Ron Ron Brandt:  

School Attended University of Texas at Austin from 1974 - 1976. 1st year was biology/pre-med, 2nd year was political science/pre-law. Had to go to work and finally went back to school at night and finished at University of Houston in 2001 with B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies (the degree plan I affectionately refer to as Haphazard Studies - what can I say, it was the shortest distance between two points). Currently enrolled in the Executive MBA program at Texas A&M University, which I should complete in the Spring of 2005. Workplace After a couple of years at college, my step-father died and I ended up going to work out of necessity. I did everything from being a bricklayer's helper to selling tools over the phone. I talked to an friend and fellow trumpet player from the AHS band, Mike DiGennaro, who told me they had openings for tellers at First People's National Bank in Westmont, N.J. - no experience required. I started in banking there, with absolutely no thought that it would be anything more than a temporary profession. I moved back to the Houston area in Texas and started working again as a teller at a really small bank, Bank of Harris County. The Controller there took a kind of paternal interest in me and encouraged me to go to some trade related programs at University of Oklahome and Southern Methodist University. During the time I was there, I finally worked my way up to a minor-league lending officer position. I was recruited in '83 to go to Allied Bank of Texas (about a $10 Billion regional bank) and work in...Expand for more