is a member of the Communication and Leadership faculty.
Prior to joining the Moody College as Dean, Mersey was Director of Global Research and Partnerships at Meta, the parent company of Facebook. She designed, hired and ran a multinational team that managed and executed a company-level initiative to increase data transparency while ensuring consumer privacy. She also delivered the first-of-its-kind data-sharing program in support of the U.S. 2020 Facebook and Instagram Election Study, which was led by a team of independent academics that included Talia Stroud of the Moody College.
Before joining Meta, Mersey served as Associate Dean for Research at Moody, where she was a champion for research and creative projects. Before joining UT, she was a professor and Associate Dean for Research in the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.S. from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, and a B.A. with honors from Wake Forest University in communication and studio art.
UT System names Jim Davis as UT-Austin’s interim president (from yesterday)
Hartzell promoted Davis to senior vice president and chief operating officer in 2023, expanding Davis’ authority in the president’s office. In that role, he oversaw campus operations and services, university housing and dining and UT-Austin’s business strategies in areas like real estate and intellectual property.
Hartzell said at the time that Davis led the legal work to develop the Moody Center, an arena that hosts concerts, basketball games and other events; the Innovation Tower, an 14-story office building for startups and established companies that want to collaborate with the university; and UT-Austin’s entry into the Southeastern Conference.
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Prior to joining the university, Davis worked as a deputy attorney general for civil litigation under Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for nearly four years.
He long has had ties to the Forty Acres. He is a UT-Austin graduate, and his father, Robert Davis, is a former chair of the radio, television and film department.
Davis attended Harvard Law School. His first job after law school was as a briefing attorney for former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales when he served on the Texas Supreme Court. Then, he worked in private practice for 14 years at the Locke Lord law firm. Before attending UT-Austin, Davis served in the U.S. Navy for four years as a cryptologist stationed in Scotland.
In a 2023 letter, Davis expressed support for the university's response to domestic violence charges against then-basketball coach Chris Beard. The charges were ultimately dropped but Beard was still fired. Davis said athletic director Chris Del Conte “exercised thoughtful restraint to allow time for additional material facts to emerge” before acting.
“It is a mistake to view a manager’s support for an employee as a statement of belief in criminal guilt or innocence,” Davis wrote. “It is his actual behavior that we consider, not whether some acts also constitute a crime. Whether or not the District Attorney ultimately charges Mr. Beard is not determinative of whether he engaged in conduct unbecoming a head coach at our university.”