The five-member council that runs licensing for Texas physical and occupational therapists will meet Nov. 5 to set up a search for an executive director and, the same day, to interview candidates for the job. The agency has published nothing explaining the opening, and its sitting executive director is still listed on its website.
The agenda puts two items back to back. One, in open session, covers the “Executive Director selection process, criteria, job posting, and general requirements.” The next covers personnel matters including reviewing applications and interviewing candidates, and the council may take it behind closed doors. Ralph Harper is the executive director in the agency’s most recent posted minutes, from August 2025, when the council voted to raise his salary by the largest amount available to it. No 2026 council minutes have been posted, and the Dispatch found no notice of a departure, a vacancy or a search anywhere on the agency’s site.
The council itself is an umbrella, and a small one. Texas licenses physical therapists and occupational therapists through two separate boards; this body — one practitioner and one public member drawn from each board, plus a public member the governor appoints to preside — writes the budget for all three, holds the property and employs the staff who do the licensing and the investigating. Whoever gets the director’s job runs that staff.
The council’s other decision is whether to let the occupational therapy board put rule changes out for public comment. They would rework the board’s definitions, its continuing education chapter, license renewal, and inactive and retired status, to carry out a 2025 law on verifying continuing education through electronic tracking systems. Under that law a therapist’s renewal turns on whether the system confirms the training was done. The proposed text is not public until it runs in the Texas Register, and the notice gives no further detail.
Everything else is short: minutes from an Oct. 1 meeting, an executive director’s report covering budget, performance measures, personnel and legislation, and future meeting dates. The agency’s own meeting calendar did not list this meeting when this was written; the notice filed with the secretary of state was the only posting the Dispatch found. An audio recording will be available on request after Nov. 19.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 12:00 PM, Thursday, November 5, 2026. TRD 2026006435 was filed October 28 at 3:13 p.m.
- Where
- 1801 Congress Ave., Suite 10.900, Austin, and by videoconference. The presiding member attends in person.
- Governing body & chair
- Executive Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Examiners — five members: one practitioner and one public member from each of the two licensing boards, and one public member the governor appoints to preside. Manoranjan “Mano” Mahadeva presides. No seat is vacant.
- Format
- Ten numbered items. Public comment is the third. The council may close the meeting on any item.
- Live video
- By videoconference under the state’s remote-meeting law. No public archive; an audio recording is available by request to info@ptot.texas.gov after Nov. 19.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · executive council page
Council members
- Manoranjan “Mano” Mahadeva — presiding officer; Frisco; public member.
- Harvey Aikman — McAllen; physical therapist.
- Stephanie Johnston — Magnolia; occupational therapist.
- Eddie Jessie — Houston; public member, occupational therapy board.
- Donivan Hodge — Spicewood; public member.
Roster from the agency’s council and staff page, checked October 29. All five seats are filled; terms for Mahadeva, Aikman and Johnston expire in February 2027. The council’s composition is set by Occupations Code Chapter 452. The staff page lists Hodge only as a public member; the council’s August 2025 minutes identify him as the physical therapy board’s public member. Ralph Harper is listed as executive director on the same page. Meeting contact: Nicole Palmer, (512) 305-6900.