University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman and former Tyler Mayor Kevin Eltife and his wife, Kelly, stand together at the induction ceremony for the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame Thursday night.

University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife, a former state senator and Tyler mayor, was among several UT Austin alumni recently inducted into the university’s McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame.

Eltife, a Tyler native, graduated from UT Austin in 1981 with a business degree. Since then, he served on the Tyler City Council and later as mayor.

From 2004 to 2017, he was a state senator representing District 1, which includes large portions of East Texas, and he served as president pro tempore of the Texas Senate from 2015 to 2017.

He has been part of the UT System Board of Regents since Gov. Greg Abbott appointed him in 2017 to a six-year term and another term in April this year.

He became the board of regents chairman in 2018 and was reelected to that position in June. Eltife is also the founder and owner of Eltife Properties.

“My education at the McCombs School of Business and the vast array of opportunities provided to me through UT Austin gave me the foundation for my career and my commitment to public service,” Eltife said. “I’m honored and humbled by this recognition.”

He dedicated the award to his late mother, who he said demonstrated strong values and taught lessons about treating everyone with dignity and respect.

“We welcome Kevin into a group of other amazing inductees,” Texas McCombs Dean Lil Mills said. “Our goal at McCombs is to foster principled leaders, and clearly Kevin, along with our other inductees, has exemplified incredible leadership serving on the Board of Regents and as an esteemed business leader. We are thrilled to honor them all and their groundbreaking work.”

Eltife was honored this past July when the Tyler-Smith County chapter of the official UT Austin alumni association, Texas Exes, named him an Outstanding Texas Ex at the local chapter’s scholarship dinner.

At the dinner, Eltife said the city of Tyler and the University of Texas are two things near and dear to his heart.

According to the induction announcement, the McCombs Hall of Fame, which was established in 1983, honors those who display exceptional service to education and human betterment and for distinguished contributions to the university and the business community.

Along with Eltife, other alumni inducted into the McCombs Hall of Fame on Nov. 11 included George R. Ackert, senior managing director of Evercore; Gay W. Gaddis, T3 founder and CEO of Gay Gaddis LLC; and Mark D. Gibson, CEO of JLL Capital Markets, Americas.