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You know, growing up in the ranching business and so forth,
you're used to getting up early in the morning and working hard. So the work ethic
was a key point.
I knew my way around the oil business because I've been in it for my whole life.
So I was working on a pipe line when I was fourteen-years-old, and I was out of town
with a bunch of the roughest pipe liners you'll ever meet.
Well, it gave me an opportunity to get an education that I had never really thought
would ever happen.
It became very apparent to me that
this was the right place to be and it was an opportunity for me learn and hone my skills
in a number of areas that I would probably never experienced working in the oil
fields, where I'd been working before.
I became president of Mobil Europe, and that put me into
the international arena and an entirely different way,
because everything I leaned in the United States,
which was really good and worthwhile,
it all change when you get into the international markets around the world,
and it all changes by culture and by country.
So you have to be on your tip toes all the time and be at the peak of your performance everyday
The funding improved dramatically.
We inherited a name, that recognition,
Texas A&M University. Everybody in the country knows what an Aggie is,
and the name had equity,
and once we
put the name Texas A&M University-Commerce
together, as one of the regional universities, our name had equity. So, I think,
and it's my opinion,
that that was one of the smartest move we made.