Stay Connected with friends and former classmates

Welcome home, Jindal School alumni!

The JSOM Alumni Relations team is dedicated to keeping you connected to your alma mater and helping you support your university! To reach us directly, visit the JSOM Alumni Contact page or email us at jsomalumni@utdallas.edu.

Alumni Spotlight

Farhad Rizvi, BS’11

Founder, Shamak Associate, Gerson Lehrman Group

Farhad Rizvi had a vision of combining commerce and philanthropy into one business strategy. Along with his older brother, Hammad, he created Shamak Sandals, a company that sells leather sandals handcrafted in the Middle East. But Shamak Sandals reaches beyond shoe sales.

Jonathan Seyoum, MBA’03

Partner and Chief Operating Officer, The Original Pancake House

Jonathan Seyoum never imagined a part-time job would one day lead to part ownership of one of DFW’s most well-known breakfast eateries.

Mark Fuqua, BS’79

Exec Vice President And Manager, Energy Banking Comerica Bank

Fuqua completed his BS/Business Administration degree with a finance concentration at UT Dallas when undergrads had been on the UTD campus a mere four years.

Gaurav Sethi, BS’20

Investment Bank Risk Analyst, JP Morgan

Sethi works at JP Morgan as a specialist in counterparty credit risk calculations, doing the heavy analysis that most don’t even know exists – he investigates and explains derivative exposure variances and changes. Sethi earned both finance and actuarial science undergrad degrees. (Actuarial science is in the UT Dallas School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.) Notably, Sethi was awarded the prestigious $15,000 Mitchell Family Foundation Scholar Award from the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation, based on his work with CampusOven, a service that connects university employees and students with caterers who are focused on healthy eating options.

Gary Tillett, BS’82

U.S. Financial Services Partner, New York Metro Deals Leaderpricewaterhousecoopers

Gary Tillett’s notable career spans three decades and includes roles in several divisions within the same “big four” accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Tillett currently serves as the New York Metro Deals Leader and is a partner in the U.S. Financial Services sector at PwC. In this dual role, he leads a practice of more than 400 deals professionals and serves some of PwC’s largest corporate and private-equity clients with investments in the financial services sector. Tillett attributes his success to his commitment to the delivery of quality client service and his desire to maintain a comprehensive lifestyle, which has included active community service within his career and personal life since an early stage.

Doug Hermann, BS’14

Broker Associate, The Weitzman Group

Hermann double-majored while at Jindal School, graduating with a degree in Finance and a degree in Business Administration.

Gaurav Shekhar, MS’16

Assistant Professor, Jindal School Of Management, Ut Dallas

After completing his master’s degree in Information Technology and Management, Shekhar stayed at UT Dallas as a staff member and instructor. He now is program director of the Jindal School’s MS in Business Analytics and an assistant professor of instruction for information systems coursework.

Dilon Hanks, MBA’11

Aircraft Captain, Training & Safety Manager; Paypal Aviation Department

Hanks started his education with an undergraduate degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has had a long career path to land his current job.

Lester Dsouza, Class of ’21

Financial Analyst at CBRE

During my research for a good graduate school, I saw that the MS in Finance at JSOM offered more than just quality education, it provided an access to huge knowledge pool and experience from the faculties and the peers alike. It had the widely diverse class with students from all around the world to learn from, while having 200+ student organizations to develop myself outside of the classroom and make friends. Being located really close to Dallas, a major city which has great opportunities also influenced my decision to enroll at JSOM.

David Pate, BS’88

CFO, Richardson Independent School District

Pate, a resident of Rowlett, has spent almost all of his professional career in the service of education.

Chris Spartz, MBA’11

Senior Associate – Risk Consulting, Contract Compliance KPMG

At KPMG, Spartz serves in multiple roles including reviewing contracts between his clients and their third party service providers to identify risks within the agreement and help his clients to ensure compliance with contracts, standards, policies and regulatory requirements. “I also collect, manipulate, analyze and interpret large data sets, and use results to develop recommendations for corrective and preventative actions for identified risks,” Spartz says.

Glenn Egelman, MD, FACP, MS’08

Medical Director, Tricare; Defense Health Agency Headquarters

An unanticipated, unpredictable, traumatic healthcare issue has significantly reshaped my professional life.

Paulina Jesionek, BS’13, MS’15, MBA’15

Marketing Program Specialist, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Jesionek graduated cum laude in Fall 2013 with two undergraduate degrees – Global Business and Marketing. She delivered the commencement address that year.

Heidi Rasmussen, BS’92

Co-Founder and COO, Freshbenies

Heidi Rasmussen, a former retail executive, and her husband, Reid Rasmussen, a former health insurance company manager, knew health benefits were complicated for employers and their workers.

Randall Tan, BS’13

Key Account Manager, An IBM Company.

Randall Tan had plenty of success before launching his academic career at The University of Texas at Dallas. Prior to coming to UT Dallas, he earned the Gold Individual Physical Proficiency Test while serving with the Singapore armed forces. As a marketing student at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, Tan was involved in the Chinese Student Association, American Marketing Association student club and served as public relations chair for the University’s sales club. He lives in the Dallas area.

Christian Tellez, MS’15

Senior Investment Associate, Diamond Realty Investments, Inc.

Tellez underwrites potential commercial real estate development projects across the country that his company may consider for investment. Tellez earned an MS/Finance at Jindal School. “The master’s degree I earned at UT Dallas 100 percent catapulted my career,” said Tellez, who completed his undergrad degree in economics at Texas Tech. “I was extremely hungry but I was struggling to get the attention of ‘big time’ finance players in Dallas due to lack of experience,” he says.