The five-member council that runs licensing for every physical and occupational therapist in Texas meets Oct. 1 to appoint a committee to find a new executive director — the first public sign that the job is changing hands.
The agenda has eight items and almost nothing else on it. Members are to name the search committee and settle the selection process, the criteria, the job posting and the general requirements. A second item covers the appointment, employment, evaluation, duties and pay of "the Interim or Acting Executive Director, and Executive Director." The council may close the meeting to the public on any item.
The agency has announced no vacancy. Its staff page, last updated in May, still lists Ralph Harper as executive director, and the Dispatch found no notice of a departure on the agency’s site, in its posted minutes or in news coverage. Nor does the agenda name anyone as interim. The council’s written minutes stop at August 2025, so there is no public record of what members did at their Aug. 14 meeting, whose agenda also carried a personnel item on the executive director; an audio recording of that meeting is available on request.
The post matters more than its obscurity suggests. The council is the administrative agency behind two separate licensing boards, one for physical therapy and one for occupational therapy. It sets the fees both boards charge, reviews their proposed rules before they reach the Texas Register, runs complaint intake and employs all the staff. By the agency’s own counts that machinery serves about 23,700 licensed physical therapists and 11,800 assistants, and roughly 13,800 occupational therapists and 7,200 assistants. The boards, not the council, write the rules on who may practice and how, and the council may not second-guess whether an applicant is qualified. The agency is also due for a Sunset review before it would otherwise be abolished in 2033, which makes who runs it for the next several years a question with a deadline attached.
There is no live stream. The council says an audio recording will be available on request after Oct. 15, so the first thing to watch for is who is named to the committee and how fast members want the job filled.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- Noon CT Thursday, October 1, 2026. Notice TRD 2026005716 was filed September 23 at 4:22 p.m.
- Where
- 1801 Congress Ave., Suite 10.900, Austin. The presiding member attends in person; the room is open to the public.
- Governing body & chair
- Executive Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Examiners — five members drawn from the two licensing boards plus a public member the governor appoints, who presides. Presiding officer Manoranjan Mahadeva.
- Format
- Videoconference meeting under the Open Meetings Act, eight items. Public comment is item 3. The council may go into closed session on any item.
- Live video
- None. An audio recording will be available on request after Oct. 15 from info@ptot.texas.gov.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · ptot.texas.gov
Council members
- Manoranjan "Mano" Mahadeva — presiding officer; Frisco; public member; term ends 2027.
- Harvey Aikman, PT — McAllen; term ends Feb. 1, 2027.
- Stephanie Johnston, OTR — Magnolia; term ends Feb. 1, 2027.
- Donivan Hodge — Spicewood; public member; term ends Feb. 1, 2029.
- Eddie Jessie — Houston; public member; term ends Feb. 1, 2031.
Roster from the agency’s council and staff page, last modified May 27, 2026 and checked September 24, 2026; Mahadeva’s status as the governor’s appointee and presiding officer is confirmed by his March 2026 reappointment release. Under Occupations Code Chapter 452 the occupational therapy board appoints one therapist and one public member, the physical therapy board does the same, and the governor names a fifth public member who presides; terms run two years and expire Feb. 1 of odd-numbered years. The agency’s page does not label which member holds which seat, so no seat attribution is printed here beyond Mahadeva’s. The page lists Ralph Harper as executive director. Contact: Randy Glines, staff services officer, (512) 305-6900.