Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Dr. Susan Ballabina
Ballabina will report directly to university President Mark Welsh. In her position, Ballabina leads all aspects of community impact programs and initiatives, oversight of cultural assets, and strategic planning, especially as they relate to community leadership for the university.

Ballabina recently served as deputy vice chancellor and chief operating officer for Texas A&M AgriLife and associate deputy dean for administration for the College of Agriculture A&M Life Sciences. In these roles, she led initiatives for improved organizational effectiveness within the college and provided oversight for AgriLife professional services divisions, including outreach and strategic initiatives, business and strategic management, communications, digital education and information technology. She also worked to advance collaboration between AgriLife and The Texas A&M System including programs like Healthy Texas, which engages communities across Texas in health education programming.

After starting her career in 1994 as a county agent with AgriLife Extension, Ballabina progressively advanced to regional program director, associate director for program development, and executive associate director before finally assuming the role of deputy vice chancellor and chief operating officer for AgriLife. She received her bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences from Tarleton State University in 1994, a master’s degree in communications from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1998, and her doctorate in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2007.

Ballabina was named a Regents Fellow by The Texas A&M University System in 2014 and has received the Superior Service Award from AgriLife Extension four times. Tarleton State University has recognized her as a distinguished alumna.

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023

Larry Warnock ‘83
Larry Warnock is an experienced technology venture investor that will share with the group some interesting stories about Aggie Technology Entrepreneurs and the impacts they are making.  From hypersonic drones to software that streamlines manufacturing, to advanced AI, and even orbiting robotic spacecraft.  He will also share his thoughts on some major initiatives underway across The Texas A&M System to further advance technology innovation and commercialization.

Larry Warnock serves as Partner Emeritus of Ring Ventures, a Venture Capital Fund made up of Aggie investors. He is a seasoned venture-backed tech executive with multiple exits via acquisition or IPO. He launched Ring Ventures as the Founding Managing Partner. Prior to that he was the President & CEO of Olono, an AI platform for sales effectiveness. Previously he was the CEO of Gazzang, a provider of big data security software, and Phurnace, a provider of DevOps software. After moving to Austin from Silicon Valley, Larry was a Venture Partner at Austin Ventures. Lake LBJ is now his home with his wife of 39 years (also Aggie Class of ’83). He started his software career in sales and marketing and has been a VP executive at several successful high-growth companies. Larry is a graduate of Texas A&M, a frequent speaker on campus and serves on the Advisory Board for The McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship in the Mays School of Business.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Curtis Donaldson ’81
Curtis Donaldson was born and raised in Valley Mills Texas, so he is a rural Texan by birth! He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1981 with a BBA in Management. While attending A&M he was a member of the Fightin Texas Aggie Band, where he also served as B Company Commander and was a Bugle Rank Member and a Ross Volunteer.

Upon graduation he headed to Ft Sill as 2nd Lt and then served 10 years in the Texas Army National Guard in Field Artillery units in Odessa and San Angelo. He also worked for Conoco during this same 10-year period in Midland, Houston, Maljamar, NM and San Angelo.

Leaving corporate America, he started his own business located in Georgetown, TX known as CleanFUEL USA, focusing on technology for the propane vehicle marketplace. At one-point CFUSA had operations on 4 continents and in the USA had customers such as UPS, TxDOT, General Motors and Freightliner.

After 25 years of running CFUSA, he sold the business in an attempt to slow down and he moved to Mason, Texas. There he met and married his wife Mary and between the two they share 6 kids! A few months later, a small community bank would hire him to help grow their business. As a community banker, he threw himself into the community and worked tirelessly on many initiatives such as Economic Development, Chamber of Commerce, ISD Committees, Community Advocate Leadership Team and most recently helped spearhead the capital campaign to raise $5.2 million to help rebuild their burned courthouse.

Along that journey Texas A&M School of Medicine engaged Curtis to help them think through a Rural Medicine Initiative strategy and eventually they would pilot that program in Mason County. The Mason pilot results were so good it spread to the 5 surrounding counties and those results have been so good they had inquiries from other counties, as word spread among medical providers and County Judges. Texas A&M then elected to take the program statewide and asked Donaldson to lead that charge. With his roots in rural Texas from Valley Mills to his now living in rural Mason, he is even more passionate about changing the landscape of rural medicine and has been moved by the impact the program is already having in so many communities.

Curtis works 50% for the Office of Academic and Strategic Collaboration as their Director of Community Engagement for West Texas and 50% for the School of Medicine as their Director of Rural Medicine.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Kirk Watson
For three decades, Kirk Watson has been immersed in public policy, spanning local and state government in Texas. He served in the Texas Senate for over 13 years, leading on a wide range of issues and serving as a member and vice-chair of multiple standing and special committees and the Sunset Advisory Commission. His peers elected him President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 2019.

Watson was appointed in 1991 by Gov. Ann Richards as Chair of the Texas Air Control Board, the agency charged with addressing air quality issues. He was Vice-Chair of the committee that oversaw creation of the agency now known as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

He was first elected Austin mayor in 1997, where he won praise for bringing different political sides together around transformative environmental and economic development initiatives. In 2012, serving in the Texas Senate, he led the effort to build a new medical school at The University of Texas at Austin.

As a result of his numerous health care efforts, Watson has been honored by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute and NAMI Austin. The American Medical Association recognized him with the prestigious Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service.

Watson also served as the Founding Dean of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston.

He was honored multiple times in Texas Monthly magazine’s analysis of the state’s best legislators. In 1998, the magazine described him as “a man with a vision of what the community wants—and the moxie to carry it out.”

He is a recipient of the prestigious President’s Citation from The University of Texas at Austin and the Pro Texana Medal of Service from Baylor University. The Baylor Line Foundation (formerly the Baylor Alumni Association) named him a Distinguished Alumnus. Austin Community College awarded him an honorary degree. The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas gave him its Open Government Lawmaker of the Year award, and the Texas Press Association named him a Friend of the First Amendment. The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce also has named him Austinite of the Year.