Jonathan “J.J.” Jones, BS’12, MS’14, MBA’16
Senior Property Manager, Crescent Property Services, LLC
In his current position, Jones manages a Class A commercial real estate portfolio for Crescent, which acquires, develops and operates high-end properties alongside an exclusive group of investors and high-net-worth clients. Crescent currently has $3.5 billion in assets in its portfolio. Jones said his education at Jindal School has opened a lot of doors for him. “I don’t think I’m smarter than I was, but it helped me in my ability to creatively problem solve, navigate multiple fields of expertise and remain confident in a rapidly evolving business environment,” he said. He earned three degrees at the Jindal School – a BS in Business Administration, an MS in Supply Chain Management and an MBA.
Corey Hutchins Woolley, MS’12 MBA’16
Senior Routing Manager, Keurig Dr Pepper
At Keurig Dr Pepper, Woolley manages a team that routes the company’s DSD (direct store delivery) trucks throughout the southern U.S., handling 50 locations and more than 700 delivery routes daily. Woolley, who completed her MBA and graduate degree in supply chain management at Jindal School, designed the companywide process for creating balanced sales and delivery route plans.
Dilon Hanks, MBA’11
Aircraft Captain, Training & Safety Manager; Paypal Aviation Department
Hanks started his education with an undergraduate degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has had a long career path to land his current job.
Charles Gillis, MBA’04
Executive Director, Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, PC
Technology and an evolving mindset about work-life balance is completely changing the legal services profession.
Frank Martinez, MBA’07, MS’14
Supervisor, Project Management Office; Federal Reserve Bank Of Dallas
Martinez, who started working at The Fed in 2011, keeps returning to UT Dallas and Jindal School to upgrade his skills.
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.
Andy Mangham, BS’07 MBA’12 MS’13
IT Audit Manager – Global Sox Assurance; CBRE
In his role at the real estate services giant CBRE, Mangham manages IT audits for global operations, works on special projects for executives.
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.
Jason Ellison, BS’03 MBA’06
Entrepreneur
While Ellison began his professional career at KPMG in audit, he now is on his second (or third) career, as owner of Ellison Business Consulting in Allen.
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.
Eugene Gicheru, MD, MBA, FACEP, MBA’16
Chief Executive Officer, Careculture Health Partners
Several physician colleagues along with myself founded CareCulture Health Partners, where I serve as CEO.
Clarisa Duran Lindenmeyer, MBA’09
Founder/president: Proximity To Power
Lindenmeyer says that in her current role as a C-level strategist in sales, marketing and growth, her MBA helps round out her ability.
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.
Joseph James, MBA’10
Entrepreneur
James, who completed his Executive MBA degree in 2010, manages two startup businesses. At 2020 Commercial, he provides commercial real estate sales, leasing and development services. At Mango Farms Digital Marketing, he and his staff provide web and mobile application development and manage digital marketing for clients.
Michelle Ketsler, MBA’14
Senior Manager, Vistra Energy
Michelle Ketsler, whose MBA studies included a concentration in finance and strategic management, is the senior manager for demand management and account service management at Vistra Energy. She is responsible for establishing and managing the governance of Vistra Energy’s retail technology investment portfolio and ensuring approved projects are aligned with the company’s strategy.
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.
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.
Samir Patel, BS’13 MBA’14
Founder/Portfolio Manager, Askeladden Capital Management
Askeladden is the investment adviser to a long-only limited partnership (hedge fund) and separately managed accounts (SMAs), running a concentrated, long-term oriented, small-and-micro-cap portfolio. Patel graduated magna cum laude with a biochemistry degree from UT Dallas when he was 19 years old, and concentrated in finance and supply chain in his MBA, which he completed when he was 20.
Chris Spartz, MBA’11
Senior Associate – Risk Consulting, Contract Compliance KPMG
At KPMG, Spartz serves in multiple roles including reviewing contracts between his clients and their third party service providers to identify risks within the agreement and help his clients to ensure compliance with contracts, standards, policies and regulatory requirements. “I also collect, manipulate, analyze and interpret large data sets, and use results to develop recommendations for corrective and preventative actions for identified risks,” Spartz says.
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.
