Gov. Brian Kemp appointed a retired Columbus real estate developer to the Georgia Board of Regents, which oversees the 26 public schools within the University System of Georgia.
Mat Swift, 76, will represent the 3rd Congressional District for a term that ends Jan. 1, 2031, according to a Jan. 5 executive order signed by the governor.
Swift said he’s humbled by the opportunity.
“I’m going to be doing a lot of listening and a lot of learning for the first few months,” he said in a Friday telephone interview. “I think all the board members have goals to continue to elevate our system to higher levels and never be complacent.”
The 3rd Congressional District was previously represented by Dr. C. Thomas Hopkins, a surgeon from Griffin, whose term expired Jan. 1. Hopkins was first appointed to the board in 2010 by Sonny Perdue, who was governor at the time and is now the University System’s chancellor. He was later reappointed by then-Gov. Nathan Deal to another term that began in 2018.
Hopkins could not immediately be reached for comment.
Swift credited Hopkins’ years of service to the board, saying the departing board member leaves “huge shoes for me to try to fill.”
“I think the governor felt like having someone who was from Columbus was important to the Regents as well as the 3rd District,” Swift said. “When he was reaching out to me, that was part of his reasoning was to get somebody from Columbus.”
Columbus is the largest city in the district and Georgia’s second-largest city, with a population of just over 202,000, according to the 2022 U.S. Census estimates.
The board consists of 19 members, all appointed by the governor, who represent each of Georgia’s congressional districts plus five at-large seats. The terms of two other board members, Sarah-Elizabeth Langford from the 5th Congressional District and Tom Bradbury from the 11th District, also expired Jan. 1. Both remain listed on the Board of Regents’ website as of Friday afternoon.
A spokesman for the governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Swift earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Georgia and received his law degree from the Walter F. George School of Law, part of Mercer University.
He practiced real estate law and then became president of the Columbus-based W.C. Bradley Co.’s real estate division. His projects included residential subdivisions, a suburban office park and redevelopment in downtown Columbus along the riverfront.
Swift, who according to state reports has donated to Kemp’s election campaigns, also was appointed by the governor in 2019 to the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Board of Directors.
