Nov. 14, 2006 - Texas A&M has long been known for the spirit of support, generosity and service found in its graduates. One Aggie couple has been actively working for more than a decade to embody each of those values, setting an incredible goal to contribute 5,000 hours of service and $1 million to their alma mater.
Nearly 4,000 hours of committee work, mentorship and class lectures, and $900,000 later, Jack and Nancy Matz are close to that goal—and threatening to set another.
Their most recent commitment, a $600,000 planned gift called the Jack ’71 and Nancy ’73 Matz Scholarship Matching Fund, establishes scholarship programs for units throughout Texas A&M and the Texas A&M Health Science Center’s College of Medicine. Among those is a $250,000 gift in support of students at Mays Business School.
“Jack and Nancy Matz truly set a high bar for other Aggies,” said Mays Dean Jerry Strawser. “They are true examples of giving time, talent and treasure to assist Texas A&M University. Their interest in meeting and mentoring students who have benefited from their generous giving simply adds to the richness of what they do for our school.”
The Matzes’ contributions have always run deeper than the financial support that is the lifeblood of every successful component at the university. The Matzes spend about a week out of each month in College Station, leading efforts to guide and develop programs at Texas A&M. To name only a few, Jack serves on the Dean’s Development Council at Mays Business School and aids guidance and development efforts at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Medicine, the Corps of Cadets, and in the past with Texas A&M’s Technology Commercialization Center and Mays’ Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship. Nancy is likewise a fixture in A&M former student leadership, serving as past chair of the College of Science Development Council, serving on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Dean’s Development Council and on the leadership committee of the Texas A&M Foundation’s One Spirit One Vision campaign.
The top-ranked business school is a natural recipient of the couple’s energy and support, management graduate Jack Matz explains: Mays has rapidly moved to the front of the pack, cracking the top 50 or 25 in major rankings around the world including the standby U.S. News & World Report.
“What Texas A&M and places like the Mays Business School provide is a very well-rounded, very hard-working, conservative look at business and education where ethics and morals are paramount to success,” he says. “Long before it became fashionable, A&M had an honor code and the respect of its students. Mays has really figured out a way to incorporate that throughout the mission of its disciplines.”
The Matzes’ story has long been an Aggie story: they first met at Texas A&M in 1970. Jack was at the time thriving under the discipline and values of Texas A&M and its management program, and Nancy was a math powerhouse who graduated at the top of her class and was president of the first university women’s organization at a time when there weren’t yet dorms for women on campus.
They married in 1972 at All Faith’s Chapel on campus and spent the next 34 years raising two children, Catherine ’03 and Christina ’09, and traveling the world. They built an incredible portfolio of entrepreneurial ventures, watching six of the businesses Jack launched go public in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Jack was recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives for his work opening the business market in Russia immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In the late 90s, Jack retired from corporate life, founding consulting firm Strategic Growth in McKinney, Texas, to harness his expertise in public growth capital fund raising, developing growth strategies and identifying emerging business opportunities. Nancy is founder and president of her own nationally recognized software corporation, McKinney-based Dynamic Energy Systems, Inc. In 2005, Dynamic Energy was named among the top 100 fastest-growing Aggie owned businesses in the world as part of the inaugural Aggie 100.
In the midst of continuously-successful careers, why do they still make time to serve at Texas A&M? Jack has a simple answer: “I don’t know if we can ever truly give back enough to this place that has done so much to shape our lives.”
The Matzes’ estate gift is part of the One Spirit One Vision Campaign, the university’s multi-year, $1 billion fundraising effort. The campaign goal is to help A&M attain national top-10 status among public universities while sustaining A&M’s distinctive spirit. The volunteer-led campaign, coordinated by the Texas A&M Foundation, encompasses all private gifts benefiting the university.