Ray Martinez is president of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas (ICUT), which serves the state and federal policy interests of Texas’ regionally-accredited, nonprofit independent institutions of higher education. Prior to joining ICUT, Ray served as chancellor of WGU Texas and has held senior government relations positions at Rice University and with the Texas A&M University System. Ray previously served as the director of the Higher Education Committee in the Texas Senate.

Ray also has substantial experience working in Washington, D.C. Throughout most of the 1990’s Ray worked in the administration of President Bill Clinton, where he held numerous appointed positions, including regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and deputy assistant to President Clinton as part of the White House staff. From 2003-2006, he served as one of four commissioners on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan federal agency responsible for assisting state and local governments to improve the process of election administration. President George W. Bush nominated Ray to serve as a commissioner and he was subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate for this position.

Ray has taken his extensive experience from working in the halls of government into the college classroom. From 2007-2013, he served as an adjunct professor of public policy at the University of Texas School of Law and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, where he taught a course on election law and policy. His writings and commentaries on a variety of election law issues have been printed in various periodicals, including the New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Roll Call , and the Election Law Journal.

A native of Alice, Texas, Ray received his bachelor’s degree from Southwestern University and his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center. Ray and his wife, Beth, reside in Austin and they have two children, Sofia Grace and Lorenzo Elder.