December 2009 Volume II, Issue 6

Welcome Note The Horns are just one game away from the BCS National Championship game in Pasadena! Join us at our upcoming game-watching parties to cheer on the team to victory and to celebrate each win with your fellow Longhorns. We are also planning a holiday party on December 16

th, so make sure to read below for more details. In addition, this month’s

Lone Star Update includes a look into President Bill Powers’ plan for the University (article on page 2). In this issue of the “Lone Star Update”, you will find photos and recaps of past events, information on upcoming happenings, member news, and the Longhorns Wanted job section. We’ve received some new job posts for this section, so go take a look if you’re currently job-hunting. Hook’em! Kenny Liao, Chapter President

A Longhorn Holiday

The Texas Exes will be getting together for a classy night of fun at Mercury Lounge in San Francisco on Wednesday, December 16th. There is no cost to attend, FREE hors d'oeuvres will be served, raffle prizes will be given out, and there may even be an appearance by Santa himself! We encourage each of you to bring dates to the party. Please visit http://holiday.sflonghorns.com/ for additional details and to RSVP.

Open Committees

Are you interested in taking a leadership role within the Texas Exes? Do you have a knack for organizing social events or putting together newsletters? The SF Chapter is looking for folks to assist in planning our monthly social events and to put together each month's chapter newsletter, the "Lone Star Update". Your job on the Social Committee will be to put together the monthly Thirsty Thursday events and various other socials. We have social events all over the Bay Area, so anyone is welcome to join. Current members are located in SF and on the Peninsula, so we need more representation from East Bay, Marin, and the South Bay! As a member of the Newsletter Committee, your job is to compile articles and pictures from other officers and chairs, update the calendar of events, and gather information for the Longhorns Wanted job section for the newsletter each month. If you're interested in helping out with either of these committees, please contact us at sflonghorns@gmail.com.

Lone Star Update page 1

Volunteer Opportunities

Below are details for our Habitat for Humanity Build Day in January. Come out and work with your fellow Texas Exes to rebuild a home in the Strawberry area of Mill Valley. For the complete story, read the article here. Date: Saturday, January 9th, 2010 Time: 8:30am to 4:30pm Place: Exact address will be sent to the volunteers If you'd like to volunteer, please RSVP via email to Julia Price at julialeighp@gmail.com. We may only have one or two spots left, if any.

Photo of the Month

UT Leaders Visit the Bay Area

UT-Austin President Bill Powers and Greg Fenves, Dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering, were among the notable leaders on hand at a reception hosted by Tom Fallon and John Harris on Wednesday, November 4

th.

President Powers and Dean Fenves were visiting the Bay Area to reach out to Texas Exes and to nurture relationships with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. A quick review of the background of these two UT leaders shows why there is a strong connection with the Bay Area. A native of Los Angeles, Bill Powers received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Berkeley in 1967. He attended Harvard Law School and became managing editor of “The Harvard Law Review.” One of the nation's leading scholars in personal injury and product liability, Powers joined the UT law school faculty in 1977, serving as dean of the law school prior to becoming President in 2006. Greg Fenves earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Berkeley. Although he began his career as an assistant professor in Civil Engineering at UT-Austin in 1984, Berkeley recruited him back in 1988, where he established himself as an international expert in seismic and structural engineering. In 2008, Fenves returned to UT Austin as dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering.

President Powers Provides Update on Current Affairs In his remarks to the thirty or so Texas Exes gathered at Tom Fallon’s home in Atherton, President Powers addressed a range of topics, including the effects of the recession on higher education, the recent change to UT admissions policy known as the “top 10 percent rule”, the UT endowment and capital campaign, reforms to the undergraduate curriculum, and brief updates on world class research and academic programs at UT. “If you haven’t been back in a while, there’s a lot you can be proud of at your university,” Powers said.

• Because of the economic conditions, revenue

from petroleum production is down, and the UT budget is overall about flat. A significant effort has been put into a review of spending, and resources are being reallocated as a result.

• The change to the top 10 percent admissions policy has given much more flexibility in changing the makeup of the student body. For the past decade the so-called top 10 rule has granted automatic admission to UT Austin and other public schools of higher learning in Texas for the top 10 percent of all Texas high school seniors, including private school students. Powers asserted that before the change, the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science class was not being filled with top students, but now it is. It’s a similar story now for the school of Education.

(continued on next page)

Lone Star Update page 2

Tis the season. Our chapter is participating in the Salvation Army’s Adopt-a-Family & Adopt-a-Senior programs. To contribute, go to http://donate.sflonghorns.com/ or keep an eye out for the above collection box at upcoming chapter events.

UT Leaders Visit the Bay Area (cont’d)

• Powers also said that getting alumni involved in funding the UT endowment is very important. The goal of the current campaign is to raise $3 Billion, and so far about $940 Million has been raised. Powers said this is behind the original goal, but considering the overall economy, the effort is more or less on track.

• One of Powers’ initiatives as President has been to reform the undergraduate curriculum. Now, underclassmen participate in seminars with senior faculty, making for a tremendous student learning experience.

• Regarding UT academic and research programs, a whole host of world-class activity is taking place, and Powers listed these examples:

o One of the world’s largest telescopes at the McDonald Observatory to study energy and dark matter in the universe

o The world’s largest super-computer for academic research

o The Texas Petawatt Laser project as one of the most powerful light sources in the world (maybe the universe!) being used for space and time studies

o The UT Teach program, which has revolutionized the ways we teach teachers to teach young people

o And, programs in the arts, including the UT String Quartet program

President Powers also did not fail to praise Colt McCoy and fine job the football team has been doing, and said he “hopes to be back in California in the near future (for the BCS Championship).” Engineering School Dean Explains Roadmap for the Future In Greg Fenves’ remarks, he disclosed that he spent twenty years at UC Berkeley. Recently some of his students asked, “When UT plays Cal, who do you want to plan to root for?” He replied to them, “You don’t have to worry about that (it’s six years away).” Fenves is definitely pulling for Texas, by the way (we think). He was accompanied on this visit by his charming wife, Carmel. They have family in the area and still own a home in Walnut Creek. Fenves went on to explain that venture capital funds engineering innovation, and UT is definitely interested in working with talented alumni entrepreneurs in the Bay Area. He said he has spent the last year planning and investigating initiatives in energy and healthcare. UT has a strong interdisciplinary initiative for energy research, and noted that Texas is the largest state producer of wind energy. In healthcare, UT has close connections with the medical school in Houston and wants to expand the “ecosystem” to include the Bay Area as well as Boston. The Cockrell School of Engineering also has an entrepreneurship initiative closely tied to the McCombs School of Business, and entrepreneurship is considered a core value of the university. With respect to the physical environment at UT Austin, many facilities are out of date. In order to address this concern, a master roadmap for future renovations has been developed, with the intent to create an exciting environment for students and to attract the very best faculty. Texas Ex and 2010 Candidate for California Governor, Steve Poizner, On Hand Also present was a UT leader of another sort, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Poizner is also running for California Governor in 2010. Commissioner Poizner is a native of Houston, and prior to his political career, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from UT Austin. While a student at UT, he was a member of the Tejas Club and President of Alpha Phi Omega. Poizner has since worked in Silicon Valley as a high tech entrepreneur, founding both SnapTrack, Inc. and Strategic Mapping, Inc. Poizner remarked that in his job as Insurance Commissioner, he has to travel up and down the state. “It can be tough to be introduced before groups as a Texas Ex,” he said, “especially down in Los Angeles (where they remember the Rose Bowl game vs. USC).” He reminisced about his experience as a student at UT, and said they were some of the best years of his life. Poizner amused listeners by describing what it was like to be in charge of one hundred APO co-ed service fraternity members unfurling the gigantic Texas flag at football games. “The tough part was being in the back. You could end up getting dragged or thrown off. What I learned was: don’t be in the back,” he told those gathered. Poizner went on to add, “Seriously, California has some big problems—and it’s going to take some UT grad expertise to fix things and get them back on track.”

-- Article by Mat Waltrip

Lone Star Update page 3

Presidential. Texas Exes Chapter President Kenny Liao with UT President Bill Powers at a November reception.

Upcoming Events For a complete and updated calendar of events, visit the website at http://www.sflonghorns.com/. Event: Warriors vs Rockets - discounted tickets Date: Thursday, December 3

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Time: 6:00pm shoot-around, 7:00pm tip-off Place: Oracle Arena – 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland Details: This is your last chance to get discounted tickets for Thursday night's game between the Warriors and

Rockets... get them before they're gone! Your discounted tickets include access to the shoot-around at 6:00pm (go to http://bit.ly/5BMZPX for access instructions).

Also, the Warriors have graciously offered to donate a portion of the proceeds back to Texas Exes for

the Scholarship Fund. Please show your support for the Bay Area Texas Exes and help us send a local high school senior to the best university in America. If anyone would like to inquire about seat upgrades, please contact our Warriors rep, Ashley Hurdle, directly at alhurdle@gs-warriors.com.

Buy your tickets today before they sell out at http://warriors.sflonghorns.com/ (use offer code "texas"). Event: Texas Football Game-Watching – Big XII Championship Date: Saturday, December 5

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Time: Kick-off at 5:00pm PST Place: Blue Light – 1979 Union St, San Francisco Details: We will also be raising money for our Adopt-a-Family and our Adopt-a-Senior, so keep an eye out for

the collection box at our SF watch party.

** A portion of all Shiner Bock sales at Blue Light goes towards our chapter scholarship! ** Blue Light has reserved the back area of the bar for our group and will have full audio as well. Shiner is

on tap, and we will be giving out door prizes at half-time. We also have official watch parties at our alternate Bay Area locations:

• Old Pro (541 Ramona St, Palo Alto) • Buffalo Wild Wings (3712 Dublin Blvd, Dublin)

Event: A Longhorn Holiday Date: Wednesday, December 16

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Time: 6:30 to 10:30pm Place: Mercury Lounge – 1582 Folsom St, San Francisco Details: Visit the formal invitation at http://holiday.sflonghorns.com/ for complete details and to RSVP. Event: Texas Hoops Game-Watching – UNC Date: Saturday, December 19

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Time: Tip-off at 11:00am PST Place: McTeague’s – 1237 Polk St, San Francisco Details: The #3 Texas men's basketball team will be taking on the #4 UNC Tar Heels on national TV on

Saturday, December 19th. Come out and watch with your fellow Texas Exes at McTeague's Saloon, a Texas-owned bar located in San Francisco's Nob Hill. Shiner Bock and Shiner Black Lager are always on tap, and the back room is decorated with Texas-style western items. Hope to see you there!

Event: Volunteering – Habitat for Humanity Date: Saturday, January 9

th

Time: 8:30am to 4:30pm Place: Mill Valley (exact location will be emailed to volunteers) Details: Come out and work with your fellow Texas Exes to rebuild a home in Novato's Strawberry area of Mill

Valley. We may only have one or two spots left, so if you'd like to volunteer, please RSVP via email to Julia Price at julialeighp@gmail.com.

Lone Star Update page 4

2009 Texas Football Schedule Date Opponent Result / Kick-off Sep 5 Louisiana-Monroe W 59-20 Sep 12 @ Wyoming W 41-10 Sep 19 Texas Tech W 34-24 Sep 26 UTEP W 64-7 Oct 10 Colorado W 38-14 Oct 17 Oklahoma W 16-13 Oct 24 @ Missouri W 41-7 Oct 31 @ Oklahoma State W 41-14 Nov 7 Central Florida W 35-3 Nov 14 @ Baylor W 47-14 Nov 21 Kansas W 51-20 Nov 26 @ Texas A&M W 49-39 Dec 5 Nebraska 5:00pm The official chapter game-watching locations are as follows:

• San Francisco: Blue Light (1979 Union St, San Francisco) - all games

• Peninsula: Old Pro (541 Ramona St, Palo Alto) - select games; please email Stephen Koza at stephen.koza@gmail.com if you plan on attending a game-watching party

• East Bay: Buffalo Wild Wings (3712 Dublin Blvd, Dublin) - select games, family-friendly location

Chapter Resources

The chapter has put together a number of resources for you to stay up-to-date on the upcoming events and chapter happenings. Below is a list of all of them: • Chapter Website (http://www.sflonghorns.com/) –

Our website has everything you need to know about the chapter. RSVP for upcoming events on the site and keep up-to-date on events.

• Yahoo! Group Home & Email Distribution List (http://group.sflonghorns.com/) – Our Yahoo! Group serves as our email distribution list. Make sure you’re subscribed to receive all chapter announcements.

• The “Lone Star Update” monthly newsletter (http://newsletter.sflonghorns.com/) – The chapter newsletter is published here once a month.

• Facebook (http://facebook.sflonghorns.com/) – Our chapter Facebook group is a way for you to connect with your fellow Bay Area Texas Exes, post pictures from past events, and show others you’re joining in for upcoming gatherings.

• LinkedIn (http://linkedin.sflonghorns.com/) – Our LinkedIn group is another way for you to network.

• Twitter (http://twitter.com/sflonghorns) – Tweet away! • Chapter Email Address – To contact the officer

team, submit a comment, provide feedback, or ask a question, you may send an email to us at sflonghorns@gmail.com.

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�“Our beloved Texas beer Shiner Bock is now served on tap at the Royal Exchange at 301 Sacramento (at

Front Street) in San Francisco. The Royal Exchange is an English style pub known for its delicious American fare, and it’s the best Happy Hour spot in Downtown! Please help us celebrate the Spoetzl Brewery’s 100

Year Anniversary by stopping by the Royal Exchange and toasting some Shiner Bocks!”

Shiner Bock is an official sponsor of the San Francisco chapter of the Texas Exes. Please drink responsibly.

Member News How to submit your news Alumni, keep in touch! Help us keep up with your personal and professional news & accomplishments by sending a short blurb & any accompanying pictures to sflonghorns@gmail.com.

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Texas Girls Love Shiner. Katie Ross holds up the pitcher of Shiner she won via the halftime raffle at the UT vs Baylor game-watching party. Our chapter does a raffle at halftime of each game.

Longhorns Wanted This section is dedicated to job postings and people looking for job opportunities in the Bay Area. If your company is looking to hire, or if you are looking for a job, please email us at sflonghorns@gmail.com.

Executive Recruiter: Tina Sy (BBA ’04) I am an Executive Recruiter with Parker & Lynch. For more than 30 years, Parker & Lynch has been an established leader in recruiting services in the Bay Area. My goal is to match the best finance and accounting professionals with a select group of clients. In this market downturn, it may make sense to have someone looking out for your career goals, while you do not have the time to. So please contact me via email at Christina.Sy@ParkerLynch.com if you would like assistance reaching your professional goals or if you have a need to hire talent into your organization.

----------------------------- Quantum Corp - PR & Customer References Mgr Quantum Corp. is the leading global storage company specializing in backup, recovery and archive. This position is located in San Jose. Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree, preferably in communications, PR, journalism, marketing or a related discipline.

• Minimum 5-7 years of experience in high-tech PR or an equivalent combination of education, training and/or employment.

• Candidates must have experience managing PR programs and customer reference activities and a demonstrated capacity for securing press coverage and building solid relationships with industry analysts. They should be able to work effectively in a distributed organization and keep multiple projects moving forward, even as new demands arise. The ideal candidate will have worked for a storage or software company.

• Candidates must have excellent written and verbal communications skills, strong analytical abilities and superb judgment. They must be flexible and self-motivated and be able to show proven results working in a team environment.

Please email sflonghorns@gmail.com if interested.

Longhorns Wanted (cont’d)

Facebook - Software Engineers Facebook is looking for Software Engineers to join our team in downtown Palo Alto. Knowledge of algorithms and data structures is helpful. Responsibilities: • Design and implement software for effective

management, automation, data collection, performance analysis, monitoring, alerting and root cause analysis

• Interface with engineering and operations teams to incorporate requirements and deliver core operations infrastructure components

• Conduct design and code reviews • Analyze and improve efficiency, scalability and

stability of various system resources Requirements: • Strong C/C++ design and development skills • Strong distributed system development skills • Strong database experience - MySQL preferred • Strong analytical, performance, systems, and

architecture skills • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and

proven ability to work effectively across multiple teams • Scripting experience with PHP or Python preferred • Development skills with Java a plus Marissa Archuleta Schmid (BA ’00) marissa@facebook.com MindSource - Contract Work MindSource is looking for a PowerPoint Guru for a 1-year contract position. We are looking for someone that: • has experience in technical writing/editing/content

writing • has a data center or operations background • has expertise in PowerPoint (Guru-level!) • is extremely creative • is able to make their presentations interesting, exciting

and intriguing • can use key animation to visually describe areas that

need improvement • can create a presentation with executive level finish

and quality to clearly outline the department that you will be representing

• has excellent communication skills • can proactively identify opportunities for additional

presentations to enable key learnings Please email sflonghorns@gmail.com if interested.

Longhorns Wanted (cont’d)

Coca-Cola Company - 2 positions Job 1 - Shopper Marketing Manager

• Location: San Ramon, CA • Essentially partners with the bottler, the brand mgrs,

other CPGs and Safeway/Costco to build co-marketing events throughout the year.

Job 2 - Shopper Insights Manager

• Location: Atlanta, GA • Essentially merges shopper marketing strategy

development with pure data analysis. Helps feed what the Shopper Marketing Manager does.

Both jobs require that the candidate be moderately-to-very experienced particularly in CPG (Manufacturer and/or Retailer side) and in either brand marketing/shopper marketing for Job1, and analytics/market research and strategy development for Job 2. Probably looking at no less that 7 or 8 years experience. If the experience is stellar slightly less than that may be an opportunity. MBA is ideal but a very experienced BBA/BS would likely be considered. Please only inquire if you match the experience and characteristics described above. Email Kevin Hamilton at hamilton.ks@gmail.com if interested. Yahoo! Inc. - Front End and QA Engineers • Front End Engineers: 3+ years web application

development including PHP 5, JavaScript, Dynamic HTML & CSS and AJAX

• Senior QA Engineers, Performance Specialists: 5+ years of experience in Load and Performance testing of web applications and back end and API testing; fluency with scripting languages; experience with AJAX, HTML and XML; strong background with Unix.

• Senior QA Engineers, Whitebox Automation Specialists: 5+ years of experience in Whitebox and backend testing; experience with code coverage and test tool development; strong knowledge of Unix, XML and Object Oriented programming skills.

• Senior QA Engineers, UI Automation Specialists: Researcher needed to drive thought leadership into how advertisers can best benefit from the variety of ways consumers use interactive media.

• QA Engineers, Globalization: 5+ years of outstanding track record as a developer and/or UI Automation QA engineer; competent in developing QA automation scripts and tools; experience in AJAX, HTML and XML; fluency in a foreign language (Arabic preferred).

If interested, please email your resume to Kenny Liao at liao.kenny@gmail.com.

Longhorns Wanted (cont’d)

Fisher Investments - Account Executive Fisher Investments is a privately-held investment management firm with a track record of successfully managing portfolios for high-net-worth private clients and some of the world's preeminent institutions. We've grown significantly over the past decade to over $28 billion in assets under management (as of June 30, 2009) and are now searching for highly talented individuals to join our team in the San Francisco Bay Area. Opportunity: • Amplify your finance career with an expanding multi-

billion dollar investment firm • Receive ongoing training in capital markets, portfolio

management, and consultative sales • Base salary plus uncapped commission compensation • No cold calling • An energetic team environment • Enhance skills, increase market knowledge and drive

your own success Responsibilities: • Contact high-net-worth investors who have responded

to the Firm's advertising • Communicate Fisher Investments' philosophy and

strategy to prospective clients • Help facilitate the client acquisition process with

qualified investors • Work with Vice Presidents to coordinate meetings with

potential clients Qualifications: • Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of

experience and education • Track record of success in sales production preferred • Financial and/or brokerage background a plus • Strong work ethic and desire to excel in a dynamic

team based environment • Highly professional consultative sales ability and work

ethic • Goal oriented, exceptional communication skills,

competitive, and articulate For anyone interested, email your resume to Neil Kay at neilmkay@gmail.com. Google - Various Entry-Level Positions

• Consumer Operations Associate, Gmail • Consumer Operations Associate, Google Accounts • Consumer Operations Strategist, Reporting • Consumer Operations, User Insights Lead If you’re interested, please email Katina Johnson at katinanj@gmail.com.

Lone Star Update page 6