Leading with a Servant’s Heart: Cade Coppinger’s Impact as Student Body President

The Humans of Mays Business School series highlights excerpts from conversations with exceptional individuals at Mays who make a lasting impact through their leadership, drive, and dedication. Each story brings to life the diverse journeys, challenges, and triumphs that shape the Mays community. By sharing these unique experiences, we aim to inspire personal and professional growth within our halls and share the origin stories of today’s and tomorrow’s business leaders.

Whether they’re in the classroom, around campus, on the field, or through extracurriculars, Mays students demonstrate a commitment to excellence and service. In this edition, we’re proud to feature Cade Coppinger, senior finance management major, Student Body President, Maroon Coat, and member of Brotherhood Christian Aggies (BCA). Cade is a true embodiment of the Aggie Spirit and the leadership skills we cultivate at Mays.

The Mays Community

“I think the way I decided on Mays was determining what are the things they really highlight. I loved that at Texas A&M they emphasize not only the education you would receive but also the extracurriculars that go along with it. The leadership that comes with being a student at Mays was really attractive to me.”

“Mays was a really big proponent in my campaign for student body president, and a lot of the students I had classes with allowed me to make this happen. It is one of the cool things that I look back on and think, Oh my gosh, there are thousands of students in Mays and I haven’t made friends with all of them, but so many of them helped with the campaign.”

“I was introduced to Dr. Mac (Stephen W. McDaniel)l when I first came in as a student. Later, I had the opportunity to go on a Mays marketing study abroad trip with him, alongside Professor Knoop. During the trip, they really had that servant mindset. I spent a ton of time with them on the bus when we would travel, and they would participate in activities with us. We all had a lot in common. I looked to them as mentors and asked them questions and was bouncing ideas off of both of them and got to know them a lot during that trip. I still had opportunities to speak with them since we have been back and I know I will stay in touch with them post-grad. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to meet them.”

Navigating Challenges in Student Leadership

“One of the more challenging things, especially with a university of this scale of around 80,000 students that you are representing, is that people have different perspectives, different opinions, different backgrounds, and different things that they prioritize and care about. At times it can be really challenging as a leader to cater to every single need and purpose on campus. I think we have really tried to one: look at problems that are wide-scaling that can affect a lot of the students, and two: also make sure that we are looking at really intentional and detailed problems as well. 

“Overall, we want to accomplish the things we set out to do, and instead of splattering all over the board and having 25 different initiatives, what are the three or four of the biggest things that we can achieve? I think it’s been challenging to figure out how we decide what those are and prioritize which ones are important because people don’t always appreciate the things we do. There are people that love it and there are people that hate it, so it’s just navigating what’s best for students. We need to serve in that capacity above anything else. 

“Through this, I believe I’ve grown as a leader in the sense that I’ve learned to consider the perspectives of people outside my own experience. As student body president, my goal isn’t to change the things that I, as Cade Coppinger the student, might experience. Instead, I focus on how I can put myself in others’ shoes to better understand the perspectives of all 80,000 students. Now that is a really big challenge, and I am not perfect at that, but I think that’s a really big way that I have grown. Just putting myself in other people’s shoes and trying to frame the problems from other perspectives rather than just my own.”

Implementing Change

“We are really working closely with the administration on trying to get virtual student IDs. I don’t have any specifics on the exact timeline of that, but we have been really big proponents. Students, and especially freshmen, use their IDs all the time and in conjunction with ticket pull, I think we are gonna see both of those things move online in the future so I am excited about that. 

We’re also working with IT to hopefully improve the Get Involved system. This is basically a platform that houses all the organizations and their involvement, and I just want to create an opportunity for organizations to really showcase their personality. By doing this, we can enable freshmen that are coming into Texas A&M to really be able to understand opportunities of organizations they can join. If we can showcase these organizations better I think we are going to solve a lot of our problems on better placement, better opportunities, and we give all organizations the opportunity to have one spot where they can recruit and market. That’s my hope. Obviously we are still working on it, but I am working with IT on how we can frame that. 

We are also looking to pass a bill in the Texas Legislature regarding housing. It will especially affect College Station in a lot of ways as we have a lot of regulations on limiting occupancy based on relatedness, so we are looking to pass a bill. We have a few drafts and are working with state senators and state representatives on trying to get that passed, so we will be in Austin quite a bit this semester working on that.”

“On the ticket pull front, there are still things that need to be sorted out, and time will allow those to come to fruition. I know it was one of those situations where we didn’t know what would come of it. I remember looking at my team and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve been seeing some issues, and people have been really frustrated with this.’ So, we brought it up to President Welsh, who was supportive of us looking into it. We ran a survey, and the data showed that 63% of those surveyed were in favor of an online ticket pull system, 31% preferred an in-person ticket pull system, and 6% were neutral. We had that data before the Texas game, and then the Texas game happened, which was really unfortunate. The university, in conjunction with everyone else, agreed that the safety of the students is the most important thing. Looking ahead, I think the ticket-pull process will look different. I can’t go into specific details, but the best part about the survey was that it helped us gather metrics to understand what students really care about. We want to make sure we maintain those aspects as much as possible in the future, even with any new system. There will, of course, be trade-offs — we can’t completely replicate an in-person ticket pull. It’s important to note that President Welsh never took a firm stance on this issue, but he encourages both students and staff to explore different options and find what works, without coming to any predetermined conclusions. I really respect that about his leadership style.”

Applying Leadership Lessons

“I serve on President Welsh’s Cabinet, along with a few others, so I see him and work with him regularly. It is honestly a blessing. From him, I have learned so much about how to invest in people. He is a people-driven leader first and foremost, and he genuinely cares to learn about you and who you are beyond the job. I’ve learned a lot from the way he enables those around him to take initiative, demonstrate leadership, make change, and improve things at A&M. It’s been really cool to watch him from the background.”

“I try to follow a similar approach to his in terms of enabling my team. When I have a Cabinet full of students, I focus on empowering them to feel like they can accomplish their goals without always having to escalate everything up the chain. I aim to be supportive in that regard, always thinking about how we can gradually improve the student experience and invest in shaping the future. I’ve learned a lot from him, especially in maintaining a future-oriented mindset. Instead of just focusing on the present issues we’re facing, he teaches me to consider how the present can influence the trajectory of the future. I believe decision-making from a leadership perspective looks very different when you keep that in mind.”

“Porter Garner (president and CEO of The Association of Former Students — and Mays Outstanding Alumnus) often references the quote ‘If service is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you.’ I try to get up every day and ask myself that same question. How am I keeping the scope of my leadership and the lens of service beyond just leadership itself? I think this really enables me to push that culture and those values onto my team, the people we interact with, and the purpose and mission we have in SGA.”

Leaving a Legacy in Selfless Service

“I hope to embody the Core Value of selfless service above all else, and I hope to be remembered for that. I think it looks different in many contexts because I do a lot outside of serving as president, and I am also a student. I hope that in every opportunity or organization I’ve been involved in, selfless service has been a consistent theme. I also hope that the things I’ve done have been focused on the long-term impact, not just short-term results. As I’ve mentioned, I care about how this will affect the next five, 10, or 15 years for students, rather than focusing only on what I can do in the here and now. There’s only so much I can accomplish in a year. That’s the way I try to look at it, and I hope we can leave that legacy with SGA as a whole.”