The Statesman reports that Scott Tynes and Bill Klein’s company, Consero Global, received $50 million and plans to shop for acquisitions. Consero was founded in 2006 with an idea Tynes and Klein had during their MBA studies at Texas McCombs. Read the Stateman story.
Author: Christine.Burdell (page 2 of 2)
Siri Chakka, MBA ’17, and Silva Gentchev, MBA ’17, are launching a company that turns dinner-only restaurants into temporary workspaces during the day. Read more in Built In Austin.
Forbes posted a feature story about alumnus John Goff that covered his early and recent years in the real estate business and his inkling about the 2008 financial crisis, which led to him selling his company before the collapse. Now he is in charge of the company once again. Read the full Forbes article.
James Page Jr., MBA ’07, has been named Vanderbilt University’s vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion and chief diversity officer.
Andrew Vo
Andrew Vo, BBA ’95, was promoted to Managing Director, Head of Human Resources Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Turkey at Accenture in Singapore.
He is responsible for talent strategy and leadership development for 294,000 professionals. He is a member Accenture’s Human Resources Executive Committee and AAPAC Management Committee.
In this role, Andrew combines his 22-year management consulting career, working alongside senior Fortune Global 500 clients, with his proven track record as a talent transformation champion to fuel Accenture’s differentiation as a growth and innovation market leader.
Prior to assuming his current role, Andrew served as Accenture’s lead for three energy and utilities clients where he 1) led the break-in at two accounts resulting in large multi-year programs and 2) directed the strategy, consulting, and digital expansion supporting a third client’s $1 billion business transformation. Andrew previously led an $80m commodity trading & risk management practice, as well as a $175m finance practice focused on finance process, real estate, tax, trading, and treasury solutions.
As a visible talent and I&D advocate, Andrew has led Accenture’s Consulting Development Program (CDP) for North America, as well as the Southwest region, responsible for the professional development of 2400+ analysts and senior analysts. Andrew has also served as the sponsor for MBA and undergraduate recruiting across 25 North America campuses, including the University of Texas at Austin where he’s recruited 500+ new joiners as Accenture’s senior executive lead.
In the community, Andrew is a Special Olympics and Red Cross volunteer. He serves on the McCombs School of Business Advisory Council and University of Texas Chancellors Council Executive Committee. Andrew is actively involved in the Forty Acres Scholars Program, UT Austin’s premier merit-based scholarship, as former president of the Texas Exes 1883 Council and Forty Acres Society.
Jason McMinn, BBA ’01, his brother Justin, and their wives, Heather and Kendall, have made a $1M donation to the Longhorn baseball program for an indoor training facility. Read or watch the KVUE story. Read the Texas Sports story.
Each year, a committee of two MBA alumni, two MBA students, and two MBA staff representatives come together to review funding proposals for student projects. The funds come from an endowment established by MBA alumni in 2005—the MBA Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund (MAEEF). This fund is the most direct way that alumni invest in students and the legacy of the MBA program.
This year the committee awarded $23,000 to support a wide variety of projects:
Mexican Graduate Association’s MBA Mexico Conference: This conference brings top Mexican leaders, including CEOs, entrepreneurs, and former presidents, to discuss important issues affecting Mexico in a given year. It is attended by most Mexican MBA students in top programs around the country. The conference rotates each year to a different city and MAEEF funds allowed Texas McCombs to host the event in March 2018.
McCombs Minute-by-Minute Video Project: This is a unique video project with the goal of capturing how students’ goals and ambitions change as they advance through the MBA program. The final film will feature 30 one-minute videos that students submitted during their application process, followed by the same 30 students remaking the same admissions video from their perspective shortly before graduation. MAEEF funds will support the film that will be part of the class of 2019 disorganization week.
The McCombs Diversity Conference is a one-day student-led conference in collaboration with business leaders that aims to educate attendees on the impact, challenges, and future of diversity and inclusion in the business world. The McCombs Diversity Conference will be an engaging experience for business leaders, future and prospective McCombs students, and the greater-Austin community because it will create a unique opportunity to connect, network, and share in others’ experiences, and also explore potential solutions and action plans. Made possible in part by MAEEF support, the Diversity Conference will showcase McCombs as a top institution for diverse applicants and create a gateway for more job opportunities for diverse talent in Austin.
GBC Inter-Faith Holiday Party: This dinner is one of a series of events planned by the Graduate Business Council (GBC) to highlight diversity and inclusion initiatives at the McCombs School. With MAEEF support, the GBC intends for the dinner to provide a platform for the McCombs community to learn from the different perspectives of others.
PitchTexas is an annual MBA pitch competition hosted by the Entrepreneur Society. The most recent event received 24 first round applications and 16 teams were invited to compete at McCombs. Participating schools included UVA, Vanderbilt, University of Arkansas, University of Delaware, Georgia State, TCU, UT Dallas, UT San Antonio, and UT Austin. Thirteen local entrepreneurs and venture capitalists judged the semifinals and the top four teams advanced to the final round held at SXSWi’s Startup Village (Roger Stewart, MBA ’19, with PitchTexas pictured above). Nearly 100 people attended the final round. This event strengthens the Texas McCombs brand and emphasizes its entrepreneurial reputation. MAEEF support will help the Entrepreneur Society to continue to grow this event and expand its reach.
MBA alumni and students in the Houston area gathered for a weekend of activities in celebration of the first graduating class of 2007 from the Houston program, including 5- and 10-year reunion groups (classes of 2008 and 2012/2013). The weekend kicked off with a Friday welcome reception and continued on Saturday with a breakfast and faculty presentations by Maytal Saar-Tsechansky and Christopher Meakin who discussed business and ethical implications surrounding Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. See the Flickr photo gallery.
MBA alumni Brent Looby, Judson Kauffman, and Ryan Campbell (pictured left to right) started Desert Door, which distills sotol, a desert plant spirit first fermented by Native Americans in Texas over 7,000 years ago. The business builds on the tradition of West Texans making the spirit for the last 250 years.
The idea for the company was developed in an MBA entrepreneurship course. Kauffman, Campbell, and Looby came together for a group project and realized their business idea had real-world potential. In addition to their MBA experience, the trio credits their military experience as helping their business venture.
“The military spends a lot of resources teaching things like time management, stress tolerance, organization, and discipline — all of these are critical for any entrepreneur to be successful,” says Kauffman. “We are certain that without our military experience Desert Door would not be what it is today.” Kauffman was a Navy SEAL, Ryan Campbell was in the U.S. Army, and Brent Looby was in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Desert Door has a distillery in Driftwood, which is the first distillery outside of Mexico to make the liquor from sotol since Prohibition. “We’ve been very fortunate to be able to show our business and offer some guidance to aspiring veteran entrepreneurs,” Kauffman says. “We believe that we’re resurrecting something that Texas history almost forgot.” Read the full story in CultureMap.
Maria Garate has been such a great leader in the Texas McCombs Alumni Network. Recently she went above and beyond by becoming the top ambassador for the 40 hours for the Forty Acres campaign, raising more than any other ambassador. For her success, she received an additional $3,000 toward the programs of her choice. She selected the McCombs Dr. Pablo and Teresa Rhi Scholarship for Cameron County Students to receive $2,000 and the Texas Exes Dallas Chapter’s Past President’s Scholarship Fund to receive $1,000. We recently sat down with Maria to learn more about her McCombs and UT experience, both during and after school.
How did your educational experience change you? Attending The University of Texas at Austin and in particular the McCombs School of Business was the best decision I have made. I knew early on that I wanted to help people but I knew I needed a good business and leadership foundation so that I could guide others. English is my second language and I wanted to work on my vocabulary and eloquence. I immersed myself in every experience that came my way. I enjoyed all my marketing classes and particularly Professor David Huff’s Marketing Project Class. I learned to network by participating in student life activities professionally and socially. I was a member of H.B.S.A., A.LA.S., and participated in the Welcome Program among other things. Building relationships is one of my strengths, which allows me to be successful in my professional and private life.
Please provide a brief summary of your career path since graduating. After graduating from McCombs with a BBA in Marketing, I went to work for Target Corporation where I held roles in their Store Management Program, Human Resource Manager, and as the Business College Leader for region 400. Currently, I am responsible for finding innovative ways to recruit and retain talent for The United Family of Stores. I used my cross functional experience, including employee relations, organizational development, project management, training, marketing, and operations, to achieve desired goals.
What are you most proud of in your career so far? My passion is people. I am most proud and consider myself successful when I get a thank you card from someone I coached who just achieved their next career goal and just wants to say thank you. I am also proud of achieving my PHR (Professional in Human Resources) and SHRM-CP (Certified Professional) certifications, which allow me to keep learning the ever-changing HR profession. In 2017, I also achieved another one of my goals by earning a Master of Science in Business Management and Leadership.
Has your career played out the way you expected? I always knew I wanted to help others. It did not matter to me in what field or industry. I have been fortunate to work for two great companies that allow me to pursue my passion for people and UT, and to continue my professional development. One of my favorite quotes from Confucius says, “If you love what you do, you will never work another day in your life,” and I am living it.
Maria Garate
How have you stayed involved with the school as an alumna? I knew early on that I wanted to stay connected and give back to UT. I became a Texas Ex and got involved reading scholarship applications and soon became part of the Texas Exes Dallas Chapter board of directors where I severed in many volunteer roles including chapter president in 2011. I currently serve on the Texas Exes Council, The Network Advisory Board, 40 Acres scholarship review committees, and I’m the Alumni Engagement Chair for the McCombs BBA Advisory Board.
How have you personally benefitted from being a part of the alumni network? Being part of the McCombs network and a Longhorn has been very rewarding. I’m honored to have Longhorns as some of my closest friends and fortunate to have friends all over the world. I have a network of professional, talented individuals in all areas of business that I can reach out to for advice and referrals, and I can also connect them to other talented Longhorns that are looking for opportunities. I have also been able to help my peers navigate through some of their HR challenges, which keeps me learning and has helped me to enter the consulting business.
What are your goals for the future, career-related and in relation to McCombs? I hope to continue to work on my side consulting business to help others succeed. I would also like to someday have a named McCombs Scholarship in honor of my parents who never attended college but whose knowledge shaped the person I am today. And of course, change the world!
Any other community involvement, hobbies, or tidbits you’d like to share? I’m the SHRM Foundation Chair for Texas-SHRM (Society Human Resource Management). I like running when I have time and I run a few half marathons per year. I enjoy traveling, history, architecture, and learning about other cultures. My motto is: “My purpose is to connect people to each other, to a mission, and to reach their full potential” – Hook ’em!
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