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1950s
Don Buckalew, BBA ’56, celebrated the 50th anniversary of his company, Buckalew Chevrolet in Montgomery, Texas.
1960s
Jim L. Turner, BBA ’69, has been named chairman of the Baylor Scott & White Holdings board of trustees, becoming the second-ever chair of the organization born from the 2013 merger of Dallas-based Baylor Health Care System and Temple-based Scott & White Health. Turner succeeds inaugural chair Drayton McLane Jr.
1970s
Mark Bass, BBA ’73, has been honored as a member of the 2015 Financial Times Top 400 Financial Advisors in the United States. Mark is a CFP, CPA and a financial planner with Pennington, Bass & Associates in Lubbock, Texas. He is married to Betsy Brown Bass. He has four adult children—two sons, a stepson, a stepdaughter and four grandchildren.
James Lozier, BBA ’77, was appointed to the board of directors at Hunt Companies Inc. He currently serves as a director for Equity Commonwealth.
Wes Brazell, BBA ’78, was appointed chief financial officer of TearLab Corp. (DFW), with overall responsibility for operational finance, financial reporting, budgeting and strategic planning. TearLab develops and markets lab-on-a-chip technologies that enable eye care practitioners to improve standard of care by testing for disease markers in tears at the point-of-care.
Bruce Ballengee, BBA ’79, is president and chief executive officer of Pariveda Solutions, a leading management consulting firm specializing in improving clients’ performance. The company was named to the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Best Places to Work List. They were ranked No. 40 in the small size company category of businesses between 10 and 49 employees. This is the second year in a row that the Atlanta office has been nominated and named to the list.
1980s
Annie Hall, BBA ’83, MBA ’93, owner of Annie’s Culinary Creations in Dallas, recently participated in Goldman Sach’s “10,000 Small Businesses,” a national program that helps small companies create jobs, increase revenues and expand their businesses. Hall previously worked as a chief executive for a number of financial firms before leaving the corporate life for a culinary one.
Thomas Horton, BBA ’83, has been named a senior advisor in the Industrials and Business Services (IBS) Group at Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. Horton previously served as the chairman, president and chief executive officer of American Airlines.
Mark W. Haushill, BBA ’84, was appointed chief financial officer of Houston International Insurance Group, Ltd. Haushill has extensive experience serving in senior finance roles at specialty insurance companies, including as the CFO of American Safety Holdings Ltd. and Argo Group, Ltd.
Caleb McCaleb, BBA ’84, has been named to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank’s Advisory Council for a three-year term. McCaleb is the president of McCaleb Homes, Inc., and has been in the homebuilding profession for 31 years. He is responsible for land acquisitions, finance and design of master plan communities.
Mark Rickards, BBA ’84, is a founding partner of TRIPTYCH Health Partners, a Dallas-based specialty communications firm that provides strategic medical marketing support to biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Rickards was previously president of Cadent Medical Communications.
Stuart Fink, BBA ’85, has been named a senior credit underwriter by Preston Hollow Capital, a merchant bank focused on municipal specialty finance, commercial finance and asset management. His responsibilities include evaluation, analysis and underwriting of the real property components of the firm’s investments. Fink previously worked for GE Capital.
Larry S. Starks, BBA ’85, leads the investment banking group at Waterview Advisors. Recently, Waterview Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to AMC Industries in its sale to John Deere Landscapes.
Brian Dill, BBA ’87, has been named by Cherry Bekaert, one of the largest CPA and consulting firms in the country, as a tax principal and the leader of the firm’s international tax practice.
Haag Sherman, BBA ’88, joined the U.S. Capital Advisors LLC (USCA) board of directors. Sherman is currently the chief executive officer of Tectonic Advisory and is the former CEO and chief information officer of Salient Partners L.P.
1990s
Steve Guillaume, BBA ’90, has been promoted by Charlotte, Mich.-based Spartan Motors Inc., to president of the Specialty Chassis and Vehicles Business Unit, which includes responsibility for the RV chassis portfolio, specialty vehicles, defense and government, as well as aftermarket parts and accessories.
Brian Small, BBA ’90, has been named the director of marketing for Equify, LLC. Equify is engaged in corporate lending in the construction, energy and transportation space, as well as heavy machinery and equipment auctions across the state of Texas. Small is in charge of the creative direction of the company, promoting auction events through television advertising, web and print media.
Don A. Byers, BBA ’91, MBA ’92, was recently promoted to national senior portfolio manager within the Government and Institutional Banking Division of Wells Fargo Bank, managing a multi-billion dollar credit portfolio. He has worked for Wells Fargo (via First Interstate Bank) in various locations since graduating from Baylor and is currently working in Tampa, Florida.
Melvin Hunt, BBA ’91, has joined the Dallas Mavericks coaching staff. Hunt will work under head coach Rick Carlisle as the team’s lead assistant on the bench. Hunt previously served as the interim head coach for the Denver Nuggets.
Latta Baucom, MBA ’92, has been appointed as head of school at Davidson Day School. Baucom is currently the head of the upper school at The Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Florida.
Jeffery Price, BBA ’92, a senior partner at Merrill Lynch in Southlake, Texas, works with institutions and families to build faith-consistent asset allocation strategies.
Kermit Ward, BBA ’92, was promoted to principal of Pflugerville Independent School District’s Connally High School. Ward began his career in Waco ISD as a teacher and administrator. He served as a principal of a middle school in Pflugerville ISD for three years prior to this promotion and is pursuing a doctoral degree in educational leadership at the University of Texas at Austin.
John Rainey, BBA ’93, MBA ’95, former executive vice president and chief financial officer of United Airlines, was named the chief financial officer of PayPal Holdings Inc. At PayPal, Rainey will oversee financial operations, regional finance teams and investor relations.
Laura Sykes, BBA ’93, MTax ’94, has been admitted to the BDO USA, LLP, partnership. BDO USA, LLP is one of the nation’s leading accounting and consulting organizations. In this role, Sykes will provide tax planning and compliance services through BDO’s Private Client Services group. Previously, Sykes was a senior director in the company’s Houston office.
Jeff Williams, BBA ’93, was named chief financial officer of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate serving the greater Portland/Vancouver metro area. Williams has more than 20 years of financial expertise in real estate finance mergers and acquisitions, due diligence capital management, treasury management, strategic planning and investor relations.
Doug Cofer, BBA ’95, MBA ’96, founder and chief executive officer of Four Columns is involved in Creative Potluck, an organization to launch and support downtown arts and community growth in Waco, Texas.
David Patterson, BBA ’95, was recently named chief executive officer of Falck Rocky Mountain in Aurora, Colorado. Falck is a 108-year-old international emergency, assistance, safety and healthcare company providing services in 45 countries. Serving as a paramedic since his time at Baylor, Patterson recently completed his term as the chair of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Bob E. Parsons III, MBA ’98, joined the board of directors of the Green Beret Foundation. Parsons is currently the president of Ronin Leadership and has served in the Green Berets. The Green Beret Foundation provides immediate financial assistance and advocacy to those Green Berets injured in the line of duty, to their families and to the families of Green Berets killed in action.
Peter Sefzik, MBA ’98, has been named Texas market president of Comerica Bank. As Texas market president, Sefzik will lead Comerica’s Texas Management Council and oversee all business and community development efforts in the bank’s headquarters market, including direct management responsibility for Middle Market and Energy Lending in Texas. Additionally, he will manage six regional presidents and have overall market responsibilities for the commercial, wealth and retail lines of business in Texas, Arizona and Florida.
2000s
Chris Heckler, BBA ’02, chief executive officer and co-founder of Valify, and Matt Clark, BBA ’00, MBA ’15, chief financial officer of Valify, recently announced Valify’s partnership with MedAssets. MedAssets announced it broadened its purchased services approach through an exclusive partnership with Valify to offer a new web-based analytics solution designed to standardize purchased services spend across the health system enterprise.
Kyle Herring, BBA ’02, was inducted into the Liberty Mutual Insurance Sales Hall of Fame in May 2015. He has been with the company since graduating in 2002 and has won more than 60 awards for his hard work and dedication. He is ranked as the top producer nationally within the company of more than 2,500 sales representatives. Liberty Mutual sells auto, home and life insurance, and is in the top 5 largest insurance companies in the world.
John Morrison, BBA ’03, MTax ’03, was appointed executive director of the Alaska Trust Land Office (TLO) by Governor Bill Walker. Morrison has been instrumental in transforming the TLO into a sophisticated fixed asset manager and investor. Prior to becoming the executive director, Morrison served as chief administrative officer and deputy director of the TLO. The TLO is charged with stewardship of and maximizing revenue from the 1,000,000-acre corpus of Trust Land located across Alaska and currently three additional states. In his new role, Morrison will continue to work with business partners and stakeholders in a variety of industries including oil & gas, mining, commercial real estate and timber through the TLO’s various subsidiaries.
Rhett Dawson, BBA ’04, vice president of marketing for Insurors Indemnity Cos., volunteers and serves as president of the board of directors at Rapoport Academy in Waco. Dawson is supporting his lifelong commitment to providing quality education to all students, regardless of socioeconomic status. Dawson grew up in Zimbabwe, where he says public schools are “very dysfunctional,” but education is vital, and students want to learn.
Stephen Garner, BBA ’04, MBA ’14, has been named the chief operating officer of Abrazo Arrowhead Campus in Glendale, Arizona. Abrazo Arrowhead is a nationally recognized acute care hospital.
Bryan Tilson, BBA ’04, was appointed managing director of Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai. He will partner with executive creative director Yang Yeo to oversee the business and overall performance of W+K Shanghai. Before moving to W+K Shanghai in 2011 as business director on Nike China, Tilson had joined W+K Portland in 2008 as an account supervisor on American retailer Target. As a business director on Nike China for the past three and a half years, Tilson has led a diverse team of both local and expat talent to create world-class creative work for Nike, including the award-winning “Find Your Greatness” Chinese social media campaign. He has continued to successfully collaborate across the W+K network and to develop strong relationships with senior leadership at Nike China.
Todd Pollock, BBA ’06, MBA ’14, oversees season ticket deposit sales for a prospective Las Vegas National Hockey League team owned by Bill Foley, a title insurance businessman. Foley launched the ticket campaign in February to show NHL officials that Las Vegas is ready for big-league hockey.
Dustin Little, MBA ’08, the regional manager of Advanced Manufacturing and Technology Accounts of GCA Services Group (A Blackstone Company) has had his role expanded to include the management of the Austin human resources organization and the addition and/or expansion of strategic accounts and personnel including: Freescale, Novati, Hospira, Emerson Process Controls, Charles Schwab and Endeavor.
Doug French, MBA ’09, is the chief executive officer of Stylecraft Builders. Builder Magazine has named the company the fastest growing privately held builder in the nation.
Kevin Jones, BBA ’09, and Colin Heller, BBA ’09, are co-founders of Simplebills, a company that makes college living simpler/easier in regard to paying and splitting utilities. In the last year, the company has doubled in size and created an app.
Jay Proffitt, MBA ’09, is the vice president of Trading Services Product Management at Charles Schwab. The Travis County Commissioners Court recently approved an incentives package designed to make it easier for Charles Schwab Corp. to undertake a big Austin expansion. The county incentives package, worth $3.3 million in tax abatements in exchange for the company making a $196.7 million capital infrastructure investment and adding 823 new jobs, clears the way for the Texas Enterprise Fund to contribute another $4.5 million in tax abatement incentives.
2010s
Patrick Swindle, BBA ’10, was named administrator of East Texas Medical Center (ETMC) Quitman.
Brittany Foreman, BBA ’12, was promoted to digital marketing manager in the Communications & Marketing Department of the Hankamer School of Business.
Taylor Conerly, BBA ’14, was featured on the season finale of TLC’s “Bride by Design.” Conerly and her husband garnered attention after a video of their Cinderella-themed wedding proposal went viral.
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2016