MBA Alumni Profiles
Kenneth M. Jastrow, II, BBA ’69, MBA ’71“Kenneth M. Jastrow, II, BBA ’69, MBA ’71 entered the university as a teenager from Midland, Texas, and he left as a sharp businessman with his new bride Susie by his side. His time on campus truly was the life-changing experience that students often seek when they attend college.
“Going to UT transformed my life,” says Jastrow, former chairman and CEO of Temple-Inland Inc. and chair of the university’s new $3 billion capital campaign. He says in addition to meeting his wife and developing his business acumen, he made lifelong friends and broadened his worldview. So it’s no surprise he is an ardent advocate for higher education.
“Higher education, next to our constitution, is our country’s greatest institution,” Jastrow says. “It is the driver of the future and a better life for all Americans.”
That view has fueled Jastrow’s deep involvement with the McCombs School and the university as an alumnus. In addition to chairing the capital campaign, he has served as chairman of the university’s Development Board, the McCombs School’s Advisory Council and Neighborhood Longhorns. He also served as Chair of the Commission of 125, a group that developed an in-depth report of how the university can best serve Texas and society during the next 25 years. He is a member of the McCombs School’s Hall of Fame and is a Distinguished Alumnus of the university.
“I feel it’s my duty to give back to the university, but it’s also a privilege,” Jastrow says. “I’ve said ‘Yes’ every time they’ve asked.”
Jastrow says he hopes a broad section of the McCombs School’s enormous alumni network gets involved in the capital campaign, as he believes this is a crucial time to support the university. He cites the university’s diversity, top-flight faculty and intellectually curious students (“They’re much smarter than I was, than I am!” Jastrow says) as key assets.
“UT has the opportunity to be the best public university, and the alumni base sees this,” Jastrow says. “This drive to be the best will be a very important part of the university’s legacy.”
He adds that students who are transformed by their education go on to create their own change in the world. “It’s not only just about your time as a student, but also it’s what happens when you leave.”
Jenn McClain, MBA ’05“Working in New York City is intense, and I want people to have a group they can turn to when they need help,” says Jenn McClain, MBA ’05 and co-president of the New York Chapter of the McCombs MBA Alumni (MMA) Network.
Whether that’s help finding an apartment or, particularly in light of the turmoil on Wall Street, finding a new job, McClain says the McCombs network has the potential to be an invaluable resource for its members.
“There are more than 500 alumni living in the Tri-State area, so I really want to connect everyone and have an ongoing dialogue that extends beyond the occasional reception or happy hour,” McClain says. She hopes to engage distinguished alumni, network with other business school groups and start an MMA Network community service project.
McClain is the director for online marketing at Ann Taylor and has shown adeptness at connecting people to an organization. In her two years at Ann Taylor, her team has grown traffic to the company’s Web site by 65 percent each year, even as foot traffic to its brick and mortar stores has been tough.
“I love that in my job I get to immediately see which marketing campaigns work and which don’t,” McClain says. “And the technology is constantly evolving, which means there is always a new challenge for me, and that’s exciting.” Learn more about your local chapter.
Ben Rodgers, MBA ’08As a student at McCombs, Ben Rodgers, MBA ’08, benefitted first-hand from alumni who decided to remain connected to the school. He met several investment banking alumni during his first year when they returned to campus to judge a finance case competition and then followed up with them and other alumni while on a recruiting trip to Wall Street later that fall. He has since secured a position with JPMorgan Securities as an associate in the syndicated and leveraged finance.
“I really appreciated the involvement of alumni when I was a student, and so I feel I need to do the same,” says Rodgers, who is the new alumni class co-president. In that position, he will be a liaison between the McCombs School and his classmates, helping to foster support for professional development opportunities for alumni as well as current student programs.
He views the effort as an opportunity to serve his classmates while also helping them maintain the close ties they formed while on campus.
“We made these lifelong friendships as students, and then we graduated and scattered across the world,” Rodgers says. “It’s neat to stay in the middle of things, keep in touch with people and see how their careers take off.”
Holly (Goodrich) McMullan, MBA ‘04 A native of England who went to graduate school in Texas and now works on Wall Street, Holly (Goodrich) McMullan, MBA ’04, appreciates the challenges of succeeding in an unfamiliar environment. So it makes sense that she has made it her mission to help McCombs students navigate the New York financial sector and raise the school’s profile and reputation in the area.
In honor of her efforts, the McCombs School is presenting McMullan with the 2008 Rising Star Award, given to a recent graduate who has demonstrated distinguished professional success and worked to strengthen the McCombs MBA Alumni (MMA) Network. She will receive the award at the 4th Annual Alumni Awards Celebration, Sept. 19 in Austin.
“At my job [as a principal with Apollo Capital Management], I’m one of only two people from UT – everyone else is from Harvard or Wharton!” McMullan says. She has played a key role in overcoming that regional imbalance by reviving the New York chapter of the MMA Network and assisting with the Week on Wall Street program, which brings McCombs MBA students to New York to learn more about investment banking, trading and careers in alternative investment management.
McMullan founded the Texas MBA Hedge Fund Organization as a student, and she continues to help the organization host the school’s annual MBA Hedge Fund Symposium, an invitation-only event that brings elite finance professionals to campus, along with nationwide attention from the industry and other business schools. This year’s 6th annual symposium attracted more than 200 attendees with industry leaders from organizations and investors such as Perella Weinberg, Quantlab, Halycon, UTIMCO, Texas Teachers and Austin Capital Management.
In each of these efforts, McMullan seeks opportunities to help McCombs students advance professionally.
“I absolutely love my job, but mentoring students is even more rewarding than my day-to-day work,” McMullan says. “And my hope is that the students I help will turn around and help other students in the future.”
Read more about McMullan and the alumni awards celebration at http://mba.mccombs.utexas.edu/mma/alumniawards/2008event.asp.
Mike Bacon, MBA ’98
In its 1996 business school rankings report, BusinessWeek criticized the Texas MBA program for its lack of an active alumni network. Feeling slighted by the designation but recognizing a weakness, Mike Bacon, MBA ’98, joined a group of recent alumni and second year MBA students to create the school’s first official alumni organization.
More than a decade later, the McCombs MBA Alumni Network is a thriving organization with 35 chapters worldwide and a host of alumni services.
“Now when you graduate from UT, you have an immediate circle of people you can connect with, no matter where you go,” says Bacon, who lives in San Antonio with his wife Susie and 15-month-old son Max. “It helps you feel connected to UT, and not just when you’re in Austin. In fact some of the largest gatherings our network has are in New York.”
But of course nothing helps an alumnus reconnect like returning to campus, which is why Bacon is co-chair of his 10-year reunion, set for Sept. 19-21. Bacon says he is looking forward to staying at the new AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center, watching the Texas-Rice football game with classmates and catching up with friends.
Bacon’s volunteer involvement with McCombs comes as no surprise, given his career path. As founder of Bacon Lee & Associates, a charitable resource management firm, Bacon helps nonprofit organizations with strategic planning, revenue building, candidate searches and board training. He says the analytical skills he learned at McCombs, as well as his stint as chair of the MBA Alumni Advisory Board, help him introduce some much needed business savvy to a nonprofit’s outlook.
“A lot of nonprofits have a plan of ‘Let’s do what we did last year, and just hope we do better,’” Bacon says. He adds that most nonprofits rely too heavily on corporate donors and foundations, but fail to utilize their most valuable fundraisers – the board members. “Board members work with an organization because they believe in it, so they are going to have a more powerful impact on a potential donor than someone who is paid to raise money.
“This career is not where I ever expected to be,” says Bacon. “But I absolutely love it.”
Suzanne Brown, BBA ’96, MBA ’04
“I’m very passionate about being an alum,” says Suzanne Brown, BBA ’96 and MBA ’04. Brown, who is director of strategic alliances and business intelligence for GSD&M Idea City, will conclude her two-year term as co-president of the Austin MBA Alumni Chapter in August.
The Austin chapter is one of the nation’s largest and most active, and Brown oversaw the implementation of several new initiatives. These include a happy hour with Harvard MBA alumni, a concentrated theme for the year’s professional development activities and creating a yearly strategic plan for the chapter. Previously the chapter introduced the concept of having co-presidents who rotate each year.
“The strategic plan and rotational co-presidency have been really great for the chapter,” Brown says. “That way, we always have someone who has experience as a president and someone who is coming in with fresh ideas.”
Brown is also on the executive committee of the MBA Alumni Advisory Board and serves as chairperson of the Mentorship Committee, connecting alumni mentors with current MBA students.
“I was lucky that my first boss out of college became a wonderful mentor to me, and he is still my mentor today,” Brown says. “It’s an invaluable relationship, but not everyone has the opportunity or capability to make that kind of connection, so we want to help students find someone who is a good match.”
Brown says roughly 140 alumni participate in the mentorship program, which she has found to be an ideal way to reengage pre-1995 alumni who had lost touch with the McCombs School.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to tap their experience in a really meaningful way,” Brown says.
Overseeing the mentorship program seems like a natural extension of Brown’s work in strategic alliances at GSD&M Idea City, which she says essentially boils down to relationship management.
“Most of our clients are too large to employ only one agency, so I help build relationships with other agencies and work with our client teams to choose partner firms,” she says.
Catherine Crain, MBA ’93
Catherine Crain hadn’t planned on making a career in finance after
graduating with a B.A. in Plan II from UT. But she did know she
wanted to move to New York City. There she began working as a
financial analyst, which would prompt her interest in returning to
Texas and UT to pursue an MBA in finance.
Upon receiving her MBA in 1993, Catherine began working at Fayez
Sarofim & Co. in Houston, as a research analyst. She continues
working there today as a portfolio manager. Her loyalty to McCombs,
like that of her dedication to her employer, has remained strong
since she graduated.
Starting in 1994 when the MBA Investment Fund was just launching,
Catherine was asked if she would like to participate as an
investment counselor.
“I had just gotten out of school and was beginning to practice money
management,” Crain says.” “This was a great way to maintain my ties
with school.”
For the next ten years, Crain participated with the fund, watching
it gain steam and credibility and getting just as much out of the
experience as she gave.
“Hearing the students give their pitches and analysis helped me to
grow as an investment professional,” Crain says, “And from a
recruiting perspective, it was also beneficial to interact with
students and see if there was interest in Fayez Sarofim.”
At least six students who worked on the MBA Investment Fund now work
at the same company as Crain.
Today, the MBA Investment Fund is valued at more than $13 million.
And Crain, who is no longer an investment counselor, still makes
trips from Houston to campus. Since 2004, she has been a member of
the McCombs Advisory Council, and she also enjoys returning for
football games with her family.
Jason
Downie, MBA 1999
Jason Downie, MBA 1999, was recently voted chair-elect of the
McCombs MBA Alumni Network Advisory Board. He’s eagerly looking
forward to taking on a larger role with the organization. “I’m very
excited about the prospects of the McCombs Alumni Network,” he said.
“Through the leadership of a host of able people, we’ve created a
strong foundation, and we’re finally in the position to fulfill our
mission of being one of the leading alumni groups in the country.”
Jason has been an active member of the board for the past four
years, serving as the chair of the Alumni Giving Committee and as an
at-large member. He plans to spend time with each committee during
his term to help where needed. “We will all benefit from a better
McCombs,” he said. “I think it’s imperative that we give back in
whatever way we can.”
As a partner at HM Capital since 2000, Jason has been closely
involved with the firm’s most recent investments in BlackBrush
Energy, Inc. He is currently involved as a director of BlackBrush,
TexStar Field Services, and Regency Energy Partners. Prior to
joining HM, Downie was an associate with Rice Sangalis Toole &
Wilson, a mezzanine private equity firm based in Houston. Before
pursuing his MBA in 1997, he was employed by Donaldson, Lufkin &
Jenrette for five years.
In addition to his MBA, Jason has a McCombs BBA-Real Estate degree.
He lives in Dallas with his wife Berkeley and their four children,
Sam, Michael, Malcolm, and Vivian.
Adam
Evans, MBA 2001
Many students find inspiration for future careers through professors
or courses, but McCombs MBA alumnus Adam Evans found it on a trip to
the other side of the world.
Recently, Adam and his wife, fellow McCombs MBA alumnus Kirsten
Evans, spent a year in Prague in the Czech Republic as a part of the
Short Term International Rotation (STIR) Program for GE Consumer
Finance. While there, Adam helped launch GE’s first co-branded
credit card with ElectroWorld, a large electronics retailer.
Adam credits an experience provided by McCombs for his interest in
this program. “A trip to Thailand while I was at McCombs first
sparked my interest in international business. If not for that
experience, I probably would not have considered going to the Czech
Republic, which was a wonderful experience for my family, and has
helped me expand my career options.”
Adam has been working for GE since his graduation in 2001. He began
in their Marketing Leadership Program, and has subsequently handled
the life-cycle (enhancement of consumer usage) of the JCPenney
account for three years.
Since Adam’s stay in Prague, he has moved from GE Consumer Finance’s
life-cycle management to the acquisitions department and is now
working on the Sam’s Club account. He and his family are in the
process of moving to Bentonville, AR, where Sam’s Club has its home
office.
Find out more information on the McCombs Global Connections or
sponsor international activities as a corporation or individual.
Ken Foote,
MBA 1978
After graduating from McCombs in 1978, Ken Foote took an unusual career path for an MBA. But then again, Foote isn’t your typical businessman.
Foote spent his childhood enamored by radio and television. He has carried this passion his entire life, getting his bachelor’s degree in radio-television-film at Southern Methodist University after working as a radio disc jockey through high school and college. Today, the current president of the new Fort Worth Chapter of the MBA Alumni Network works as director of programming at KTVT and KTXA, the CBS owned and operated stations in Dallas/Fort Worth.
"As a young person, my dream was to be either a major radio personality in a big market or the host/announcer on CBS Television’s The Price Is Right,” Foote said. “Once you’re infected by the media business, you are so for life."
Eventually he realized he wanted to work on the management side of the media, which led him to business school. Foote was drawn to The University of Texas at Austin because of its "stellar reputation" and Dean George Kozmetsky's desire to always improve.
"Dean Kozmetzky was so ahead of his time," Foote said. "He always said, 'We can always do better,' and that goal is still there."
While his cohorts were pursuing MBAs to enter commercial banking, finance, and oil & gas, Foote intended all along to continue working in the media. Despite that field being an industry that typically doesn’t recruit MBAs, Foote began working with the Gulf Broadcast Group, first in sales and corporate finance and later, as a program director with the company’s CBS affiliate in Phoenix. From there, he worked as director of programming for various stations in Dallas/Fort Worth before assuming his current position in 2004.
With a job that often keeps him at the station until after the 6:00 pm newscasts, it hadn’t been easy for him to maneuver through rush hour traffic to attend Dallas Chapter events. That’s just one of the reasons Foote is excited about heading up a Fort Worth Chapter. He says there are enough Longhorn alumni in the area to benefit from another chapter. The first event will be a winter reception on January 29 at the Fort Worth Club. A faculty speaking event is planned for the spring.
In addition to participating with the Fort Worth Chapter, Foote stays connected with McCombs by attending the annual MBA Alumni Business Conference every March. He refers to those conferences as excellent and inspiring career development events.
And each time he’s back at McCombs, he’s encouraged by the students that call or have called the school home.
"When I attend alumni events, I see some of the youngest, sharpest men and women," Foote said. "I am so impressed with quality and caliber of the MBAs that are coming out of UT today and the things that Dean Gau has done for the school."
Rudy Garza, MBA 2006
Despite having a full-time finance job at Frito-Lay, Rudy Garza knew he needed an MBA to solidify his professional career.
Being based in Dallas-Fort Worth, he wanted a quality program that was available locally. He found what he was looking for with the Texas MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth program, which is offered on alternating Fridays and Saturdays. With a plethora of executive education opportunities nearby, McCombs rose to the top.
“There are many options in the DFW area to get an MBA,” Garza says. “For me, McCombs was the number one option.”
Garza praised the top-notch faculty for providing an intensive and rewarding learning experience. Respected professors like Bob May, Jim Nolen, Jim Fredrickson and John Doggett all greatly affected him.
“The access to leading professors and knowing our program wasn’t a watered down version of the full-time MBA program is what made my experience great,” he says.
Since completing the program in 2006, Garza has stayed connected to McCombs and was recently recognized for his efforts by winning the Alumni Service Award at the DFW MBA Alumni Chapter winter reception in 2008.
He has taken a hands-on approach with helping Frito-Lay recruit McCombs graduates, and has helped establish a bridge from his company not just to the main campus, but to the DFW program he knows so well.
“I think Frito-Lay sees the importance of maintaining a relationship with the full-time program in Austin, and also with the DFW program in the company’s own backyard,” Garza says. “Being an alumnus from that program, I have a vested interest in seeing that program succeed.”
Now he serves as a Group Finance Manager for PepsiCo’s (Frito-Lay’s parent company) foodservice division and manages the South region sales team, which in addition to Frito-Lay, also sells Gatorade, Quaker and Tropicana products.
A trip abroad to Singapore and Thailand while with McCombs helped open his eyes to the broad scope his company encompasses.
“My company sells products that are consumed by people every day throughout the world,” Garza says. “It was interesting to see how those products were being marketed and consumed in the various regions of the countries we were able to visit.”
He takes pride in being a part of a company that has a worldwide presence and enjoys his role in bringing consumers the products they know and love. Finance, he says, touches every part of the business.
“In finance, I’m always working with a functional partner (Sales, Marketing, R&D and/or Operations) to drive profitable sales growth and deliver our productivity targets,” he says. And as he and his high school sweetheart prepare to adopt a child from El Salvador, Garza takes comfort in having a stable and rewarding job and can thank McCombs for part of his success.
David
Hendrix, MBA 1997
Dave Hendrix has come full circle in the McCombs MBA Alumni (MMA)
Network—the school’s graduate business alumni association. He was
involved with its creation in 1996 and now he has assumed the Chair
position on its Advisory Board. “It has been incredible to see the
growth in the alumni network,” says Hendrix, “from being a
completely new organization with no funding, no chapters, and
limited alumni interest to a thriving organization that truly serves
our alumni base with almost 30 chapters and numerous services and
networking opportunities.”
Hendrix’s experience with the MMA Network over the years makes him
an outstanding choice for the new Chair. He was the first Director
while still a student at McCombs (when the organization was still
called the Graduate Business Network). He has also served as Chair
of the Membership Committee, San Diego Chapter President, and 1997
Class President. During the next two years, Hendrix will focus on
continuing the growth of the MMA Network and its chapters,
increasing alumni interaction between the MBA programs (Full-time,
Executive, Evening, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and Mexico City),
and building more (and better) networking opportunities for alumni.
Hendrix was most recently a vice president at Convio where he led
the company’s Client Services organization. Before joining Convio,
he was a member of the original founding team at Kinzan, a
venture-funded enterprise software company, where he had consecutive
roles as Director of Professional Services, Director of Operations,
and Vice President of Operations. Hendrix also spent time as a
consultant at A.T. Kearney and Ernst & Young and served four years
as a Systems Engineer in the United States Air Force.
While an MBA student at McCombs, Hendrix concentrated in
Entrepreneurship and was involved with the development of a number
of successful new ventures, including the creation of BioGel
Incorporated, winner of the International Moot Corp© Competition for
Entrepreneurs. Hendrix also holds a degree in Systems Engineering
from the University of Virginia. He lives in Austin with his wife,
Robin, and his two daughters, Kasey (4) and Allison (2).
Craig Hester, MBA 1972
Craig Hester has been hitting the business news circuit, making rounds on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, CBS Radio and most recently CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” During his appearance on that show in October, Hester discussed his picks for value stocks, a subject he handles with aplomb from 19 years of experience running Hester Capital Management.
The Austin firm manages just under $1.6 million for individual and institutional clients. Since Hester founded the company, the firm has grown steadily, starting with just one employee in 1989 to 17 today. His client base comes mainly through referrals and though his firm is successful, Hester’s desire isn’t to grow the company so large that it becomes impersonal.
“Money management is a relationship business at the end of the day,” Hester says. “It’s built on trust and credibility, and my team and I work hard to preserve that.”
Before starting out on his own venture, Hester began his career as a financial analyst with the Texas Retirement System of Texas and Republic Bank. Later, he gained experience in money management with the Texas Municipal Retirement System and InterFirst Investment Management. In all of these roles, he cultivated relationships with people across the state, many of whom would later become clients of Hester Capital Management.
In part because of his own successes and because he’s a strong believer in education, Hester remains involved with McCombs. He serves as a member on the Advisory Committee for the MBA Investment Fund, where he interacts with student managers and faculty.
“I think advisor participation was designed to be educational for the MBAs,” Hester says. “But I’ve learned just as much from the faculty and students and been introduced to very bright people.”
Among those bright stars, Hester counts three of his current employees—former McCombs MBA students who worked on the MBA Investment Fund.
“Being involved with McCombs is a winning situation for me. We employ interns from McCombs and hire grads. I buy the McCombs product and am proud to come to work with these people every day.”
When he isn’t managing money for his clients or giving back to McCombs, Hester splits his time between a small Texas ranch and traveling to Colorado to hike. In 1998, Hester made it a personal goal to climb the 54 Colorado peaks that reach over 14,000 feet. He’s managed to meet that goal half way, climbing 27 of those peaks thus far and has plans to complete the remaining in the following years. For Hester, raising new heights is equally important in both his personal and professional lives.
Kim Matthews MBA ’03
Kim Matthews always knew she wanted an MBA.
After receiving her BBA in management information systems from Texas A&M, Matthews spent five years working for IBM Global Services in IT consulting in Dallas. The internet boom of the late 1990s provided a perfect starting place, but after the net bubble burst, opportunities in IT consulting began to decline.
That brought her to the McCombs School of Business.
One of the reasons she chose McCombs was because of the school’s and the University’s approach to information technology.
“I liked the fact that McCombs views IT as a component of corporate strategy, not just cost or overhead, and pursuing an MBA at a school that valued my background was important,” Matthews says. “And, being in Austin certainly didn’t hurt.”
Upon leaving McCombs, Matthews landed a job at Lehman Brothers, working in private wealth management.
In 2005 Matthews began working at CenterPoint Energy, a leading utility provider based in Houston. For two years, she worked as an internal process consultant for corporate finance. Six months ago, she made a move and is now the manager of investor relations. In that role, Matthews' goal is to ensure that CenterPoint Energy securities are fairly valued in the market.
“My job is based on communications and relationships, both within CenterPoint and in the marketplace,” she says. “Our goal is to get information about our current performance and future prospects to the market in a timely manner and, in turn, bring back feedback from the financial community to our executive leadership. We are being evaluated along with hundreds of other investment choices. The competition is stiff, so a clear, accurate, consistent message is critically important. We want to make it easy for anyone to analyze and, ultimately, invest in our company.”
Working for a Houston utility company goes beyond simple office work. If a hurricane were to hit the city, Matthews’ job changes to meal coordinator as part of the emergency operating plan. Her job, along with other emergency-only roles, is to help run operations at a service center allowing line people to be up on poles repairing the power infrastructure as quickly as possible; a.k.a. “seeing the bottoms of their boots” in utility jargon. Matthews says it’s an interesting aspect of working for a utility.
“We are very much part of the community,” Matthews says. “We’re one of the few organizations, along with hospitals and rescue workers, who respond within 24 hours of a natural disaster.”
When she’s not communicating with Wall Street analysts, institutional investors and private shareholders, Matthews makes it back to Austin twice a year to serve on the MBA Alumni Advisory Board. She serves on the alumni recognition committee where she helps to organize the MBA Alumni Awards Celebration.
She also enjoys traveling and renovating her recently purchased house, and knows that McCombs has made her current success possible.
“I had the opportunity to experience fantastic core professors who really give students a solid foundation for the rest of their career at McCombs,” Matthews says. “And the lecturers offered great practical advice, making learning directly relevant to our personal lives, such as our own investments and careers.”
Jay
Manickam, MBA 2004
In January 2003, three 2004 MBAs, Matt Chasen, Jay Manickam and
Mickey Millsap created uShip, the first and largest online shipping
service that matches members with over 15,000 service providers.
“We aim to be the destination site for shipping,” said Manickam, the
Director of Strategy, Reporting and Analysis for uShip.
Features of uShip include familiarity of format (it’s a peer to peer
online marketplace similar to eBay), patent-pending search
technology that helps reduce shipping costs by allowing drivers to
find shipments along their routes and fill empty cargo space, and a
feedback system.
Semi-finalists in the MOOTCorp competition, the founders of uShip
won several competitions including ones at San Diego State and North
Texas and eventually found funding for the company from a Silicon
Valley venture capitol firm.
“For entrepreneurs, it’s important to use the resources around you
including professors and alumni,” said Manickam. “You should also be
incredibly determined and focused. And very willing to make
sacrifices.”
A native of Annapolis Maryland, Manickam received his B.A. in
chemistry and philosophy from the University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill in 1996. He worked as a consultant and an accountant
before attending McCombs School of Business for his MBA.
“I wanted to get a broad business background. Austin of course, was
a huge draw, but the McCombs programs spoke for themselves. They are
entrepreneurial focused and flexible,” said Manickam. “Plus, it
turns out that school is a great time to start a company!”
Kathleen Motheral, MBA 2007
Taking a high-profile job at one of the biggest companies in the
world right out of business school could be a daunting task.
Not for Kathleen Motheral.
She used her McCombs MBA to land a dream job as associate marketing
manager for advertising for Wal-Mart. A dream job, she says, because
of the opportunity to be a part of a select team that handles all
the company’s advertising: print, radio, online and television.
And she’s no stranger to competition.
Motheral earned her bachelor’s in advertising at the University of
Alabama, all the while starring on the Crimson Tide soccer team.
After graduating, she worked in advertising with Clear Channel
Broadcasting, and when she decided to get an MBA, she took what she
learned on the soccer field as an undergraduate to the business
school.
“I worked for 20 years honing my skills as a competitive athlete,”
Motheral says. “Sports showed me the tremendous power of finding the
intersection of one’s passion and talents. I had hoped to find that
intersection in business someday, and McCombs afforded me that
opportunity in my first post-business school role.”
While at McCombs, Motheral served as co-chair of the McCombs
Admissions Committee and vice president of the Entrepreneur Society,
participated in the Marketing Challenge, interned with Heinz, and
traveled to Eastern Europe, South Africa and 13 other countries
through club activities.
“My two years at McCombs were the most amazing of my life,” Motheral
says. “I was thrilled every single day to expand my world view,
learn from the faculty and my peers, and draw inspiration from our
guest speakers.”
One of those speakers she loved listening to happened to be Tony
Rogers, a McCombs alumnus and vice president of advertising for
Wal-Mart.
Her conversations with Tony Rogers helped her decide on accepting a
full-time position with Wal-Mart.
“The company had completed its positioning work and was beginning
the journey of developing a brand identity as I was interviewing,”
she says. “The marketing department
Jim Nolen, MBA 1976
After graduating with his BBA in 1974 and his MBA in 1976, Jim Nolen
worked at Conoco before returning to McCombs for a teaching stint that he
thought would last a few semesters. That was 26 years ago.
Since that time, Jim has lived and breathed McCombs. As a senior lecturer in the
finance department, he teaches three sections of small business finance a
semester and several courses in the Dallas and Mexico City Executive MBA
programs. Additionally he operates his own consulting firm, CFO Services,
allowing him to bring practical business applications to the classroom.
With about 8,000 alumni having gone through one of his classes, Jim was a
natural choice for the role of faculty representative on the alumni advisory
board. Alumni organizations are valuable, Jim says, “Because it often comes down
to how big your rolodex is. Students should know that business school is about
networking and contacts and realizing that your fellow classmates will one day
be potential customers or partners.”
Although networking has always been important, Jim notes other changes since he
was a student.
“Our screening process is more selective, our career services are more
organized, and our classes are smaller. The whole tide has risen with students,
recruiters, and expectations.”
Teaching topics have evolved, too, and focus more on strategy.
“Basic business questions have not changed, but the speed of business has,” Jim
says. “There’s less time for people to make decisions, so in addition to
instructing on basic business tools, we’re putting more emphasis on soft skills
like leadership, communication, and entrepreneurship.”
It is often those soft skills that Jim finds himself giving advice about when
former students call him for guidance. He’s happy to consult with previous
students who are often looking to start up their own businesses after having
worked in the corporate world.
“Initially very few students will go out and start their own business. There’s a
bias attached to the word ‘entrepreneurship.’”
Jim quips, “Instead of entrepreneurship, it should be called ‘future CEOs’
because in fact the courses that teach the qualities of being passionate and
motivated and willing to take risks and work harder than anyone else are about
teaching future CEOs. I’d give anyone $100 to come up with a term for
entrepreneurship, a synonym that embodies the concept without the
‘fly-by-the-seat’ stereotype.”
Brush up on your linguistic skills, Jim Nolen has charged alumni with an
assignment.
Chris Spahr and Anne Bordonaro, MBAs 2002
The weekend of November 9-11 will be a time for reminiscing
Austin-style for the classes of 1997 and 2002.
Chris Spahr, the 2002 class president, serves on the reunion’s
Informal Events Committee. Along with other members of the classes
of 1997 and 2002, Chris is working on fun gatherings for alumni to
reconnect. Helping to plan the reunion is just one example of
Chris’s involvement as an alum.
He also serves on the governance committee of the MMA Advisory
Board. The committee makes decisions about the composition of the
board and considers which issues to attack. Currently the board is
focusing on integrating alumni from the full-time MBA program with
McCombs Executive MBA programs and finding representatives from all
programs to serve on the board.
“As more people go through the newer executive programs, combining
our efforts in the alumni network is a natural way to broaden and
strengthen the alumni base and the Texas MBA offerings as a whole,”
Chris says.
Increasing participation in the alumni network is important to him,
and because of that, Chris recently agreed to serve as Co-President
of the Washington, DC alumni chapter.
Chris is a natural at this, as prior to receiving his MBA in Austin,
he lived in the DC area. Out of his class of 400, about 15 people
previously lived in DC, and Chris says a good number returned upon
graduation. One of the 15 was Chris’s future wife, Anne Bordonaro,
who also received an MBA at the same time as him, though they had
not known each other until attending McCombs. Chris and Anne were
married this spring in Austin.
Both are looking forward to returning to Austin again in November
for the reunion. As for the reunion, Chris and other members from
the class of 1997 and 2002 are planning a golf outing for alumni on
Friday, November 9 and a second gathering during the football game
on Saturday, likely at a bar downtown. Details will be finalized as
the date nears.
Trent Thurman, MBA 1994
Like a boomerang, Trent Thurman’s professional life has brought him full circle. The current director of the Texas Evening MBA Program (TEMBA) has bounced from his native Tennessee to Washington, D.C. to Austin, back to Tennessee and again to Austin.
After earning his undergraduate degree in communications from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Thurman moved to Washington, D.C. in the late eighties to work for Senator Al Gore. There, he met his wife, a Vanderbilt alumna originally from Austin who was also employed with the Senator. After spending some time on Capitol Hill, the two moved to Austin, where Thurman worked for the Texas legislature focusing on health care and educational issues. He became interested in the relationship between government and business, which ultimately led him to pursue an MBA.
The academic atmosphere at McCombs invigorated Thurman.
“I felt like I was surrounded by some of the best business minds in the world. It was competitive, at times intimidating, but very beneficial,” says Thurman.
As a student, Thurman was inspired by his fellow classmates and his entire McCombs experience. He remembers commenting to his business law professor, Steve Salbu, about wanting to someday work on a college campus. But his career would first veer him back to Tennessee. With MBA in tow, he and his wife moved to Memphis, where Thurman worked in commercial real estate. The two also started a family, with the additions of twin sons, Ben and Sam.
After 10 years in real estate, Thurman was ready for a change. Still passionate about education, he contacted former business law professor, Salbu, about working in some capacity with McCombs, which led to an interview with the director of the Executive Education Program. Soon enough, Thurman, his wife, and children were returning to Austin. He began working as associate director of the Dallas and Houston Professional MBA Programs in 2005 and was promoted to his current position in October.
Thurman loves his job and, as a McCombs graduate, brings value to the TEMBA Program.
“My goal is to build a feeling of community in the program and help evening participants feel the complete McCombs and UT experience,” says Thurman.
Indeed, the program is making headway toward enriching the educational experience for evening participants. TEMBA recently added a graduate business council modeled after its counterpart in the full-time MBA Program. The council provides leadership opportunities for participants and a forum for communication between students and the school. The addition of the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, opening in 2008, will also work toward building a sense of community among participants.
All of this pleases Thurman, who is excited about the TEMBA’s future and his place in it.
“Working toward an MBA is one of the most positive experiences a person can make,” Thurman says. “And I’m happy to play a role in that and work among people who are committed to student success.”
Jessica Walton, MBA 2002
When Jessica Walton, BBA ’96, MBA ’02, left her job as a vice president with Simmons & Co. in Houston in 2007, she didn’t know what her next step would be. But she knew she wanted more meaning and passion in her life and also a bit of adventure.
She found exactly that when she joined Shoulder to Shoulder (S2S), an NGO that operates a medical clinic and community center near the border of Honduras and El Salvador. S2S established the clinic in the mid-1980s in Santa Lucia, Intibuca, a remote corner of Honduras. Walton’s initial scope of work was a feasibility study on offering micro-loans and helping the community develop economically. But the program’s director was in the middle of negotiations with the Honduran Ministry of Health to expand S2S’s services, and they desperately needed someone with business expertise to spearhead the effort.
“It was scary to step off the corporate track, but it was also scary to imagine not really following my passion,” Walton says. “I knew I needed a change, and I really felt it was divine intervention when I spoke with [the S2S director] and saw how much they really needed my help.”
Walton’s home in Santa Lucia was eight hours from the capital of Tegucigalpa and three hours from the nearest town with a bank and gas station. She ate meals with the clinic doctors and their families, often dining on fried corn tortillas, refried beans and meat—even for breakfast.
During her two-month tenure with S2S, Walton assembled and presented a pro-forma budget for medical services to be provided to the residents of Western Intibuca, an area sorely lacking in health care programs and one of the nation’s poorest regions. She also led the hiring of employees for expanded clinic facilities and helped the formerly government-run clinics upgrade to S2S standards.
“It was all very exciting because you can see the difference between the quality of health care provided to the people we served and what they have in the other regions,” Walton says. “It would be such an improvement for so many people.”
Walton is an avid traveler. After her stint with S2S she embarked on a six-week trek through Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama and Colombia before settling in Austin in 2008. She recently launched a business called Global Image that designs sales incentive programs.
Jason Watkins, MBA 1996
In 1996, Jason Watkins, with his classmates and Jim Redden in
particular, excitedly initiated a class gift program, the first
MBA Campaign. Watkins, who served as president of the
Graduate Business Council, and his classmates raised more than
$26,000 that year to be used for interview changing rooms in the MBA
Career Services Center.
Today, Watkins is equally enthusiastic about McCombs, the Texas MBA
program and the potential for the McCombs MBA Alumni (MMA) Network.
"Our network and our association are becoming very powerful, and we
need to maintain lofty goals," Watkins says. "We want an alumni
organization that rivals Harvard's. Not just the best organization
among public universities or the top twenty schools, but the best."
The key to accomplishing that goal is through participation, which
Watkins knows well. He has served as chairman of the MMA advisory
board (and is now in the ex-chairman's circle), and he is currently
serving as one of two alumni committee members for the MBA Alumni
Endowed Excellence Fund. In addition to those activities, he
maintains contact with the school through MBA Legacy, visiting
with current student committee members each year.
Watkins' eagerness to give back stems from his experience at
McCombs. He describes his classmates and the program as inspiring.
When he approached Dean Bob May in 1996 about starting MBA
Legacy, Watkins' hope was that each class would raise more money
than the one preceding it, and that's exactly what has happened.
This year, the 2007 class raised a record-breaking $209,631, and
Watkins is pleased by classes taking the campaign up a notch every
year.
"I've never spent two years surrounded by such amazing people,” he
says. "I remember looking around class one day, and seeing a former
Apache helicopter operator and a CPA on one side of me and a
pharmacist and Olympic athlete on the other."
Watkins himself left the banking industry to pursue his MBA. Today,
he uses the skills he acquired at McCombs in marketing and channel
management working as a vice president of the Americas Channel
Organization with Siemens. His work there involves working with
partners to market product lifecycle management (PLM) software,
applications that are used by multiple industries for designing
everything from iPods to airplanes.
Watkins is satisfied with his switch from banking to the software
industry, but no MBA could prepare him for what he describes as the
"easiest tough job" he's had yet: raising twins. He and his wife,
Lorin, welcomed their new additions, Luke and Sophia, two months
ago.
"We're sleepy, but everyone's doing great," Watkins says.
