Lufkin ISD - School Board

Lufkin ISD School Board Members

Andro Branch
President

I received my Bachelors degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1994. I am a Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker and a Certified Anger Therapist. I also hold a diploma from the School of Paralegal Studies. I have been the President and Chief Executive Officer for Innovative Homes of Deep East Texas, Inc., a company that provides professional service to the Mental Health Mental Retardation community for 11 years. I am also owner of Branch Brothers Trucking since 1996. I am currently serving as President of Lufkin Independent School District Board of Trustee's. I also serve on several other very valuable boards and committee's in the Lufkin community. I am very much committed to the efforts of creating tomorrow's leaders through educational excellence.

Stanley New
Vice President

I am completing my 16th year as a member of the LISD Board of Trustees, having been elected originally in 1993. I have served as President of the Board for three terms, and was proud to be a member of the Board which was selected as the Texas School Board of the Year. I am a Vice President and Trust Officer at First Bank & Trust East Texas. My wife, Carolyn, and I have three grown children, Hilary and her husband Jason Howard, Lilian and Eliot and one grandaughter. All three of our children are proud graduates of Lufkin ISD, having attended LISD from kindergarten through high school, which prepared them well for their university degrees. I have served on the board of several other local organizations and am a member of Harmony Hill Baptist Church.I am a graduate of Texas A&I University in Kingsville and the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado, University of Colorado.

Gip Friesen
Secretary

Gip Friesen is a 1968 graduate of Lufkin High School and a l972 graduate of TCU. He received a Chartered Life Underwriter degree from The American College in 1980. He is partner and co-owner of Friesen-Strain Insurance Associates, Inc. Gip is married to Andrea Friesen and they have three daughters, Leeanne, Laura and Lacey, all of whom graduated or attend Lufkin ISD. Gip is active in First United Methodist Church where he has held many positions. He is also active in the community having been President of the United Way and on many local boards including Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council, Child Protective Services, Wilson McKewen Treatment Center and Memorial Medical System.

Cooper Castleberry

Member

Cooper Castleberry is a 1969 graduate of Lufkin High School and a 1973 graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University's school of business. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. He married Julie Noland (LHS '70) in 1974 and has three children: Claire Hennessey (LHS '96) of San Antonio, Anne Castleberry (LHS '02) attending Texas A&M University, and Harry Cooper (Trey) Castleberry III (LHS '08). He is the president of Castleberry's, Inc., a retail furniture store that has operated in Lufkin since 1962. It is located at 1702 South First Street in Lufkin. He is a member of the First United Methodist Church of Lufkin and the Lufkin Host Lions Club. He has served on numerous boards of directors since starting his business career in 1973. He is currently a collegiate football referee in the Big XII Conference. He has worked the Insight Bowl, GMAC-Mobile Bowl, Motor City Bowl and the Big XII Championship. He was first elected to the Lufkin Independent School District Board of Trustees in 2000.

Larry Kegler
Member

Larry Kegler is a Lufkin native and a 1968 graduate of Lufkin High School. Larry has served for 14 years on the Lufkin ISD School Board of Trustees. He is married to Marilyn Fry Kegler, a LISD Director of Instruction. Larry and Marilyn have three sons, Marcus of Houston, Chadwick a graduate of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, Cameron who is in his second year at Lamar Universiy, and a granddaughter, Amani. Mr. Kegler has been employed at the Lufkin State School as a dorm manager for 30+ years. He has served as a City Councilman in Lufkin, Texas and is a member of several service organizations such as the Lufkin Sideliners and the Concerned Black Men of Lufkin. Mr. Kegler attends First Missionary Baptist Church of Lufkin where he is a member of the male chorus.

Andra Self
Member

Andra Self has been a Board member for 13 years and has served as president for five years. Andra is currently serving on the Texas Association of School Board's Board of Directors. She is married to Kenneth Self and has two children, Johnathan Self and Tiffany Self both graduates of Lufkin High School and currently attending college. Andra is currently employed with Memorial Health System of East Texas as the Director of Rehabilitation Services and Wilson McKewn Rehabilitation Center.

Trent Ashby
Member

Trent Ashby was elected to the Lufkin ISD Board of Trustees in 2007. After graduating from Texas A&M University in 1996, he joined the staff of Congressman Jim Turner and worked in the Washington, DC office for 7 years before moving to Lufkin to become his District Director. From 2004-2007 he served as the Executive Director of the Texas Forest Country Partnership, a regional economic development organization. Currently, as President of Community Title, Trent oversees the company's operations in Angelina, Nacogdoches and Polk Counties. He serves on the boards of the Museum of East Texas, Texas Forestry Museum, Pineywoods Purgatory, the Texas Lyceum and is Chair of the Angelina County Census 2010 Committee and Vision 2020 Government Foundation. Trent and his wife, Nickie, have been married for 12 years and have two sons, Garin, a student at Dunbar Primary, and Grant, 4.