Student Spotlight: Grant Phillips

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Each summer, the Texas Exes Alumni Association hosts Camp Texas to help incoming students get acclimated to the Forty Acres. The planning process for Camp Texas is a significant undertaking that starts long before summer arrives. This year, Canfield BHP sophomore Grant Phillips is part of the executive team overseeing planning for the 2024 Camp Texas, and we asked him to reflect on his fulfilling experience as a participant and leader.

Read on to learn more about Grant’s involvement with Camp Texas and to get a look behind the scenes of the annual summer program!

 

What is Camp Texas, and how did you first become involved?

We like to call Camp Texas an “extended orientation experience” that is 3-days-2-nights of teaching all the incoming students – whether that’s incoming freshmen, transfer students, international students, or anyone else about to walk onto the 40 Acres for the first time – the traditions of UT and what it means to be a Longhorn. I attended Camp Texas the summer before my freshman year here, and it instantly stood out as something special to me, so when counselor applications opened in the fall for the next summer I was excited to apply.

 

What is your favorite Camp Texas memory?

My favorite Camp Texas memory would have to be getting to be with my two small groups at my sessions this past summer. Along with my amazing co-counselor Olivia Davis, we were able to spend the 3 days of Camp building relationships with the freshmen in our group. Throughout the session, we got to have those conversations about the fears of freshman year: moving away from home, finding your community on campus, getting lost trying to find classes, or anything else that was on their mind. Having just completed my freshman year, I was just in their shoes and knew I could help create some relief for them. And now, getting to watch them all find their passions around campus and thrive during their first semester on campus has been so rewarding and exciting to see.

 

Why did you want to become part of Camp Texas’s leadership?

I wanted to join the Camp Texas leadership team because the community that is made around Camp is such a special place on campus, and I wanted to do my part to give back to it. We call it the “CT Family” and it does truly feel like that, so getting the chance to not only be part of that family but to help introduce the next wave of counselors into what it means to be part of the family is an amazing opportunity.  

 

What goes into planning Camp Texas’s flagship summer programs? What do you enjoy most about the process, and what lessons have you learned?

A lot of work goes into planning for Camp at the end of the summer. We spend every Friday afternoon during the spring semester training with the counselor team of ~90 counselors from all different majors across campus. At these trainings, we make sure that everyone knows all the different Camp and UT traditions, has the skills to be an effective leader and role model for the incoming students, and also just to get close to one another as a counselor team. It is amazing to watch the team grow closer together as the semester progresses and watch the CT Family get closer together by having fun in the Alumni Center each week.

What do you hope Camp Texas participants take away from their time at camp?

I hope everyone who comes to Camp Texas walks away knowing that the UT community is an amazingly large and diverse place of driven people who are there to support one another and help make everyone the best person they can be –  academically, professionally, and simply as a human being. Every counselor that is there truly is doing it out of a passion to help you and get to know the awesome person you are. 

 

How do you hope to use the leadership and management experience you’ve gained from Camp Texas to help advance your career goals?

Just like organizing any large event with lots of people, there are skills that you learn that can be transferred to any professional setting. Knowing how to effectively listen to others and be truly empathetic while having conversations is such an important skill to have when dealing with anybody. Now that I am on the exec team, I have learned management skills in conflict resolution, decision-making, and problem-solving that will all be useful in my future.

 

Alumni Spotlight: Brittany Johnson

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Brittany Johnson

Brittany Johnson grew up in Austin and went to Westlake High School where she played competitive soccer. Brittany comes from a family of Longhorns, so choosing UT was an easy choice for her. While at UT, she was President of her sorority, Chi Omega, and served on the executive board of the Undergraduate Business Council. After interning for ESPN in New York the summer between her Junior and Senior years, she decided to move to New York after graduating to work in advertising. She went on to produce digital content at two world-renowned ad agencies, Publicis and Grey New York. After four years in the agency world, she joined the NFL as their Digital and Social Advertising Manager where she spent three years producing a variety of content campaigns. In her fourth year with the NFL, she was given the opportunity to serve as the Executive Content Producer of the NFL 100’s Experiences of a Lifetime campaign where she led the promotion of ten social media contests that offered fans the chance to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences commemorating the NFL’s 100th season. After 7 years in New York, she moved to Dallas and worked for AT&T where she oversaw development of outdoor, digital, and social content for AT&T’s Discovery District — a downtown Dallas destination where tech, culture, and entertainment combine. Hungry to get back into sports, she joined LEARFIELD as their Director of Social Content where she managed a team of content creators who produced sponsored social content for corporate partners across some of the nation’s top collegiate properties. She most recently joined the Dallas Cowboys as their Director of Social Media in December of 2022. In her free time, you can find her practicing yoga, trying new restaurants and hanging with her golden retriever, Maverick.

While at UT, she double majored in Canfield Business Honors and Marketing with a minor in Art History. She didn’t get into Canfield BHP as a freshman, so she had to work hard freshman year to earn her spot to be admitted as a sophomore. She thinks getting in as a sophomore made her appreciate the opportunities presented by the program even more. From Canfield BHP, she learned to work hard and be humble. She was surrounded by people who she had the privilege to learn from and build relationships with.

She currently works at the Dallas Cowboys where she serves as the Director of Social Media. She’s responsible for leading all social media efforts for the Dallas Cowboys. Her team manages all of the social media channels across the Dallas Cowboys organization inclusive of Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, AT&T Stadium (the home stadium), the Star in Frisco (where the company is headquartered) and Cowboys in the Community (the community impact channel). Her team supports key stakeholders across the organization including Football, PR, Marketing, Sponsorship/Sales and Community Relations by highlighting and promoting their initiatives via custom content on their social channels.

When she was working at Grey New York in 2015, she volunteered for an NFL project on top of her existing client work. 6 months after the NFL project concluded, she received an email from the NFL client sharing a job opportunity at the League because of the work she had done on that previous project. Had she not pursued her passion and asked for the extra work, she would not have gotten the NFL opportunity. Fast forward to 2022, when she saw the Dallas Cowboys Social Media Director job opening, she realized she had been connected to the hiring manager (her current boss) three years prior via email when she moved to Dallas. She responded to that email expressing her interest in the role. That email intro (thank you Emmanuel Acho if you’re reading this) opened the door to the first of many interviews that led her to ultimately land the job. Lean on your relationships to open doors.

“Canfield BHP taught me to work hard individually but to also contribute as a part of a larger team and cohort. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Teamwork and relationships are key to success in my current role and without the soft skills that I learned in Canfield BHP, I would not be where I am today.” Brittany said while talking about her experience in the program.

When asked what advice she would have for current Canfield BHP students, she said, “Give yourself grace. Clearly you are a hard worker, smart and talented if you were accepted into Canfield BHP. Make sure you take care of your relationships, mental health and overall happiness. Happiness will not be found in a GPA or in a job title. Make sure you’re staying true to yourself and seeking things that give you joy and fulfillment. Additionally, absorb skills and continue to learn in whatever job you are in. I would not be able to do my current job without all of the experiences of my previous jobs combined. Whether you are loving the job or not, always learn whatever skills you can from it as they can all prepare you for your dream job down the road.”

Canfield Business Honors 5 Year Anniversary

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This past Saturday, Canfield BHP celebrated the fifth anniversary of Mr. Phil Canfield ‘89 and Mrs. Mary Beth Canfield’s generous naming gift to the program. While watching the Longhorns’ men’s basketball team take on the Houston Christian Huskies at the Moody Center, students and staff members joined Mr. and Mrs. Canfield to reflect on their time in Canfield BHP.

“To me, the Canfield Business Honors Program is more than just an academic experience—it’s a community that has introduced me to incredible people and opportunities,” said Chioma Aguoru, a Canfield BHP sophomore who attended the game. Chioma further commented, “Attending the basketball game to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the Canfield gift was a phenomenal opportunity that I am so glad I got to experience. Besides the amazing view, the best part of the game was chatting with Phil and Mary Beth. They’re such amazing, genuine people, and it’s always such a pleasure when they come to visit.”

From talking about what they enjoy doing outside the classroom to their plans for the holidays, the students and staff enjoyed their time catching up with one another and Mr. and Mrs. Canfield. “It was such an incredible event,” said sophomore Quinton Mendoza, “and the fact that I knew or got to know everyone in the booth speaks to the community aspect of CBHP that we talk so much about.”

Partway through the game, UT Austin President Jay Hartzell stopped by to join the celebration and cheer on the Longhorns. After much conversation, cake, and cheers for the Longhorns, the celebration came to a close, but Canfield BHP is excited to make many more memories with our students, staff, and Mr. and Mrs. Canfield throughout the next five years!

Alumni Spotlight: Khushboo Kamnani

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Khushboo Kamnani

Khushboo Kamnani is currently a part of Google’s Corporate FP&A team in San Francisco, California. Prior to joining Google, Khushboo spent nearly six years at Shell and two years at Uber in various Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) roles. She was raised in Houston, Texas and had the opportunity to work in various cities across the US and UK. In her free time, Khushboo enjoys traveling, engaging in local philanthropic activities, and wine-tasting. 

 

What did you study during your time at UT? What drew you to the Canfield BHP program?

As a student, Khushboo majored in finance with a minor in accounting. She was involved in CBHP as the Make-A-Mark Social Chair and as a member of the Honors Business Student Association. Additionally, she was a part of the Undergraduate Business Council, University Securities Investment team, Financial Analyst Program, and the Longhorn Run Committee. Khushboo cherished the small class size and the bespoke curriculum which provided her with transferable skills. More importantly, she fostered relationships with her classmates that eventually turned into her close friends. 

What impactful moments led you to where you are in your career?

Khushboo started her career as part of a Finance Rotation Program at Shell in Houston, Texas. The program allowed her to try various accounting & FP&A roles which allowed her to figure out her interests. After completing her rotations, Khushboo chose to pursue a business-facing role at Shell’s downstream oil refinery in Martinez, California. She spent nearly two years working with the production engineers and business leads to manage the operating expense (Opex) portfolio for chemical usage and carbon emissions at the refinery. Khushboo really enjoyed the fast-paced environment, driving end-to-end forecasting and accounting for her business areas, and engaging in strategic conversations while pushing the business to rethink their Opex portfolio. Being in the Bay Area, Khushboo decided to make a move to the technology sector and joined the Corporate FP&A team at Uber. At Uber, Khushboo spearheaded the monthly forecasting and annual planning process across the entire company. The switch into the tech industry was a pivotal moment in Khushboo’s career as the exposure as the pace of work was significantly faster than that of the energy industry. She had to learn extremely quickly, deal with a constantly changing business landscape, and manage expectations of multiple stakeholders. Though the work was demanding, Khushboo learned several valuable lessons that she carried into her current role at Google. She hopes to progress down the FP&A path and is extremely thankful for the knowledge base that CBHP provided her. 

How did Canfield BHP prepare you for this role?

The CBHP program created a very rigorous yet collaborative environment which pushed me to think strategically and produce creative solutions for real-world business problems. Every assignment was tailored to push us to draw on each others’ strengths while presenting our best work product to our customer, the professor. All of these moments culminated into an example bank that I could draw from while going through challenging situations in my corporate role. It’s also comforting to stay connected with other CBHP alumni and professors and share my experiences with them. 

Do you have any advice for current Canfield BHP students?

Don’t let rejection stand in the way of your perseverance. If it weren’t for all those times I didn’t get the opportunities I wanted, I wouldn’t have tried harder for the future opportunities. All you can do is remain disciplined about your approach, and the right opportunity will present itself at the right time. I reached out to several of my CBHP classmates and professors when facing challenges in the corporate world. It was eye-opening to learn from their perspectives and it only pushed me to continue challenging myself. 

Anything additional you’d like to add?

A huge thanks to Shelley, CBHP professors and staff, and the CBHP Alumni Advisory Board. I am extremely grateful to be a part of this foundation.

Student Spotlight: Olivia Shumaker

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Olivia Shumaker

 

Canfield BHP junior Olivia Shumaker is right in the middle of the action as a recruiting personnel intern for Texas Football. Olivia has enjoyed working behind-the-scenes to help support the Longhorns, whether she is working with film or researching players. In addition to Texas Football, Olivia has spent two years as a summer business analyst for McKinsey & Company. Together, these positions have given her a unique opportunity to diversify her skill set while also helping her build up her human capital.

 

Read on to learn more about Olivia’s experience with Texas Football and McKinsey & Company.

How did you learn about McKinsey’s summer business analyst program, and what did the application process look like? 

One of our Canfield BHP career coaches sent all of the students an email about the opportunity to apply for the First Year Summer Business Analyst program at McKinsey. I applied with my resume and answered a few questions late at night, thinking I would not get the opportunity to work at McKinsey. To my surprise, they emailed me back to continue with the application process after the resume screening process. Then, after a round of a game and case interviews, I was offered the internship! I actually recently signed my contract to return full-time. 

 

What does a typical day working as a McKinsey summer business analyst involve?

Like for anyone in consulting, a typical day highly depends on the project you are working on. If you are put on a client-facing project instead of an internal project, it is a bit more fast-paced. I have had the opportunity to work on two client-facing projects and one internal. I would wake up an hour before my first meeting and then have a yummy breakfast and my much-needed coffee. From the first meeting until around 6pm, I would be working with my team either from home or colocating. After 6pm, sometimes I would have to work late, and sometimes I had a night off. It just depended on the needs of the client and the partner. 

 

How does your work as a McKinsey summer business analyst expand upon what you’ve learned in your classes?

It has been super helpful to be in a position that I do not feel a ton of my peers have been in. A good chunk of McKinsey interns come from schools that do not offer an undergraduate business program, so I felt I had a bit of a leg up when it came to my first-year interning. However, everyone at McKinsey is so accomplished that that gap quickly closed. I feel the most transferable skill I learned from my Canfield BHP classes was being around smart, intelligent people and being able to learn from them. This was very consistent in McKinsey since it is such a close-knit firm, and I was constantly learning from my peers. I am thankful Canfield BHP has helped me refine my people skills.

 

How did you get involved with the Texas Longhorns football team, and what does a typical day on the job look like for you?

I have been interning with the team since October 2021, and I started out in recruiting operations. This means making all potential recruits and their families feel welcome at Texas Football and planning the events for when they visit. It is a great role, but, from the very start, I wanted to go into recruiting personnel. Since the spring semester of 2023, I have had the opportunity to work in personnel, and I have fallen in love with it. I am here around 30 hours a week at times, doing everything from cutting up film, researching recruits, to helping my boss and my team with anything we need to get done for the coaches. The workday is never the same, and I love how it keeps me on my toes. 

 

What is your favorite memory from working with the Texas Longhorns football team?

I think just getting this opportunity to be the first girl to work in recruiting personnel at Texas Football has been a dream come true. In sports, you need to work hard and be a team player, and being given this opportunity made me feel honored that my supervisors felt I could take on this new area that had yet to be explored. I was so honored they trusted me 🙂

 

How do your summer internship with McKinsey and your job with Texas Longhorns football complement each other and prepare you for your future career?

Given they are somewhat on opposite sides of the working spectrum with very different technical skills needed, they have really allowed me to diversify my skills while also building upon personal skills and habits that benefit me in both jobs. For example, I have had to continue to practice my public speaking skills in both jobs, as both require confidence and proper communication. I have also had to be better at my attention to detail—which was not my strong suit.