Chad Auler has taken his McCombs MBA and reinvented the family business. Following in his father, Ed's, footsteps, Chad's love for the beverage industry grew from its beginnings at his parents Fall Creek winery into his own endeavors. After parlaying what he learned from his parents and coupling it with the business sense developed at McCombs, Chad ventured into the vodka business, co-founding Deep Eddy Vodka and eventually starting Milestone Brands, which represents a wide variety of beverage labels. He talked with McCombs Made about the journey from there to here, what he sees as his next chapter, and what it's like to continue his family's legacy.

Brian McDermott, MBA '14, president and COO of Frönen, took all he learned while studying entrepreneurship at McCombs and parlayed it into a number of business ventures. But the most daring and visionary has to be his latest – spearheading the national expansion of the non-dairy frozen dessert brand Frönen, which he and his partner, George Ho, acquired in 2024. Hear how a family medical issue inspired Brian's passion for clean ingredients and how he is using all he learned as a student on the Forty Acres to make them accessible – and delicious – for everyone.

Lisa Gagnon knows entertainment. More specifically, she understands sports entertainment. After earning her BBA degree from Texas McCombs in 1997, she went on to earn a MBA in marketing from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill before heading up the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee as vice president of marketing. Today, she is the chief marketing officer for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which broke its all-time attendance record in 2025 with 2.7 million attendees.

Lisa sat down with McCombs Made to reflect on her journey from student to play-maker, life as a sports entertainment marketer and what she plans to do next.