Mays Business School recognizes Outstanding Alumni
It was a gala affair as 200 guests gathered in The Zone Club at Kyle Field on September 6th to applaud the achievements the 2007 Outstanding Alumni Award recipients, Charles L. Korbell, Jr. ’71, David R. Norcom ’73, and Willie T. Langston II ’81.
“This is the most prestigious award we can bestow on an alumnus,” said Interim Dean Ricky Griffin. The recipients of this annual award are chosen on a basis of their personal and professional success in life, as well as their contributions to the greater good.
At the conclusion of the evening, Griffin encouraged students in the audience to model their lives after the three men chosen as outstanding alumni. “We here at Texas A&M and Mays Business School can take pride in the fact that perhaps we played some small role in contributing to the success of these individuals,” he said.
The alumni chosen for the 2007 award represent the best of the best at Mays.
Charles L. Korbell, Jr. ’71Charles L. Korbell, Jr. ’71 began his career at Clarke Printing and Packaging Company in San Antonio as a management trainee not long after graduating from Texas A&M. He spent his entire career there, retiring as president and CEO in 2005. He helped guide the check printing company from small family-owned business, dating back to 1874, to the No. 2 supplier of checks and check-related products and services to the financial institution market. Today, as Harland Clarke—owned by M&F Worldwide Corporation—the company is the leading provider of checking services and products with revenues of $1.3 billion.
Korbell’s company was honored with the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the manufacturing category. This is the highest honor that is given to organizations by the Department of Commerce for business excellence and awarded by the President of the United States. Today, Korbell serves on United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County executive committee and Board of Trustees; he is a Southwest Research Institute Trustee; and he is a member of the Mays Dean’s Development Council. Previously, he served as a board member of the Quality Texas Foundation, the past president of Check Payment Systems Association, and a board member of Junior Achievement of South Texas, Inc.
“My Aggieland experience has no doubt created who I’ve become and what I’ve accomplished in life,” said Korbell during his acceptance speech.
David R. Norcom ’73 and his wife ShareeDavid R. Norcom ’73 spent 20 years as director of consulting groups at Smith Barney and Morgan Keegan & Co. in Dallas before founding his own investment group, NorCap Advisors, in 2004. In addition to his Aggie pedigree, he is a certified graduate of the pension fund management course from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He was a member of the Dean’s Development Council at Mays Business School for a decade. Currently, he is president and general partner of NorCap Advisors, LLC of Dallas, which manages two hedge funds.
In the past, he’s aided Mays through active leadership on development councils and support for presidential endowed scholarships. And in 2005 he committed $250,000 to enhance the service, research and teaching activities of a Mays faculty member. The gift will be matched with other sources from Mays to create the $500,000 David R. Norcom ’73 Endowed Professorship in Business.
Norcom is a past president of the Association for Professional Investment Consultants. He has also served on the Investment Advisory Committee to the State of Texas Permanent School Fund, on the New York Stock Exchange Disciplinary Hearing Board, and on the 12th Man Foundation Board.
Willie T. Langston II ’81Willie T. Langston II ’81 is one of the founding partners of the private wealth management firm Avalon, which focuses on wealthy families and the endowments, foundations and trusts that they serve. He graduated summa cum laude from Texas A&M in 1981 and became a CPA at Coopers & Lybrand before heading to Stanford to earn his MBA in 1985. He spent the next decade in the private wealth management group at Goldman Sachs before joining Morgan Stanley, and later founding Avalon with two co-workers.
As an Aggie, Langston was named both top student in management his freshman and sophomore years and top student in accounting his junior year. He was president of the Baptist Student Union, and president of the Business Student Council—where he and colleagues created the first-ever College of Business Career Fair. Today, the twice yearly career fair is among the largest student-run fairs in the nation and has become a staple experience for both business students seeking employment and the overseeing officers of the Business Student Council.
As a member of the Dean’s Development Council at Mays, Langston has helped guide and fund efforts in business education at Texas A&M. He also serves as one of three outside advisors to the Texas A&M Foundation’s Investment Committee. He is a trustee of Houston Christian High School, and a Deacon at Second Baptist Church in Houston. He is also a former trustee of the 12th Man Foundation.
Photos: See more pictures from the 2007 Outstanding Alumni Awards
