Mays Business Online

Screams of joy echoed through the dimly lit, wood-floored building, as the students of Kemp Elementary talked about their plans for summer. “Walking on Sunshine” played faintly in the background as children laughed and students from Mays passed out packages to 450 students in need to culminate the third annual Project Mays event, hosted by the Business Student Council (BSC).

Grossing more than $85 million in revenue per year, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo isn’t merely carnivals, country stars, and cowboys. It’s a well-oiled business strategically managed to ensure top-notch entertainment each year, thanks to CEO and president Skip Wagner.

According to Richard Lester, clinical associate professor and executive director of the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship (CNVE) at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, the shifting economic environment means the timing couldn’t be better for a new venture.

It isn’t a resume portfolio and business suit that Conor Pollock ’09, finance major at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, is counting on to prepare for life after college. All he needs is a tennis racquet.

From work-life balance to earning the respect of colleagues in a male-dominated industry, Hallie Vanderhider, president and chief operating officer for Black Stone Minerals, knows the obstacles that come with establishing a career—and being a business woman.

Because of the constant threats and pressure to forget the ethics in decision-making, many business professionals let their morals take a backseat to the thirst for success. Will there ever be a remedy to bring ethics back to business? According to Mike Albe ’88, VP controller for Catapult Systems, the Aggie Honor Code is the simplest solution.

Demonstrating quick thinking and superior presentation skills, a team of MBA students from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University won second place in the regional Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute’s Investment Research Challenge (IRC) in March. The event, held in New York City, pitted Mays students against 15 competing teams from some of the world’s top MBA programs, including Boston University, Marquette University, and several schools from Canada and Brazil.

A new study from Mays researchers finds that most executives caught cooking the books face ramifications far beyond losing their jobs.

Not long after your 50th birthday, you turn on the television and realize that you can barely make out the actors’ faces. You have joined the 30 million people worldwide who suffer from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an increasingly common disease affecting adults ages fifty and older. But don’t be alarmed—this disease won’t be a threat much longer, thanks to a new technology developed at Texas A&M University.

For years, college students go to class, make good grades, and build their resumes in order to land great jobs. With a formula so simple, success should be easy, right? Wrong. Elise Hilgemeier, a finance major at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University is one of the many students around the nation feeling the crunch of unemployment as she struggles to find a job before her May graduation.