Twelve Selected As 2020 Distinguished Alumni Of Texas A&M

Twelve Aggies have been selected as the 2020 recipients of the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of Texas A&M University, the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students are proud to welcome as Distinguished Alumni:

• Dr. C. M. Cocanougher ’53 of Decatur, TX
• Weldon Jaynes ’54 of Arlington, TX
• LTG Randolph W. House ’67 of College Station, TX
• R. Sam Torn ’70 of Houston, TX
• John D. White ’70 of College Station, TX
• R. Bowen Loftin ’71 of Bryan, TX
• Carol E. Jordan ’80 of Lexington, KY
• Willie T. Langston II ’81 of Houston, TX
• Tim Leach ’82 of Midland, TX
• Thomas J. Saylak ’82 of Scarsdale, NY
• Mike Hernandez III ’83 of Fort Worth, TX
• Charean Williams ’86 of Arlington, TX

Biographical information on each is included below; this information is also available at tx.ag/DA2020.

Photos available upon request or at tx.ag/Announcements2020.

Since the inception of the award in 1962, only 303 of Texas A&M’s 527,000 former students have been recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Awarded jointly by Texas A&M and The Association of Former Students, this honor recognizes those Aggies who have achieved excellence in their chosen professions and made meaningful contributions to Texas A&M University and their local communities.

“We are proud of these wonderful former students and all of their accomplishments and contributions,” said Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young.

“They are all deserving of the highest honor bestowed upon our alumni. We look forward to joining The Association in recognizing their achievements.”

The recipients learned of their honor via surprise announcements from university and Association representatives, including Young, The Association of Former Students’ 2020 Chair of the Board Cathy Mann ’92, Association President and CEO Porter S. Garner III ’79, Texas A&M Foundation President Tyson Voelkel ’96, 12th Man Foundation President Travis Dabney ’96, and a Ross Volunteer.

Mann said, “Our 2020 Distinguished Alumni lead and excel in a wide array of career fields.  While their experiences span diverse career fields, they each consistently embody our core values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service and represent the Aggie Network with distinction.”

Garner echoed the sentiments of Young and Mann and offered his congratulations on behalf of The Association of Former Students.

“The Distinguished Alumnus Award is the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of Texas A&M. Those we honor in 2020 are in elite company, with fewer than one-tenth of one percent of our 527,000 former students recognized with this prestigious award.”

The Association of Former Students is honoring the 2020 recipients in the July-August 2020 issue of its Texas Aggie magazine.

Nominations for the 2021 Distinguished Alumnus Award will be accepted through Oct. 2 at tx.ag/DAnominations.

The Association of Former Students, established in 1879, is the official alumni organization of Texas A&M University. The Association connects hundreds of thousands of members of the worldwide Aggie Network with each other and the university, and is providing $13.9 million in impact to university scholarships, awards, activities and enrichment for students, faculty, staff and former students in 2020. For more information about the Distinguished Alumnus Award or The Association, contact Kathryn Greenwade at KGreenwade88@aggienetwork.com or visit www.AggieNetwork.com.

Dr. C. M. Cocanougher ’53 built a successful veterinary practice in Wise County and served as a Decatur City Council member and civic leader who helped draw employment to the area during a downturn, supported the hospital system and gave decades of scholarships to high school and A&M students; he and wife Jo Ann endowed ten A&M veterinary school scholarships. He was named an Outstanding Alumnus of A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and 1985’s Citizen of the Year in Decatur. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a captain and base veterinarian. He served as president and rodeo secretary of the Wise County Sheriff’s Posse, president of the Decatur Chamber of Commerce, officer of the Decatur Rotary Club and charter member and chairman of the Wise County American Heart Association chapter. He also served on the Texas Veterinary Medical Association board of directors.

Weldon Jaynes ’54 was chairman, CEO and majority shareholder of Priester Supply Co., which he spent more than 40 years building into a prominent southwest U.S. regional distributor for electric and gas utilities. He also created Repcom International, a national telecommunication company. He is a past president (now called chair) and trustee of the 12th Man Foundation who helped start its Major Gifts Department, a recipient of its E. King Gill award and member of its Diamond Champions Council. He has created the Mr. and Mrs. L. Weldon Jaynes ’54 Sul Ross Scholarship, the Weldon Jaynes ’54 Presidential Endowed Scholarship and a Corps scholarship. Jaynes is an A&M Lettermen’s Association Hall of Honor inductee and a past director of the Fort Worth A&M Club. He and wife Judy give time and support to Trinity United Methodist and First Baptist Church in Arlington, Mission Arlington and the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

LTG Randolph W. House ’67 was an Army officer for over 32 years, commanding in peace and war at every level from rifle platoon leader to deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. He has served 2003-present on the board and as president of the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial and is a mentor to the A&M student organization SCONA (Student Conference on National Affairs). He has served on the board of visitors for A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service and for Texas A&M University at Galveston. His awards for valor include the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Silver Star, the Soldier’s Medal, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, 32 Air Medals and four Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. He was inducted in 2001 as a “Legend of Aggieland” and is a member of the Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor and the Tyrus R. Timm Honor Registry in A&M’s Department of Agricultural Economics.

Sam Torn ’70, a past chair of the 12th Man Foundation, co-chaired the Kyle Field Redevelopment Committee and $485 million campaign and coordinated the redevelopment of Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. For 36 years, he and his wife, Susan ’13, have owned and operated Incomparable Camp Ozark, one of the largest residential summer camps in the nation; he is also developer and owner of Camp OTX, executive director of Camp War Eagle for underserved children, and founder and chairman of Ozone Ministries and Ozark for All camp. He is a member of Texas’ Higher Education Coordinating Board. The Torns received the 12th Man Foundation’s E. King Gill Award in 2016. Torn is a member of the Corps Hall of Honor and Texas A&M Lettermen’s Association Hall of Honor. He has been a Class Agent for the Class of ’70, an Association area representative and past president of the Association of Former Yell Leaders.

John D. White ’70 is a former Air Force judge advocate with over 40 years’ experience as a fund manager and lawyer. He is a chairman emeritus of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, a trustee of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, a former board member of The Association of Former Students, a former board chairman for the Ed Rachal Foundation, a past director of the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Company (UTIMCO) and a former director of the Greater Houston Partnership. He is a Corps Hall of Honor inductee and a namesake of A&M’s John D. White ’70-Robert L. Walker ’58 Music Activities Center. He and wife Daisy created the Neva and A. E. (Buddy) White ’42 President’s Endowed Scholarship. In 2007, he was named the Texas Aggie Bar Association’s Lawyer of the Year. He is a member of the American Bar Foundation and Texas Bar Foundation, a charter member of the Houston Bar Foundation and has been board certified in civil litigation.

R. Bowen Loftin ’71 served as the 24th president of Texas A&M University from 2010 to 2014 and 22nd chancellor of the University of Missouri in 2014-15. Previously, he served as A&M’s interim president; vice president of A&M and chief executive officer of Texas A&M University at Galveston; executive director of Old Dominion University’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center; director of the University of Houston’s Virtual Environments Research Institute; and chair of the UH Department of Computer Science. His awards include the NASA Invention of the Year Award and the NASA Public Service Medal and the 1982 UH-Downtown Award for Excellence in Teaching, at that time the only teaching award given across the entire campus. He has served on numerous boards and committees including Chief Executive Officers of the Southeastern Conference, the FBI’s National Security Higher Education Advisory Board and, currently, the MRIGlobal Research Institute board of trustees.

Carol E. Jordan ’80 is creator and executive director of the University of Kentucky’s Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women. She has 37 years of experience in public policy, legislative advocacy, research, writing and development of programs addressing domestic violence, rape and stalking. She was the first elected president of the Aggie Women Network, an Association constituent network she co-created with K. Sue Redman ’80. She led expansion of the number of rape crisis centers in Kentucky from four to 13, and in 1996 was founding executive director of the Governor’s Office of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Services. In 2002, Jordan created UK’s Center for Research on Violence Against Women; after a decade there, she created the university’s policy institute on violence against women, which led to the Office for Policy Studies. At UK, Jordan conceived the Women’s Empowerment Scholarship Program, a resource for abuse survivors.

Willie T. Langston II ’81 is founder, past chairman and CEO and current executive vice chairman of Avalon Advisors, LLC, a $9 billion asset advisory and management firm. He is a board member of Breakaway Ministries, chairman of the board for Glorieta Camps in New Mexico and chairman of the deacons at Second Baptist Church of Houston. He was finance chairman for 2016’s Ted Cruz for President campaign and served 5 years as board chairman for Houston Christian High School. Langston is on the Mays Business School dean’s advisory board and is a former outside investment advisor to the Texas A&M Foundation and former trustee of the 12th Man Foundation. He has supported the Mays Family Foundation Building Expansion Fund and created a Department of Accounting endowment, a business honors scholarship and an MBA fellowship. While on the 12th Man board, he helped create the idea for the Champions Council, which today is the 12th Man’s primary fundraising arm.

Tim Leach ’82 is the founder, chairman and CEO of Concho, one of the energy industry’s leading companies, and vice chairman of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Leach has supported A&M projects including the Zachry Engineering Education Complex, E.B. Cushing Stadium, Leach Teaching Gardens and MSC renovation; he has supported The Association, the 12th Man Foundation and the George and Barbara Bush Foundation and created a scholarship, professorship and chair in petroleum engineering. He is a Petroleum Museum Hall of Fame honoree and a member of the All-American Wildcatters Association. His service to A&M and his community includes serving as president of the board of the Scharbauer Foundation, on the Midland College Foundation board of directors and Midland Memorial Foundation board of governors, as a former member of The Association of Former Students’ board and as an emeritus member of A&M’s College of Engineering Advisory Council.

Thomas J. Saylak ’82 co-founded and for more than nine years served as co-head of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, now the world’s largest and most successful real estate investment firm. He then served as president of Merrill Lynch Global Commercial Real Estate, which conducted investment banking, financing and principal investment activities worldwide. During Saylak’s tenure at Blackstone, he and his partners created four real estate investment partnerships with more than $4 billion in total equity and completed over $13 billion in real estate investments, financings and restructurings. In 2001, he was named an Outstanding Alumnus of A&M’s Mays Business School. He is a trustee and past chairman of the Texas A&M Foundation, an Aggies on Wall Street host, a board member and vice chairman of the Grand Teton National Park Foundation and a trustee of D.C. public TV station WETA, which produces The PBS NewsHour.

Mike Hernandez III ’83 is the owner and CEO of D&M Leasing, one of 2019’s Top 100 Places to Work rated by the Dallas Morning News, among the Fort Worth Business Press’ Top 5 privately-held companies and Dealer Rater’s Top Leasing Company in America. He founded the Brownsville Scholars Program at A&M and is president and founder of the Hernandez Foundation, which has provided significant support to schools and scholarships, and has supported ventures that boost opportunities in Cameron County. In 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed him as a member of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. He was recognized as one of Fort Worth’s top CEOs in 2014; in 2016, he was named Brownsville’s “Person of the Year” and in 2017, he was Rio Grande Valley’s Citizen of the Year, Honorable Mention. He is a member of the advisory committee for A&M’s McAllen campus and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s advisory committee on workforce training.

Charean Williams ’86 became the first woman to enter the writers’ wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 when her peers voted her the 50th recipient of the Dick McCann Award for a long and distinguished career covering professional football. The 2020 season is her 27th covering the NFL, including more than a decade as a Dallas Cowboys beat reporter. She became the first female Pro Football Hall of Fame selector in 2007 and the first female president of the Pro Football Writers of America in 2009. She has reported on the NFL for the Orlando Sentinel, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and currently NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk website. She has covered 26 Super Bowls and seven Olympic Games. Williams serves on the board of the Pro Football Writers, frequently returns to A&M to speak to journalism students and Battalion staffers, and is an adjunct professor in SMU’s sport management program.