Newsletter August 2026

From the Resolute Keyboard

Every once in a while, something comes into the chapter that makes me rethink how much Project Worldwide can become. Tejiendo Alianzas is one of those things.

The more I learn about Richard Hanson’s work and the relationships he has built over many years with communities in Oaxaca, the more impressed I am. There is depth, patience, education, technology, culture, and a very human understanding of what long-term collaboration looks like. I am genuinely in awe of what they have built, and very happy to welcome Tejiendo Alianzas into our year-long Project Worldwide effort. I hope many of you will get involved as we begin discovering what our chapter can contribute.

I am equally proud of how our educational programming is growing.

This Tuesday we begin our new Narradores del Siglo XX course, in Spanish, another opportunity to discover literature through guided conversation rather than simply reading alone. If you have been curious about joining one of our ateliers, this is a great place to start. You do not need to be a literature expert. Curiosity, a willingness to read, and a couple of hours to talk about ideas are enough.

Then, on Wednesday, August 26, we begin a new experiment: Art & Literature, our first course in English. We will travel from medieval bestiaries, mythology, and Gothic architecture through humanism and into the Renaissance in Italy and France, connecting history with the way societies expressed themselves through stories, buildings, images, and fantastic creatures. I really hope this experiment succeeds.

And all this brings me to something important.

We want you.

Over the past year, much of the chapter’s basic administration has been organized and automated. That means our biggest limitation now is no longer process. It is people.

We need volunteers for newsletter production, event organization, relationships with Texas Exes, connections with UT and its different schools, Special Interest Groups, Project Worldwide, communications, and plenty of things we have already identified.

Some roles can begin with fewer than five hours per month. At this stage, almost any serious contribution can become useful very quickly.

If you have been wondering how to become more involved, write to me. We are ready for you.

And finally, football is almost here. I cannot wait for September 5, but I will leave that excitement to Carlos and his Hook’em section.

 

José Antonio “Toño” Pedraza
President | Texas Exes Mexico City Chapter
Texas Exes | Life Member

Breakfast Brief: A Morning of Negotiation, Creative Thinking, and Longhorn Connections

By the Courtney Link.

A good negotiation exercise can quickly change the energy in a room, and that was certainly the case at our August breakfast.

On Friday, August 7, Texas Exes Mexico City welcomed Dr. Gaylen Paulson, Associate Dean and Executive Director of Texas Executive Education at the McCombs School of Business, for a special breakfast at Restaurante Campo Marte.

Dr. Paulson was joined by me, Courtney Link, Director of Custom Programs for Texas Executive Education, and together they gave the group a look at how McCombs works with executives, professionals, and organizations through executive education. The conversation offered alumni a chance to learn more about what is happening at McCombs while also exploring opportunities to build stronger connections between UT Austin and the business community in Mexico.

Then Dr. Paulson put the Longhorns to work.

Rather than simply talking about negotiation, he led the group through an interactive negotiation case. The exercise challenged participants to look beyond the obvious positions on the table, think creatively about what each side actually needed, and find ways to solve problems together.

It made for a lively morning. Alumni had the chance to negotiate with one another, compare approaches, and see firsthand how a shift in perspective can open up possibilities that may not be apparent at the start of a conversation.

The session was especially relevant for a community that includes leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, academics, and professionals working across industries and across borders. It was also exactly what our monthly breakfasts are meant to provide: an opportunity to learn something useful while reconnecting with fellow Longhorns and welcoming new faces into the community.

Thank you to Dr. Paulson for spending the morning with us, and to everyone who joined us at Campo Marte.

Don’t Miss It

Hook’em: The countdown is on

By the Carlos Díaz.

Texas football is almost here, and there is already plenty to argue about before the first snap. The Longhorns open the season ranked No. 5 in the AP poll after finishing No. 13 in last year’s final College Football Playoff rankings and missing the 12-team field. Arch Manning is back after leading Texas to a 10-3 season, and Steve Sarkisian has added serious help around him.

The transfer portal brought wide receiver Cam Coleman from Auburn and a new one-two punch at running back in Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers. On defense, Will Muschamp is back in Austin as defensive coordinator, with Pitt transfer Rasheem Biles joining a unit that also features Colin Simmons. Coleman, Manning, Biles and Simmons all landed on the Walter Camp preseason Player of the Year watch list, so expectations are not exactly modest.

Neither is the schedule. Texas has already sold out all seven home games at DKR, and seven opponents appear in the preseason AP Top 25. For me, four dates jump out immediately:
 

Sept. 5: Texas State, 1:30 p.m.
Sept. 12: No. 1 Ohio State, 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 10: Oklahoma in Dallas, 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 27: at Texas A&M, 5:30 p.m.

And while football has most of our attention, burnt orange showed up at the World Cup too. Cockrell alumnus Ismail Elfath officiated the England-Argentina semifinal, his fourth match of the tournament. McCombs alumnus Will Acheampong, BBA ’21, spent the summer working behind the scenes as a strategist with the U.S. Soccer Federation, helping turn World Cup momentum into longer-term growth for the sport.

For those of us watching from Mexico City, the easiest part of the schedule is deciding where to be. We have watch parties lined up at PG Warehouse Polanco throughout the season. Reserve your spot, wear burnt orange, and come help us make some noise.

Hook ’em!

Horns & Hobbies: Looking at the Middle Ages Differently

By Claudia de la Piedra

Many people think the Middle Ages are boring. I suspect that sometimes this comes simply from not knowing how rich and strange the period really was.

That is one reason I am so excited about our new Art and Literature course. The Middle Ages represent an essential period in human history, but we will approach them from a less conventional perspective. We will look at the convergence of magical thinking with religious, economic, political, and social change, and use that combination to uncover symbolism and cultural syncretism that helped shape European identity.

Medieval and Renaissance Europe emerged from the interaction of many traditions: the so-called barbarian peoples, the Greco-Roman inheritance, Christianity, and Islam. Once these worlds begin to overlap, the picture becomes much more complex. Life could look completely different depending on whether we were in East or West, and also depending on a person’s social position.

Understanding those differences helps us understand our own history and build a richer collective historical memory.

What attracts me especially to this subject is mythology.

Myths allow us to question what we cannot fully explain, from our origins to our reason for being in the world. Nature, death, destiny, and everything outside our control have always created questions that human beings cannot easily answer.

Mythology opens a small window into those questions through fiction, symbols, images, and fantastic creatures.

A myth can be epic, allegorical, moral, frightening, or simply entertaining. Yet beneath the story there is almost always a question about human beings themselves: what we fear, what we desire, how we understand the world, and where we believe we belong within it.

That is what I hope we can explore together in this course. By connecting mythology with literature, architecture, art, history, and the societies that created them, we can look at the Middle Ages and Renaissance with very different eyes.

And perhaps discover that they were never boring at all.

Know Your Longhorn: Patrick Hendrix Arellano

By the Editorial Staff.

This month’s Know Your Longhorn features Patrick Hendrix Arellano, a 2002 UT Austin alum whose career has taken him through a remarkable variety of organizations and countries around the world, in no small part thanks to the preparation he received at UT Austin.

Patrick earned his Bachelor of Arts from The University of Texas at Austin, double majoring in Government and Honors Economics, with minors in Computer Science and Spanish. He also graduated from the Archer Fellowship Program in Washington, D.C., through the University of Texas System’s Archer Center.

Patrick has built his career in transfer pricing and international tax, advising companies across a wide range of industries and jurisdictions. Over nearly two decades with Big Four firms, he has worked in Mexico, China, Singapore, Sweden, and Belgium, serving clients ranging from growing local businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Much of his work has focused on the financial side of transfer pricing, including intercompany loans, interest-rate planning, and credit analysis.

Patrick was also a key member of the tax start-up Consulta Group, which recently joined the Russell Bedford network, where he now serves as a Director. In one recent highlight, his team beat out a Big Four firm to design a full array of risk premiums for the intercompany loans of one of Mexico’s largest mining groups. Alongside growing his client portfolio, he also conducts comparative market analysis for a U.S. real estate investment company.

Patrick’s path has reached well beyond tax. Early in his career, he worked for the United Nations Information Centre in Washington, D.C. He later volunteered with Ashoka, the global network supporting social entrepreneurs, and has co-authored published work on transfer pricing, including the Mexico chapter of an IBFD book on intra-group financing.

Outside work, Patrick enjoys reading, functional fitness, volunteering, particularly for animal welfare causes, and yoga. He recently completed a 200-hour certification at Mukta Yoga in Mexico City. He is also working on a science fiction novel of, in his own words, “dubious merit” for a well-known nerdy IP.

Patrick is also reconnecting with the University and the Mexico City Chapter🤘 He is working with the Archer Center to launch a series of online town halls for Archer Center alumni and has recently taken on the administration of the chapter’s Instagram account.

It is always great to see our alumni reconnect with UT and with the chapter.

Hook’em, Patrick!

Project Worldwide

By Richard Hanson

I first traveled to Oaxaca in 2007, shortly after finishing my MPAff/MA at UT Austin. My brother had started a project connecting local artisans with design students, and I wanted to see the work firsthand.

That trip changed the direction of my life.

In Oaxaca I met Sarahi Garcia, a Zapotec artisan who had originally participated in the program with her family and later stepped up to coordinate it. Sarahi and I shared a deep interest in Indigenous cultures and traditions, and together we began developing an intercultural education project for young people, with support from the Alfredo Harp Helú Foundation.

Over four years, that work evolved into a youth life-planning program. Again and again, we encountered the same painful reality: families were being separated by forced migration because parents and young people simply could not find viable economic opportunities at home.

We wanted to help build another option.

Sarahi later studied law to strengthen her ability to serve and defend Indigenous communities, and in 2017 we co-founded Tejiendo Alianzas A.C. Our work has focused on helping community cooperatives create and protect jobs, increase artisan income, innovate while preserving traditions, and reach higher-value markets.

Universities became an important part of that model. Over the years we have worked with UT Austin’s Cockrell School, McCombs, and School of Social Work, as well as UT Dallas, MIT, Texas A&M, IPN, and Universidad Anáhuac Oaxaca. Those collaborations have brought students, faculty, technology, research, and new ideas directly into community-led projects.

Eventually, however, we realized that even strong grassroots businesses reach a limit when communities lack reliable energy, water, healthy soil, and other basic infrastructure.

That realization led us to create Weaving Partnerships, an Austin-based nonprofit designed to connect university research, corporate social responsibility, and global networks with long-term community needs.

Today, our goal is broader: combine renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and social enterprise so families can build prosperous futures in their own communities.

For me, this work has always been about one thing: helping create the conditions for people to choose to stay, build, and thrive at home.

Meanwhile in Austin: Alright, Alright, Alright... Now He Has a Cinema

By Carlos Díaz

Austin has found another way to honor one of its most recognizable Longhorns.

On August 10, Alamo Drafthouse officially renamed its Mueller location the Matthew McConaughey Cinema, celebrating the Academy Award-winning actor, UT Austin alumnus, professor, and longtime ambassador for both the University and the city.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson joined the celebration and proclaimed the date “Matthew McConaughey Cinema Day.” The new name was made official with the unveiling of a plaque featuring McConaughey as David Wooderson, the character from Dazed and Confused that launched him into the cultural imagination.

The evening was appropriately McConaughey. His family joined him, cocktails featuring his Pantalones Tequila were served, and guests received an advance screening of his new film, The Rivals of Amziah King, followed by a conversation with McConaughey, director Andrew Patterson, and co-star Angelina LookingGlass. He even joined musicians from the film for a performance afterward.

There is something particularly fitting about the location. McConaughey’s relationship with Austin cinema goes back more than three decades. A chance meeting with a casting director at an Austin bar helped him land his breakthrough role in the 1993 cult classic Dazed and Confused. He went on to win an Academy Award, but never really separated himself from Austin or UT.

He earned his degree from UT in 1993, became a Texas Exes Distinguished Alumnus in 2014, and today serves as a Professor of Practice at Moody College of Communication. He is also one of the University’s most visible and enthusiastic supporters.

The renamed cinema places him alongside filmmakers and performers including Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, Bong Joon Ho, and Pam Grier, who also have Alamo Drafthouse theaters named in their honor.

For Longhorns, it feels particularly appropriate. Few alumni have made Austin such an inseparable part of their public identity.

And now, apparently, you can even go watch a movie inside his.

Meanwhile in Mexico: When Security and Investment Strategies Collide

By Mauricio Jaramillo Reyes

One of the most important risks facing the U.S.-Mexico economic relationship comes from a basic difference in priorities.

The U.S. strategy for 2026 places strong emphasis on security: disrupting illicit supply chains, tightening controls on chemical precursors, increasing scrutiny of cross-border financial flows, and applying greater pressure to the networks that support organized crime.

Mexico’s Plan México approaches the challenge from another direction. Its focus is economic growth, productive investment, infrastructure, energy sovereignty, technological development, and the creation of better regional opportunities.

Both objectives matter, but their interaction can create very real friction for companies and investors.

The first is logistical. More exhaustive border inspections intended to stop illegal supply chains can also function as de facto trade barriers, slowing the connectivity that nearshoring depends on.

The second is compliance. Increased U.S. scrutiny of unusual financial structures can require companies operating in Mexico to invest considerably more in due diligence, documentation, legal controls, and transparency.

The third is risk itself. Mexico wants to direct investment toward new development regions, but persistent security concerns and scrutiny from Washington can increase insurance premiums and make international financing more difficult in precisely the areas seeking new capital.

For investors, the answer is not to retreat from Mexico. It is to become more deliberate about how projects are structured.

Companies need stronger due diligence throughout their supply chains, transportation networks, financial relationships, and local partners. Capital allocation should also consider the resilience of logistics corridors and the degree to which a project may be exposed to future political or border disruptions.

As the USMCA review approaches, these questions will become even more relevant. The future of North American integration will depend on finding ways to reconcile security, investment, competitiveness, and regional development.

Mauricio Jaramillo Reyes is President for Mexico of the Texas-European Chamber of Commerce and will join us at our next chapter breakfast to continue this conversation, including the USMCA review, new industries, geopolitics, and the emergence of a new North American region. We hope you’ll join us.

Bring’em Back

how to

Our chapter gets stronger every time a Longhorn finds their way back in. If you know a UT friend who has gone a little off the radar, bring them back.

The easiest way is to use the “Invite a Friend” option after registering for any Luma event. 

And yes, we are keeping score:

  • 1 point for every new person you bring back through the "Invite a Friend" option
  • 💸 1 point = 20% off any chapter event
  • 🎁 3 points = one free breakfast
  • 🤘 More points = official Co-op merch straight from Austin

When someone joins through your Luma invite link, we can see who brought them in, so every successful comeback counts. You can also send them straight to our official chapter registry at https://bit.ly/texasexescdmx

Let’s #BringEmBack together, one Longhorn at a time.

Click Here

Subscribe to our Luma calendar. If you received this newsletter by email, you are already subscribed. If not, click here and hit Subscribe.

Join the official Texas Exes Mexico City registry. Register at https://bit.ly/texasexescdmx to become an official chapter member. This will also subscribe you to the calendar, so it is the easiest one-stop shop.

The above already complicated? New to the chapter? Start with The Guide. We have an official chapter guide to help you get oriented. Click here.

Visit The Official Texas Exes website. Check out the main Texas Exes Mexico City Chapter home page here.

Questions, comments, or feedback? Email us at mexicocitychapter@texasexes.org

Previous issues: May 2026, June 2026, July 2026 (all previous issues)