UH TODAY SPOTLIGHT

After 23 years of dedicated service, Gerry Mathisen, executive administrator for the University of Houston System Board of Regents, retires on Friday, Feb. 25. When she talks about her journey, the word she uses most to describe her career opportunities and colleagues is “blessed.”

Her first job, as a high school junior, was volunteering as a candy striper at St. Francis Hospital in New Jersey. She was paid 75 cents an hour but said helping others made it a great experience.

Mathisen has loved the rewarding feeling she gets from working and supporting others ever since.

Mathisen began her administrative career with The College of New Jersey, where she worked in organizational support roles for 10 years. After relocating to Texas, she served in various banking industry roles for 24 years, including supporting the president of Bank of America Texas. She landed at UH in 1998 as the executive administrative assistant for the Division of Administration and Finance before joining the UHS Board of Regents — the governing body of the University of Houston System that charts the course of the System’s four universities.

For the last 16 years, she’s provided administrative support for over 30 regents, 16 student regents and seven chairs. She has led a small team of three support staff responsible for the day-to-day administrative operations of the 10-person board.

Under Mathisen’s leadership, the team coordinated key meetings, prepared regent scripts, maintained board policies and bylaw materials, managed the board calendar and communications and much more. Mathisen coordinated countless committees, and in her second year she aided the search committee that led to the hire of UH President Renu Khator.

“Gerry Mathisen made my job easier and always did so with the best attitude," said her manager Dona Cornell, general counsel and vice president for legal affairs. "Her steady, thoughtful approach to her job and her dedicated work ethic will be greatly missed, but I wish her all the best in the next phase of her life."

Outside of work, Mathisen's most important roles have been as a wife, mother and grandmother. She credited her parents, James and Laurette Pirlet Tracchi, for giving her a great start and said without the support of her husband, Frank, she wouldn’t be where she is today.

After a long and fruitful career, Mathisen offered the following advice: “Find a balance in life. Work hard, be patient and take time to smell the roses. Infuse your work with humor, knowing that everything happens for a reason.”

A communication from the University of Houston
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