Entrepreneur and self-made billionaire Sam Wyly will be the featured speaker at UT Dallas’ 2010 School of Management Scholarship Breakfast scheduled for April 6 at the Westin Galleria Dallas.
Now in its second year, the breakfast connects alumni, students and other partners with the North Texas business community and raises money for scholarships in the school.
Beginning at 8 a.m., KERA television and radio host Lee Cullum will moderate a discussion with Wyly about the decisions and strategies behind Wyly’s many business successes during the past half century.
“We’re excited to be able to connect our students with a business leader like Sam Wyly,” said Hasan Pirkul, Ph.D., dean of the University’s School of Management and Caruth Chair of Management. “With nearly 50 years of experience creating and growing companies, his insight will be a source of inspiration for our students, especially to our many aspiring entrepreneurs.”
Lee Cullum
Wyly helped create and grow numerous companies, including University Computing, Sterling Software, Bonanza Steakhouses, Michaels Stores and Maverick Capital. One of his most recent endeavors is Green Mountain Energy. His autobiography, 1,000 Dollars & an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire, is his first book.
Event moderator Cullum contributes columns to The Dallas Morning News and commentaries to the National Public Radio affiliate in North Texas. Her TV program CEO is a series of interviews with business leaders from around the world.
The annual breakfast was established in 2009 with two missions: to offer a forum for discussing relevant business issues and to support the educational goals of School of Management students.
Scholarship Breakfast Supporters |
|
| Event Sponsor | |
| United Supermarkets, LLC – Market Street | |
| Platinum Level | |
| BKD, LLP 7×24 Exchange Loan Star Chapter Laurie Matthews and Lisa Wyly |
Rockwell Collins Trailblazer Capital Wells Fargo Private Bank |
| Gold Level | |
| Atmos Energy BDO Seidman, LLP Deloitte Ericsson, Inc. EyeMasters Fujitsu Network Communications JCPenney Company |
North Texas Chapter of Information Systems Audit and Control Association Solomon Edwards Group, LLC Steven W. Lyle |
| Silver Level | |
| AC Lordi Consulting ALON USA Association of Certified Fraud Examiners — Dallas Chapter Association of Certified Fraud Examiners — International AT&T Audimation Services, Inc. Austin Commercial, LP BlueCross BlueShield of Texas BNSF Railway Cooper Group, LLC Dallas Chapter Institute of Internal Auditors |
Ernst & Young, LLP Grant Thornton, LLP Haynes and Boone, LLP Lennox International Inc. Merit Energy Company Pricewaterhouse- Coopers LLP Raytheon Company SSHICKS Advisors Symon UT Dallas School of Interdisciplinary Studies UT Dallas School of Management Executive Education Weaver Whitley Penn, LLP |
United Supermarkets, based in Lubbock and owners of the Market Street stores in six suburban Dallas locations, has again pledged $15,000 toward the scholarship drive and is the event sponsor.
Kyle Edgington, the school’s director of development and alumni relations, noted that the full dollar amount from each table purchased for the event will fund one or more scholarships that bear the donor’s name. Forty companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have purchased tables, and scholarships resulting from the sponsorships will be awarded to academically deserving undergraduate and graduate students in the school.
“We’re pleased by the tremendous show of support we’ve received for this year’s breakfast,” said Edgington. “More than $116,000 in scholarship support has been raised so far, an indication that even in this recovering economy, investing in future talent remains of strategic importance for area companies.”
In addition to local business leaders, special groups from the school — including the Management Honors Program, the Professional Program in Accounting, Internal Audit, and Full-Time MBA and entrepreneurship students — will be at the breakfast. Participating companies will have the opportunity to host students at their tables, allowing the scholars and executives to network.
The 2009 inaugural School of Management Scholarship Breakfast resulted in almost 30 new undergraduate and graduate scholarships totaling nearly $50,000, which were awarded to School of Management students in fall 2009.