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Davis, Hester appointed as Tuskegee University trustees

July 15, 2017

Contact: Keith E. Burrell,
Special Assistant to the Board of Trustees


Governor Kay Ivey recently appointed two new members to the Tuskegee University Board of Trustees: Henry Wesley Davis III of the Alabama Medicaid Agency and Sylvester Hester of Global Automotive Alliance (GAA) Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management. Each individual — appointed to full, four-year term as a state-appointed trustee — brings to the board more than three decades of experience in fiscal planning, human resource management, and manufacturing and supply chain management.

“Henry and Sylvester are two great additions to the Board of Trustees,” said John Page, chairman of Tuskegee University’s Board of Trustees. “They both are strong supporters of higher education and will lend their talents in the areas of financial management and entrepreneurship to strengthen Tuskegee.”

Henry Davis and Sylvester Hester
Davis and Hester

Davis, a two-time Tuskegee University graduate, currently serves as the Alabama Medicaid Agency’s director of governmental affairs. His tenure with the agency has included serving as its director of human resources, legislative liaison, executive assistant to the commissioner, and chief of staff. He is an active member of St. Jude Catholic Church and the Montgomery-Tuskegee Alumni Association, the polemarch for the Montgomery Alumni Chapter, and a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.

Davis, the first of eight siblings to attend Tuskegee, completed a bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s degree in personnel administration in 1981 and 1983, respectively. He and his wife, Dr. Angela T. Davis (class of 1985) are proud parents of three adult children, including a 2009 Tuskegee summa cum laude graduate.

Hester is president and CEO of Detroit-based Global Automotive Alliance, which is comprised of six manufacturing and logistics companies with one Canadian and 20 U.S. operations, and more than 1,400 employees. His lengthy career in automotive parts manufacturing began with General Motors Advanced Engineering, and also includes responsibilities as a project engineer/project manager and vice president with Regal Plastics. Hester is president of GAA’s Advisory Board of Directors, chair of the Minority Business Enterprise Input Committee’s Automotive Manufacturing Committee, a board member for both the Southern Region Minority Supplier Development Council and Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., and a past board member of the Atlanta Business League.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in plastics engineering with an emphasis in polymer chemistry from Ferris State University, and a master in administration degree from Central Michigan University. He also has completed the Advanced Minority Business Executive Program at Dartmouth College’s Tucks School of Business, as well as the Kellogg School of Management Advanced Management Education Program at Northwestern University. Hester splits his time between Atlanta, Birmingham and Detroit with his wife Pleshette, and together they are the parents of two adult sons.

The Tuskegee University Board of Trustees serves as the university’s governing and fiduciary body. Its responsibilities include providing university oversight through its president, as well as helping to advance its engagement with students, parents, alumni and philanthropic donors. The board is comprised of up to 25 voting members, which includes five trustees appointed by Alabama’s governor. Board-appointed trustees serve for three years; state-appointed trustees for four years. In addition to the 25 voting trustees, there are several non-voting ex officio members, which include the university’s president, a faculty trustee who is the faculty senate chair, a student trustee elected by the student body, and Alabama’s state superintendent of education.