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Kathleen
Motheral
MBA ’07
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Alumna Lands Dream Job
Taking a high-profile job at one of the biggest companies in the world right out of business school could be a daunting task.
Not for Kathleen Motheral.
She used her McCombs MBA to land a dream job as associate marketing manager for advertising for Wal-Mart. A dream job, she says, because of the opportunity to be a part of a select team that handles all the company’s advertising: print, radio, online and television.
And she’s no stranger to competition.
Motheral earned her bachelor’s in advertising at the University of Alabama, all the while starring on the Crimson Tide soccer team. After graduating, she worked in advertising with Clear Channel Broadcasting, and when she decided to get an MBA, she took what she learned on the soccer field as an undergraduate to the business school.
“I worked for 20 years honing my skills as a competitive athlete,” Motheral says. “Sports showed me the tremendous power of finding the intersection of one’s passion and talents. I had hoped to find that intersection in business someday, and McCombs afforded me that opportunity in my first post-business school role.”
While at McCombs, Motheral served as co-chair of the McCombs Admissions Committee and vice president of the Entrepreneur Society, participated in the Marketing Challenge, interned with Heinz, and traveled to Eastern Europe, South Africa and 13 other countries through club activities.
“My two years at McCombs were the most amazing of my life,” Motheral says. “I was thrilled every single day to expand my world view, learn from the faculty and my peers, and draw inspiration from our guest speakers.”
One of those speakers she loved listening to happened to be Tony Rogers, a McCombs alumnus and vice president of advertising for Wal-Mart.
Her conversations with Tony Rogers helped her decide on accepting a full-time position with Wal-Mart.
“The company had completed its positioning work and was beginning the journey of developing a brand identity as I was interviewing,” she says. “The marketing department was described as a startup with the resources of the world’s largest company and that was a dream come true.”
She works directly with Rogers as what he considers his “chief of staff.” They work with a small internal team and several of the country’s most renowned advertising agencies.
She says Wal-Mart offered an “unheard of” opportunity to work directly with an executive and have regular exposure to senior marketing leadership, including with Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Quinn.
“I get to the end of the day and I wonder where it’s gone,” Motheral says. “I feel like I’ve accomplished something big and moved the needle at the end of every day.”
And with Bentonville, Arkansas being only a short 40-minute plane ride away from her home of Fort Worth, she’s excited about being able to give back to the school by serving on the MBA Alumni Advisory Board.
“I cannot express how much McCombs changed my life,” she says. “It connected me to colleagues who have become great friends, helped me find professors who will be lifelong mentors and enabled me to find work that I am passionate about.”
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Both the Alumni Directory and the McCombs Job Board are accessible through your UT EID (University of Texas Electronic Identification). Click here for more information on finding your UT EID, or contact the Registrar's office at 512-475-7656.
If you have any questions, please email us and refer to “Alumni Directory” or “McCombs Job Board” in the subject and content of your message.
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Top Stories
Reserve Your Room Now: AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center Taking Reservations
The AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, scheduled to open Aug. 1, 2008, is now taking individual room reservations. This center and soon-to-be home of McCombs' Executive Education Program will attract business professionals and students world-wide. Only footsteps away from the Blanton Museum of Art, Texas State History Museum, Texas Capitol and the Tower, the center will feature four-star accommodations and give guests access to all the resources Austin and The University of Texas at Austin have to offer. For more information, visit http://www.meetattexas.com/.
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Shell Donates $225,500 to UT Austin
Shell Oil Company has contributed $225,500 to support academic programs at UT Austin. The grant benefits both undergraduates and graduate students in the university’s McCombs School of Business, Cockrell School of Engineering, Jackson School of Geosciences and College of Natural Sciences. With this contribution, Shell has given the university more than $19 million in gifts and research grants.
McCombs Takes Third in Case Competition to Help New Orleans Public Schools
An MBA team from McCombs finished third in a case competition hosted by the Haas School of Business at UC-Berkeley Feb. 14-15 which featured 12 of the top business schools in the nation. The Education Leadership Case Competition was designed as a showcase for MBAs to bring attention to critical issues in education, and to provide an opportunity for talented and dedicated graduate students to create potential solutions for the issue. Abbey Goldstein, Colin Murphy and Christina Steiner represented McCombs in the competition, which concentrated on helping New Orleans Public Schools. Read more.
MMA Network News
Winter Reception Photos Available
The MMA Network Chapters hosted receptions in 26 cities last January. These events are a great opportunity for both alumni and students to connect and learn about the latest happenings at McCombs and the local chapters. The summer receptions will take place in June. For more information, visit the Chapter Reception Web site. To view photos from the winter receptions go to http://www.flickr.com/, and sign on with the ID: mccombsmbaalumni@yahoo.com and the password texasmba1.
Alumni In The News
 MBA Alumnus Runs for Austin City Council
Cid Galindo, MBA ’92, filed as a candidate for Austin City Council Place 4 on February 11. Read more.
McCombs In The News
Accountants Can Count on Jobs
The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6, 2008
 While U.S. markets are getting squeezed, talk of recession continues, and Wall Street firms hand out pink slips by the hundreds, accounting firms are expected to buck the trend. The Big Four accounting firms plan to hire roughly the same number—or more—of interns and entry-level employees for 2008 as they did last year. “Whether firms are prospering or in distress, they must file reports, such as financial and tax,” said Stephen T. Limberg, director of the professional accounting master's program at the University of Texas at Austin, which won U.S. News & World Report’s top ranking for accounting programs. In 2007, UT Austin had 310 undergraduate- and graduate-level accounting students, up 15 percent from five years ago. Read more.
Does Option Demand Spur Market Volatility?
Wall Street Journal, Feb. 20, 2008
 Options offer investors protection against sharp moves in the value of their stock. But some observers think surging demand for options may be increasing the frequency of big market swings. Through options, investors get the right to buy or sell stock at fixed prices. The Wall Street banks that broker those deals end up taking the other side of the trade. If their clients make money, the banks lose. To offset that exposure, banks have to “delta hedge.” That means selling stock when clients make bets that prices will fall and buying stock when clients stake out positions that will pay off if prices rise. “I see derivatives activity occasionally accentuating a trend that exists for good and cogent reasons,” said Ehud Ronn, McCombs finance professor. “In the equity markets, if individuals are dynamically hedging put options, then as prices fall they would sell more and indeed accelerate the process.” Read the article (subscription required).
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Last Updated
Wednesday, July 23, 2008