Left to right, business college Dean Rama Yelkur, BuzzBallz founder and CEO Merrilee Kick, and TWU Chancellor Carine Feyten. Photo courtesy of TWU.
Texas Woman’s University has reason to cheer. It received a record $30 million gift to support its college of business from teacher-turned-entrepreneur Merrilee Kick, a TWU alumna who is founder and CEO of mega-beverage company BuzzBallz.
“This gift affords us an opportunity to shine a huge light on the innovation and business acumen women bring to the table in our globally competitive economy,” stated Texas Woman’s Chancellor Carine Feyten in a recent press release. “I am doubly pleased that this extraordinary gift comes from Merrilee, a shining example of our pioneering spirit and an alumna who has risen to the level of entrepreneurial titan.”
The gift will fund an institute focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, an endowed chair, and an entrepreneur-in-residence program, each of which will also bear Kick’s name, the release stated. The gift also fast-tracks plans to construct a new building for the college.
“The Merrilee Alexander Kick College of Business and Entrepreneurship will undoubtedly add greater value and visibility, significantly amplifying our mission and impact on the future of business education,” stated Dean Rama Yelkur.
The gift is the single largest ever given to the university and comes a little more than a year after the Dallas-based Doswell Foundation gave a then-record gift of $15 million to the university to establish an aviation program, which begins classes this fall.
Kick’s $30 million gift also pushed the university over its Dream Big comprehensive campaign goal of $125 million nearly two years before it is scheduled to end, the release stated. TWU now plans to focus on securing support for high-priority initiatives, including health sciences, athletics and the Dallas campus expansion.
A former teacher at Plano West Senior High School, Kick earned her master’s in business administration in 2009 from TWU. Her master’s degree thesis was the basis for the business plan that led to the creation of Carrollton-based BuzzBallz/Southern Champion, which became the only woman-owned distillery/winery/brewery combo in the United States when it launched later that year.
“My MBA from TWU enabled me to write a solid business plan for what became BuzzBallz, a billion-dollar company,” Kick stated in the release. “As a former educator and child of educators, teaching the next generation is important for our future. As my parents said, ‘A good teacher makes a difference.’ I have had some good teachers — and parents — who really cared about me and my success, and I am committed to make that happen for others, to make the world a better place.”
BuzzBallz eventually grew into a thriving business, largely on the success of its sphere-shaped shatter-resistant containers, which became a signature of the company’s pre-mixed cocktail product line.
Kick sold the company in May to Louisiana-based Sazerac, the world’s largest privately held spirits company, and remains BuzzBallz CEO.