Advisory Board

Guidance, enrichment, leadership

The Bill Munday School of Business recognizes the support of its Advisory Board. Through member efforts and continued contributions, our school has been able to actualize visions of academic excellence and integrity.

Ruoyun Xu Killian ’13

Digital Marketing Specialist, Founder of C3nami

Ruoyun graduated from the Bill Munday School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. She began her career in the corporate sector but discovered she was dissatisfied with the business culture and the lacking human element in marketing. She is on a mission to put the human experience back into digital marketing. With over 10 years in the Social Media Marketing industry, she works with businesses and organizations to amplify the impact they're creating through Human-Centered Marketing.

In 2015, Ruoyun founded her own social media marketing agency, C3nami, LLC. For five years, Ruoyun and her team empowered their clients to connect and build meaningful relationships with their fans online. She and her team help their clients navigate their online presence and tell their stories. C3nami also hired many hilltoppers for both internships and entry level positions. Ruoyun enjoying cultivating young talent and mentoring interns. 

In 2020, Ruoyun left her agency, and became a full-time business consultant and speaker. She is passionate about creating industry standards in social media marketing and about bringing the human-centered approach into the corporate sphere. In her words, “I want to help happy humans help other happy humans to make a positive impact.” Ruoyun regularly judges business and communications competitions on the hilltop and has presented frequently on panels and in classes. 

She also hosts a vidcast series on YouTube, “Real Talk with Ruoyun,” where she interviews industry leading guests covering topics like, “does advertising still work?” and “the pandemic impact on social media marketing.”

Gregory Gibson Jr. ’09, MBA ’12

Founder & Executive Director, HBCU Battle of the Brains

Gregory earned his BBA and his MBA in the Bill Munday School of Business. Early in his career, he worked in the corporate tech sector at AMD and Dell. Frustrated with the lack of diversity in the tech industry, he sought to make change by working in higher education and founding his own nonprofit organization. 

Gregory is the Founder & Executive Director of the HBCU Battle of the Brains, a business and tech invitational competition held annually for HBCUs. Sixty HBCUs from around the country send their best and brightest to compete representing various areas – Business, Communications, Engineering, Mathematics, Marketing, Public Policy, Science, and Technology. Teams are required to provide a comprehensive solution to the designated issue. HBCU Battle of the Brains has been wildly successful at highlighting diverse talent and creating opportunities for underserved students. Tech and business firms big and small come to the Battle every year to mentor competitors, judge the competition, and recruit for their businesses. He is expanding these opportunities to Hispanic serving institutions with the founding of HSI Battle of the Brains in 2020. 

In 2012 Gregory founded Dashingfoot, a brand strategy consulting firm that combines technological know-how with branding expertise to help their clients evolve from a logo to fully formed corporate identities. From 2013-2018 he served as president of the Austin Chapter for the National Black MBA Association. 

For four years, Gregory served at Huston-Tillotson University, a local HBCU. He participated on the advisory board for Huston-Tillotson’s School of Business and was an adjunct professor for small business management. He is passionate about developing business opportunities for members of underserved communities and about creating diversity within the technology sphere.

Kyle Ballarta, MBA '11

Founder & CEO, Falkon Ventures

Kyle is the founder and CEO of Falkon Ventures, an innovative venture capital fund designed to catalyze innovation in the new entrepreneurial landscape for companies that have the mission to positively change industry and the world. Prior to Falkon Ventures, Kyle was a member of the initial team at LifeProof, a San Diego-based consumer electronics company that grew its force from three people to over 250 employees on three continents in three years. LifeProof’s meteoric growth led to its successful acquisition by Otterbox in 2013.

He is also the co-founder of Syndicap, a venture capital network that is changing the attitude of the industry by incentivizing venture funds to collaborate across different stages and verticals to match the convergence of industry. Kyle’s creative curiosity and passion for collaboration that innovates drives him to work with initiatives in the impact space, including The Hispanic Alliance, A Reason to Survive, The Andy Roddick Foundation and The Bill Munday School of Business at St. Edward’s University. His work with non-profits, foundations and social enterprises focuses on creating sustainable and scalable impact by implementing social enterprise models and pioneering new venture funding models.

Br. Richard Daly

St. Edward’s University

Claire England

Venture Capitalist & Kauffman Fellow 

Claire England is a veteran investor and startup advisor, who has cultivated more than 20 years of leadership, strategy, and operations acumen in venture investing, entrepreneur ecosystems, and social impact organizations. She serves as Partner in two Portfolio funds: the new Food & AgTech Fund and the FemTech Fund, the nation’s first VC fund dedicated to investing in women’s health and wellness innovation. She is also a Kauffman Fellow, a prestigious post-graduate executive leadership program for top venture capitalists and innovation leaders worldwide.

From 2014 to 2019, she directed Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN), a large investing community of family offices and high-net-worth individuals, of whom she recruited at least 40 percent. She led CTAN into a global model of early-stage investing, with its first IPO exits and an ROI exceeding the U.S. average for VC returns. CTAN became the #1 most active angel group in the U.S. for the first time in its history, deploying a record $14 million annually. Her efforts to build an exceptional investor community and achieve best-in-class founder sourcing, due diligence, and deal leadership drove more than $74.4 million in funding for 115 companies, from pre-seed to pre-IPO stages.

Previously, she was Executive Director of RISE, which was pivotal in developing Austin’s entrepreneur ecosystem into what it is today and which Forbes recognized as a “Must-Attend Conference for Entrepreneurs.” She also created international startup and investor projects, delivering exclusive programming for clients such as SXSW Interactive. She established her passion for fostering innovation as a startup’s first full-time employee.

Claire serves on St. Edward’s University’s Business School Board of Advisors and as a mentor for Kauffman Fellows and startup accelerators, such as Techstars. She has served on numerous advisory committees for entrepreneurial and investing organizations, such as the Angel Capital Association, Startup America, and World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers. She speaks at innovation conferences and leads workshops in the U.S. and internationally.

In 2018, she received the Kauffman Fellows Leadership Award, and she was a 2013 Finalist for Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power Award. Claire graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Mass Communication–Public Relations and a minor in Music–Cello and Vocal Performance from Texas State University and was inducted into Kappa Tau Alpha National Honor Society.

Kevin Fincher

Tax and Business Advisory Partner, RSM US LLP

As a tax and business advisory partner for RSM, Kevin leads the Austin office technology and life sciences industry practice. He has over 20 years of experience in public accounting, dealing with a wide range of tax and industry topics.  

His expertise covers corporate taxation issues, equity compensation, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, research and development tax credits, partnership/LLC matters, international tax structuring and compliance, and state and local income or franchise reporting and planning.

Kevin is one of the founding board members of the Austin Regional Manufacturers Association (ARMA) and currently serves as the Treasurer. He has also been honored as a Volunteer of the Year by ARMA. He also serves as President of the University of Arizona AustinCats Alumni Chapter.

Kevin holds dual BSBAs in Accounting and Finance from the University of Arizona and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the states of Arizona and Texas. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. 

Paul Gerling, MBA '98

Senior Vice President, Comerica Bank

As senior vice president of Comerica Bank’s Technology and Life Sciences Division, Paul is responsible for the technology lending practices and portfolio management for the central and south Texas regions. Paul earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from St. Edward’s University.

Chris Ragland, BBA '05, MBA '10

COO, Noble Capital Group LLC

Chris has served as the chief operating officer of Noble Capital Group LLC, an alternative investment firm, since 2010. In addition, he serves as a consultant with SYNNECTA GmbH, a German-based organizational development and management consultancy. Over the past fifteen years, Chris has been a principal in over a dozen companies, providing various levels of leadership and support. His specializations include strategic engagement, change management and process excellence. He continues to sharpen and demonstrate his uncanny ability to successfully grow businesses through the creation of loyal teams, fanatic culture and personal growth of those around him.

Chris has a broad base of industry experience including high-tech, real estate, finance, telecom, the arts, insurance, film, bar/restaurant, manufacturing and retail. In addition to domestic ventures, he has worked on several international projects in Latin America, Europe and Asia. 

Chris works with businesses at all levels ranging from enterprise clients, such as Adobe, BMW and American Express, to locally owned and operated small businesses. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship and an MBA in Global Entrepreneurship from St. Edward’s University. He is presently working towards the completion of his PhD through Universitat Jaume I, a Spanish university located in Castelló de la Plana.

Chris is also vice president of the Guns and Hoses Foundation of North Texas, which provides support for the families of fallen police officers and firefighters. He started with the Guns and Hoses Foundation in 2010 by chairing a golf tournament that supported equipment purchases for underfunded police departments in the area. When it comes to serving, Chris says, “Making time for volunteering is a juggling act, but when you find that cause that grabs your heart, you commit to it and you won’t regret it.”