(KLZA)-- Regent Rob Schafer of Beatrice, who represents District 5 on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, has assumed the role of chairman of the Board after serving as vice chair in 2023.

Regent Paul Kenney of Amherst, representing District 6, was elected vice chairman of the Board. In accordance with Board policy, he will assume the chairmanship in 2025.

Schafer is a managing partner at Smith Schafer David Gaertig LLC and a livestock owner and operator. He is a staff judge advocate and lieutenant colonel in the Kansas Air National Guard. Schafer was appointed to the Board in 2013, elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018, the year he first served as chair.

A native of Pawnee City, Schafer earned his bachelor- and law degrees from the University of Nebraska. He and his wife, Andrea, have two daughters.

Kenney is an agribusinessman, farmer and rancher, working a homestead farm that has been passed down through his family for more than 100 years.