This is our first of a few posts we will be doing dedicated to introducing you to our BHP Advisory Board. The BHP Advisory Board is comprised of around 20 alumni representing a mix of class years, occupations and locations. The mission of the board is to drive continued excellence of the BHP and development of leaders through advocacy, connection, and engagement. The board will be ambassadors for the program in their communities, support fundraising objectives, and assist with recruiting the top students in the nation to the program. Board terms are two years. We greatly appreciate the service of these alumni to BHP.
It only seems right to start this board introduction with our fearless leader – Michael Daehne. Michael is the current board chair. He graduated in 2012. While at UT, he majored in Business Honors, Corporate Finance, and Actuarial Mathematics. Michael is currently a Senior Engagement Manager at Sense Corp, a management and technology consulting firm, where he leads large-scale transformation projects for Fortune 500 clients. During his nearly six years at Sense Corp, Michael has worked on more than 30 projects across half a dozen industries, and developed expertise in the areas of business process optimization, business intelligence and analytics, and customer experience transformation. He enjoys watching Texas Football, eating Texas Barbecue, and listening to Texas Country Music (notice a theme?).
Vik Kalra is a Vice President at Platform Partners, a middle-market investment firm based in Houston. At Platform, Vik is on the Board of Directors of Beneplace and Vortex and is involved with ALM First, Firestone & Robertson Distilling and SmartSky Networks. Vik previously worked as a Vice President for Parallel Investment Partners, a middle market private equity firm in Dallas, and at Pacesetter Capital Group, a Dallas-based lower-middle market private equity firm. He graduated in 2002, having completed majors in Business Honors and Plan II Honors, and went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has two young children, and enjoys playing fantasy football.
Michelle Stevens graduated in 2014. She met her husband, Jeff, while in BHP, and they married two years after graduating. Michelle is in the Upstream Ventures organization, supporting M&A activity for ExxonMobil. She began her career there after graduation as a financial analyst in the Development Company supporting assets in Romania and Guyana for two years. She loves to travel, volunteer and spend time with her family.
We look forward to introducing you to our board through a series of these posts. Applications for the BHP Advisory Board are accepted once a year in the Spring. If you have feedback for our current board, please reach out to our board chair, Michael Daehne.