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Jindal Connect JSOM ReunionWelcome home, Jindal School alumni!
The JSOM Alumni Relations team is dedicated to keeping you connected to your alma mater and helping you support your university! To reach us directly, visit the JSOM Alumni Contact page or email us at jsomalumni@utdallas.edu.
Alumni Spotlight
David Taylor, MBA’09
Chief Operating Officer, Intellicentrics.
Taylor completed his Global Leadership MBA (GLEMBA) degree, which, he says, “opened up (my) ability to be multi-disciplinary and global yet local.” IntelliCentrics, based in Flower Mound, focuses on safety and security in healthcare operations. As COO, Taylor oversees global operations, innovation, technology and people operations.
Luis Ortiz, MBA’10
Brand Manager, North America Ericsson
As a young professional, Luis Ortiz found a way to further his company’s goals and initiatives while helping individuals in need. He developed a business initiative for Ericsson that not only met and surpassed company objectives but also helped a nonprofit organization. By looking beyond boundaries between for-profit and nonprofit organizations, Ortiz crafted a creative solution to help Ericsson increase its brand awareness while assisting the North Texas Food Bank.
Allen Mueller, MBA’15
Senior Analyst, Fuel Strategy, Vistra Energy
Mueller, a recent Jindal School graduate, has spent a decade in mining engineering and operations, most recently at Luminant Energy in Dallas and Martin Marietta Materials in San Antonio. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degree in mining engineering at Southern Illinois University.
Mark Fuqua, BS’79
Exec Vice President And Manager, Energy Banking Comerica Bank
Fuqua completed his BS/Business Administration degree with a finance concentration at UT Dallas when undergrads had been on the UTD campus a mere four years.
Geetha Hathikal, MBA’13
Business Analysis Manager, Ericsson
Hathikal, who has been with Ericsson for more than four years, works as a business consultant in the networks strategy planning group of the organization.
Jeff Hightower, MBA’01
SVP, Group Manager, Corporate Banking, Green Bank, NA
At Green Bank, Hightower originates and develops relationships with commercial clients. He also oversees a team of relationship managers.
Richard E. Peck, MBA’04
Senior Technical Process / Quality, AT &T, Second Vice President, Toastmasters International
Peck has been with AT&T for more than 30 years where his responsibilities include leading cross-functional teams; project management, overseeing numerous high-tech, multimillion-dollar projects annually (he is also PMP certified); and developing and reviewing project-related business cases, among other responsibilities. Peck is also Robotic Process Automation certified.
David Smithen, MBA’05
Americas Transactions Manager, Cushman & Wakefield
Right after graduating from college, Smithen worked with juvenile delinquents at Texas Youth Commission (now the Texas Juvenile Justice Department).
Kate Reagan, BS’15
Assistant Vice President, Business Development, Texas Capital Bank
In Reagan’s role at Texas Capital Bank, she leans on both degrees she earned at Jindal School – a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in marketing. “I connect with business leaders in the Dallas community to hear their stories and see if Texas Capital Bank can help them achieve their company’s goals,” she says. “In school, I had no idea how accounting and marketing would fit together and if I could even find a role that would allow me to utilize both my degrees.
Glenn Egelman, MD, FACP, MS’08
Medical Director, Tricare; Defense Health Agency Headquarters
An unanticipated, unpredictable, traumatic healthcare issue has significantly reshaped my professional life.
Taylor Lipsett , MBA’16
AVP, Private Wealth Management And Portfolio Manager, US Trust at Bank Of America
In his role at Bank of America, Lipsett manages investment portfolios for the bank’s private wealth clients. He says his MBA “expanded my breadth of knowledge across various business areas [and] taught me how to balance a full workload, work with others to accomplish a common goal, and how to network and build relationships with other professionals.” For Lipsett, his extracurricular passion has been all things sled hockey.
Chanel Ebanks-Texada, BS’16
Watson Customer Engagement Account Executive, IBM
Ebanks-Texada has launched her career at IBM, where she is prospecting and generating business in the public sector.
Craig Weigel, MBA’03
Human Resources Director, PepsiCo
Weigel, an HR professional for more than 18 years, has worked for multiple Fortune 100 global companies in various roles, including recruiting, mergers and acquisitions, compensation, and business partnership. He is most proud of his short-term projects in Asia and Europe, which broadened his cultural awareness and global business knowledge.
Larry Chasteen, PhD’03
Clinical Professor, Director of Online Graduate Programs, The University of Texas at Dallas
Chasteen’s students probably don’t realize he is a product of the Naveen Jindal School of Management.
Gigi Bryant, GLEMBA’02
Business Development Consultant, GMSA Management Services
Throughout her life, Gigi Bryant has overcome adversity – spending more than a decade in the foster care system. Since then, she has dedicated herself to serving others. She has started her own business consulting firm, established a foundation to assist youth in the foster care system and devoted her free time to volunteer work.
Christian Tellez, MS’15
Senior Investment Associate, Diamond Realty Investments, Inc.
Tellez underwrites potential commercial real estate development projects across the country that his company may consider for investment. Tellez earned an MS/Finance at Jindal School. “The master’s degree I earned at UT Dallas 100 percent catapulted my career,” said Tellez, who completed his undergrad degree in economics at Texas Tech. “I was extremely hungry but I was struggling to get the attention of ‘big time’ finance players in Dallas due to lack of experience,” he says.
Heidi Rasmussen, BS’92
Co-Founder and COO, Freshbenies
Heidi Rasmussen, a former retail executive, and her husband, Reid Rasmussen, a former health insurance company manager, knew health benefits were complicated for employers and their workers.
Vik Thapar, BS’00
Principal, Cypress Growth Capital
Thapar, a Dallas resident, was born and grew up just a few miles from the UT Dallas campus in Richardson.
Will McIntosh, EMBA’06
Senior Manager, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young LLP
McIntosh, a senior manager in Advisory Services at Ernst and Young’s Dallas office, measures his success by the quality relationships he has developed with clients and coworkers throughout his 15 years in the management consulting and financial services industries. He assists leading banks and lenders in solving various management problems and improving their operations in order to better serve customers and meet the demands of other key stakeholders.
Gary Tillett, BS’82
U.S. Financial Services Partner, New York Metro Deals Leaderpricewaterhousecoopers
Gary Tillett’s notable career spans three decades and includes roles in several divisions within the same “big four” accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Tillett currently serves as the New York Metro Deals Leader and is a partner in the U.S. Financial Services sector at PwC. In this dual role, he leads a practice of more than 400 deals professionals and serves some of PwC’s largest corporate and private-equity clients with investments in the financial services sector. Tillett attributes his success to his commitment to the delivery of quality client service and his desire to maintain a comprehensive lifestyle, which has included active community service within his career and personal life since an early stage.