Riter heads an investment company and invested in the gubernatorial campaigns of Bush, who appointed him to the University of Texas Board of Regents. In that capacity, he was named to the board of the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), which manages the university’s endowment. A scandal ensued at UTIMCO when the media revealed its board had awarded lucrative investment contracts to cronies of its former chair, Tom Hicks, and to top Bush donors such as Pioneers Charles Wyly and Lee Bass. Riter is an ex-chair of NCNB bank in Tyler.