Powering Up the Student Experience

Transformation is key to navigating today’s rapidly changing world. To that end, Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School and its longtime corporate partner, Reliant, are collaborating on a new effort to meet students’ needs and develop leaders of character.

Unveiled on Aug. 22 and made possible by a $3 million endowed gift from Reliant through the Texas A&M Foundation, the new Reliant Student Experience Office will support business students throughout their college experience, from recruitment to career development.

Mays Business School Dean Nate Sharp said the gift signals a renewed, deeper engagement between the company and the school. “We appreciate Reliant’s focus on helping us create great experiences for our students at Mays. Collaborating with a corporate partner so singularly focused on student success has been a joy.”

Changing Times

Reliant’s partnership with Mays dates to 1999, when the company endowed a securities and commodities trading center for the school. However, Reliant’s business model has shifted significantly over the past 25 years. The Texas-based company now focuses on providing clean, reliable power to its customers in a way that is safe, smart and sustainable.

Reliant is excited about the breadth and depth of the office’s scope of work. “What we love about the Reliant Student Experience Office is that it’s going to touch every single Mays undergraduate student,” said NRG Consumer’s president, Rasesh Patel. “It’s there when they start their journey at Texas A&M, and it continues to be a staple on their path as they become transformational leaders.”

The Next Iteration

Tasked with expanding and deepening the Mays Student Transformation Center’s groundbreaking work, the Reliant Student Experience Office will provide high-impact experiences in four areas—recruitment, academic success, leadership development and career development—that enhance and complement the school’s academic programs.
 

The office’s efforts start when students are still in high school. Programs such as the Mays Leadership Initiative Conference, which bring outstanding prospective business students to Texas A&M’s campus, have a strong track record of recruiting future Aggies, including Benjamin Miller ’26. “At first, I didn’t want to attend Texas A&M because I thought it was too big and I wouldn’t fit in, but my mom encouraged me to attend the Leadership Initiative Conference. I loved it so much that as soon as I got home, I accepted my offer from Texas A&M,” recounted Miller, who now serves as the conference’s director.

Reinvesting in Mays

Excited by the Reliant Student Experience Office’s emerging programming, Reliant leaders have agreed to commit their time, talent and resources to support the office. The company plans to actively engage with Mays students through participating in the business school’s programs and inviting students to Reliant’s facilities in Houston. “It will be so refreshing to have a corporate partner that’s so in the mix with the students at every corner of their time at Mays as undergraduates,” said Reliant Student Experience Office Director Taylor Henderson ’11 ’27. “Their goal is to be a partner and a friend that is there to uplift and support.”

This renewed partnership with Reliant also aligns with Mays’ vision of building a better future through business as well as its goal of becoming the nation’s preeminent public business school at a time of tremendous change. “The pace of change is absolutely remarkable. When this partnership started, there was no smartphone—and it feels like the pace increases every year,” Patel said. “This is a unique partnership, and we look forward to more closely interacting with Texas A&M and Mays leadership as well as the Aggie Network more broadly.”