Bahr Professorship provides resources to Mays faculty

Passionate about the importance of education, Gina and Anthony Bahr ’91 contributed $550,000 to support the teaching, research and professional development activities of Mays Business School faculty members.

Anthony Bahr, CEO of WildHorse Resources Management Company in Houston, said he and his wife are grateful beneficiaries of the talents of teachers who have a passion for education. “We want to encourage and support that same passion in others,” he explained.

The gift is separate and in addition to a $100,000 gift WildHorse Resources committed in 2013 for a Business Honors scholarship fund. WildHorse is a private oil and gas production company with operations in Texas and Louisiana.

“Harvey Firestone once said, ‘The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership,’” he said. “Texas A&M and Mays Business School each have a well-deserved reputation for developing the leaders of tomorrow, and we are glad for the opportunity to support outstanding faculty who are leaders in both research and the classroom.”

Bahr is a two-time Aggie 100 honoree and serves on the Dean’s Development Council at Mays. He received both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Texas A&M University in petroleum engineering. He also received an MBA from California State University Bakersfield.

The first recipient of a Bahr Professorship is management Professor Lorraine Eden. She was recognized for her dedication to the university and its students. She currently demonstrates her commitment to higher education by participating in the World Economic Forum and will serve as an expert in the E15 Initiative Investment Policy Task Force, which seeks to propose new rules for the international trade and investment.

In addition, this semester she is mentoring 17 students and created an in-depth profile book aimed at finding each student top internships and career opportunities. She has helped place more than 70 Aggies in transfer pricing careers, and more than 170 current and former students participate in her closed LinkedIn group, Transfer Pricing Aggies. She also encourages her students to actively participate in meetings with the American Bar Association by presenting in hour-long panels, transfer-pricing cases they had analyzed while taking her class.

Mays Interim Dean Ricky Griffin said the professorship will help the school achieve its mission of developing its students into ethical leaders for a global society. “It is critical that we support the research and teaching work of our top faculty,” he said. “We are very appreciative that Gina and Anthony Bahr have provided the gift of an endowed professorship to help us continue to move forward.”

ABOUT MAYS BUSINESS SCHOOL

Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School educates more than 5,900 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.