Gary & Ann Jacobs
MBA '90
In 1986, when the price of oil crashed, I was laid off from one of the major oil companies out in West Texas about 5 years after completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin. My engineering training had become outdated by the rapid onset of personal computers, and I needed to re-plan and re-tool my career. I had always wanted to live in the Dallas area and drove from West Texas to Dallas in a couple of old cars with my wife and young son. I had no job, but did have a couple of friends in Dallas, big plans, and a lot of desire to be successful. I was fortunate to obtain a job with one of the local aerospace companies that would pay for SMU and was even luckier to get in. SMU accepted me in to the part-time MBA program and trained me. I came in pretty unpolished as a field engineer from West Texas and left as an MBA who was able to eventually get into his dream career in international business and see the world. Thanks SMU! Gary Jacobs MBA '90