Mays Impacts

Texas A&M University is tied with the University of Michigan for having the most graduates currently serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, according to a new Fortune magazine study.

With four former students serving as CEOs of some of the largest companies in the United States, Texas A&M has the most of any university in Texas and is only matched by the University of Michigan. Other schools on the Fortune list include Cornell University and Harvard University, both with three CEO graduates.

Texas A&M also is the only Texas school in the survey with a CEO on Fortune’s Top Ten list. Darren Woods, CEO and chairman of Exxon Mobil, studied electrical engineering at Texas A&M and is a 1987 graduate. His wife, Kathryn Woods, is also a 1987 Texas A&M graduate who earned a degree in accounting from Mays Business School.

This year’s Fortune list also includes Bruce D. Broussard, CEO of Humana, Class of 1984; David M. Cordani, CEO of Cigna, Class of 1988. Both Broussard and Cordani earned degrees in accounting from Mays Business School.

“Texas A&M has always been committed to developing leaders of character and the mission of Mays Business School is to develop transformational leaders,” says James Benjamin, head of the department of accounting at Mays Business School. “Beyond that, accounting is often referred to the language of business and graduates are well positioned for success is all aspects of organizations. Both Mr. Broussard and Mr. Cordani worked as auditors with major public accounting firms and became CPA’s before transitioning to the corporate world. Many believe that the discipline and work ethic required in public accounting provides good preparation for leadership roles in business.”

Not included in this year’s survey is Jeff Miller, who was recently appointed as president and CEO of Halliburton Co.  Miller received an MBA from Mays Business School in 1988.

Read more here: http://today.tamu.edu/2017/07/05/texas-am-heads-fortune-magazine-ceo-list/

The Professional Program in Accounting has announced two of its former students as recipients of the Rising Star Award and Outstanding Alumnus/Alumna Award. Phil Graves ’04 and Christy Baumann ’95 will be recognized at a dinner in College Station on May 9.

Rising Star

This year’s Rising Star award goes to Phil Graves ’04, senior director of corporate development for Patagonia and managing director of Tin Shed Ventures. He is in charge of the company’s investments and merger and acquisition activities. Graves also serves as a Senior Advisory Board Member of the University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business’s Center for Responsible Business.

He has been recognized on Global Corporate Venturing’s Powerlist 100, and by Texas A&M’s Association of Former Students’ “12 Under 12 Young Alumni Spotlight.” Graves was previously a senior manager in the Business Valuation practice at Deloitte, and he began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He models selfless service in the community as well through his work with the homeless and as a long-time Big Brother mentor. …Read more

Curiosity has always been at the heart of Steve Harding ’84’s career. Just after graduating from Texas A&M University with a business degree in accounting and management, he took a job in audit at KPMG Peat Marwick to learn about as many different businesses as possible. Later he took his inquisitiveness with him as he moved into the corporate real estate industry and held controller positions at privately held commercial and residential real estate companies, where he became interested in understanding the financial impact of engineering decisions in buildings such as the Dallas and Houston Gallerias, and finally to his current role as a chief financial officer.

…Read more

Kris Chester ’87 was there during one of the most successful banking mergers in history. In fact she oversaw the entire treasury management integration when Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia in 2008.

In a conversation with Business Honors students at Mays Business School, Chester, executive vice president of treasury management implementation and delivery at Wells Fargo, said it was one of the most fun and challenging jobs she has ever held in her 27-year-long career at the international banking and financial services company.

“I had the opportunity to be on the forefront of deciding what the new bank would look like, including what treasury products it would offer, how its operating model would be structured, which people were needed,” she said. Chester studied accounting and finance at Texas A&M University as an undergraduate student.

At Wells Fargo, she manages a team of 800, overseeing the implementation of domestic and international treasury management solutions, designed to help customers manage their treasury operations and succeed financially. 

She said implementing solutions for customers can be tricky because customers expect the process to be intuitive and “as easy as setting up an iPhone.” However, she said a true customer-centric approach often requires painstaking care to ensure the implementation goes well. “If you implement well, it makes it easier for customers to continue doing business with you,” she said.

Likewise, she said the secret to the merger’s success was that the decisions kept the customer at the center. She advised students to “always put the customer first when developing products and services; the financial results will follow,” no matter the type of business.

She offered this parting career advice:

1. Looks matter – match your appearance to the expectations of the job.
2. Take company culture into account.
3. Choose your boss wisely. Seek someone you can learn from.
4. Don’t stop learning.
5. Don’t be afraid to take risks.
6. Always have a mentor.

Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students has named four members of Mays faculty and staff among the 24 recipients of the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Awards: Wendy R. Boswell, Department of Management; Henry Musoma ’00, Center for International Business Studies; Veronica (Sprayberry) Stilley ’90, Department of Information and Operations Management; and Connie D. Weaver, Department of Accounting.

The university-level Distinguished Achievement Awards were first presented in 1955 and have since been awarded to more than 1,000 professionals who have exhibited the highest standards of excellence at Texas A&M.

The 2017 Distinguished Achievement Awards will be formally presented at 1:30 p.m. on April 24 during ceremonies in Rudder Theatre on the Texas A&M campus. In recognition of their achievements, each recipient will receive a cash gift, an engraved watch and a commemorative plaque.

All of the 2017 recipients, along with their departments/affiliations are as follows: 

For Teaching:
James D. Batteas, Department of Chemistry, College of Science
Ben F. Bigelow ʼ05, Department of Construction Science, College of Architecture
Christian Brannstrom, Department of Geography, College of Geosciences
Audrey K. Cook, Department of Veterinary Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Alan Dabney, Department of Statistics, College of Science
Amy E. Earhart ʼ99, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts
Larry Johnson, Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Mary P. McDougall ʼ97, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Mary Margaret “Meg” Penrose, Texas A&M University School of Law
Connie D. Weaver, Department of Accounting, Mays Business School

For Research:
Wendy R. Boswell, Department of Management, Mays Business School
Timothy R. Elliott, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development
Paul E. Hardin, Department of Biology, College of Science
Casey J. Papovich, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science
Ping Yang, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, College of Geosciences
Hong-Cai “Joe” Zhou ʼ00, Department of Chemistry, College of Science

For Student Relations:
Elizabeth Crouch ʼ91, Biomedical Sciences Program, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Henry Musoma ʼ00, Center for International Business Studies, Mays Business School

For Administration:
Mark A. Hussey ʼ79, Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

For Extension, Outreach, Continuing Education and Professional Development
John T. Cooper Jr. ʼ92, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture

For Staff:
Kevin Gustavus ʼ08, Business Office, College of Architecture
Veronica (Sprayberry) Stilley ’90, Department of Information and Operations Management, Mays Business School

For Graduate Mentoring:
Robert S. Chapkin, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Yalchin Efendiev, Department of Mathematics, College of Science

KPMG has been selected as the 2017 Mays Business School Corporate Partner of the Year. To celebrate, April 4 will be KPMG Corporate Day in Mays Business School as part of the Mays Connection program, which celebrates the school’s partnerships with both businesses and former students.

Mays will host a presentation to announce the award, special remarks, a reception and class visits across the school from various KPMG alumni. The Corporate Partner of the Year presentation will be made in the Wehner Atrium from 11:30 a.m. to noon.

Bernie Milano, president of the KPMG U.S. Foundation Inc. and The PhD Project Association, is scheduled to give remarks on “Embracing Diversity of Thought” from 2:20 to 3:30 p.m. in Wehner 161.

Diversity of thought ensures cautious and creative processing of information compared to that which occurs within homogeneous groups. The key to embracing diversity of thought is to embrace difference. Managers who are adept in understanding differences across. race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and ability spectrums have an advantage in creating a sustainable 21^st century work force. Transformational leaders are open minded and seek diverse viewpoints to remain innovative and solve organizational challenges.

Milano graduated from Temple University with a B.S. in accounting and started his career with KPMG in the audit practice of the Philadelphia office. Prior to his current roles as president of the KPMG Foundation he held positions of increasing responsibility, including National Partner in Charge of University Relations and National Partner in Charge of Human Resources.

KPMG is a professional services company – offering audit, tax and advisory services – and is one of the Big Four auditors. It is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and employs 189,000 people.

The contributions that KPMG has made to Mays Business School include, but are not limited to

• The KPMG Chair in Accounting, established in 2001
• The KPMG Professorship in Accounting, established in 1988
• The KPMG Fellowship, established in 1987,
• The KPMG Data Analytics/Technology Development Endowment, established in 2015

KPMG is one of the school’s top employers. In 2016, the company hired more than 75 students for internships and full-time opportunities at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

“When selecting the honoree for 2017, we immediately realized that KPMG was the only choice, considering their commitment to our school through financial support, hiring and educational support,” said Mays Dean Eli Jones.

The PhD Project, an effort to improve diversity in higher education, has been led by Milano since its inception and has benefited a number of Mays current and prospective faculty.   

Two Mays Business School faculty members are in the inaugural class of Texas A&M University’s Presidential Impact Fellows. Sean T. McGuire, assistant professor of accounting, and Stephen Courtright, assistant professor of management, were among the 24 announced by President Michael K. Young and recognized on March 7.

McGuire

Young and Provost Karan Watson announced the award, created to support faculty members who are rising stars in their fields and who personify the commitments Young outlined in his October 2016 “State of the University Address” – to advance knowledge through transformational learning, discovery, innovation and impact for Texas and the world. The award recipients come from across Texas A&M’s 16 colleges and schools, two branch campuses, and comprehensive University Libraries.

“Today, we acknowledge a new investment in the excellence of select faculty who through their scholarship, personal commitment and results demonstrate they are rising to meet the challenges of their field and demonstrating impact towards creating a better world,” Young said. “I am proud to name these faculty as the inaugural Presidential Impact Fellows.”

The Presidential Impact Fellows program includes the use of the honorific title for life, and an annual stipend of $25,000 each of the next three fiscal years to accelerate each recipient’s pedagogy,

Courtright

research and service impacts. Identified by his or her dean and confirmed by academic leadership, these faculty members are considered candidates for continued or new national and international acclaim and will utilize this honor to participate in national dialogue, advance their scholarship and create new partnerships.

“This honor furthers our belief that these faculty are and should be considered among the nation’s very best and will enable greater recognition for their excellence,” said provost and executive vice president Watson.

The 2017 recipients will be honored at a March 21 ceremony and will be given a memento of glass art reflecting the synergy of transformational learning, discovery & innovation, and impact formed by Texas A&M commitments to creating a better world.