As we prepare to welcome new Longhorns to our campus this fall, we circled back with one of our inspiring mentors to ask just what he might share with them if he could. Daniel Longoria, JD ’06, switched gears after college, focusing on the financial sector, and now heads up one of the largest banking institutions in the country. Hear what he remembers about his time on the Forty Acres, and why it’s important for him to give back to the next generation.
Q: Where are you originally from?
DL: I was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Q: What brought you to UT Austin?
DL: I returned to Texas for law school at UT after undergrad at Harvard.
Q: What prompted you to become a mentor? What was the experience like?
DL: When I was contacted about mentoring, I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve had and still have influential mentors in all parts of my professional career, and I wanted to share my experiences and advice with the group of mentees. Seeing how all the mentors were received and appreciated, by both the McCombs team organizing the event and the student mentees, made the experience rewarding beyond what I had imagined.
Q: As a mentor, what’s one thing you try to impart on students?
DL: I like to remind students that they ought to continue to be curious — to continually wonder why things are, how they are, and how they can be bettered.
Q: Share a lasting memory of your time as a student.
DL: While I enjoy many memories from my time on the 40 Acres, I can’t choose any memory over the 2005 football team’s perfect run to the National Championship and the campus celebration that followed.
Q: We’re getting ready to welcome new students to our campus. Do you have any advice to share?
DL: Get to know your professors. They’re there to teach and also to mentor. You’ll be surprised at how open and eager they are to interact in a capacity other than that of an in-class lecturer.
Q: What are you doing now with your career.
DL: When I left Texas, I pursued a career in investment banking. I then transitioned to a management role at a company in that health insurance arena, and I was fortunate to be named to the role of CEO (of Innovative Integrated Health, Inc) in 2021.
Q: Share your life and career ambitions and how UT has prepared you to achieve them.
RB: I’m currently focused on improving and growing the company I lead and returning value to its shareholders. We’ve got work to do, but my goal is to make it the market share leader in our space.
UT prepared me by giving me the resources and contacts to manage an ever-changing industry and having wonderful, accomplished people with whom I can discuss ideas and on whom I can lean for advice to navigate any kind of professional challenge.
July 7, 2023 at 3:10 pm
When I saw that Daniel Longeria’s advice to “get to know your professors”, it struck a chord with me. I did my undergraduate work and pursued my MBA at the University of Oklahoma where I got to know my professors professionally and socially. Coming to UT for my PhD in business, I was able to work closely with the faculty as a lecturer and research assistant. The faculty seemed to always be available and helpful. One unique experience was when the faculty assisted the doctoral students in travelling to a professional meeting in Pittsburg by taking a monetary choice (rather than airline tickets) to pay for all of us to travel there by train. PhD 1970