Meet The Texas A&M Mays MBA Class Of 2026 by: Jeff Schmitt on November 14, 2024 | 876 Views November 14, 2024 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit Aggie Park NO BETTER PLACE TO NETWORK THAN FOOTBALL GAMES And the network isn’t just huge, says Allyson Hayley. It is also highly influential. Jeff Miller, CEO of Haliburton, earned his MBA at Mays. The CEO of Cigna and the Executive VP of Koch Industries – along with the outgoing CEO of Humana – also earned their undergraduate degrees at Mays. Beyond the c-suite, the real advantage of the Aggie network is just how enthusiastic they are about their alma mater. That translates to student calls being answered and company doors being opened. “I have never met an Aggie who wasn’t proud to be an Aggie,” observes Colby Morgan, a 2022 P&Q Best & Brightest MBA. “I believe that is why the former student (Alumni) network is so strong. No matter where you go Aggies are always helping Aggies and you have a family around the world.” Let’s just say College Station isn’t out in the middle of nowhere. It is just 90 minutes to Houston, two hours to Austin, and three hours to either San Antonio or Dallas. In other words, Mays MBAs can easily hit all the top employers in less than a day. And College Station is a great place to live, with Mays alumni describing it as “laidback” – except maybe six Saturdays a year. “I’ve always lived in larger cities, so I really appreciated how easy it is to get around town, how nice the people are, and how easy it is to meet new, interesting people,” says Taylor Boles, a 2024 MBA grad. “The only time it’s not a relaxed environment is on gameday, when 50,000 students and 50,000 alums set up tailgates around the football stadium… I can’t think of a better networking opportunity.” MBA Students AN INTERVIEW WITH SARAH JAKS At Mays, several class members have said they enjoyed Dr. Rogelio Oliva’s Operation Management course for its superb case teaching delivery. Others point to Dr. Bala Shetty’s Business Analytics course, popularly known as the “Shetty Express,” thanks to Shetty’s “dynamic” teaching style. “It gives a comprehensive introduction to the quantitative side of a business management degree and has been our most hands-on course so far,” says Mohammad Fahad. “It covers tools that will be required by all MBAs, irrespective of field or domain. And, as his experience speaks for itself, Dr. Shetty is a rockstar professor.” This year, the Mays Business School shot up from 41st to 31st in the Fortune MBA Ranking, all while ranking in the Top 10 for Return on Investment according to Bloomberg. The school also landed a $25 million dollar gift from the Lowry Mays’ Family Foundation to upgrade facilities and enhance programming, along with rolling out a new “Flex Online MBA Program. What can applicants and students expect next from Mays? This summer, P&Q reached out to Sarah Jaks, Ph.D. – the Director of the Full-Time MBA Program. Here are Jaks’ thoughts on new developments at the school, as well as its offerings in global business and soft skills development. P&Q: What have been the two most important developments in your MBA program over the past year? What type of impact will they have on current and future MBAs? Jaks: “We’ve made several adjustments to the Full-Time MBA Program over the past year, one of which is adding two types of company visits. More specifically, we take first-year students on a Company Trek to Houston, TX, during orientation to expose them to various industries and potential employers as they begin their MBA journey. Many of these companies have [Texas A&M] former students or even current second-year students on internships, so it’s a great way to expose them to the Aggie Network as well. In addition, we plan and organize career fairs for our students in major metropolitan areas. This allows employers to attend and have early access to our Mays MBAs in a more intimate environment than typical career fairs. In addition, these events prepare students for their initial exposure to the national MBA career fairs. Another recent development is the creation of our Employment Impact Board, whose purpose is to elevate the Full-Time MBA program by directly impacting increasingly positive employment outcomes. While we have always had an Advisory Board for the program, we decided to create the additional board to focus solely on internship and full-time employment placement. The Advisory Board still serves to advise and provide guidance to the program and serve as mentors to current students. By differentiating the charge of these two boards, we have built an even stronger support network for Mays MBA students.” P&Q: Every January, P&Q publishes a “10 Business Schools to Watch” feature that highlights how schools are raising the bar and enhancing the student experience through innovation or expansion in programming or resources. What is one innovation that sets your school apart from your peer programs and makes you a business school to watch? Why is it so groundbreaking? Jaks: “One innovation we are proud to announce is the addition of our Engineering MBA program to complement our traditional full-time MBA program. It is a one-year MBA program specifically open to Texas A&M undergraduates from the College of Engineering, ranked #1 in the nation for research expenditures. Upon graduation, these students join the Engineering MBA Program to earn their MBA in one year, putting them a step ahead of their peers and creating the path for accelerated career growth. This program provides interdisciplinary education to solve the world’s biggest challenges, which aligns perfectly with our mission at Mays: to develop leaders of character who can make a positive impact in their communities.” Fall foliage on campus P&Q: What types of programs do you offer to sharpen your students’ soft skills? What areas do you emphasize and how do you instill these skills in your students? Jaks: “In an age of AI where technical tasks can be outsourced, soft skills are becoming the differentiator for MBA students. Mays Business School is WHERE BUSINESS MEETS LEADERSHIP. Leadership is one of the Texas A&M Core Values, and we take it seriously; students are required to take an Individual Leadership Development course throughout their entire time in the program. This allows them to expand not only self-awareness and self-management, but ultimately increase their skills in leading and managing others. In addition, we have a required business communications course and a required career management course. All three of these courses are designed to strategically overlap and reinforce certain topics, such as feedback, conflict management, and working in teams. The faculty of these three courses also teach one combined session to showcase the overlay and integrated nature of leadership, communications, and career.” P&Q: What types of programming – through classroom instruction, extracurriculars, and treks – does your school offer to expose students to country-specific and global business practices? What have students told you were the most educational and fun aspects of these activities? Jaks: “In addition to the Education Abroad Office at the University level, Mays is one of 16 business schools with a government-sponsored Center for International Business Education and Research, which offers various study-abroad opportunities. Students can participate in programs at various points throughout the year and around the globe, one of which is the Spring Break trip to Panama. This particular study abroad experience allows MBAs to join other graduate business students to explore real-world business challenges and solutions by providing consulting services to a local business while on the trip.” Mays MBA students P&Q: What are the most exciting new courses that your school is offering to MBAs this school year? What makes them so unique and valuable? Jaks: “We have added a new required course, Special Topics in Contemporary Business, to highlight current and emerging topics. In this course, faculty from across the business school to highlight their current research on topics such as sustainability, AI, healthcare, ethics, and global business. This course allows students to capitalize on what they’ve learned in the core curriculum, in their electives, and at their summer internships to bring various perspectives to the classroom when discussing these incredibly pertinent business topics.” P&Q: Who are two new professors who’ve joined your faculty in the past year? What do they teach and how will they be difference-makers in your MBA program? Jaks: “Dr. Peter Cziraki, Assistant Professor in the Department of Finance, joined our program this past year to teach Intermediate Corporate Finance. Peter has been an incredible asset to the program, and like many of our faculty, his impact goes beyond the classroom. He frequently volunteers to participate in current and prospective student events, and his ability to break down the complexity of financial problems and communicate them in way students can relate to. We also had Dr. Christine Gravelle join our program to teach the required Business Communications course. Christine is the Director for Client Engagement at the Center for Executive Development at Mays Business School, where she works with several high-caliber companies and organizations to develop and implement executive leadership programs. Her experience is immediately applicable to our MBA students, and she often pulls from her day-to-day interactions with C-suite executives to share real-time insights about what they expect from newly hired MBAs.” P&Q: What types of support does your career center and alumni provide to MBA students? How have these services and relationship made your graduates more competitive in the marketplace? Jaks: “Our Career Management Center at Mays provides a holistic and individualized approach to guiding and preparing MBA students for the internship and job search, which begins before they enter the program. Incoming students must complete required modules prior to orientation, and they have their first Career Management class during orientation. As with any career center, resume reviews, mock interviews, and employer networking events are commonplace; however, given the smaller size of our program, the career center staff knows the career aspirations and challenges of each individual student. This individualized knowledge allows them to create a tailored approach for each student’s needs, ultimately accelerating the growth and development from the initial contact, making them more competitive at early-fall career fairs. In terms of alumni support, Texas A&M is simply unmatched. Our alumni network, known as the Aggie Network, is nearly 600,000 strong and worldwide. But that’s not what makes it special; the true impact of the Aggie Network is in the relationships that can be built between former students because of the bond shared by graduating from the same institution. For example, students can use “Find an Aggie” on the Association of Former Students website to reach out to alumni and ask questions about their careers and backgrounds or get advice on school or career pursuits. Alumni don’t see this interaction as a cold call, but instead, are incredibly willing and generous with their time to ensure these future alumni feel supported and part of the Aggie Family. We all know that your network plays a pivotal role in getting a job, but the Aggie Network is the premier alumni organization to be a part of when it comes to capitalizing on this concept.” MBA Student Hometown Undergraduate Alma Mater Last Employer Adora Ajuzie Lagos, Nigeria University of Calabar Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Udit Chakraborti Kolkata, India Manipal University PwC Emily Collier San Antonio, TX Texas A&M University Valero Energy Joseph F. Cotie Houston, TX Texas Tech University Cotie Brothers Show Cattle Mohammad Fahad Noida, India Delhi Technological University Freelance Knowledge Content and Strategy Expert Devna Grover New Delhi, India Purdue University Eli Lilly and Company Allyson Hayley The Woodlands, TX United States Military Academy—West Point United States Army Riley Hix Flower Mound, TX Texas A&M University United States Navy Atul Kumar Kar Khurda, Odisha Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Deloitte David Pham Arlington, TX Texas A&M University Lockheed Martin Allison Sadler Tulsa, OK Oklahoma State University Valero Energy Matthew Stouffer Cinnaminson, NJ Rutgers University Kiewit Previous PagePage 2 of 2 1 2