A New Iberia native will be presiding over the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System after Mark Romero was sworn in as chairman recently. 

Romero, born and raised in New Iberia, works full-time as an insurance agent for Brown and Brown of Louisiana, overseeing the company’s various operations in Louisiana and Mississippi. He is based in Lafayette but has an office in New Iberia as well. 

Romero has served on the state board for six years, and has been vice-chairman for the past two. Although he couldn’t say he was surprised by the appointment, he definitely said it was an honor and looks forward to the goals and mission of the board in the years to come.

What’s your history with the UL System?

Obviously I was appointed to the board, I’m a product of the University of Louisiana System and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in particular. The UL System presides over nine colleges, from McNeese to UL Monroe and UL Lafayette.

My history with it started with an interest to serve and advance the mission of higher education in the state of Louisiana, and to develop a more educated population in the state. We need to help  students who want to advance to a four-year degree post-technical and community college and optimize their capabilities particularly in the UL system.

Being a product of the campuses in the system, I was asked to serve six years ago and it’s been very fulfilling.

I’ve served in the past as vice-chair, and there is somewhat of a progression process. It was fulfilling to be elected as vice-chair and being elected chairman and having the confidence to serve in that capacity, it was certainly an honor.

What advancements with the UL System do you expect to see in the future?

I think it’s a competitive environment. We have realized funding stability from a state level. The state covers 27 percent of the tuition and the rest comes from TOPS. That’s become a growing obligation and I’m pleased that we’ve stabilized that.

I want to continue to advance our research and educational missions and allow for our students who are interested and qualified to pursue their studies to have better access and continue to graduation. We have a lot of strategic initiatives, we are pleased with the funding stability that has occurred over the past few years and feel we are in a better position to compete.

Our enrollment levels are varying by campus and it’s certainly strong, we’re at 92,000 strong but in some markets we’re not increasing others we are.