Elizabeth and Anthony DeLuca ’84 and SCF Partners have committed to a gift of $50,000 to create an endowment at Mays, which will honor long time associate and friend Cynthia Taylor ’84 by providing scholarships.

Anthony DeLuca is a managing director at SCF Partners, a private equity firm managing a portfolio of energy service companies. Based in Houston, Texas, the firm also has offices in Calgary, Alberta and Aberdeen, Scotland.

Cynthia Taylor '84
Taylor ’84

In 2000, SCF merged four of its holdings to become a new company, Oil States International, Inc. Taylor led the merger effort, combining the dissimilar business lines into one cohesive oilfield services company, then took the combined entity public via an IPO in 2001. She was appointed senior vice president and CFO of the newly created company, then became president and COO (eventually CEO) in 2006 and 2007.

“She’s truly an exceptional person and businesswoman,” said Deluca. “The investment under her guidance has done exceedingly well.”

DeLuca said that he and SCF President L.E. Simmons have worked with Taylor for many years and both have high respect for her.

They also have high respect for Mays, which DeLuca says they are happy to support. “We are both big believers in supporting academic institutions,” he said. “Institutions that really do a good job of educating their students, we want to make sure that they have all the support possible so that they can continue.”

“Education is the foundation of the country,” he says.

Simmons, whose son is a student at Mays, has been involved previously at the school: in 2008 he and his wife Virginia established a $100,000 fund for honors scholarships.

“We are most appreciative of the DeLuca’s generous commitment to our school,” said Mays Dean Jerry Strawser. “Their support will allow us to continue to attract the very best students to our School and play a key role in supporting their education.”

Taylor says she was delighted to hear of the gift made in her name. As a dean’s development council member at Mays, she says it is a meaningful tribute. “I just couldn’t be happier that the school is going to be the recipient of that gift,” she says. “My passion is for scholarships—to enable other students to have a great education and share the good experience that I’ve had at Texas A&M.”

Taylor is sharing that positive experience with two of her sons, whom are students at Mays. Matt ’12 is an accounting major, and Chris ’14 is a business honors student. Taylor has a third son, Greg, who is a sophomore in high school.

Taylor and DeLuca were both accounting majors of the same class year, however they were not acquainted until Taylor went to work for SCF in 1999. Taylor gained experience in public accounting with a focus on the energy industry while working at Ernst and Young. From that position, she moved to controller and then vice president roles at Cliffs Drilling Company before joining SCF Partners as the CFO.