How My MBA Helped Me Get Where I Am Today

Jason Downie, BBA ’92, MBA ’99
Partner, HM Capital Partners LLC

Without an MBA, I would never have been able to leap from trading on Wall Street to private equity. The MBA gave my résumé the credibility to open the right doors and gave me the tools to do the rest. After graduating from UT in 1992 with a BBA in real estate finance, I landed in New York trading securities for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette for five years. During that time I realized that my real career ambitions were to invest directly in private companies.

As you know, it can be difficult to switch careers without prior direct experience. I needed an MBA to make the move to private equity. The Longhorn in me was being pulled to Austin like a magnet, but I was also very impressed by several aspects of the McCombs curriculum: the MBA Investment Fund, the entrepreneurship program and the excellent accounting/finance offerings.

I arrived with a deep commitment to get the most out of McCombs by treating it like a job and researching the electives, professors and activities that would help prepare me for a career in private equity. I was a manager for the MBA Investment Fund, took extra accounting electives and fought for spots in some great valuation/case-based classes. The detailed analytical work we performed in researching specific companies/cases proved to be invaluable as it relates to my current career.

When I started in 1997, some investment banks, money management firms and large corporations with private equity-like divisions were interviewing on campus, but pure private equity opportunities were hard to find. I was very persistent and landed a summer internship with Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, the Dallas firm that ultimately evolved into HM Capital Partners.

As a partner at one of the larger private equity firms in the southwest and in my 10th year in private equity, I spend most of my time focused on making control-oriented investments in private energy companies.

Looking back on my experiences at McCombs, I’m very happy with my decision to return to Texas. The exposure to great professors, an excellent curriculum and many incredible fellow students helped shape what I am today. I made lifelong friends who have successful careers—some are in private equity and real estate, and others are entrepreneurs and senior executives. McCombs has something for everyone. It is up to you to make the most of it!