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JSOM Alumni

Welcome 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.

students posing next to OWLIE against a UTD cutout

Students walking down the line while getting food

Two JSOM Alumni against a background that has a JSOM balloon arc

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Are you reaching a big moment or milestone in your life or closing or starting a new chapter?

Whether it’s a new job, marriage, welcoming a baby, teaching your children or grandchildren your favorite hobby or moving across the country, we want to hear from you!

Featured News

Collage photo of Mark Thouin (top left) and Gaurav Shekhar (bottom right)

Key Promotions Made in Strategic Move to Advance Jindal School Graduate Programs

Hasan Pirkul The recent retirement of Dr. Monica Powell, graduate dean of the Naveen Jindal School of Management since 2009 and the senior associate dean since 2015, created both challenges and opportunities for Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and Jindal School dean, to maintain the high level of service that the school has always provided […]

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Frequently Asked Questions

The simplest way to join is to go to jindalconnect.com and, using your LinkedIn profile, import your personal information. Take a few more moments to personalize your profile by using drop-down menus to indicate your interest in helping other students or alums with advice or mentoring. Joining will take you 90 seconds or less.

JindalConnect is different because it allows you to identify UT Dallas people who have intentionally indicated they want to help. And if you do initially show your willingness to mentor, offer advice or greet new Comets in your city, and then for whatever reason, you change your mind, a simple click on your personal JindalConnect profile takes you off the “Willing to Help” list.

Go to the Directory tab in the drop-down menu in the lefthand column of the JindalConnect homepage. On the right side are filters you can set for class year, degree, industry and more.

Yes. The “Say hello, ask for help, or just post what’s new on your mind” box in the center column under the photo at the top of the JindalConnect homepage offers a way to ask (and answer) questions. You also can “write a comment” under individual posts in the center column.

No.

Periodically, you will receive an email newsletter from JindalConnect that will highlight one story, two upcoming events and some other information. It’s all on one page. If you want to read additional information, links will take you to individual stories.

Alumni Spotlight

Thomas S. Ducote, Jr. , MBA’96

Vice President – Business Development, City National Capital Finance

Ducote, who lives in Austin, works in the equipment finance group for City National Bank, based in Miami.

David Pate, BS’88

CFO, Richardson Independent School District

Pate, a resident of Rowlett, has spent almost all of his professional career in the service of education.

Abrahm “Abe” Turner, MBA’08

Performance Improvement Consultant; Insperity

I enjoy being part of the change continuum. I am often the catalyst for change in many of the groups I support.

Brian Livingston, MBA’01 MS’02

President and COO, Firebird Restaurant Group

Livingston holds two degrees from the Jindal School, his MBA and his master’s degree in accounting. His undergrad degree in finance is from UT Austin. He is now with Firebird Restaurant Group, LLC, the parent company of El Fenix Mexican Restaurants, Snuffers Restaurant & Bar, Meso Maya, Village Burger Bar, Taqueria La Ventana and Tortaco, where he oversees the daily operations of 54 restaurants, a food manufacturing company and related companies.

Abhishek Sharma, Class of ’21

Finance Manager at Amazon

My background experience was a mix of technical qualifications as a software engineer and work experience as a futures trader and Sales Finance Manager. Even though I had worked in the finance domain in different capacities, I didn’t have experience of academic finance and when looking for options for my graduate level education my priority was to complement both my previous education and work experience. The MS Finance program at JSOM not only fulfilled all the criteria but also boasted of world class faculty and a very enhanced learning program and facilities.

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.

Gerald Youngblood, MBA’10

Director, North America Marketing Advanced Micro Devices

Gerald Youngblood, a graduate of the Professional MBA Online program, credits the Jindal School with preparing him to progress beyond the traditional business environment and into the wireless workplace. He now manages marketing and strategy development at Advanced Micro Devices, a multinational technology company that designs and integrates technology for intelligent devices, such as personal computers, tablets, game consoles and cloud servers.

J. Michelle (Abuda) Maraj, BS’14, MS’15

Financial Systems Analyst, Lyft

J. Michelle (Abuda) Maraj, now living in San Jose, California, powered through her master’s degree in business analytics just a year after she earned her BS in what is now information technology and systems. In 2014, she was selected to give the commencement address for her Jindal School class, where she pointed out it took her a few semesters to settle on majoring in what is now known as information technology and systems. Thanks to the Jindal School’s Career Management Center, she held an internship each summer during her college years. She also is a past contributor to the JSOM Perspectives blog.

Sid Keswani, MBA’09

President, Pandora Americas

As president of the Americas region, Sid Keswani is responsible for PANDORA’s markets in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Atanas Hansen, BS’11 MS’13

Senior Business Analyst; New York Life Insurance Company

Working for a 173-year-old company provides a fantastic environment to observe how business processes and technology evolved over time

Aubrey Meyers, BS’05, MBA’06

SVP and Deputy General Counsel, Caliber Home Loans, Inc

After Meyers received her BSBA and MBA at UT Dallas, she went to University of Illinois College of Law, graduating in 2009 with a law degree. She returned to the North Texas area, working for a couple law firms before moving to Caliber Home Loans.

Julie McCure, MS’13

Texas Health Resources, Network Specialist

McCure, who earned her master’s degree in Healthcare Management, is part of a team managing Southwestern Health Resources’ preferred network of physicians.

Matthew A. Thompson, BS’12

Automation Marketing Manager, StructuredWeb

Matthew A. Thompson, who majored in marketing, moved to New York City soon after graduation. Once there, he landed a job at ALM, a specialized business news and information company largely focused on the legal community.

Shaun Robinson, MBA’01

Vice President- Product Management, AMX

Robinson, a Dallas resident, has been at AMX since 2002, and in his current position for three years, where he leads the AMX Product Management team.

The Perdue Family

Connie, Caitlin and Brad Perdue

For the Perdue family, attending the Jindal School is a family tradition that stands out among many others. Parents Brad and Connie met while graduate students in the 1980s, and many years later, daughter Caitlin received her undergraduate degree as well.

Gaurav Sethi, BS’20

Investment Bank Risk Analyst, JP Morgan

Sethi works at JP Morgan as a specialist in counterparty credit risk calculations, doing the heavy analysis that most don’t even know exists – he investigates and explains derivative exposure variances and changes. Sethi earned both finance and actuarial science undergrad degrees. (Actuarial science is in the UT Dallas School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.) Notably, Sethi was awarded the prestigious $15,000 Mitchell Family Foundation Scholar Award from the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation, based on his work with CampusOven, a service that connects university employees and students with caterers who are focused on healthy eating options.

Remsen Jennings, BS’11, MS’12

Assurance Services, EY

Remsen Jennings graduated summa cum laude with a double bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance in 2011, following that with a master’s degree in accounting in 2012. During his time at UT Dallas, Jennings was appointed as a UT System Student Advisory Council member, elected as student body vice president, served as president of the Davidson Management Honors Program and was a member of the Professional Program in Accounting.

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.

Bradley Almond , MA’95

Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President Administration; Vertex Business Services

Almond, who lives in Dallas, has enjoyed a rich career that started with KPMG in 1989 in audit. He then returned to school to earn his MBA at UT Austin.

Tina T. Hoang, BS’09

Financial Advisor, Northwestern Mutual

Hoang, who graduated cum laude with a Business Administration degree, says her degree gave her the knowledge, resources and connections to help people with their financial planning needs. “It helped me build character, business acumen and find the passion for what I do now,” she says. She says she is proud her work will impact families and businesses now “and last … on into the following generations.” She was recently selected as one of 60 representatives nationwide to attend a special fast-track program for young advisers in Milwaukee. While there, she took part in the challenge course.

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