Champions for McCombs

Chris Cartwright, BBA/MPA ’88, and Tom Ryan, BBA ’87, met in junior high school in Houston. But their friendship flourished when they bonded as freshmen on the high school basketball court. Ryan recalls their experience as a “good foundation for school and careers, helping us understand the concept of a team.” 

The two collaborated in sports, studies, and even side projects such as Cartwright’s off-beat idea to sell toothbrushes door to door one summer.  

With his characteristic smile, Ryan says Cartwright was the “yin to his yang” throughout high school. Both Longhorns at heart, they pursued college degrees at UT and are today members of the Dean’s Advisory Council and influential donors to University scholarships, new facilities, and alumni services. 

Chris Cartwright and Tom Ryan – high school teammates who became McCombs graduates and eventually CEOs – reinforce their friendship and school loyalty by giving back to business students. 

With encouragement from accounting professor Michael Granof, Ryan chose an accounting BBA path, while Cartwright followed the first PPA offering (now called the iMPA) with a master’s in accounting. “The University was a significant part of our life,” Cartwright says, “not just academically, but the whole environment, providing tons of diversity and global flavor.”  

The two friends’ paths diverged after graduation when Cartwright entered management consulting in New York and eventually moved to TransUnion in Chicago, advancing from executive vice president of U.S. information services to president to CEO in 2019.  

Ryan stayed in Texas, beginning a career as an auditor with Coopers & Lybrand. He moved to Houston-based company SCI, becoming head of European operations in Paris at age 35. Ryan returned to the U.S. as president in 2002, was named CEO in 2005, and has served in that capacity for over 18 years. 

In time, Cartwright found himself wanting to reconnect with the University. His career had given him a better understanding of the economics of the University and the UT System. “Affordable tuition is only possible if the generations that came before give back,” he says. With that in mind, Cartwright endowed the Chris Cartwright Forty Acres Scholarship in Business. The first student recipient starts this fall. 

Ryan also was eager to forge a path for new business students at the University and soon became a significant early investor in the landmark Mulva Hall project, which will become a modern, new home for business education, mentoring, and research. Ryan says of his gift, “It doesn’t matter to me how I do it, but I want to give back because UT created many opportunities for me.”  

With their busy schedules, opportunities to see each other are few, but Ryan and Cartwright stay in touch whenever possible. Both joined the McCombs Advisory Council. Cartwright says the council is “a vehicle to reconnect with the University” and a way to see his friend more regularly.  

Having reunited with McCombs and with their childhood friendship as strong as ever, Ryan and Cartwright appear to be as unstoppable as they were during their high school basketball days. “I still lean on Chris for advice; someone I know he has my back and will tell me the truth,” Ryan says. Cartwright says he feels the same, calling Ryan “impressive” and a person who has “a big, magnetic personality.”  

They’re still a team with a shared aim to champion the school they love.

— David Wenger