The D.C. Chapter invited all alumni, new grads, and student interns out for a taste of Texas at Hill Country BBQ. The reception was the perfect opportunity for current students to talk with local alumni about tips and tricks for navigating the D.C. area.
Kudos to our D.C. Chapter Leader Jeff Marusak, MBA ’08, for putting on a great event!
Be sure to check the alumni calendar for events near you!
The Atlanta Chapter hosted a reception at Chido & Padre’s for all alumni, recent grads new to the area, and current students in town for their summer internships. Attendees had a wonderful time networking and discussing what it’s like to live and work in the Atlanta area. McCombs staff representatives, Crystal Tidmore and Christopher Ruggeri, came in from Texas to meet and greet the b-school alumni and interns! See more photos from the event here.
THANK YOU to our Atlanta Chapter Leaders for hosting a great event!
Keep an eye on the alumni calendar to find events in your area.
The Portland Chapter hosted a reception for local alumni, recent McCombs graduates, and current students interning in Oregon for the summer. The group gathered at Ankeny Tap & Table where alumni and students had the opportunity to talk about the ins-and-outs of working and living in the Portland area. This was a great opportunity for current students and young alumni to network and connect with the McCombs Alumni Network – 2,000 miles away from Texas!
A special thank you to our Portland Chapter Leader Travis Preece, MBA ’10 for planning the great event!
Keep an eye on the alumni calendar for events near you!
The Texas McCombs London Chapter and UK Texas Exes Chapter welcomed all alumni to a reception honoring recent graduates and current students interning in the city for the summer. The event was co-sponsored by Rabobank and featured a presentation by Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank. After the presentation and Q & A session, attendees enjoyed networking and talking about the day-to-day life of living and working in London.
We would like to recognize the McCombs London Chapter Leader Tom Li, BBA ’05 for putting on such a great event and thank you to Rabobank for co-sponsoring the evening!
To see more McCombs alumni events, visit our calendar.
The Austin Chapter invited all alumni, 2019 graduates, and current-student interns to Banger’s on Rainey Street downtown for a summer celebration. The Texas heat didn’t keep the McCombs crowd at home! Nearly 140 people came out for the reception. Alumni and current students enjoyed the opportunity to network and talk shop about living and working in Austin. Alums even brought their four-legged companions along! See more photos from the event here.
Huge thank you to Austin Chapter Leader Jim McMullan, MBA ’96, for coordinating the event!
There are still summer celebrations coming up this summer! Check the alumni calendar to find events near you.
The Dallas Chapter hosted a happy hour reception for alumni, 2019 graduates, and current students interning in the city for the summer. About 50 members of the McCombs community came out to the beautiful outdoor patio at the Water Grill to network and share the ins-and-outs of living and working in the Dallas area!
Special thank you to our Dallas Chapter leadership for putting on such a great event!
This event was the first of the network’s event series, Texas McCombs Summer Celebrations, popping up in cities all over the nation throughout June and July. Check the alumni calendar to find an event near you!
Rachel Miller launched a digital health company called Bloodscore, a first-of-its kind interactive wellness platform that makes it easy for people to take control of their health. Bloodscore connects people with do-it-yourself at home lab tests and delivers easy-to-understand results and personalized wellness improvement recommendations powered by artificial intelligence.
“I was a clinician who had broken into the business scene, and I was in love. I knew that I belonged on the business side of health care, but I knew I needed the skills and credibility from the McCombs MBA to make the biggest impact in health care.”
Learn more about Rachel’s company here: https://bloodscore.com/
Texas BBA students gathered in the hall of honors for Salt Lick BBQ and good conversation with distinguished McCombs alumni for the Seventh Annual Executive Mentorship Dinner. The dinner, which is hosted by the BBA Advisory Board, gave undergraduate students the chance to ask questions and receive advice from members of the Texas McCombs Alumni Network.
Eric Loop, BBA ’21, dined with executive mentor, Katie May, CEO of ShippingEasy and really enjoyed the opportunity, “It was one of the coolest experiences that I’ve ever had while at McCombs. This dinner provided an informal atmosphere where I could ask almost any question.” Dinner conversation topics were both professional and personal, “The stories that Mrs. May shared about her many successes and failures in the startup field were extremely insightful. However, the wisdom that Mrs. May provided about how her business career balanced with her personal life was far more valuable. Getting to talk to a successful businesswoman about her life, not just her job, was amazing.”
Peggy Chang Barber, BA and BBA ’91, MBA and JD ’94, Regional CEO Americas and Global Counsel, IACCM, hosted a table as an executive mentor, “I was really honored to be a mentor at the student and alumni mentorship dinner, and the experience was fantastic. Not only did I meet fellow mentors/alums who are doing or have done incredible things, the students I met at dinner were really bright and engaging as well. The dinner was a really wonderful experience.”
The dinner is such a worthwhile event that Ed Tonkon, BBA ’78, and his family established an endowment that will support the event in perpetuity. Tonkon is one of three generations of Longhorns — his wife, both his parents, and his grandmother are all alumni. Tonkon is president of Zebra Retail Solutions and former chair of the school’s advisory board, and he said his time on the board was a great way to get back to the campus and engage with students, faculty, and alumni.
View photos from the dinner on the Texas McCombs Alumni Network Flickr page.
Executive mentors included:
Forbes featured women-led tech startup, Kanarys, Inc., the first social enterprise technology platform that aims to foster collaboration between companies and employees on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. The startup was able to secure $575K in its first round of funding, which ended in January of 2019. Kanarys, Inc. was co-founded by BBA ’03 alumna and BBA Advisory Board Member, Mandy Price and COO of Kanarys, Star Carter.
Dominique Fluker, senior contributor at Forbes, sat down with Price to talk about her journey to tech entrepreneurship. Read the full Q&A feature on Forbes.com.
Fluker: Share your career journey. Why did you transition from being an attorney to Co-Founder and CEO of Kanarys?
Price: My career as a corporate attorney is what sparked the idea for Kanarys. Lack of diversity and inclusion is something I experienced first-hand as an African-American female attorney. I had achieved what I set out to do in my professional life: attend a top-tier, Ivy League law school, rise the ranks of a top law firm, and enjoy accolades, and yet, at times, I still often felt like an outsider. I remember on one occasion sitting in a meeting with a client, when one of my fellow partners referred to me as the firm’s “diverse” partner. It was clear to me at that moment, that I was neither valued or seen as a full member of the team. Instead, I had been relegated to a “token.”
After 12 years as an attorney, I realized I wanted to change the workplace once and for all. I co-founded Kanarys to help companies create workplace cultures where everyone belongs.
Fluker: Kanarys, Inc., is a technology company that is using data and analytics to address diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace. What inspired you to start Kanarys?
Price: From my own corporate experience and in talking with hundreds of other underrepresented professionals, I observed that despite many well-meaning diversity initiatives in corporate America, those initiatives tend to be superficial and don’t translate into collaborative, inclusive dialogues that also support the business. In fact, a recent study shows that less than 30% of people of color reported a sense of belonging in their workplace. This is a problem for both employees and companies because those same employees end up leaving, resulting in attrition costs of approximately $144,000 per employee, annually.
As we started Kanarys, we realized that inclusive cultures don’t just happen – they’re intentional. And by re-aligning our collective focus to value inclusion and equity, along with diversity, employees become more engaged, more productive, and ultimately, more valuable to a company’s bottom line – which is also backed up by research.
Fluker: Recently, Kanarys Inc. secured $575K in its first round of funding. How does the company plan to leverage this round of funding?
Price: We are thrilled to have been able to raise $575,000, considering that less than 0.2% of $100 billion in venture funding goes to African American women founders. We are using the funds to build out the technology platform that we believe will be a cornerstone of diversity initiatives at large and small U.S. companies and hire additional data analysts and other team members as we expand the platform. Our platform launches for select company Beta users in early February.
Alumni, friends, and school leadership gathered on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018 for the annual Hall of Fame celebration. This year the Texas McCombs School inducted three prominent business leaders into its Hall of Fame: Richard D. Folger, The Honorable Rex W. Tillerson, and Theodore T. “Ted” Wang. Jay Hartzell, dean, also recognized the 2018 Rising Stars, Lisa Seacat DeLuca, David R. Druley, and Jeffrey M. Duchin, for their early accomplishments.
The McCombs School of Business established the Hall of Fame 35 years ago in recognition of The University of Texas at Austin’s centennial celebration. The Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made outstanding professional contributions to the business community and who, by their exemplary civic, philanthropic, and educational activities, have advanced humanity. The Hall of Fame award is the highest honor given by the McCombs School of Business.
Each inductee has an incredible life story and we are proud to have them be a part of the McCombs Hall of Fame. We invite you to learn more about their successes and contributions through the videos below.
Richard Folger is managing general partner of Colbridge Partners, Ltd., a private investment partnership. In April 2015, he retired as chief executive officer and president of Warren Equipment Company. Prior to that, he was president and chief operating officer of Compressor Systems, Inc.
Richard’s affiliations include: chairman of the McCombs School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council, active member of the University Development Board and the Engineering Advisory Board for UT, Executive Committee of The UT System Chancellor’s Council, director and former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas – El Paso Branch, immediate past-chairman of the Board of Trustees of Midland Memorial Hospital, Advisory Board for The Helen Greathouse Charitable Trust and The Rea Charitable Trust, and director of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. Active memberships include the Society of Petroleum Engineers and Natural Gas Society of the Permian Basin.
Richard is a lifetime member of the Texas Exes and is a Cockrell School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni. He has supported the university through endowed scholarships in Petroleum Engineering, the President’s Associates Endowment, the Leadership Chair in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, and the Dean’s Leadership Chair in the McCombs School of Business. Richard and his wife Lois reside in Midland, Texas.
Rex W. Tillerson served as the nation’s 69th Secretary of State. Prior to that, he concluded a career of more than 41 years in the petroleum industry, retiring as chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Corporation. Tillerson spent the entirety of his career with the corporation, rising through the ranks and following a number of domestic and foreign assignments.
Tillerson has close involvement with the Boy Scouts of America, earning its highest rank of Eagle Scout and the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is a former member of the Boy Scouts of America’s executive committee and served as the national president of the Boy Scouts.
Tillerson is a former member of the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petroleum Council serving as chairman of both. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and holds an honorary Doctorate of Engineering form Worcester Polytechnic Institute and he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of UT. He served as a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, as an honorary trustee of the Business Council for International Understanding, and as a member of the Emergency Committee for American Trade. He was a member of the Business Roundtable and he is a former Director of the United Negro College Fund and a former Vice-Chairman of the Ford’s Theatre Society.
Theodore T. Wang is the founding managing partner of Puissance Capital Management, a global asset management firm which focuses on long term demographic trends in US and China. Prior to Puissance, Wang was a Partner of Goldman Sachs and during his 19-year tenure at the firm he held many leadership positions including Co-Head of US Equities Trading, Global Co-Head of One Delta Trading, and a member of the Goldman Sachs Risk Committee. Additionally, as the most senior Chinese partner at the firm Mr. Wang was deeply involved in the firm’s expansion into China, where he developed extensive relationships with government officials, regulators, corporate and investing clients. Wang has distinguished himself throughout his career at Goldman Sachs for his leadership and dedication to the Goldman Sachs’ culture, people, and clients.
Wang joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 after earning an MBA from the McCombs School of Business. He was named managing director in 2002, and partner in 2006. Prior to attending McCombs, Wang co-founded Xeotron Corp., a company specializing in DNA biochips in Texas. He also holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Minnesota and a BS from Fudan University, China. Wang serves on the four public corporate boards and is a trustee of the Museum of Chinese in America, the Dunhuang Foundation, the Spence School, and a member of Committee of 100.
Dean Jay Hartzell also recognized the 2018 Rising Stars at the Hall of Fame celebration. The Rising Star Award, established in 2004-05, goes to alumni no further than ten years from graduation who have experienced professional success and have shown exemplary service to the Texas McCombs Alumni Network. Congratulations to Lisa Seacat DeLuca, David R. Druley, and Jeffrey M. Duchin.
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