Recently ranked the best university in Texas by the Wall Street Journal, Texas A&M has added another recognition: it has more Fortune 500 CEOs than any other public university in the state.

A&M has seven sitting Fortune 500 CEOs who completed their undergraduate studies in Aggieland, tying it for the top public university and No. 5 in the U.S. Of the seven, four graduated from Mays Business School and three graduated from the College of Engineering.

The university attracts students who already possess strong character and want to become leaders, said Nate Sharp, the dean of Mays Business School. Mays then includes the Core Values into everything and develops students’ leadership skills further, Sharp said. 

“Leadership is not something that is just an afterthought or in the periphery of what we do at Mays,” Sharp said. “It’s in the DNA of our school. When I look at a classroom of students, I see them as future leaders of character.” 

The college brings back as many CEOs and high-level executive graduates as possible throughout the semester, Sharp said, such as Wayne Roberts, the retired president and CEO of Abrigo who recently guest lectured a class to explain leadership lessons he learned during his career.

“We work very hard to put the best leaders in our entire Mays network in front of our students as frequently as we can,” Sharp said. 

The former students impact current Aggies through hiring, coaching, providing experiential opportunities and guest lecturing, said Mike Alexander, assistant dean for Mays Graduate Programs. 

“You go out there and make a difference, and you want to bring others along with you,” Alexander said. 

He said any good business school graduate wants to return and be involved. The difference, however, lies in the Selfless Service A&M graduates exemplify. 

“What you get at Mays is what goes beyond the common expectation,” Alexander said. 

Mays is currently in the process of standing up a leadership institute, Sharp said. An element of it will be an Aggie CEO network that invites CEO alumni to connect with students. 

“One of the most important missions of the Aggie CEO network is going to be connecting back with students and connecting back with this university and this business school more often,” Sharp said.  

Alexander said both Mays’ undergraduate and graduate programs focus on hands-on learning, with experiences ranging from case studies and consulting projects to even starting one’s own company. Mays makes the learning “come alive,” he said, as the school aims to increase the “variability in the real world” that one cannot fully learn from a textbook.  

“You couldn’t come to Mays and just be in a classroom, even undergrad,” Alexander said. “There’s no program where there’s not experimental.” 

According to Sharp, being a public and land-grant university shapes the students it serves — such as rural and first-generation Texans. Of A&M’s undergraduate population, for example, 22% are first-generation students, a statistic higher than Ivy League universities, where first-generation enrollments range from 15-21%, according to Statista. 

“Texas A&M is built and was designed to be sort of the people’s university in the state,” Sharp said. “The reason that matters is because of the work ethic of the students that come here.”

Sharp has spoken to several of the CEOs on the list and said that while many said they weren’t the smartest in the class, they often worked the hardest. 

“On average, I would put the work ethic of our students at Texas A&M and at Mays Business School up against any university in the country — public or private,” Sharp said.

At A&M and Mays, Sharp said leadership takes on a “distinct meaning” tied to the university’s Core Values and ethical principles. It’s not about a race to the top, but serving others — as that forges leaders companies want. 

“At A&M, leadership is about serving the greater good, and it’s about believing that there are causes bigger than yourself,” Sharp said. 

One way Mays aims to translate those desired leadership qualities is by focusing on ethics, such as one course that has students face real-life business cases and dilemmas they have to work through, Sharp said. After confronting all the complexities in a case, someone personally involved in it may visit, and Aggies sometimes have the opportunity to discuss their choice with people who personally experienced it.

“What we hope is they go back to their roots here at Mays, where we taught them that nothing is more important than their personal integrity and their personal honor,” Sharp said.

In every Mays graduate program, Alexander said they emphasize understanding one’s self, as that self-reflection makes better leaders.

“There is a very intentional focus on leadership development, and a lot of that is knowing yourself,” Alexander said. 

Sharp said leadership must be experienced, which the school pushes through various organizations, like the Business Student Council, Business Fellows and Titans of Investing.

“We have opportunities throughout Mays for students to develop into leadership of character by becoming leaders,” Sharp said. 

Any one of A&M CEOs’ goals was not to become a CEO — but rather to make a difference, Alexander said. 

“What becomes for good Aggies and good Mays graduates students, the story becomes about the impact that they’re making not as much as their title,” Alexander said. 

While A&M boasts seven Fortune 500 CEO alumni, Alexander said plenty of Aggies lead companies in other ways and make a difference. 

“I think all of those CEOs would sort of want to point you back out broader to the pride of the unsung heroes that are the graduates of Mays out there, doing the work day to day caring about people and making the difference in the lives of people around them,” Alexander said.