Lillian Mills<\/a>, herself a McCombs accounting professor, said this generous gift will help countless students maximize their potential in this new era. \u201cThis transformational gift will elevate our thought leadership through research support, sponsored conferences, and faculty development, and enable us to invest in cutting edge accounting education into our second century of excellence,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\nRooted in the Forty Acres<\/p>\n
Shulkin was raised in Chicago and said he \u201cfell in love with UT\u201d after a campus visit during high school. He attended on a generous academic scholarship, for which he said he is still grateful.<\/p>\n
A member of Pi Lambda Phi and Zeta Beta Tau fraternities, Shulkin also served as president of UT\u2019s Interfraternity Council. \u201cGoing to a school where game day was a ritual and experiencing what was effectively a totally different culture was a foundational experience in my life. I would return to Chicago for the holidays wearing my cowboy boots and saying \u2018y\u2019all,\u2019\u201d he recalled, laughing. \u201cI could not have possibly picked a better place to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
He credits McCombs\u2019 accounting program with giving him a technical foundation to understand business that shaped his career.<\/p>\n
Shulkin began his career at Bain & Company and was hired by Antonio Gracias, Valor\u2019s founder, CEO and chief information officer, in 1998. He became co-president in 2021.<\/p>\n
Shulkin serves as fund manager for Valor Siren Ventures, a series of funds investing in emerging technology companies in consumer, food, retail and sustainability, backed by corporate partners including Starbucks and Nestle. He also oversees Valor\u2019s Scale Group, which provides hands-on operational support to Valor\u2019s investments in companies such as SpaceX and xAI, and Valor\u2019s Finance and Infrastructure teams.<\/p>\n
Accounting\u2019s New Horizons<\/p>\n
Across those roles, he said, the skills he gained at Texas McCombs have remained central. \u201cI think\u00a0a technical accounting education is one of the best ways to learn how to understand and analyze a business,\u201d Shulkin said. \u201cWhether making journal entries, running financial analysis, operating a business, or understanding cash flow, the education I received from the best accounting school in the U.S. proved foundational to what I do today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shulkin noted that while many accounting graduates pursue traditional roles with Big Four firms, demand is growing for accounting-trained professionals in industry roles.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcCombs\u2019 accounting program has always blazed trails, but Jon\u2019s munificent gift has us poised to shape the industry \u2014 and the lives of our students \u2014 in ways we couldn\u2019t have imagined,\u201d said Mills. \u201cWe are beyond grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shulkin recently accepted an invitation to join the McCombs Dean\u2019s Advisory Council. He also endowed a scholarship for McCombs students in 2018 and contributed significantly to build James J. and Miriam B. Mulva Hall<\/a>, the school\u2019s future home for undergraduate education, academic departments, research centers and faculty offices.<\/p>\n\u201cAn accounting degree from McCombs gives students the tools to add significant value in environments where purpose and innovation matter,\u201d Shulkin said. \u201cI hope McCombs accounting graduates expand their conception of career opportunities, enabling them to have a great life and give back to UT.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jon Shulkin, BBA \u201997, co-president and a partner of Valor Equity Partners, donated to name the Jonathan K.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-178432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jonathan-Shulkin-scaled.jpg\")
Jon Shulkin, BBA \u201997, co-president and a partner of Valor Equity Partners, donated to name the Jonathan K. Shulkin Department of Accounting. He says McCombs\u2019 accounting department, ranked in the top 2 nationally for 20 consecutive years, gave him the technical grounding in business that helped shape his career.<\/p>\n