Location
San Jacinto Hall
Room 0207
San Jacinto at 21st Street
Attendee List
See who is coming
Dress
Business Casual
Professional Credits
Texas CPAs are eligible to receive CPE credits.
Photography
Please note that a photographer will be present at this event. These photos may be used in McCombs publications. If this is a concern, please contact alumni@mccombs.utexas.edu.
Cancellation Policy
We understand that things can come up unexpectedly. For a full refund, please notify us by February 1, 2013. Unfortunately, we are unable to process any refunds after that date.
Sponsors
We would like to thank Sutherland and the Horizon Business Group for their sponsorships of the 8th Annual McCombs Alumni Business Conference.
Conference Schedule
Friday, February 8
8:00-8:45 a.m.
Registration and Breakfast at San Jacinto Hall
8:45 a.m.
Welcome
John Doggett, Senior Lecturer, Management Department, McCombs School of Business
9:00-9:45 a.m.
Trillion Dollar Platinum Coins, Currency Wars and Other "Modern" Ways to Produce Inflation
Lewis Spellman, Professor, Finance Department, McCombs School of Business
(Introdution by: Keith Chapman, Master Merger & Acquisition Intermediary, Horizon Business Group, LLC)
9:45-10:15 a.m.
Break and Networking Time
10:15-11:00 a.m.
Angel Investing and All That Money Stuff
Laura Kilcrease, Entrepreneur in Residence, Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship, McCombs School of Business
11:00-11:45 a.m.
Big Data and Data Analytics: How Companies Use Data to Solve Business Problems
Michael Hasler, Lecturer and Program Director, Master of Science in Business Analytics, McCombs School of Business
11:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Attendees proceed to the Alumni Center
12:00-1:00 p.m. Lunch
Connally Ballroom in the Alumni Center
Lunch Program:
- Welcome and Introductions:
Keary Kinch, Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving
Elizabeth Horne, BBA/MPA Alumni Advisory Board
- School Update:
Tom Gilligan, Dean, McCombs School of Business
- Keynote Speaker:
Rex Tillerson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exxon Mobil Corporation
The Role of Energy Innovation and Investment in Driving the Economy
Innovation creates new opportunity. This has never been more evident than in today’s energy industry, where technological breakthroughs have led to a revolution in domestic unconventional resource development, which in turn has created thousands of new jobs, millions in government revenue and billions in economic growth. Thanks to innovation, an energy transformation is now underway in North America, the dimensions of which are still unfolding. We are breaking new ground in the safe and responsible production of oil sands, shale gas, tight oil and ultra deep water.
To sustain such innovation at the breakneck pace the world needs, the International Energy Agency estimates industry will need to invest $25 trillion by 2030. As you know, successful investment requires long-term vision and discipline as well as a secure and stable environment. For such long-term investment strategies to work, business and government must each know and fulfill their duties. The duty of government is to facilitate the safe and responsible development of energy within the context of a level playing field.
This new era of abundance has made it possible for the United States to meet our nation’s needs for energy and become something we have not been in decades – a major energy exporter. We must work together to build energy policies that strengthen markets, encourage free trade, promote the rule of law and provide a sound and stable policy environment to support the investments that enable continued innovation and improvement. If we can deepen our emerging energy consensus, we will develop the diversity of sources and security of supplies that a growing and more prosperous world needs.
1:00-1:30 p.m.
Break and Networking Time
1:30-2:15 p.m.
The Big Auxiliary – Funding a Modern Intercollegiate Athletics Program
Chris Plonsky, Women's Athletic Director, The University of Texas at Austin
2:15-3:00 p.m.
The Difficulty of Being Ethical in a Difficult Economy
Robert Prentice, Chair, Business, Government and Society Department, McCombs School of Business
(Introduction by: Jim Bushee, Partner, Sutherland)
3:00-3:30 p.m.
Summary & Close
3:30-6:00 p.m.
Networking Reception (Included with Conference) at San Jacinto Hall
Speaker Bios
Below are the 8th Annual McCombs Alumni Business Conference speakers. Each is a leader in his or her field, and we know their insight will be incredibly helpful as we discuss today's most pressing business issues.
Keynote Speaker
Rex Tillerson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Exxon Mobil Corporation
A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Mr. Tillerson earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin before joining Exxon Company, U.S.A. in 1975 as a production engineer.
In 1989, he became general manager of EUSA's Central Production Division, responsible for oil and gas production operations throughout a large portion of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. In 1992, Mr. Tillerson was named production advisor to Exxon Corporation. Three years later he was named president of Exxon Yemen Inc. and Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc., and in January 1998 became vice president of Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. and president of Exxon Neftegas Limited. In those roles, he was responsible for Exxon's holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea as well as the Sakhalin I Consortium operations offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia.
In December 1999, he became executive vice president of ExxonMobil Development Company. Mr. Tillerson was named senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corporation in August 2001, and was elected president of the corporation and member of the board of directors on March 1, 2004. He assumed his current position Jan. 1, 2006.
Mr. Tillerson is a member of the Executive Committee and is a former chairman of the American Petroleum Institute. He is also a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council, a member of the Business Roundtable, an honorary trustee of the Business Council for International Understanding and a member of the Emergency Committee for American Trade.
Mr. Tillerson is the vice-Chairman of the Ford's Theatre Society, immediate past national president of the Boy Scouts of America and a former director of the United Negro College Fund. He is also a member of the Chancellor's Council and the Engineering Advisory Board for The University of Texas at Austin and the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Master of Ceremonies
John Doggett
Senior Lecturer
Department of Management
McCombs School of Business
John N. Doggett is a senior lecturer in the Department of Management. He received his B.A. from Claremont Men’s College, his J.D. from Yale Law School and his MBA from Harvard Business School. His research and teaching interests include international entrepreneurship, global competition, sustainability and energy. Since 1999, Professor Doggett has spent part of each summer and winter teaching courses on entrepreneurship and global competition in Austria, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Since the spring of 2003, Professor Doggett has led MBA students on annual two-week observation tours of the People's Republic of China. In 2010, he will lead MBA students to both China and India.
Additional Speakers
Michael Hasler
Lecturer and Program Director, Master of Science in Business Analytics
McCombs School of Business
Michael Hasler is a fellow in the Supply Chain Management Center of Excellence, lecturer in the Information, Risk and Operations Management department and the director for the Master of Science program in Business Analytics. He received his B.S.M.E. from the General Motors Institute (Kettering University), M.S. and MBA from the University of Virginia and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.
The bulk of his professional experience was in the auto industry in supply chain and operations and then moved to high technology in the semiconductor equipment industry with Applied Materials. While at Applied Materials, he helped launch their supply chain management activity, led operations for a $1 billion division and was the head of global materials operations before leaving in 2003.
Laura Kilcrease
Entrepreneur in Residence
Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship
McCombs School of Business
Laura Kilcrease, MBA ‘92, founder and managing director of Triton Ventures and a 25-year veteran of the Austin technology scene, is the 2012-13 entrepreneur-in-residence at the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship at McCombs. Kilcrease’s nine-month appointment will complement her continuing work at Triton Ventures identifying and managing capital investments in the renowned Austin startup community. Read more about her residence.
Chris Plonsky
Women's Athletic Director
The University of Texas at Austin
Chris Plonsky has served as The University of Texas’ women’s athletic director since spring 2001. She has also supervised external services for men's and women's athletics at UT since 1993.
As the women’s athletic director, she directs the university’s 11-sport program comprised of more than 240 women student athletes. The external services area includes serving as the university’s athletics' chief liaison with multimedia rights holder, IMG College. She also supervises the university’s trademark and licensing staff, which works directly with IMG College's Collegiate Licensing Company.
On a volunteer basis, she serves as a board member of the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame and USA Basketball. She is president-elect of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) for 2013-14. Locally, she is a member of the UT Libraries Advisory Council, the Capital Area Crime Stoppers board and the University Federal Credit Union supervisory committee.
Plonsky was born in Pittsburgh and raised in both Greensburg, PA and northeast Ohio. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism in 1979 at Kent State University.
Robert Prentice
Chair
Business, Government and Society Department
McCombs School of Business
Robert Prentice is the founding chair of the Business, Government and Society Department at the McCombs School of Business. He received his B.A. from the University of Kansas and his J.D. from Washburn University. His research and teaching interests include business ethics and business law, particularly securities regulation and the legal liability of accountants.
Professor Prentice has won numerous teaching awards and is a member of The University of Texas’ Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He has published more than 30 major law review articles on topics such as securities law litigation, tender offers, insider trading, securities regulation and the Internet, accountants' legal liability and products liability.
Lewis Spellman
Professor
Finance Department
McCombs School of Business
Lewis Spellman is a professor in the Finance Department at the McCombs School of Business. He received his B.B.A. and MBA from the University of Michigan and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. His research interests include the value of third party financial guarantees, market estimates of bank risk, bank survival and banking development. His teaching interests include debt, equity, foreign exchange price trends, market intervention by governments and macroeconomics and business conditions.