My deepest roots are in Lubbock…the place of my birth. However, I graduated from high school in the city of North Richland Hills (a suburb of Fort Worth) and generally consider it to be home.
What was your major at ACU?
International Business
What other schools did you consider?
- University of Colorado at Boulder
- University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA)
- Rice University (Houston, TX)
- Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX)
If your major was business, why did you choose the ACU business program?
To be brutally honest, my first choice in universities was the University of Colorado at Boulder. However, in spite of my acceptance and scholarship at that university my parents would not support my decision to attend that school…they wanted me to go to Texas Tech University. Our compromise was Abilene Christian University. In retrospect I can’t imagine my life any differently.
As for why I choose the ACU business program, it was really a matter of selecting a degree program that matched my interests. I knew that I had a passion for strategy, marketing, and international trade and believed that a business degree would put me on the right track to meeting those goals.
If you are attending or did attend graduate school or a professional school, please state where and what was your major field of study?
I graduated with a MBA from the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN) in 2002. My primary field of study at ND was Global Marketing.
If you are currently working what company are you with and what is your role?Currently, I am a Marketing Manager for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. My official title is “Manager, Planning and Forecasting” for our Texas Division.
Please list some of your career goals.My short term career goals are to expand the responsibilities of my department in a manner that best supports our enterprise growth strategy. From a longer term perspective, I would like to pursue an executive track with my employer and continue to drive growth and profitability in our marketing divisions for years to come.
Give your best experience(s) you had with experiential learning programs in COBA. (i.e. Leadership Summit, Distinguished Speakers series, STAR Fund, etc.)I was blessed to participate in the initial Leadership Summit sponsored by ACU. The speakers that were brought in for the event were fantastic and the impact that it had on me during my first few years in the workforce was substantial. The opportunity to gather with friends of like mind and spirit for a period of study and fellowship was amazing. I would highly recommend it to any COBA student.
Who are your favorite COBA faculty and why?
Jack Griggs and Mike Winegeart will always have a special place in my heart. In spite of the obvious differences in their fields of expertise and personalities, the reason that they are so dear to me is the same…they took a sincere interest in my development.From the time I walked through the doors at COBA (when Jack was the Dean) until I left three and half years later, he took an interest in me. He didn’t mind my long hair or my abrasive personality…he saw potential and he felt compelled to bring it out. His role in my life didn’t end when I left the campus. He encouraged me to visit Highland Church of Christ and welcomed my family into his home on more than one occasion. He and Ann even came to the hospital when my wife and I had our first child. Jack taught me the value of hard work, passion for life, commitment to the task at hand, putting family first, and making sure that God always guides your life’s choices.
My relationship with Mike was equally compelling. He quickly recognized my passion for global marketing and sensed an opportunity to reach out. He helped me shape my career goals, recognize the value of family, and select a graduate institution for my MBA. No matter how busy Mike was with various projects and courses, he always seemed to find a few minutes to lend some words of wisdom.
How has your COBA experience prepared you to meet your career goals?Though it might surprise people unfamiliar with the ACU College of Business, I found that the classroom content in Abilene was second to none. At the University of Notre Dame I had the pleasure of studying alongside students from major universities across the country…and many of them had not been exposed to the level of content (course material) and competence (faculty) that I had during my time at ACU. This stellar foundation served me well at the graduate level and has done so in my career as well. Furthermore, my time in COBA taught me that career success and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. It is easy to put faith on the back burner when projects pile up at work, which is why I value the friendships that I made at ACU. Perhaps the greatest preparation COBA gave me is a battalion of well-equipped friends that help hold me spiritually accountable.
