Dionicio (Don) Flores

Dionicio (Don) Flores of El Paso, Texas, was reappointed by Governor Greg Abbott in February 2019 to a six-year term on the Texas State University System Board of Regents. In November 2025, he was elected Vice Chairman of the Board of Regents. Vice Chairman Flores earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Texas State University in 1973 and has maintained a lifelong connection to the institution, serving previously as chair of the Board of Regents, president of the Alumni Association, and a member of the Development Foundation. He was first appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor George W. Bush in 1999, serving through 2008. In recognition of his professional achievements and service, Texas State University honored him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1994, inducted him into the School of Journalism and Mass Communications Hall of Fame in 2004, and awarded him an honorary doctoral degree in 2015.

In 2009, Governor Rick Perry appointed Vice Chairman Flores to the Texas Southern University Board of Regents, where he served as first vice chairman until 2015.

Following his retirement in 2008 as vice president and editor of the El Paso Times, Vice Chairman Flores founded Flores Media Consulting, where he serves as a community outreach consultant and media specialist. A longtime journalist and newspaper executive, he previously served as president and publisher of the Iowa City Press-Citizen in Iowa City, Iowa. After joining the Gannett Company in 1985, he held editing and management positions at the Tucson Citizen in Tucson, Arizona; The New Mexican in Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Visalia Times-Delta in Visalia, California; and Gannett West in Reno, Nevada, before his promotions and transfers to Iowa City and later El Paso in 1993.

Vice Chairman Flores has been active in numerous professional journalism organizations, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He has served on committees of the Newspaper Association of America and the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, and he has been selected multiple times as a jurist for the Pulitzer Prize competitions. He is also a past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

In higher education, Vice Chairman Flores has served or continues to serve on journalism advisory boards at the University of North Carolina, Texas Tech University, the University of Nebraska, Middle Tennessee State University, Southeast Missouri State University, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Texas State University. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on college campuses nationwide.

His community involvement includes service on the boards of the Sun Bowl Association, Paso del Norte Health Foundation, Border Fund, United Way of El Paso, National Conference of Christians and Jews, El Paso Symphony Board of Trustees, El Paso YMCA, and the El Paso County Historical Society.

Vice Chairman Flores is married to Ruth Harris of Oran, Missouri. His term on the Board of Regents expires in 2025.