Breakaway Leadership

Dr. Tedd L. Mitchell was named the fifth chancellor of the Texas Tech University System in October 2018.

As chancellor, Mitchell is the CEO of a $2.5 billion, five-university higher education enterprise consisting of Texas Tech University (TTU), Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC), Angelo State University (ASU), Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso), and Midwestern State University (MSU Texas).

Collectively, the TTU System enrolls more than 63,000 students, has an endowment valued at more than $1.7 billion and operates at 24 academic locations in 21 cities (19 in Texas, 2 internationally).

Mitchell works collaboratively with the TTU System Board of Regents, TTU System Administration and university presidents to enhance the TTU System’s profile and support shared missions of advancing higher education, health care, research and community outreach. Additionally, Mitchell guides the TTU System’s engagement with elected officials in Austin and federal leaders in Washington, D.C., to further increase funding and support.

Mitchell first joined the TTU System when he was named the eighth president of TTUHSC in May 2010. He held a dual appointment as chancellor and president for approximately one year until deciding to close his presidential tenure in 2019 after nearly a decade at the helm of TTUHSC. He is the longest-tenured president in the 52-year history of the university and led the institution to monumental milestones, record growth in enrollment, academic excellence and physical campus expansion.

Prior to arriving at TTUHSC, Mitchell served as president and CEO of the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, an internationally recognized center of excellence in preventive and sports medicine. Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science at Stephen F. Austin State University in 1983. He is an Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas Medical Branch, where he received his Doctor of Medicine in 1987, and, in 2012, he was honored as a distinguished alumnus of the Department of Internal Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Sports Medicine. From 1988 to 1996, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves (Medical Corps).

Gabriel Rodriguez, M.D., is the medical director for the Methodist ER Alamo Heights and Westover Hills locations in San Antonio. He has worked as an emergency medicine physician since 2006. 

He also serves as a medical director for Hummingbird Hospice, H-E-B Risk Solutions, and STAT EMS, LLC. He is an associate clinical professor for the University of Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Rodriguez serves on the board of directors for H-E-B Wellness Care and has previously been a board member of the Greater San Antonio Emergency Physicians. He is also a USA Boxing Ringside Physician and a Texas Pro and Amateur MMA Ringside Physician.

Rodriguez earned his medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He also holds an MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. 

Lt. Col. (retired) David Yebra leads the Training and Leader Development Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and has done so since January 2019.

Prior to that, he served as the director of emergency management at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, where his responsibilities included emergency preparedness for the university and facilitating the High Potential Leadership Academy and other law enforcement leadership development programs.

Yebra served in the U.S. Army for more than 23 years, including three tours in Iraq, before retiring in 2013. At West Point, he served as a company tactical officer and operations officer for the Corps of Cadets. In 2009 he became the professor of military science for the ROTC program at Sam Houston State University and served as a guest instructor for incoming military science faculty.

Yebra lectures on leadership development topics at universities, conventions, and before professional organizations all over the country and the world.

He received his bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a master’s degree in leadership development from Long Island University.