Mays Impacts

The two-hour digital event hosted by the Center for Retailing Studies at Mays Business School will take a look at retail education and the skills needed by the Class of 2025 and beyond.

Engaging leaders from across the retail ecosystem, the Center for Retailing Studies (CRS) at Mays Business School will host a short-form discussion focused on the skills needed from future retail graduates to support the evolving needs of the industry. The virtual event will highlight the expertise and opinions of retail business function leaders, college recruiters, and trade press while informing participants of the plans for the future of the CRS program at Texas A&M.

“The pace of change has accelerated within the retailing industry, and many retailers and consumer brands are moving to integrate their physical and digital teams into a single, integrated business structure.  It’s important that we stay out in front of that change by continuing to update and refine our program,” said Scott Benedict, Executive Professor and Director of CRS and a 35-year omnichannel retail veteran.

The highly engaging, quick-format, agenda includes a roundtable discussion, breakout sessions, and recap discussion at the end of the session.

The roundtable discussion will focus on the evergreen retail skills that remain relevant, new expertise needed to run an omnichannel business, and ways to accelerate into the future, including high impact learning opportunities, featuring:

• Whitney Cooper, Director, Omnichannel Transformation and Acceleration at Walmart
• Jody Hall ’87 & ‘89, Vice President of Global Sourcing, H-E-B
• Lauren Hill ‘07, Director of Merchandising – Home, Target

Breakout sessions will focus on relevant topics and experiences from speaker’s perspectives that will culminate with an alignment on 3-5 key findings and recommendations for the focus of retail education.

The report back from the breakout session leaders will recap the 3-5 key takeaways with layering comments by the roundtable members.

“It’s sure to be an exciting and informative time together,” shares Benedict. “From this input from our constituents and industry partners, we will gain another piece of the puzzle to how to best equip students for the future needs in the retail industry.”

Attendance is free. The Retail Innovators Roundtable – A look at retail education & the skills needed by the Class of 2025 and beyond will take place on Friday, July 16, 202,1 from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. CDT.

More information can be found at http://tx.ag/RetailInnovators

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About the Center for Retailing Studies at Mays Business School

The Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University serves the retail industry by educating the next generation of industry leaders, developing retail-related research, and by providing industry executive outreach & thought leadership. Founded in 1983 in response to an unmet industry need for college educated leaders, CRS has become a renowned source of industry knowledge and a pipeline for developing future retail leaders.: mays.tamu.edu/retail

Media contact: Andrew Vernon, Center for Retailing Studies, avernon@mays.tamu.edu

About Mays Business School at Texas A&M University

At Mays Business School, our vision is to advance the world’s prosperity. Our mission is to be a vibrant learning organization that creates impactful knowledge and develops transformational leaders. Mays Business School educates more than 6,400 undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing, and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools for its programs and faculty research.

Visit Mays: mays.tamu.edu

Kyle Koehler ’09 is an unlikely founder of a food manufacturing company. Yet Wildway –the company he co-founded in 2012–has benefitted from his financial acumen, commitment to health, and desire to live a values-based life that supports the creation of a better world. Koehler’s unconventional but highly successful path led to his selection as Mays Business School’s Professional Program in Account (PPA) 2021 Rising Star Award.

This honor recognizes a recent PPA graduate who is making a substantial impact on society through business acumen, exceptional leadership, or entrepreneurial success. “Kyle represents exactly what the PPA Rising Star Award is intended to recognize: he is a young, successful entrepreneur who co-founded Wildway just three years after graduating from Texas A&M University,” said Dr. Nate Sharp, head of the James Benjamin Department of Accounting in Mays Business School and the Nelson D. Durst Endowed Chair in Accounting. “As a PPA Rising Star, Kyle’s success demonstrates that ‘advancing the world’s prosperity’ often goes hand-in-hand with improving people’s lives. We are incredibly proud of what Kyle has accomplished with Wildway.”

An Adventure in Entrepreneurship

Koehler, who was born and raised an Aggie, took a circuitous route to being an entrepreneur. After graduating from Mays PPA Group 17, the native of LaGrange, Texas lived briefly in Austin before moving to New York City, where he worked for Ernst & Young. However, the big-city lifestyle eventually took its toll. “The corporate life got draining and exhausting, especially in New York City,” he said. “The hours and days were long and living there wasn’t fulfilling in my personal life. I wanted to pursue something that spoke to the values that I had personally and the lifestyle that I wanted to live.”

Kyle and his wife at the time, Kelli, decided to return to Texas, selecting San Antonio as their new home. “The main reason we chose to move back to San Antonio was to be closer to family,” Koehler said. “Family has always taken precedence for us and the importance of family is also built into our company culture. I always tell our people that family comes before your job and to never sacrifice family for work.”

The city also has proven to be a good fit in other ways. The proximity to the Hill Country offers ready accessibility to outdoor activities. Additionally, San Antonio’s business-friendly environment has been instrumental in the Koehlers’ rapid success as food entrepreneurs. “San Antonio is a very business-friendly city with a strong entrepreneurial culture and a great workforce,” Koehler said. “We would not be where we are today if we had to deal with the cost of building a manufacturing business in a more expensive city or state.”

Clean Eating

The idea to create Wildway was sparked by the Koehlers’ decision to clean up their diet. “We took out a lot of added sugars from our diet and started eating really healthy. We felt really good with it,” he said. “We made snack items for ourselves that were gluten-free, didn’t have any sugars, and were made with really clean ingredients. At one point, we wondered whether we could turn this into a business and make something of this.”

After founding the company in 2012, Kyle and Kelli spent the next year testing products and formulations for clean and tasty cereals, granolas, and snacks at the city’s small farmer’s markets. Feedback and sales proved promising. “The first time we attended a farmers market in San Antonio, we made enough granola for the entire weekend,” Koehler said. “When we sold out of everything in a little over an hour, that’s when we thought that we might have something worth building on a larger scale.”

Healthy Growth

Now, the company’s products can be found on the shelves of over 2,000 grocery and health-food stores across the nation. Wildway is sold in a variety of leading national and regional supermarkets, including H-E-B, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Kroger, and Wegmans.

The business, which currently has 12 employees, differs from many other food manufacturing companies. “We do all of our manufacturing in-house, which is a little different from a lot of food manufacturers that outsource their manufacturing to a firm that specializes in food manufacturing,” Koehler said. “We built our manufacturing plant from the ground up and there’s a lot of learning experiences there.”

This business model works, and the company’s rapid growth has caught the industry’s attention. Wildway was selected from 700 applicants to be among the nine companies to participate in the Chobani Food Incubator. The Aggie-owned small business was also one of 10 chosen for the PepsiCo Incubator. Both incubators mentor entrepreneurs as they grow their business to the next level.

Feeding Success

The Mays graduate’s role continues to evolve as the company grows. Originally tasked with handling the accounting as well as a broad range of jobs necessitated in a small business, Koehler now primarily oversees the business’s finances and operations. Kelli, who was recognized by the Association of Former Students in the 2021 “12 Under 12 Young Alumni Spotlight,” focuses on marketing.

Koehler credits much of the company’s success to what he learned at Mays and Texas A&M. “There are a lot of people who go into business without a business background because they are passionate about a product, a particular service or particular thing they can make,” he said. “The business background for me was very important in starting and growing the business. Knowing how to read a financial statement and how to balance a budget when we were first starting out was incredibly helpful. I think a lot of extracurricular activities that I was involved in at the university also helped with my leadership ability and ability to manage people.”

As the company continues to grow, Koehler remains dedicated to bringing positive change to the world through manufacturing clean food. “Kyle epitomizes the Aggie core values, especially excellence, integrity, and selfless service. Wildway, the company Kyle and Kelli have created, provides a high-quality product intended to make people’s lives better and healthier,” said Dr. Mike Shaub, the Deloitte Professional Program Director Professor. “Kyle shows his integrity in being uncompromising about being fully himself, and his focus is on others, whether that is the customer or his employees. He wants a healthy work environment, a healthy community, and a healthy world. He did not go into this venture to get rich, but to make the world a better place by what he saw as a genuine need. What better way to advance the world’s prosperity?”

Business Honors Students utilize Mays Transformational Leadership Mindsets in High-Impact Learning event

Mays Business School students Mia Barone ’21, Steven Gooch ’22 and Laura Key ’22 won top divisional honors at the Loyola Marymount University’s International Business Ethics and Sustainability Case Competition. This high-impact learning event, which was held virtually April 8-9, challenged participants to create a solution based on one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The Aggie team proposed that Amazon could protect the ocean’s viability by changing its maritime shipping approach.

Case competitions offer an opportunity for Mays students to further develop their transformational leadership mindset. “Participating in an international case study provides Mays students an opportunity to exhibit the culmination of business competency and experience gained in the classroom and through high-impact activities on a global scale,” said Katy Lane ’02, the director of Mays’ Center for International Business Studies, which sponsored the team in the case competition. “Working as a cohesive team to analyze and clearly communicate their solution is essential to succeeding in the high-pressure environment. In many cases, judges are from companies or organizations seeking to implement the winning solutions to make a positive social impact.  These teams clearly display the Mays Transformational Leadership mindset in action.”

Changing Course

Advised by Dr. Daria Panina of Mays Department of Management, the student team focused on the UN goal of conserving and sustainably using the oceans, sea, and marine resources for sustainable development. Their full presentation had to address the legal, financial, and ethical dimensions, and their recommendation had to be a solution that was viable on all counts. As part of this session, the Aggies, who are part of Mays Business Honors program, were questioned by a panel of judges who have executive experience in corporate ethics, compliance, corporate social responsibility, executive leadership, and sustainability. This panel did not include representatives from Amazon, which was the focus of the Mays’ team’s case.

The Aggies recommended integrating the practice of slow steaming into Amazon’s maritime cargo operations. “Right now, there’s a lot of sustainability work being done on the company’s consumer-facing, warehouse-to-door operations–electric delivery vehicles, sustainable mailers, shipment zero goal, etc.–but no responsibility is being taken for the impact of Amazon’s inbound logistics process through their shipping subsidiary,” said Barone, who is majoring in marketing and analytics.

The team’s presentation pointed out that a large proportion of the merchant fleet relies on bunker fuel, which contains a high amount of sulfur. The fleet’s fuel combustion releases large amounts of sulfur and nitrogen oxides, which acidify the marine environment and contribute to reduced calcification, erosion of coral reefs, and adverse effects on human health, especially in coastal communities. One cargo ship creates the same amount of pollution as 50 million cars[1].

Amazon ships approximately 3.2 million inbound shipping containers per year to warehouses globally; these containers hold $127.6 billion in products. The Mays team recommended that these ships adopt slow steaming. This approach, which reduces the ship’s speed from 20-24 knots to 12-19 knots, reduces the use of fuel and the resultant cargo emissions.

Wide Sustainability Implications

The Aggies also pointed out that slower travel does not result in lower profits. They cited University of Hamburg researchers, who found that profits for many container vessels decline when speeds surpass 20 knots.

The Mays team also believed that their proposal was feasible and environmentally beneficial. “Ultimately, the solution that we proposed is one that is easy to implement within a couple of months,” said Key, who is majoring in supply chain management. “It’s not a large-scale transformation. As they push forward with net-zero goals, making this small change can be very beneficial to the environment long-term. Using slow-steaming and slowing boats down reduces overall fuel consumption.”

The team advocated for more frequent, small shipments of each product to warehouses. Through using freight forwarding, Amazon would be able to combine small batches of multiple SKUs in containers, which would eliminate the need for holding additional safety stocks.

The Aggies believe these recommendations could have wider sustainability implications. “Amazon is a key player in the global shipping industry. Because of the economy of scale, they have the opportunity to set the standard for the industry,” said Gooch, who is majoring in marketing and analytics. “Adopting this practice would make it more acceptable for others to take on some more sustainable practices. Overall, this would have a greater impact on preserving our oceans and supporting those people in the coastal communities who depend on those resources.”

View the student’s winning presentation:

Established in 1983, the Center for Retailing Studies at Mays Business School has developed future retail leaders to advance the world’s prosperity.

Texas A&M’s Center for Retailing Studies (CRS) launched a fundraising campaign today titled, “Supporting the Future of Retail,” to engage strategic partners from across the retailing community in support of the Center’s critical mission of Inspiring the Future of Retail. From its founding in 1983 as the first university center of excellence in retail through today, the mission of the Center remains focused on developing retail leaders and business knowledge for tomorrow.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated change in the retail industry, including the growth of eCommerce, the integration of digital and physical retail operating models, and opportunities to engage the industry in a dialog about the talent needs of retailers and consumer brands for a more integrated and omnichannel approach to the business moving forward. The campaign will feature a breadth of content developed to educate, engage, and energize the retail industry. The desired outcome of the campaign includes to bringing more organizations along with the mission of the Center by investing time, talent, and financial support critical to student success and developing future leaders of the retail industry.

Join CRS in your preferred channel to gain a well-rounded view of opportunities from now through the end of July 2021:

• LinkedIn – TAMURetail: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TAMUretail
• Facebook – TAMURetail: https://www.facebook.com/TAMURetail
• YouTube – TAMURetail: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8fGvvvhoeTL4S619OVdDCA
• Twitter – TAMURetail: https://twitter.com/TAMURetail
• Instagram – TAMURetail: https://www.instagram.com/TAMUretail

Highlights of partnership with CRS include:

• Access to talent and future organization leaders from a recognized and valued business school
• Access to research faculty and the ability to collaborate on relevant retail research that advances knowledge of a rapidly evolving business and consumer from a recognized and acclaimed Tier One research institution
• Engagement in industry networking and thought leadership, providing access to the collective wisdom of leaders from across the retail ecosystem as well as the brand recognition
• Influence on the future of retailing education, by playing a role in identifying the skills needed for future leaders of their organization, the industry at large, and investing in capabilities they view as critical to their future success.
• Industry updates on recovery from the pandemic, and the impact of retail on serving the American consumer early into, during, and after the crisis

For information on becoming a corporate partner of the Center for Retailing Studies or to request a sponsorship proposal, please contact Lauren Osborne at 979.845.0325 or email losborne@mays.tamu.edu. We gratefully acknowledge and thank our current partner companies for investing in retailing education at Texas A&M University.

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About the Texas A&M Center for Retailing Studies (CRS)

Since opening in 1983, the Center for Retailing Studies has been respected throughout the world as a leading source of industry knowledge and a pipeline for developing future retail leaders.

In collaboration with the outstanding performance of the faculty at Mays Business School and excellence in student education programs, each year, more than 150 students complete coursework, internships, and leadership programs that prepare them for professional careers within the industry in store management, buying, merchandising, planning, business analytics, and supply chain.

Explore more on CRS: https://mays.tamu.edu/center-for-retailing-studies/

About Mays Business School

At Mays Business School, our vision is to advance the world’s prosperity. Our mission is to be a vibrant learning organization that creates impactful knowledge and develops transformational leaders. Mays Business School educates more than 6,400 undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing, and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools for its programs and faculty research.

Say Howdy to Mays: https://mays.tamu.edu

Mays Business School’s FTMBA degree earns #20 U.S. public program

For the third year in a row, the Full-Time MBA program at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School has been named a top program globally, according to the 2021 rankings released by Financial Times. The Financial Times 2021 Global Full-Time MBA Rankings placed Texas A&M’s program at #85 globally this year, advancing one spot from last year and 14 spots from 2019. Out of U.S. public programs, Mays Business School’s residential MBA program is ranked #20.

Former students (alumni) from the class of 2018 were surveyed to compile the rankings data. Of particular recognition by Financial Times this year was the #17 ranking for “FT research rank,” a weighted calculation according to the number of articles published by a school’s current full-time faculty members in 50 selected academic and practitioner journals between January 2014 and October 2016.

“The Financial Times ranking our program is an honor because besides technical competencies and business acumen, it points to the integrity, leadership, and selfless service qualities that all Aggies exhibit,” shared Arvind Mahajan, associate dean for graduate programs. “With these core values in place, our students, faculty, and staff strive for excellence, resulting in accolades that have an impact across the world.”

Texas A&M’s Full-Time MBA program in College Station, TX is 18-months in duration, beginning in August of each year with a December graduation, and the degree includes the option to extend an additional semester for extra electives to match interest areas.

“Mays Business School’s vision is to advance the world’s prosperity,” said Richard Castleberry, director of the full-time MBA program. “Through this program, I witness students discover themselves, transform into the leaders they were meant to be with the support of faculty and staff, and graduate to impact the organizations and communities where they live. It’s inspiring and fulfilling to see the program receive this attention for the third year in a row.”

Applications for the Texas A&M Full-Time MBA program are being accepted now for the class of 2023. For more information, visit: mba.tamu.edu

U.S. News and World Report just released their annual best Online Master’s in Business Rankings (non-MBA), placing Mays Business School’s Master of Science in Analytics (MS Analytics) on the list for the first time, the very first year the program was eligible to apply for ranking.

U.S. News’ ranking included a broad range of online degrees – from education to engineering to nursing and more. Mays MS Analytics program ranks #6 program in the state of Texas and #72 overall for Best Master’s in Business.

MS Analytics is the most recent addition to Mays Business School’s MS programs, having moved from the College of Science to the business school in 2018. Shortly after the change, Arvind Mahajan, associate dean for graduate programs, appointed a committee chaired by Bala Shetty, professor in the Department of Information and Operations Management, and comprised of faculty and practitioners. This committee analyzed the program’s content, benchmarked against other programs, and recommended changes in the curriculum. Most recommendations that surfaced have already been implemented.

“Our current MS Analytics program content, while remaining rigorous in the data analytics, now has the classical business school flavor, including a focus on leadership, managerial effectiveness, and influential communication,” shared Mahajan.

MS Analytics program director Myra Gonzalez added, “As a young, quickly-growing industry and just joining the Mays family of MS program two years ago, we are committed to the mission of our college: to be a vibrant learning organization that creates impactful knowledge and develops transformational leaders. We designed our program to be an inclusive learning environment and focus on excellent customer service through our cohort model. Those efforts have enabled a 90% graduation rate.”

With over 300+ data science/analytics programs in the nation, students have many options. Texas A&M’s MS Analytics offers a formal education led by prestigious faculty with terminal degrees or strong ties to industry. Each year, the program enrolls 65 students from all backgrounds. Faculty and students build off each other in the program. “Our faculty members capability, paired with our students’ persistence and thirst for excellence, enable the quality and the success of the MS Analytics program,” shared Gonzalez.

The MS Analytics program is offered at Mays Houston CityCentre campus as a dual delivery program. About half of the participants are spread throughout the U.S., allowing for the flexibility to get a world-class education on student’s terms. “Hybrid delivery merges both distance and face-to-face students into the same classroom, ensuring those outside the classroom have the same experience,” shared program manager Javier Adalpe. “We were doing this before the pandemic, so we’re used to the challenges. Digital learning has always been a top priority. Support staff monitor distance students in case they have any questions, and we utilize state of the art technology at our Houston CityCentre classrooms. We go to great lengths to ensure all students feel included which is reflected in our ranking.”

The program is currently accepting application for the fall 2021 cohort. To request more information, contact Javier Aldape, Program Manager at 979-845-2149 or jaldape@mays.tamu.edu

Mays Business School’s master’s in management degree gives students in-classroom and high-impact experience

On December 2, students and faculty of the Master of Science in Business (MS-B) program gathered virtually to celebrate and share their semester-long projects from the Integrated Business Experience (IBE) class.

Handy Mask, one business run by MS Business students

Associate Dean for Graduate Programs Arvind Mahajan said, “It’s an important day for our students as well as for our program. MS Business admits diverse undergraduate majors and invests in many ways to develop them as transformational leaders with entrepreneurial mindsets. This course is a perfect example of that change.”

The MS-B program is a graduate degree designed for non-business majors who want to grow their business knowledge to supplement their bachelor’s degree.

Century Tree Soap Company’s soaps

Student Rigor

MS Business Program Director, Richard Castleberry, said of the students, “Other than students with great academics and backgrounds, a primary component we look for is students who show the Aggie Core Values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect, and selfless service. We insist these traits display in our students, and I can say that the 62 students that are here today exhibit those Aggie core values.”

…Read more

Thanks to the generous support of the Texas Bankers Association, Dwight Garey ’67 has been named the Texas Bankers Foundation Executive Professorship in Commercial Banking at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School. Garey has led the Commercial Banking Program since 2016 and this endowed award speaks to the difference Garey brings to the Department of Finance within Mays.

Garey’s career in banking and financial services spans more than 40 years, with 27 years of his banking career in correspondent banking at First City Bank-Houston, and Amegy Bank in Houston. He managed Amegy Bank’s Correspondent Banking department from 2006 to 2016, a regional line of business for a three-state region. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in finance, then earned an MBA from the University of Houston Clear Lake.

He is also a graduate of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University, where he was a director of the Alumni Board of Directors and was president of the Alumni Board 2012-2015.

“I am truly pleased with the appointment of Dwight to this important endowed professorship at Mays,” shared Eli Jones, dean of Mays Business School. “This appointment, which I supported along with others in Mays Business School and the highest level of administration at Texas A&M, reflects Dwight’s continuing contributions that are bringing distinction to the Department of Finance and Mays Business School. Endowed professorships are a priority at Mays, established as part of our grassroots strategic planning process which began in 2016. Through these professorships, we are able to recruit and retain individuals who will advance the world’s prosperity, our vision at Mays.”

“We’re fortunate to have Dwight represent the Texas Bankers Association in this endowed professorship and know that it will be a resource within the Commercial Banking Program for developing transformational leaders, part of our mission at Mays,” shared Sorin Sorescu, Interim Executive Associate Dean at Mays Business School. “Banking is a relationship-driven business, and our college is thankful for the generous support the TBA has established to help us educate the next generation of bankers. All of us at Mays know that Dwight will continue performing in this high honor in order to serve our students and equip them to enter the banking industry fully prepared to bring the necessary hard and soft skills, along with the Aggie Core Values, every day.”

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About Texas Bankers Association

Founded in 1885, the Texas Bankers Association is a member-centric state organization based in Austin whose members represent the voice of the banking industry within the state and national halls of Austin and Washington, D.C. In addition, its members participate in discussions around financial and economic roundtables where community leaders ponder safety and soundness issues confronting the state and national economics.

About the Commercial Banking Program

The Commercial Banking Program at Mays is designed to equip students with the banking and finance skills needed for a career in banking. The program prepares students to serve the personnel needs of banking organizations in Texas and the United States. The students in the program establish relationships with banking professionals, and other students, who serve them throughout their banking careers, and develop the financial skills critical to success when beginning careers with a commercial bank.

The Commercial Banking Program allows students to learn industry skills and terminologies within a focused curriculum and provides experiences that are not otherwise available to finance majors.

About Mays Business School

At Mays Business School, we strive to advance the world’s prosperity. Our mission is to be a vibrant learning organization that creates impactful knowledge and develops transformational leaders. Mays Business School educates more than 6,300 undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing, and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools in the country for its programs and for faculty research.

For more information, visit mays.tamu.edu.

September 2, 2020 – Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and leading health and well-being company Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) are launching the 2020 Humana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition to showcase students’ analytical abilities to solve a real-world business problem. The prize package for the winning teams has increased to $70,000, with $40,000 for first place, $20,000 for second place, and $10,000 for third place.

The fourth annual competition will be held virtually and is open to all accredited educational institutions based in the United States. Full-time and part-time master’s students from accredited Master of Science, Master of Arts, Master of Information Systems, Master of Public Health, or Master of Business Administration programs, or other similar master’s programs in business, healthcare, or analytics, are eligible to enter. Students are invited to create teams of two to three to tackle a real-world case. Each team can only include students from the same school.

“We have recalibrated one of the top national analytics competitions into a virtual format this year to continue to attract the brightest graduate students in the country,” said Eli Jones, dean of Mays Business School. “The teams will use data analytics to address real-world issues in healthcare, presenting in the digital format the whole world is adjusting to now.”

“Humana is grateful for the opportunity to again partner with my alma mater Texas A&M University on this impactful and real-world opportunity for students.” said Humana President and CEO Bruce Broussard. “The future of health care increasingly depends on data analytics as a means to create personalized experiences and support emerging capabilities from telehealth to chronic disease management, all of which contribute to better health outcomes.”

The teams will be judged based on the following criteria:

• Quantitative analysis identifying key business insights
• Professionalism, data visualization, and presentation skills
• Ability to provide meaningful implications and recommendations based on results/insights

Key dates for 2020 participants include:

• Sept. 9: Virtual kickoff call for prospective participants
• Sept. 18: Team registration due
• Sept. 28: Virtual Q&A session with competition leadership
• Oct. 11: Completed team analysis due
• Oct. 23: Finalists selected and notified
• Nov. 12: Virtual presentations to executive panel; winners announced

The student team of Ozgur Cetinok, Leah Kelly, and Erica Millwater from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) won the $30,000 First Place prize in 2019. Over 1,300 masters level students representing over 80 major universities in the U.S. registered to compete for $52,500 in prizes.

See official rules and guidelines for more information.

About Mays Business School

At Mays Business School, we strive to advance the world’s prosperity. Our mission is to be a vibrant learning organization that creates impactful knowledge and develops transformational leaders. Mays Business School educates more than 6,400 undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing, and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools in the country for its programs and for faculty research.

About Humana

Humana Inc. is committed to helping our millions of medical and specialty members achieve their best health. Our successful history in care delivery and health plan administration is helping us create a new kind of integrated care with the power to improve health and well-being and lower costs. Our efforts are leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities at large.

To accomplish that, we support physicians and other health care professionals as they work to deliver the right care in the right place for their patients, our members. Our range of clinical capabilities, resources and tools – such as in-home care, behavioral health, pharmacy services, data analytics and wellness solutions – combine to produce a simplified experience that makes health care easier to navigate and more effective.

More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the company’s web site at www.humana.com, including copies of:

• Annual reports to stockholders
• Securities and Exchange Commission filings
• Most recent investor conference presentations
• Quarterly earnings news releases and conference calls
• Calendar of events
• Corporate Governance information

#aMAYSing former student, Stephanie Murphy, Owner and Chairman at MEI Technologies, Inc. and Alpha Space Test and Research Alliance, LLC, recently shared some news with the EMBA Class of 2020 during their celebration ceremony…

First, get to know her:

I received my undergrad in AgriBusiness from Texas A&M and then went on to work at MEI Technologies (then is was Muniz Engineering).  My father founded MEIT in 1992, I began working there in 2001.  Over the next ten years, I worked in various corporate departments and had taken on leadership roles within the company.  We began succession planning for MEIT and I was interested in additional formal education (MBA) to help prepare me for my next roles within the company as an executive and an owner.  I attended an Aggie 100 lunch with my father who was receiving an award, and Ricky Griffin happened to be a guest at our table.  He was talking about the Executive MBA (EMBA) program and the new location at City Centre.  I applied to the program and found it to be competitive with other programs and very convenient in terms of location and my work schedule.

After graduating in 2014, I had an opportunity to take an idea developed at MEIT and launch a new business providing testing in the harsh environment of space as a service.  In 2015 I founded Alpha Space Test and Research Alliance, and in 2018 we launched a testing platform that is permanently attached to the International Space Station.  We privately own the facility, known as MISSE, and offer government agencies, academia, private companies, and now individuals access to the low earth orbit space environment.  We are part of a small group of companies offering commercial services in space and at the forefront of developing a new space economy.

My EMBA prepared me for the launch (literally) of this new company not only through the academics, but also set a cadence of hard work and efficiency for me.  I made great relationships and connections, and have gone on to participate and serve in other organizations as a direct result of the network I built during my time in the EMBA program.

Mays: How did the idea about sending the EMBA Class XX Coin come to gain traction?

SM: I was meeting with Julie [Orzabal, Director, Texas A&M Executive MBA Program] and had expressed an interest in staying engaged with the EMBA program. We were chatting about the Class XX graduating and their program coming to an end. I shared with her that I sent my husband’s Aggie ring into space, and I commented to her how cool it would be to send their class coin, which typically travels around the world with students, on the ultimate trip into space.  I committed to sponsor that trip for the Class XX coin, and Julie let me announce it to the class via Zoom on their last program day.

Mays: Can you detail exactly what will happen, as planned, for the EMBA Class XX Coin?

SM: The EMBA Class XX coin was delivered to our headquarters in Houston.  It will be put into our vacuum chamber and the pressure will reduced to 10^-6 torr (0.000000001 atmosphere) and the temperature will be raised to 60^oC (140^oF).  This removes contaminants and particulates from the coin and prepares it for space flight. It is then moved into our 10K clean room, where our engineers integrate the coin into a MISSE carrier along with other experiments bound for the space station.  Our carrier is packed and delivered to NASA Johnson Space Center, then shipped along with all the other cargo manifested on our flight to the International Space Station.  NASA will ship the cargo to the launch site, either Florida for a SpaceX launch, or Virginia for a Northrup Grumman launch, and it will be packed for launch.

It will launch in spring 2021, where the coin will experience acceleration forces of about 3X to 4X gravity.  Once docked to the ISS, the astronaut crew will unpack our carrier from the cargo.  An astronaut attaches our carrier, containing the Class XX coin, to the MISSE transfer tray and send them through the airlock into space attached to the ISS robotic arm.  The robotic arm and other robotic tools plug our carrier into the MISSE facility, which we will then control from our operations center here in Houston.  The Class XX coin will be exposed to the harsh environment of space, including extreme temperature changes that can range from -40^oC to 60^oC (-40^oF to 140^oF), while it orbits the Earth approximately 16 times per day.  At this point, the coin is traveling almost 5 miles per second and is about 240 miles above the Earth.  We expect it to stay for about 6 months totaling over 75,000,000 miles on its trip in space.

At the end of this mission, the carrier is returned into the habitable portion of the space station by the robotic arm and the transfer tray.  The astronauts load it, along with other cargo, for a ride back to Earth on the SpaceX Dragon capsule.  Once retrieved by NASA, the carrier is returned to our office in Houston, where our engineers de-integrate and unpack the carriers.  At that time, the coin will be returned to Class XX and happy hour to follow!

Mays: What’s next after the EMBA Class XX Coin?

SM: In 2019, we were the first company to sign a reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA to allow us to purchase resources from NASA (launch, astronaut time, etc) to send commercial items to the International Space Station.  This allows us to open space access to private individuals, not just researchers, for personal use.  In 2021, we will be selling space for Aggie Rings and other personal mementos to fly in one of our carriers just like the Class XX coin.  For about the price of an airline ticket for international travel, an Aggie ring can complete a mission to the space station and return to its owner.

Mays: Why is this special and important to you – and why you think it’ll be special for others?

SM: Sending an item into the space environment and having it returned is such a unique experience that has been limited to very select scientists.  We have the opportunity to enable that experience for private companies, organizations, and individuals on a limited basis for the first time in the history of space exploration.  I think it’s amazing that one could send their Aggie Ring, which connects Aggies instantly and represents Aggie values, on a unique mission into space.  The eagle on the ring symbolizes agility, power, and the ability to reach great heights, and what better way to celebrate that than by sending it beyond the sky?

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