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Returns on Investment

MBA Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund

The MBA Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund will help provide resources to launch new MBA initiatives to enhance the educational experience of our MBA students. This fund may support programs such as the Executive Speaker Series, which brings corporate executives to campus to share their insights with students. Alumni will benefit through improved outreach programs that foster communication between alumni and the McCombs School. Income from this fund can also be utilized to foster collaboration with industry, enhance curriculum and build innovative academic and research programs.

Each year, 50 percent of the distributions from the MBA Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund will be available to support MBA Program initiatives. An award committee—comprised of two representatives of the MBA Program appointed by the Associate Dean, two MBA students selected by the GBC and two MBA alumni representatives identified by the MMAN Advisory Board—will make recommendations on uses of this distribution income. This unique committee-based process will promote significant involvement and collaboration between two of our most valued assets, students and alumni. The remaining 50 percent of annual distribution income will be reserved for the Dean’s discretionary use to fund highest priority school-wide initiatives.

To establish the fund, we are seeking funding from our alumni and offering two special qualifying giving levels. Donors who make a gift of at least $10,000 will receive permanent recognition on the endowment plaque and an annual endowment report. Donors contributing at least $5,000 will receive an annual endowment report. At either level, gifts may be given outright or pledged payable up to a five-year period; all gifts, regardless of amount, will be recognized in a McCombs School publication.

“The MBA Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund represents a truly unique opportunity for alumni, students and faculty to work together for the betterment of the McCombs School,” says Jason Downie, chair of the Annual Giving Task Force for the McCombs Alumni Advisory Board. “We have not identified another opportunity like this in the country and are very excited about getting started.”

To get the MBA Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund off to a great start, the first $100,000 raised will be matched by McCombs Matching Funds. To learn more about supporting this new fund, please contact Sandy Dorman at 512-475-8179 or sandy.dorman@mccombs.utexas.edu. If you wish to make a gift online, please go to https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/development/pledge/info.asp.

Rayford Wilkins , Jr. Endowed Excellence Fund in Business

Ray Wilkins (BBA ’74) began his career with Southwestern Bell Telephone in 1974. Today, he is group president for SBC Communications Inc.’s International, Directory and Sterling Commerce operations. Each of the operations is a significant revenue generator and competitive differentiator for SBC. Reflecting on his career success, he acknowledges the formative role of his McCombs business education.

“As a student at The University of Texas of Austin, I learned much more than the nuts and bolts of how business operates,” Wilkins says. “I learned how to think critically, plan wisely, act decisively and work hard. I owe much of what I have become to the high standards that my UT education instilled in me.”

With his success, Wilkins also realizes that he now has a great opportunity to give something back, ensuring that the lessons he learned as a student are not lost on current and future students. To make this possible, he serves on the McCombs Advisory Council and has pledged to establish the Rayford Wilkins, Jr. Endowed Excellence Fund in Business for the benefit of the school and its students.

“It is with great pleasure that I now have the opportunity to make a return on the intellectual investment that UT made in me. I hope this endowment will help start the UT students of today and tomorrow on the same sort of rich and rewarding career path that I have been fortunate to enjoy,” he says.

William R. Johnson Endowed Excellence Fund in Business

William R. Johnson, CEO of U.S.-based global food company H.J. Heinz, is a 1974 MBA graduate. He lends his valuable expertise to the McCombs Advisory Council and, because he realizes that business education must constantly adapt to changing market needs, he has established an endowed excellence fund to give the school the resources to compete successfully. The William R. Johnson Endowed Excellence Fund in Business will support faculty, students and programs at the McCombs School, with the flexibility to enable school-wide improvements and allow targeted investments in new opportunities.

According to Johnson, “My wife and I established the Johnson endowed fund at the McCombs School of Business as a way of repaying The University of Texas at Austin for a great postgraduate business education that helped me achieve my full potential. Both Susie and I think it is important to give back to those who have been so helpful.

“I strongly believe in the importance of an MBA degree and am grateful to the faculty and administration at UT Austin for mentoring and teaching me in a way that emphasized integrity, diligence and insight,” he says. “McCombs is one of the most impressive MBA schools in the country. I’m proud to be one of its graduates.”

Thanks to the vision of Bill Johnson, the McCombs School will continue to prepare its students to meet tomorrow’s business challenges.

Damon Smith Endowed Scholarship

Family, friends and colleagues of Damon P. Smith III, BBA ’69, MBA ’71, have established the Damon P. Smith III Endowed Memorial Scholarship in his honor. Damon was a true friend of the McCombs School and in the prime of his life when he fell victim to a sudden illness and died Nov. 27, 2004. His life—though unexpectedly cut short—was full and rich, marked by professional success and an enthusiastic engagement with causes of personal interest.

Damon grew up in Llano, Texas, where he worked in cattle ranching and for his family’s business, the Llano Livestock Auction. He attended UT Austin, earning a BBA in 1969 and an MBA in 1971. His subsequent career included stints in municipal bonds at Rotan Mosle and Hornblower, Inc. before heading north to the New York office of First Boston. After moving his family to New Canaan, Connecticut, Damon was often heard declaring, “This ain’t Texas, but it ain’t that bad.” He later moved to Dillon Read before landing at JPMorgan, where he spent 14 years. Retiring from JPMorgan in June 2004, Damon moved to Samco Capital Markets, where he worked in the bond department with his son, Casey.

Peter Hill, Damon’s good friend and colleague at JPMorgan, describes Damon as “a born leader, smart, engaging and decisive” whose personality would “immediately light up a room. ” Peter reports that one of Damon’s recent interests was acting as a mentor to junior members at JPMorgan. It is in the spirit of providing opportunity to others that the Damon P. Smith III Endowed Memorial Scholarship was proposed.

Family members, friends and those touched by Damon’s career in the financial industry have responded generously. When fully funded, this endowment will provide many generations of Texas students with, as Hill puts it, “their first big break.”

A special thanks to those who have honored Damon’s legacy with a gift to the endowed scholarship in his name. If you are interested in contributing to the Damon P. Smith III Endowed Memorial Scholarship or learning more about other ways to honor friends and family through permanent endowments, please contact Sandy Dorman at sandy.dorman@mccombs.utexas.edu or 512-475-8179

Business Leaders Join Advisory Council

The McCombs School Advisory Council is a diverse group of business leaders who share their insight and expertise with the McCombs School faculty and leadership. Members are nominated annually by fellow business leaders and McCombs faculty. Selections are made by the Council’s Executive Committee, and members serve three-year terms.

To learn more about the Advisory Council, please visit www.mccombs.utexas.edu/dean/advisory_council/.

We are pleased to welcome the following new members for 2005-06, whose terms begin on September 1:

Rob L. Jones
BBA ’80, MBA ’86
Managing Director
Head of Global Energy & Power Group
Merrill Lynch
Houston, TX

Gary C. Kelly
BBA ’77
CEO Southwest Airlines
Dallas, TX

Richard D. Kincaid
MBA ’86
President & CEO
Equity Office Properties Trust
Chicago, IL

John D. McStay
BBA ’65, MBA ’66
Retired Managing Partner
John McStay Investment Counsel
Dallas, TX

Stephen J. Rohleder
BBA ’79
COO Accenture
Reston, VA

J. Michael Sanders
BBA ’81
Managing Director
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Boston, MA

For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.