Mays Development Team: Meet True Brown ’04

True Brown ’04 appreciates his unique first name, which has been in his family for generations. The name also serves as a constant reminder about the importance of having integrity in his work as Mays Business School’s new senior director of development, “Especially in fundraising, the Aggies who we work with—the donors and prospective donors—want to work with someone they can trust,” he said. “It’s a nice reminder that everything I do needs to be trustworthy.”

He joins the business school at a crucial time in its history. Not satisfied with its rankings (including being named the 9th best U.S. public business school by Fortune), the Mays community has publicly committed to becoming the preeminent public business school in the nation. To achieve this vision will require Mays development team to increase the school’s endowment and to broaden the donor base.

The school’s Former Students continue to step up, including making $36 million in pledges to support the construction of the Business Education Complex. Many of these donations were committed before the new building’s plans were designed. “These people believed in the vision of Mays and of Texas A&M, and wanted to be part of the new complex,” Brown said. “It speaks to how passionate Former Students and graduates of Mays Business School are—and how they want the school to become preeminent.”

Small Town, Big Dreams

Brown’s background mirrors that of many Aggies. He grew up in Ovilla, Texas, a small town located south of Dallas. Yet when it came to time to select a college, he picked Texas A&M, even though its student body was significantly larger than his hometown’s population. “Like so many people I interact with, Texas A&M just felt like home,” he explained. “I remember visiting the campus for the first time during my senior year in the fall of 1999 and was just blown away by how welcoming everyone was.”

And it didn’t take long for Texas A&M to have a major impact on Brown’s life. As an incoming freshman, the first-generation Aggie met his future wife, Michelle ’04, during Fish Camp in August 2000. “When I say Texas A&M changed my life, it happened from the get-go,” he laughed, “This place has been very special to me.”

Brown majored in journalism and pursued real-world experience working at The Battalion, often covering sporting events. “My goal was to be a sportswriter at a newspaper, but it changed a little bit because the Batt connected me to a lot of people who were around Texas A&M Athletics at the time,” he said. “I got my first job through some connections I made as a student reporter.”

He spent 11 years with the 12th Man Foundation’s communications staff before moving into development. “I loved getting to write about the Aggie sports teams, the athletes, and the coaches, but toward the end of my time at the 12th Man Foundation, my favorite stories were about donors,” Brown said. “I was intrigued about why people wanted to be so generous to support others. I was bitten by the philanthropy bug and decided that I wanted to help people support Texas A&M and make this university better.”

After several years as the College of Liberal Arts’ major gifts officer, Brown moved into the director of development role at Texas A&M’s College of Engineering. “The College of Engineering has a great pool of Former Students to work with because Aggie engineers are very proud to be Aggie engineers,” he said.

Moving Toward Preeminence

Those experiences prepared Brown to take over leadership of Mays development team in July 2022—and he already is deeply impressed with the Former Students’ strong commitment to excellence. “Mays Former Students are so passionate about making sure that current students have a tremendous experience and education,” he said. “You can see that deeply held belief in the number of endowed professorships and chairs that Former Students have supported.”

Brown also understands the donor’s perspective since he and Michelle established their own endowed scholarship through the Texas A&M Foundation in 2018. “Fundraising may be my profession but supporting Texas A&M is my passion,” he said. “We are proud to know that our family is helping to create opportunities for future generations of Aggies.”

Now Brown and his team have their eyes set on helping Mays reach its goal of preeminence. “There are so many Aggies who want to be part of this, but it can take some time to help a donor discover a way to give back that is most meaningful to him or her,” he explained. “The goal of our team is to be donor centric. That means we want to listen and understand the motivations and passions of each Former Student. Once we understand that, we can help them make a difference in a way that also aligns with the priorities of Mays. It’s a very rewarding process, and everyone on our development team is honored to be able to do that.”