September 29, 2020

 An Outstanding Alumna

One of the newest Outstanding Alumni of the Mays Business School, Laura C. Fulton ’85 has long been making an impact in the business world. After starting her career as an auditor at Deloitte & Touche, she became CFO of Hi-Crush Partners LP where she helped the organization grow to a publicly traded company. Now, she serves as the vice president of finance for the American Bureau of Shipping. In 2019, Oil & Gas Investor magazine named her one of the “25 Most Influential Women in Energy.”

Fulton strives to help others reach their full potential and is serving as a role model for tomorrow’s women in business through continued involvement at Mays. A member of the Dean’s Advisory Board and the Accounting Department Advisory Council, she also mentors students and has established the Laura C. Fulton ’85 Department of Accounting Excellence Endowment.

What I’m passionate about, especially at work, is making a difference in people’s lives—getting them to believe that they have more potential, more possibility than they thought that they did.

 Supporting Success

Melinda Grace ’87 is helping create a brighter future for the faculty and students at Mays. Through her family foundation, the J. Campbell Murrell Fund, she has established an endowed scholarship for business honors students and four lectureships—the Murrell/Grace Lectureships in Business. The lectureships support non-tenured-track faculty who demonstrate extraordinary achievements in teaching, innovation, curriculum development and student support.

Grace named the lectureship to honor her father and father-in-law, who did not attend the university but embodied the values of loyalty and selfless service. The family’s Aggie legacy also extends to Grace’s daughter, Caroline ’21, who followed in her mother’s footsteps to Mays. “There is no place quite like Texas A&M, and we are honored to be able to invest in Aggies!” Grace said.

There is nothing more influential in a student’s life than a master teacher with expertise and experience who goes the extra mile for their students.

Planning her legacy

Inspired by her years at Texas A&M University, Mary Burch ’80 is using her success to give back and leave a legacy of support for tomorrow’s business leaders.  A gift in her estate will fund an endowed scholarship for undergraduate and graduate students at Mays Business School after her lifetime.

Burch earned her BBA in marketing from what was then the Texas A&M College of Business Administration before embarking on a 30-year career selling data processing services for EDS, Xerox and Hewlett Packard. She then joined the commercial real estate industry where she has worked for the past 10 years. She has further supported her Aggie ties as the president of the Coppell A&M Club from 2001-2008.

I have always believed scholarships are needed for many, if not most, students, and I hope the gift jointly benefits Mays and its students.