FALL 2017
TO THE RESCUE y
FILLING MUSIC’S VOID y
COLIN KENDRICK, MBA ’98
“I HAVE A PROFOUND LOVE FOR MUSIC,” says Colin Kendrick, with a laugh, “but I have no rhythm.” Kendrick is the co-founder of Black Fret — a nonprofit revolutionizing the Austin music scene by accelerating artists’ careers. “There’s definitely a hole that’s not being addressed by the current art infrastructure.” Over the past five years, Black Fret has distributed $500,000 in grants to musicians, allowing them to record songs, release records, and tour. “Record labels used to provide advances to artists to help them develop their craft. Today those are largely gone,” he says. The organization produces 30 private music events each year for its members. “It’s for the diehard music fan,” Kendrick says. Their votes decide which artists receive the annual grants. “We built something that is trending toward a symphony or opera model,” Kendrick says. “We’re adding staff and hope to push past the $1 million-a-year revenue mark soon.” He also hopes to add chapters in musicianbirthing cities Nashville, Seattle, and Chicago. Kendrick, who also founded the Austin Music Foundation, credits his MBA for his executive leadership skills. “It’s priceless; I had no form of business training prior,” says the music maven, who studied radio, television, and film at UT as an undergraduate. Kendrick splits his time between Black Fret and his work as a senior manager at SunPower Corp. “Black Fret has this special place in my heart,” and I’ll always make time for it.” — India Ogazi
MARY JENNINGS “MJ” HEGAR, MBA ’16
MJ HEGAR IS FAMILIAR WITH HIGH STAKES. In 2009, during the defining moment of her 13-year career in the Air Force, she returned fire against the Taliban after her plane was shot down in a medevac mission in Afghanistan. She was a combat rescue pilot just doing her job, she says, but her actions — and the injuries she sustained — earned her a Purple Heart. She also became the sixth woman ever awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. (Amelia Earhart was the first.) But that’s not her only claim to fame. In 2012, Hegar successfully sued the Defense Department to repeal a policy banning women from serving in direct combat jobs. The policy prevented women — who were already regularly engaging in combat — from attending combat leadership schools and assuming roles that were stepping stones to top military jobs. Hegar herself was a casualty of this policy. After her combat injury, she could no longer fly, but she would have liked to have remained in the military as a special tactics officer. That role wasn’t available to women at that time. Instead, after separating from the military, in addition to suing the government, Hegar enrolled in the Executive MBA program at McCombs, received her degree, became a professional public speaker, and taught at the business school, mentoring cadets at the university and serving on the Air Force ROTC advisory committee. She also wrote a book detailing her military experience, Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman’s Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan, published this year.It is currently being optioned for a film adaptation with Angelina Jolie in talks to play Hegar. “All the movies about women in war that you can name off the top of your head are fiction,” says Hegar, pointing to titles like Courage Under Fire and G.I. Jane. “There are plenty of nonfiction stories out there to be told.” And now, Hegar is focusing all her leadership skills and personal energy on her latest effort: running for the U.S. Congressional seat representing Texas’s 31st Congressional District of Williamson and Bell counties. “If you’re faced with the ability to do some real good in the world,” Hegar says, “you have to take it.” — Danielle Ransom
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