Alumni Notes

Update US

Please send your updates to alumni@mccombs.utexas.edu for publication in the next issue of McCombs magazine. Feel free to share news on behalf of fellow graduates. 

1960s

John Adams, BBA ’66, J.D. ’69, has received the Presidential Citation Award, the University’s highest honor. He is the former chairman and CEO of Chase Bank of Texas and former vice chairman of Trinity Industries. 

1970s

Gary Kelly, BBA ’77, was appointed deputy chair of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas for 2025. He is chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines Co. 

Sue Gove, BBA ’78, was appointed to the board of directors of LKQ Corp. She founded Excelsior Advisors and was a senior adviser to Alvarez & Marsal. Gove has also been COO and CEO of Golfsmith International. 

Alice Davey Schroeder, BBA ’78, MBA ’80, has been nominated to serve on the Stellantis board of directors. She is a former managing director at Morgan Stanley and serves on the boards of HSBC North America Holdings Inc., Dakota Gold Corp., and others. 

Elaine Agather, MBA ’79, was named one of the Dallas 500, the 500 most powerful business leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth, by D magazine. She is chairman of the Dallas region for JPMorgan Chase & Co. 

1980s

Cintia Easterwood, BBA ’82, MBA ’85, was honored with emeritus status as an assistant professor of accounting and information systems in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech University.

Sam Susser, BBA ’85, has received the Presidential Citation Award, the University’s highest honor. He is chairman and CEO of Susser Bank and president of Susser Holdings II LP, a private investment company. 

Mark Freeman, BBA ’86, was appointed chief financial officer at LendingPoint, an online loan platform. He joins the company from Republic Finance, where he was CFO for six years. 

Jane Bland, BBA ’87, J.D. ’90, has been selected to deliver the commencement address for the Texas Law School for 2025. She is a member of the Texas Supreme Court.

John Weisenseel, MBA ’87, has been appointed to the board of directors for Virtus Investment Partners Inc. He retired from AllianceBernstein LP as senior vice president and chief financial officer. 

James Lee, BBA ’88, MBA ’92, is the founder and CEO of TXSE Group Inc., which is working to launch the Texas Stock Exchange in Dallas. 

Tim McInturf, BBA ’88, has rejoined the Littler law firm, a labor law practice, as a shareholder in Houston. He was with Littler from 1999 to 2009, and he went on to work at Quantlab Group and founded Tim McInturf Mediation. 

Ann Montanio, MBA ’89, has been named the senior director of revenue cycle management at Acadian Cos. in Louisiana. She previously worked at HCA Healthcare and Christus Health. 

1990s

Chris Block, B.A. ’90, MBA ’98, will lead the new office of The Multihull Company in Kemah, Texas, as senior broker in the selling of catamarans. He has operated a training, charter, and brokerage business in Kemah for the past decade. 

Oscar Brown, BBA ’91, was named president and CEO of Western Midstream Partners. He has 30 years of experience in the energy sector, including senior positions with Occidental Petroleum Corp. 

Bret Creel, BBA ’92, has been elevated to executive vice president at commercial developer KDC, joining the design and construction leadership team. He joined the firm in 2013 as senior vice president of design and construction. 

Lucy Hur, BBA ’92, has joined Veeam Software as chief people officer. She previously worked at Slalom as chief people officer and at Microsoft in human resources. 

Allan Gochenour, MBA ’97, has published “The Smart Book on AI: A Beginner’s Guide to Learning Generative AI for Personal, Creative and Business Use” under the pen name Allan G. Griffin. 

Brian Scott, MBA ’98, was named chief financial officer and chief operating officer of AMN Healthcare Services Inc. He is returning to AMN, where he previously held a variety of roles in finance, strategy, and accounting. 

Carla Vernón, MBA ’98, talked with MPR News about what it means to be a corporate leader. She has been the CEO of The Honest Company since January 2023. 

Lance Loeffler, BBA ’99, MBA ’04, joined International Paper as senior vice president and chief financial officer. He previously worked in finance, strategy, and business leadership roles at UBS Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank Securities, and Halliburton. 

2000s

Alberto Orozco, MBA ’00, has joined a new practice with Nardello & Co., a New York-based investigations consulting firm. Orozco, a certified public accountant, will be part of a financial investigations and forensic accounting team. 

Sejal Haribhakti Mody, BBA ’01, was appointed chief human resources officer of Akasa Air. Before joining Akasa Air, Mody held leadership roles at Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Disney Star, McKinsey & Co., and Accenture. 

Randy Jones, BBA/MPA ’01, was appointed chief accounting officer of Remington Hospitality, a hotel management company. He was previously vice president of accounting and corporate controller at Dave & Buster’s Inc. 

James Hill, BBA ’02, was reelected to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas board of directors. He will serve a three-year term. Hill is a principal of James Hill Consulting and a finance professor at Texas Christian University. 

Xianjun Geng, Ph.D. ’03, has been named dean of the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. He had been senior associate dean for academic progress at Tulane University. 

Mandy Price, BBA ’03, has been appointed a managing director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. She was previously CEO of Kanarys Inc., which she co-founded, and a partner with Barnes & Thornburg. 

Jeff Andrien, MBA ’05, was picked to lead the new Austin office of Resolution Economics. The office will be part of the Financial Advisory Services practice group. Andrien also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in finance at McCombs. 

David Hunker, MBA ’05, has joined Piper Sandler Cos. as managing director and global head of activist defense and shareholder engagement within its investment banking platform. 

Nicole M. Conger, BBA ’06, was selected as Top Attorney of the Decade by the International Association of Top Professionals. She is an employment attorney and the owner of her law firm. 

J. Michael Edwards, MBA ’06, has been named chief financial officer at bioAffinity Technologies Inc., a company focused on cancer detection. He previously served as interim CFO and consulting CFO to the company. 

Erin George, MBA ’06, spoke to the Forté Foundation about getting more women into leadership roles at her company, Boston Consulting Group, and others. She is the managing partner of BCG’s southwest region. 

Arpit Parikh, BBA ’06, has joined Altos Equity, a private investment firm, as an operating partner. He previously worked for Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving car division; PepsiCo; and Frontier Communications. 

Spencer Swayze, MBA ’06, has been appointed to the board of directors of CropX Technologies, a digital agricultural business. He was most recently the managing director at the private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners. 

Jason Tao, MBA ’07, was appointed CEO of Compex Systems, a wireless connectivity business. He previously worked for Qualcomm for 14 years, serving as the senior director of product management. 

Christopher Paulsen, MBA ’08, has joined USA Compression Partners as vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer. He comes to the company with more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry, most recently at Pioneer Natural Resources. 

Jenna Delaney, BBA ’09, was appointed director of global crude at Rapidan Energy Group, an energy markets consulting firm. She joins the company from Energy Aspects, where she served as the head of North American crude oil. 

Todd Thornock, M.S. ’09, Ph.D. ’11, was named the first Academic Research Fellow at the Institute of Management Accountants. He is an associate professor at the College of Business at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

2010s

Jody Crook, MBA ’10, was named chief commercial officer at energy company Pedevco Corp. Before joining the company in 2015, he co-founded Tenet Advisory Group LLC and worked at Jones Energy Ltd. 

Sam Marfatia, MBA ’10, was appointed to the board of directors of the nonprofit Service Corps of Retired Executives. He is the director of strategic marketing for packaging company Sealed Air. 

Marc Shmerling, MBA ’10, has been named managing director of investment research at Paul Comstock Partners, a wealth management firm. Shmerling, a chartered financial analyst, has over 15 years of experience in finance. 

Austin Stevenson, BBA ’11, has been named city attorney for McAllen. He has worked for the city’s legal team for more than 10 years, advising multiple departments. 

Christopher Martin, MBA ’13, was appointed to the board of directors of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. He previously served as a managing director of Jumana Capital LLC and as a vice president at Hastings Equity Partners. 

Dillon Cecil, BBA ’14, has joined the board of directors of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas for a three-year term. He is the executive vice president and CFO of Liberty National Bank in Paris, Texas. 

Michu Benaim Steiner, MBA ’14, talks about her experience co-founding a branding agency and offers insights on risk-taking and developing connections on the CreativeMornings Austin speaker series.

Wes Fischer, BBA ’15, was promoted to director, a senior leadership role, at investment firm First Reserve. He joined the firm in 2017 and previously worked as an analyst at Morgan Stanley. 

Blake Montag, BBA ’16, MPA ’17, was promoted to director of portfolio analytics at Blue Wolf Capital Partners. He joined the firm in 2023 from PwC, where he was a senior manager in deal analytics. 

Brett Franklin, BBA ’18, has been promoted to senior vice president at Franklin Cos. He will be taking on responsibilities for financial operations and executive oversight of all communities. 

2020s

Lily Yap, MBA ’20, was appointed executive director of the Stanislaus Animal Services Agency in Ceres, California. She most recently oversaw an animal shelter in Grand Prairie, Texas.