College of Business


	The 2007 Kirkland Distinguished Visitor John J. Buckley, CPA, MBA John J. Buckley was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He graduated from Saint Joseph’s High School in 1973 and Rider University in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce. He relocated to Corpus Christi in 1978 to accept a position as an Internal Revenue Service agent. He enrolled at Corpus Christi State University in the MBA program shortly thereafter, graduating in December 1980. He received his CPA certification in January 1981. He then joined the international accounting firm of Ernst & Young. He worked his way up and became managing partner of the Corpus Christi office in 1990. In 1991, he purchased the local practice of Ernst & Young and renamed it Buckley & Associates, L.L.P. Mr. Buckley has a held high-level leadership positions in many Corpus Christi businesses and organizations. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors and as Audit Committee Chairman of TOR Minerals International Inc. Additionally, Mr. Buckley is a member of the Board of Driscoll Hospital Development Foundation, the Treasurer of the Buccaneer Commission, and a member of the American Bank Advisory Board as well as serving on the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Foundation and as a member of the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi College of Business Advisory Council. Previously, he served as Administration Chairman for the Regional Transportation Authority, Chairman of the Texas A&M University-CC Foundation, President of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants Corpus Christi, President of the Petroleum Accounting Society, Board member and Treasurer of YWCA, member of Communities in Schools, Treasurer of the Texas A&M-CC Alumni Association, member of the Junior Achievement, and member of the IRS Liaison, as well as being a graduate of Leadership Corpus Christi Class 17. He was a co-founder of the Corpus Christi State University Alumni Association. Mr. Buckley received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2006 and the Young CPA of the Year Award in 1991. Mr. Buckley and his wife, Julie, together, have four children - Tara, Jack, Kelly, and Lisa. They are the proud grandparents of one granddaughter, Hanna. When his children were younger, he coached youth soccer, basketball, and baseball. He is an avid fan of the San Antonio Spurs, being a season ticket holder for more than 20 years. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, bird hunting, and raising exotic animals at the Storm Ranch in Center Point, Texas. Historical Perspective Buckley & Associates, L.L.P., was founded in 1991 when John Buckley acquired the Corpus Christi practice of Ernst & Young, an international accounting firm. Mr. Buckley was the managing partner of that office and all but one of Buckley & Associates’ current staff are former Ernst & Young professionals. Mission Statement of Buckley & Associates, L.L.P. Buckley & Associates is devoted to developing and delivering innovative and effective tax, accounting, and consulting services to individuals and closely-held businesses. We distinguish ourselves from other firms by our commitment to providing an outstanding level of quality service delivered by highly trained professionals. We have a tradition of providing technical excellence through teamwork responsive to client needs and expectations. Buckley & Associates is not a typical CPA firm. Our people are personable individuals with diverse interests outside our profession. We understand business, politics, sports, education, etc., which allows us to appeal to a wide range of clients. Our broad range of interests has helped us develop personal relationships with many of our clients. The 2006 Kirkland Distinguished Visitor Dr. Melvyn N. Klein Melvyn N. Klein was born in Chicago, Illinois and spent his childhood in Indiana. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Colgate University with Highest Honors in Economics. He studied international economics and finance at the London School of Economics and Political Science during his senior year. In his junior year, he led the debate team to the state championship and was individually named the New York State College Debating Champion. He was named the outstanding student in American Studies and won first place for his paper, “On Our National Purpose.” During his freshman year at Colgate, he was the only survivor of an automobile accident caused by a drunk driver. This had a deep impact on him and motivated him even more to make a positive difference with his life. He received a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree from Columbia University. He was named an International Fellow of Columbia University and received the Edward John Noble Leadership Award. He worked throughout law school at C.V. Starr & Co. and the American International Group. He was involved in coordinating entertainment at the Democratic National Convention after his first year in law school. After graduation, he was a legislative assistant to U.S. Congressman Sidney Yates of Chicago, an international economist in the U.S. Department of Commerce assigned to the Office of the U.S. Special Trade Representative, and an associate at McKinsey & Co. He was the first person to become a member of Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey’s presidential national campaign staff in March of 1968. He served as Director of Special Research and Treasurer of the National Businessmen’s Committee for Humphrey-Muskie. He also completed the course requirements for a Master’s Degree at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, concentrating in international economics and politics. He then became a senior partner of the Wall Street investment firm of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (subsequently merged with Credit Suisse). He was one of the few people who initiated and built the firm’s investment banking business domestically and internationally. He concentrated on the entertainment and health care industries. He originated the idea of creating capital pools for principal investing and was the first to propose the creation of one of the earliest direct equity investment funds; this began the era of leveraged buyout funds and private equity funds of which he was an originator and pioneer. Klein’s vision transformed an important part of the U.S. financial structure in the final quarter of the twentieth century and the twenty-first century to date. Dr. Klein became a leading entrepreneur, investor, and attorney who has been actively involved in capital formation and investment, building companies into market leaders and creating significant shareholder value for more than 30 years. He has developed an extraordinary track record as a pioneering investment banker, entrepreneur, the Chief Executive Officer of two public companies where he achieved exceptional results, a special counsel to a leading corporation (United Technologies Corp.), a merchant banker, and as a founder and the Managing General Partner of a successful investment partnership, GKH Partners, L.P. (GKH). Whenever he committed to an enterprise, it became very successful and a leader in its field. He was the controlling shareholder, co-founder, or a significant partner in a number of companies (most of which were successfully merged or sold) including American Medical International, Inc. (subsequently merged with Tenet Healthcare), UGHC/Arcus (subsequently partially sold to Koch Industries, Inc. - Flint Hill Resources, L.P. and the balance merged with Iron Mountain), Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (subsequently merged with IAC Interactive and its spin-off Expedia, Inc.), Hanover Compressor Company (the world’s largest independent natural gas compression company), Cockrell Oil & Gas, L.P. (subsequently sold to UNOCAL), and Santa Fe Energy Resources, Inc. (subsequently merged in part with Chevron and in part with Devon Energy). He co-organized the original buy-out of Quexco Corporation; it is a leading international metal re-cycling and hazardous waste disposal company. He co-founded two independent film companies. One produced “Sophie’s Choice” and other feature films, later including “The Fugitive.” Another produced “Shadowlands,” “A Bronx Tale,” and other feature films. His principal business partners for more than thirty years were Dan Lufkin and Tom and Jay Pritzker. Jay Pritzker was the founder of the Hyatt Hotel chain and sponsor of the prestigious Pritzker Architectural Prize, which is the Nobel Prize equivalent in architecture. Their partnerships included GKH Partners, L.P., which was the other bidder for RJR Nabisco, history’s largest financial buy-out, and is featured in “Barbarians at the Gate,“ which was a #1 New York Times Bestseller. He also co-founded a number of companies, including the energy company Eskey, Inc. He served as a Director and member of the Executive Committee of Levitz Furniture Corporation until it became a private company; he participated in that successful leveraged buy-out and subsequent sale. He has served on the boards of directors and executive committees of many other private and public companies including Anixter International and Playboy Enterprises, Inc. He currently serves as Managing General Partner of GKH Partners, L.P., President of JAKK Holding Corp. and Founder of Melvyn N. Klein Interests. He was the longest running guest columnist for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times – writing from 1980 to 2005. He has written on a variety of subjects including, but not limited to, public policy issues, personal growth, the free enterprise system, classic values, Outward Bound, outstanding individuals, and qualities of deserving heroes. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi published a book, Our Time: Embracing the 21st Century And a New Millennium, a compilation of his columns. Our Time has been hailed by critics and praised by such influential people as former President George H.W. Bush, author John Updike, Rhodes Scholar Executive Committee member Robert McKelvey, and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In the “Foreword” to the book, Edward H. Harte, former Publisher of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, wrote that Klein “finds lessons in the past, but his preoccupation is with the future, the accelerating pace of change and the challenges it presents.” Harte also stated that “Mel brought to the task a reflective mind, honed in a number of disciplines and informed by associations in the highest reaches of business and politics.” He has been very active in leadership positions in a number of local, state, and national charitable, educational, public service, and public policy-influencing organizations. This includes serving as an Associate Member of the University Cancer Foundation Board of Visitors for the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; he also serves on its Executive Committee and Institutional Initiatives Committee. He is Chairman of the Strategic Plans for Research Committee and also serves on the Steering Committee of the South Campus Research Initiative of M.D. Anderson. He was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Art Museum of South Texas and Chairman of the predecessor of the Corpus Christi Economic Development Corporation. He is a former member of the International Advisory Board of the School of International Public Affairs at Columbia University and a former member of the International Advisory Board of the Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was appointed by President Reagan to the Executive Committee of the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control in the Federal Government (Grace Commission). He was an Officer and Trustee of the Foundation for Sciences and Arts in South Texas which gave the Water Garden to the City of Corpus Christi. He is a former member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and is a current member of the World Presidents’ Organization. Klein was an adjunct professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi where he taught entrepreneurship. His long-term relationship with the University also includes serving on the President’s Council, giving three commencement addresses, being awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1997, and establishing the Melvyn N. Klein Scholarship for Writing and Communication. He was a member of the Search Committee that identified a new president for the University in 2005. He became a member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans in 1996. Ten people are selected each year and receive the Association’s Award. Previous recipients include Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan, General Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Gordon Moore, Oprah Winfrey, James Doolittle, Quincy Jones and Bob Hope. In 1997, he was elected to the Association’s Board of Directors on which he remains. The Association is the nation’s leading donor of scholarships for students with financial need. It recently established the Horatio Alger Military Veterans Scholarship for returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a member of the Board of The MBM (Menninger Baylor Methodist) Foundation Board of Visitors and the Philosophical Society of Texas. He was appointed to the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy under President Clinton. He is married to the former Annette Lorraine Grossman, and they have two children, Jacqueline and Jenna.