McCombs School of Business
Advisory Council
Advisory Council : New Members

Advisory Council New Members

 

Mr. Les L. Allison
Private Investor, Real Estate & Health
Allison Interest Inc.

Les L. Allison is president of Allison Interest Inc., a private investment company founded in 1981 with interest in real estate, healthcare, banking, technology and energy.

Allison serves as an advisory director of Amegy Bank of Texas, Episcopal High School Board of Trustees, Boys and Girls Country Board, Texas Wildlife Association Foundation Board and The University of Texas Chancellor's Circle Executive Committee.

Allison received a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Howard BerkMr. Howard M. Berk
Partner
MSD Capital, L.P.

Since 2002, Mr. Berk has been a partner at MSD Capital L.P., the investment firm formed in 1998 to exclusively manage the capital of Michael Dell and his family. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Berk was managing director of TG Capital Corp., an investment group that manages the capital of a single family and acquires and invests in both public and private companies. From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Berk was with The Stenbeck Group, acquiring and managing businesses in multiple countries. Prior to that, he was with Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he worked in the Principal Investment area as well as the Mergers and Acquisitions department. Mr. Berk graduated magna cum laude from The University of Texas in 1987 with a BBA in Finance and received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1991. Mr. Berk currently serves on the DineEquity Inc. Board of Directors.

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Mr. Jason Downie
Partner
HM Capital Partners

Jason Downie is a Partner of HM Capital Partners, L.L.C., a Dallas, TX based private equity firm focused on control oriented leveraged buy outs. Jason has over 15 years of investment experience and has been at HM Capital since 2000. Jason’s primary responsibilities include deal sourcing, execution and monitoring of the firm's investments in the energy sector.

Jason currently serves as a director of BlackBrush Oil & Gas, TexStar Midstream Services, TriDimension Energy and PDC Pages.

Prior to joining HM Capital Partners, Mr. Downie was an Associate with Rice, Sangalis Toole and Wilson, a mezzanine private equity firm based in Houston. Before pursuing his MBA, he was employed by Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette for five years.

Jason, MBA 1999, was recently voted chair-elect of the McCombs MBA Alumni Network Advisory Board and has been an active member of the board for the past five years, serving as the chair of the Alumni Giving Committee and as an at-large member.

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.

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Mr. Alan W. Dreeben
Partner, Director
Republic National Distributing Company

Alan Dreeben is a partner and serves on the board of directors of Republic National Distributing Company in San Antonio, Texas. He also serves as an advisory director of Cullen Frost Bank. Mr. Dreeben chairs the Wine Advisory Committee of the Texas Department of Agriculture, serves on the board of The Institute of Masters of Wine-North America, and is treasurer of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America.

With a long history of commitment to education at all levels, Dreeben sits on the Executive Committee of the UT System Chancellor’s Council and the advisory council and board of visitors of Trinity University’s School of Business. He serves on the development board of UTSA, is a trustee and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio. He has held several positions with the Alamo Heights ISD in San Antonio, including past president, trustee, and director of its foundation and serves on the board of the Bexar County Federation of Schools.

In addition, Mr. Dreeben has held leadership positions in more than 20 community and religious organizations, including Any Baby Can, Hospice of San Antonio, the Council on Alcoholism, the McNay Art Museum, the Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital Foundation, United Way, and Temple Beth El. He has received a number of awards: the Chairman’s Award of TSUS, the Dallas Morning News Outstanding Individual in the Wine Business, the UTSA Ethics Award, National Conference Award, and Man of the Year in the New World Wine & Food Organization.

Mr. Dreeben received a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Harvard University.

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Mr. William N. Finnegan IV
Partner
Vinson & Elkins LLP

Bill Finnegan is a partner with Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston. Bill is the Practice Group leader for V&E’s Capital Markets Practice Group. His practice focuses on various corporate and securities transactions, including public and private offerings of equity and debt securities, public and private company mergers and acquisitions, and joint venture and partnership transactions. Bill’s clients are drawn primarily from the energy industry, both nationally and internationally.

Bill is married to Susan and they are the parents of Nick, Terrell and Scotty. Bill received a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin and a JD from The University of Houston School of Law.

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Mr. Jake Foley III
Managing Director, Transaction Origination Group
Deutsche Bank

Jake Foley III is a managing director for Deutsche Bank since joining it in September 2006. He leads the Transaction Origination Group acting as the bank's Private Equity Capital Market calling officer for corporate clients while driving idea generation for the leveraged buy-out firms and Sovereign Wealth Funds. The practice includes development of thematic work targeting key trends impacting the M&A environment. The role of private equity, hedge funds, leveraged finance, and the mergers and acquisition marketplace are studied continuously for the benefit of the bank's corporate calling effort. He formerly led the Transaction Development Group for Banc of America Securities for four years. He served the prior nine years with Morgan Stanley leading the Business Development Group after working in the High Yield Bond Department.

He began his career in the leveraged loan group of First Chicago followed by two years with PaineWebber's High Yield Bond Group. He is a chartered financial analyst and received both his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Professional Accounting degrees from The University of Texas at Austin in 1988.

He is a member of The University of Texas Development Board and also chaired the Finance and Resources Committee of The Commission of 125 for UT.

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Mr. Mark D. Gibson
Executive Managing Director
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.

Mark is an executive managing director for HFF and one of its founding partners. As part of the HFF Executive Committee, Mark is responsible for the overall direction of the firm’s 18 offices throughout the nation. Mark joined HFF in 1984 and has been involved in real estate financing, joint ventures, entity recapitalization and asset sales for major corporate, institutional and entrepreneurial owners, both nationally and internationally.

His professional involvements include chairman of the Industrial and Office Park Development Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, member and former board member of the Real Estate Council of Dallas, Executive Council chair of the UT Real Estate Finance and Investment Center, member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, and member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Mark received his BBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Mr. Joe E. Holt
Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
JPMorgan Chase – Austin Region

Joe Holt is chairman-Austin Region and market manager for Middle Market. He has been with JPMorgan Chase and its predecessors for 37 years. Prior responsibilities include South Region manager, Technology Corporate banking; Middle Market banking for the Texas Regions and serving in several other Texas markets in various senior management positions within the firm's Commercial and Middle Market business groups.

Within the community, Joe is actively involved and currently serves as the immediate past chair of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and is on the board of the Austin Economic Development Corporation. He is a member of the Austin Area Research Organization and is president of the Greater Austin Crime Commission. He is also on the board and executive committee of the Austin Symphony and is on the executive board of the Capitol Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. Joe is a member of the Brackenridge Development Council and the Longhorn Foundation Advisory Council. He is on the executive committee of The University of Texas System Chancellor's Council and on the advisory council of the McCombs School of Business of The University of Texas at Austin.

A native of Henderson, Texas, Joe graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Finance in 1971.

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Mr. Shawn M. Hurwitz
President
MAXXAM, Inc.

Shawn Hurwitz, 44, is president and vice chairman of the board of MAXXAM Inc., an American Stock Exchange listed company in the real estate development and pari-mutuel racing business. Mr. Hurwitz is also president/CEO of MAXXAM Property Co. and CEO of Sam Houston Race Park.

MAXXAM Property Company is involved in single-family and multi-family residential projects, retail and commercial projects, hotel development and operation, and resort and country club operations.

Sam Houston Race Park owns and operates a horse-racing facility in Houston, as well as a greyhound race track in Harlingen, Texas, and owns a license for a horse track in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Hurwitz’ proudest achievement outside of his MAXXAM work is his work for the KIPP (“Knowledge Is Power Program”) organization where he serves as chairman emeritus of KIPP: Houston and president of KIPP Finance Corporation. In addition, Mr. Hurwitz has the honor of serving on the board of KIPP Foundation, which oversees all of the KIPP Schools nationwide. KIPP Schools are open-enrollment public schools that provide educationally underserved pre-K to 12th grade students with the knowledge, skills, and character needed to succeed in top-quality high schools, colleges, and the competitive world beyond.

Mr. Hurwitz is married to Debbie Hurwitz and they have two children: Ellie, age 13; and Scott, age 12.

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Mr. James M. Neissa
Managing Director, Chairman, Mergers and Acquisitions
UBS Investment Bank

Jimmy Neissa is chairman of Global Mergers & Acquisitions for UBS Investment Bank. Additionally, Jimmy is responsible for UBS’ investment banking activities in Latin America, primarily in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Mexico City. After joining UBS in 2001, Jimmy has directed their M&A activities from New York and London. Previously, Jimmy was with Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette in New York and London where he led the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice.

Jimmy is a member of the board of trustees of The Fessenden School in Newton, MA. In addition, he is involved in various capacities with several non-profit organizations including serving as chair of the capital campaign for the Department of Urology of the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York.

Jimmy received a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business.

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Ms. Cynthia P. Rogan
Vice President, E&P Finance
BP Corporation

Cynthia P. Rogan is the vice-president, E&P (Exploration & Production) Finance for BP plc, a global energy company. Rogan has accountability for global capability, financial systems and process standardization, along with a major multi-year transformation agenda for the North American finance back-office. In her 29 year career with ARCO and BP, she has held various leadership positions in the finance and energy trading areas, and has lived domestically and in Europe. Her career included four years as the CFO of CH-Twenty, an affiliate company responsible for ARCO’s environmental remediation activities.

Rogan is active in the community, serving on the board of the Katy Chapter, National Charity League and as a Silver Award advisor with the Girl Scouts. She is also a member of Leadership America and Leadership California.

Rogan has a BBA from the University of North Texas, an MBA from Southern Methodist University and has her Texas CPA.

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Mr. George E. Seay III
CEO
Annandale Capital

George Seay is the CEO and founder of Annandale Capital of Dallas, Texas. Annandale Capital is a money management firm centered on conflict-free, customized investment portfolios for a wide variety of clients, including individuals, family offices, foundations and institutions. Annandale serves clients across the United States and has global breadth and reach in its sophisticated investment research platform.

Mr. Seay is a licensed attorney at law in the State of Texas; he has prior public policy experience working for the Governor of Texas and Deputy Secretary of State at the U.S. State Department in Washington.

Mr. Seay received his B.A. with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin. He received his J.D. with honors from the SMU School of Law. He received his M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin where he received a Dean's Award for Academic Excellence. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Mr. Seay is also the co-founder of Legacy, a national fellowship of business and civic leaders committed to making a difference through policy, philanthropy and political engagement.

In addition to time invested in his company, Mr. Seay serves on numerous boards and enjoys time with his wife and children, hunting, fishing, public policy and politics, and American and European history.

He and his wife Sarah live in Dallas with their three children.

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Mr. James C. Weaver
Vice President of Business Development
McCombs Enterprises

Rad Weaver graduated from University of Texas in 1998 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. During his time at UT, Rad was a member of Phi Gamma Delta men’s fraternity, and the Silver Spurs service organization. He was a letterman for four years with the University of Texas baseball team and led the team to a Southwest Conference Championship.

Rad joined McCombs Enterprises as financial analyst where he has participated in asset allocation. He created McCombs Automotive online solution known as redmccombs.com, the nation’s third largest online automotive group retailer.

Mr. Weaver now leads the McCombs Partner Group for McCombs Enterprises. Partner companies include: Plum Grove, Ltd., Patton Medical Devices, ComCapp, Digital Blue, Emergent Technologies, FameCast, RenewSource Strategies, Propel Financial Services, Natural Resource Consortium, HomeNet, Clickmotive, Media Excel, General LED, Aridien, Red McCombs Media, National Broadcast Company and SmartyPig. He serves on the advisory board for Emergent Technologies Fund IV and is a seat holder on the Chicago Climate Exchange.

Rad Weaver is active in his community serving on the board for Transplants for Children and Steer Auction Committee for the San Antonio Rodeo. He is a current member of the Advance Team for MD Anderson, Mav Pac, Texas Lyceum, Texas Business Hall of Fame and Mission Road Ministries. He was named in 2006 as one of San Antonio’s Top 40 under 40.

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