Built Around the Work

Texas Executive Education and accounting firm Cherry Bekaert design training for real-world impact

When Texas Executive Education at the McCombs School of Business partners with industry, the goal is addressing real business challenges. Operating since 1955 under Texas McCombs, the organization provides professionals and organizations with the resources to lead, think strategically, and manage change, offering personalized, dynamic learning for everyone from individuals to enterprise organizations. A recent collaboration with top-ranked accounting and advisory firm Cherry Bekaert illustrates how that approach translates into measurable value, combining expertise from McCombs with the firm’s rapidly evolving needs.

The collaboration began with a recognized gap.

“We identified partnerships as a technical area where our team needed advanced training,” says Brian Moore, the managing partner of Cherry Bekaert’s tax service line. “Our people wanted to develop deeper expertise, and we were seeking options for a more hands-on, immersive experience for our client-facing professionals.”

To address that need, the firm launched a competitive search, issuing a request for proposals to leading universities. Texas McCombs, a key source of new recruits for the firm, quickly rose to the top.

“The University of Texas is one of the best accounting programs in the country,” Moore says. “We get great recruits from Texas McCombs, and the quality of professionals coming out of the program is consistently strong.”

Texas Executive Education (TEE) identified Terri Holbrook, associate professor of instruction, as uniquely qualified to deliver this specialized content. She created a customized course on advanced partnership taxation for Cherry Bekaert managers and senior managers. 

“I spent several sessions with their team to understand who my audience was and what challenges they face,” Holbrook says. “That allowed me to tailor the material specifically to their needs —something that’s very different from a typical third-party course.”

The four-day program reached more than 100 professionals nationwide and was delivered virtually in multihour sessions. To keep participants engaged, Holbrook built in interactive elements, including polls, breakout discussions, and applied casework.

“You can’t just lecture online for hours,” she says. “Participants need to actively apply what they’re learning, especially when the content is complex.”

That complexity is exactly what Cherry
Bekaert was seeking to address. Partnership taxation, which is critical across industries such as private equity, real estate, and financial services, requires deep technical expertise to navigate effectively.

“The value is really about making our professionals better at what they do,” Moore says. “When they have a deeper understanding, they can work more efficiently and spend more time delivering higher-value consulting for clients.”

Participant reviews reflected that impact. “The feedback was overwhelmingly positive,” he says. “Partnering so closely with professor Holbrook and her team meant our people received a depth of knowledge and hands-on experience that can be difficult to replicate without that kind of support.”

For Holbrook, the experience reinforced the value of learning built around real-world application. Participants brought current client challenges into the conversation, creating a dynamic exchange between theory and practice.

“I was able to respond to the kinds of situations they’re seeing in real time,” she says. “That made the learning much more relevant and immediately useful.”

The collaboration also reflects how TEE approaches the development of relationships with companies — starting with business needs and building from there.

“Texas Executive Education programs often serve as a strategic gateway to the broader
McCombs ecosystem,” explains Gaylen Paulson, the organization’s director. “As organizations engage with our faculty and leadership, these initial touchpoints frequently lead to deeper partnerships — ranging from talent recruitment to collaborative research to high-impact initiatives with our specialized centers.”

That relationship extends beyond the classroom. Cherry Bekaert is a longtime recruiter of McCombs graduates, and the connection continues to deepen through collaborations like this one.

“I’ve had many students go on to work there,” Holbrook said. “It was incredibly rewarding to see a few of them in this program. I got to continue teaching them as they advanced in their careers.”

For both organizations, the collaboration reflects a broader shift toward customized, expert-led learning, aligning academic insight with industry need to create lasting value. “It’s about finding the right expertise and applying it in a very targeted way,” Moore says. “That’s what makes this kind of partnership so valuable.”

Connect with Texas Executive Education at execedonline@mccombs.utexas.edu to design a custom learning experience for your organization or learn more here: www.mccombs.utexas.edu/execed/.