The University of Texas at Dallas has named four new ex officio members to its Executive Board. Samantha Dwinell, Roger Gault, Paula Larsen and Emilynn Wilson were announced at the board’s annual meeting Oct. 14. 

Samantha Dwinell

As chief people officer at The MENTOR Network, Samantha Dwinell is responsible for the strategic direction, management and execution of the company’s people strategy. She oversees human resources, including human capital systems, employee services, talent recruitment, development and total rewards.

Prior to joining the company in 2020, she spent 19 years at Texas Instruments, most recently as vice president of talent management leading initiatives focused on change management leadership development, culture, engagement, diversity and inclusion, people analytics and HR technology. She also serves on the board for the Texas Women’s Foundation.

Roger Gault

Roger Gault is president of Gault Company, a diversified commercial real estate company that develops and invests in a wide range of property types. He has more than 35 years of experience in the real estate industry and has developed, invested in or owned properties throughout the country.

Gault is a member and former president of the Dallas Assembly. He is a member of The Real Estate Council and serves on The Real Estate Council PAC board of directors, the advisory board of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, the advisory board of the University of Texas at Arlington School of Landscape Architecture and the executive committee of the board of the Dallas Symphony Association. In addition, he is the former chairman of the board of directors for the Dallas Arboretum and former president of the board of directors for the Lee Park and Arlington Hall Conservancy. He also served as a mayoral appointee on the City of Dallas Board of Adjustment.

Paula Larsen

Paula Larsen is a divorce and family law attorney currently practicing as a partner at GoransonBain Ausley in Dallas, where she provides consultation and representation for clients on divorce matters and premarital agreements. She has over 30 years of experience in the field, including 11 years as a judge in family courts.

In 2011, Larsen was named the Dallas Collaborative Family Lawyer of the Year by Woodward White Inc. and has consistently been featured in the company’s list of The Best Lawyers in America. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a member of Collaborative Divorce Dallas and Collaborative Divorce Texas, a sustaining fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation, Family Law Section and previously served in several leadership positions within the State Bar of Texas Family Law Section. Larsen is also a volunteer ESL teacher with Literary Achieves, a Dallas-based nonprofit.

Emilynn Wilson

Emilynn Wilson is a Texas native who has worked to advance the causes of numerous Dallas-based charities, nonprofits and civic organizations since she moved to the area in 1979. She is currently president of the Foundation for the Callier Center at UT Dallas and previously served as president of KidneyTexas Inc., Les Femmes du Monde, the Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, the SMU Mother’s Club and the Marianne Scruggs Garden Club.

Additionally, Wilson has chaired the Genesis Luncheon, the March of Dimes Dinner, the Dallas Opera Dinner, the Callier Cares Luncheon, the Dallas Symphony Ball and several committees for the Crystal Charity Ball. She has also served on the boards of The Dallas Opera, the Cerebral Palsy Guild, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League, the Dallas Historical Board, the YWCA board and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society.