Letter From the Executive Director: If You Build It

By Chuck Harris in July | August 2020 on July 1, 2020 at 8:00 am | No Comments

When the purpose of the organization you run is to bring people together, a global pandemic and the advent of social distancing makes you question everything. For 135 years, the Texas Exes has been inviting Longhorns to gather, travel, reminisce, hug old classmates, and break bread together. The more the merrier—that’s been our thing.   

And when it comes to work, I’ve been old school. I’m at the office early every morning; I like dreaming up the next big thing around a conference table, and it takes a lot for me to relent and take a sick day. “Working” from home has felt like an oxymoron to me.   

Yet with all of this in mind, I sit here today with a screen of familiar faces staring back at me. I’m interacting daily with our alumni, staff, and partners in business and, in some ways, I’ve never felt more inspired by our mission. As a team, we’ve asked ourselves one question over and over: In a historical moment like this, how do we want the Texas Exes to be remembered?   

The answer is simple. We want Longhorns to look back and remember the alumni association doing everything in its power to lift them up. The Class of 2020 has entered an economy of soaring unemployment numbers and rescinded job offers and there are 530,000 alumni living around the world want to find a way to help. That’s why we’ve developed a powerful new tool.   

HookedIn is a professional networking platform built in partnership with the university’s Texas Career Engagement center and several colleges and schools across campus. Think of it as a burnt-orange LinkedIn for alumni, students, faculty, and staff to find jobs, valuable career resources, mentoring, and a talent pool that we all know is truly special.   

Signing up is easy, and there are already thousands of users waiting for you. Longhorn Nation is a beautiful thing.

In the not-too-distant future we’ll get back to the way we’ve always done things. And when we look back at this challenging chapter of our lives, we’ll be proud of how we came together.   

 Hook ’em, 

Chuck Harris
BBA ’86, Life Member