William (Bill) Reaves, Founder and President, has been active in the early Texas art community for over twenty years as a collector, author, guest curator, and volunteer. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the San Antonio Art League, as well as a founder and former Chairman of the Board of the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art (CASETA). He has also been an active member of Texas collector societies in Austin (Central Texas TACO) and Houston (HETAG). He has served as guest curator or advisor for several exhibitions of Texas paintings, including exhibitions at the San Antonio Art League Museum, the Heritage Society-Houston, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. He is the author of Texas Art and a Wildcatter’s Dream, published by the Texas A&M University Press.

Bill Reaves served in the dual capacity of Associate Vice Chancellor for Public Education for The Texas A&M University System, and as Executive Director of the Center for Research, Evaluation and Advancement of Teacher Education (CREATE). In this capacity Dr. Reaves oversaw statewide teacher quality and public school improvement projects involving all nine universities within The Texas A&M University System, including the Regents' Initiative for Excellence in Education.

In addition, Dr. Reaves was the founding Executive Director of CREATE, a collaborative research and development center focusing on improving teacher education programs and involving The Texas A&M University System, The Texas State University System and The University of Texas System. Dr. Reaves assumed his current assignment in September of 1996. From 1996-2003, Dr. Reaves also served as Assistant Commissioner for School-University Initiatives for the Texas Education Agency as a part of the A&M System's Partnership for Texas Public Schools.

Immediately prior to that he served as Associate Dean of the College of Education and Fine Arts at Tarleton State University, coordinating that university's fifty campus Effective Schools Project, as well as other school-university initiatives.

Dr. Reaves came to higher education with twenty years of experience in the public schools as a teacher and administrator in three states. In Texas, he served as Deputy Superintendent for Instruction of the Fort Bend Independent School District, Superintendent of the Palacios Independent School District, as well as Executive Director of the Teachers' Professional Practices Commission of Texas.

Originally from Brazoria, Texas, he received his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Masters degree in Education from the University of South Alabama, and attained the Ph.D. in Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin. He is married to Dr. Linda Reaves, who is currently Chief Education Officer at Region IV Education Service Center.

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