The Team
Board of Directors
President Mitch Fuller – Cedar Park Councilmember
- Mitch Fuller was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Cedar Park, Texas City Council on August 3, 2007 and elected to a full two-year term on May 10, 2008. He is Cedar Park’s representative and President of the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority (BCRUA), which was created to manage regional water acquisition for the cities of Cedar Park, Leander, and Round Rock, Texas. His other community service includes the Board of Directors of the Cedar Park, Texas Economic Development Corporation (4A) from 2006-2007. He also serves on the Board of Directors and as the Secretary-Treasurer for the National Guard Association of Texas and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Alumni Association. Mitch is a Life Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Reserve Officers Association. He is also a Mason and a member of the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce. Mitch is a Captain on active duty with the Texas Army National Guard at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas. He is the Secretary of the General Staff (SGS), Headquarters, 36th Infantry Division. Mitch served in Iraq from January 2005 to January 2006. His military decorations include the Bronze Star, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Combat Action Badge. Prior to his military service, Mitch was a college professor. He taught political science at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas and the University of Oklahoma while in graduate school there. Mitch is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He also holds a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma and a BA in Political Science from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. From 1997-2000, Mitch served as the Special Assistant to former US Ambassador Edward Perkins, who at the time was the Executive Director of the International Programs Center at the University of Oklahoma and who had previously served in various Ambassadorial posts in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations. Mitch enjoyed this experience, which occurred during his graduate studies and allowed him to spend a lot of time at the United Nations in New York City and in Washington, DC. This experience fueled his growing interest in international relations and American politics. Mitch lives in Cedar Park with his wife Erin, and has two children, daughter Madison, age 10, and son Braxton, age 8. His interests and hobbies include spending time with his family, community service, reading, and running.
Vice-President George White – Round Rock Councilmember
- George White was elected to Place 2 in May 2008. He has lived in Round Rock since 1998 and was named “Round Rock Citizen of the Year” in 2005. George has more than 22 years of experience, predominately in senior operations management positions, with Abbot Laboratories. He graduated from the University of North Carolina and earned a master’s degree from East Carolina University in 1974. For seven years, he taught college courses in accounting, micro- and macroeconomics, and other business subjects. George is very active in the community, volunteering his time and expertise with a number of organizations. He is Past Chairman and a current member of the Board for St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center. George is also a member and Past Chairman for the Board for the YMCA of Greater Williamson County. He served on the Finance Advisory Committee for the 2007 Round Rock ISD School Bond Election and served on the Round Rock Citizen/Police Review Board. In addition, George is a member of the Round Rock Rotary Club, the nine county Rural Capital Area Work Force Development Board, Greater Round Rock Community Foundation Board, Round Rock Chamber of Commerce and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Round Rock Post 9078. George is a Distinguished Military Graduate of Field Artillery Officer Candidate School and volunteered for duty in the Vietnam War. George has been married to his wife, Sally, for 40 years and has two children and seven grandchildren. He enjoys cattle ranching and is a member of the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association and the American Angus Association.
Secretary John Cowman – Leander Mayor
- John Cowman is the very proud father of three beautiful daughters and was elected as Mayor of the City of Leander, Texas, in May of 2003. He began his third term as Mayor in June 2009. He actively promotes transit and quality of life issues by way of his involvement with the citizens in his city as well as throughout the Hays, Travis and Williamson County areas. He is a native Californian who grew up in Florida and Texas and is currently involved in developing communities within the surrounding cities. One of the visions he had for Leander was the multi-modal opportunities that would be presented to the City by rail and regional road systems. This vision has recently been demonstrated by the Capital Metro / Leander partnership which is planning the first Transit Oriented Development project in the region encompassing over 2,300 acres.
Brushy Creek Water Supply Project Team
BCRUA General Manager, Chris Lippe
BCRUA Program Manager, Michael Thuss
- Michael Thuss has over 40 years of engineering, contracting, and heavy construction experience. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968, and his Masters of Science in Civil Engineering and Construction Management in 1975 from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a 1992 graduate of Texas A&M’s Construction Executive Program where he also served for a number of years as a board member and as Chairman of the Board of Advisors for the program. He is a licensed engineer in Texas. Thuss is a Vietnam veteran who served all over the world for 27 years with the US Army Corps of Engineers. His last assignment was as the federal administrator for the Missouri River. He has managed annual federal capital programs valued at over $1.5 billion, and was a warranted federal contracting officer with unlimited authority. His most recent job was as the Director of Engineering and Capital Programs for the Bexar Metropolitan Water District in San Antonio where he managed a staff of 42 and $32 million annual capital facilities program. He is a Fellow in the Society of American Military Engineers and is an elected Board Member of the Texas Water Conservation Association. He is a member of the American Public Works Association, American Water Works Association, American Water Resources Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, and the National Society of Professional Engineers. He is a former member of the Region L – South Central Texas, Water Resources Planning Group appointed by the Texas Water Development Board. He was also appointed by the Governor as a Colonel in the Texas State Guard where he heads the water and wastewater utility disaster relief team. Thuss and his wife, Patty Losch Thuss, have been married for 38 years after meeting at West Point. Patty Thuss is a certified Texas residential builder. They live in Horseshoe Bay. They have 2 children – Jenny, who is a river guide in Alaska; and Dan who is a graduate of Texas A&M University, and is a communications engineer with ADTrans Corporation in Chicago.
Consultants: