Bermudez believes in paying back

Jorge Bermudez ’73

Jorge Bermudez says an affinity for Mays Business School dating back to his college days prompted him to donate $250,000 to establish the Jorge Bermudez ’73 Business Honors Endowed Scholarship fund.

Bermudez’s undergraduate and graduate degrees were in agricultural economics, but he said he knew from early on that he wanted to be a banker, so he took several finance, accounting and management classes in the business school. “The great thing about my experience was the flexibility of both the school of business and the agriculture economics department provided me,” he said. “As a result of my studies, it led me to New York and my career with the largest financial institution in the world. It gave me the tools to do what I wanted to do with my life.”

Bermudez says he wanted to assist the Business Honors program in particular because of its rigor and reputation. “My sense is that it’s becoming more and more competitive to attract top students to A&M’s Mays Business School, so I wanted to help Jerry (Strawser, dean of the business school) attract these students in whatever way I could.” He particularly wants to support students in the Corps of Cadets, which he said is “central to the culture of Texas A&M.”

Bermudez was not in the Corps while at Texas A&M. He hails from Cuba and said his first introduction to Texas was College Station. He left Texas upon graduation, moving throughout the world for various assignments at Citigroup over a 34-year span. He held positions in New York, Houston, Venezuela and Argentina. Among his titles were CEO of Citigroup Latin America, CEO and president of Citigroup’s Commercial Business Group in North America and Citibank Texas, then the Chief Risk Officer for Citigroup.

“We are most appreciative of Jorge’s most generous support of our students,” said Mays Dean Jerry Strawser. “While his financial support is so important to our students, the ability of our students to meet him, learn from him and follow his life example will provide them with the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Now Bermudez has come back to College Station. He now serves on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Moody’s Corporation, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the Community Foundation of the Brazos Valley. He serves Texas A&M, on the International Board, the development councils of both Mays and the College of Agriculture and is past chair of the board of the Association of Former Students. He feels he owes a lot to Texas A&M and the surrounding community.

About Mays Business School

Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School educates more than 5,000 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools in the country for its undergraduate and MBA programs, and for faculty research. The mission of Mays Business School is creating knowledge and developing ethical leaders for a global society.