MSC Fall Leadership Conference is dedicated to hosting experienced leaders who can provide diverse backgrounds and experiences to our delegates. As our speaker slate is booked for the 73rd Annual MSC Fall Leadership Conference, we will be sharing their information here. Please enjoy reading about our current speakers and keep an eye out for additions over the course of the summer!
CAPT(ret) Jenn Donahue, PhD, PE, PMP ’95
Jenn Donahue PhD, Class of ’95, is an author, retired US Navy Captain and former Commodore for an 1,800 personnel Regiment. She is also a civil engineer who works on large scale, high profile projects. Over her 27-year military career, Jenn has built a bridge across the Euphrates River in the midst of the Iraq war, commanded an 800-personnel Battalion in Afghanistan, and constructed combat outposts in the middle of deserts filled with insurgents.
Jenn passionately helps others overcome the obstacles that prevent them from achieving their grandest dreams and most ambitious goals. Today, Jenn is the Founder of JL Donahue Engineering, Inc. and Dare to Rise. She also lectures at UC Berkeley, UCLA, Virginia Tech, and CalPoly.
Dr. Frank B. Ashley III
Frank Ashley served as the Executive Associate Dean of the Bush School from 2016-2023 and as Interim Dean from 2023-2024. Before coming to the Bush Schol, Ashley served as a Senior Vice President for the College Board Corporation in New York. In his 40+ years in education, Ashley has served in a variety of roles, including teacher, coach and administrator.
After completing eighteen years of service at Texas A&M-College Station as a faculty member, Division Chair, Associate Dean, and Director of Admissions, Ashley transitioned to another A&M System School, Texas A&M-Commerce, as Dean of The College of Education. During his tenure he was very active in the surrounding school districts speaking to administrators, teachers, and students about the importance of education. Along with his work at the university, he served on the Commerce ISD School Board and in 2006 he received “The Citizen of the Year Award” given by the Delta XI Chapter, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. The following year Ashley received the “Distinguished Service Award” from the Faculty Senate of Texas A&M University- Commerce.
After three years in Commerce, Ashley returned to College Station as vice chancellor of academic affairs and later as vice chancellor for recruitment and diversity for the A&M System. His responsibilities included advising the Chancellor and Regents on academic and diversity issues across the System. For his service, he was awarded the title of Vice Chancellor Emeritus.
Ashley received his degrees from Louisiana College and The University of Alabama. He has numerous publications and presentations and is invited to present nationally and internationally. He is an Distinguish Alumni of Louisiana College and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from his alma mater in May 2023. In March 2022 Ashley was inducted into the University of Alabama College Of Education Hall of Fame and in 2024 he was named as a Millenium Scholar by the University of Alabama Graduate School. He and his wife Janice have two children, Frank IV and Elizabeth.
Col. (R) Michael D. Reilly, USMC ‘94
Col Reilly is a 1994 graduate of Texas A&M University and 29-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served in a wide variety of leadership positions from the national to tactical levels and across all three Marine Expeditionary Forces and the intelligence community.
Col Reilly served as a commanding officer at every level in the Marine Corps; from platoon to installation. Specifically, he commanded rifle and 81mm mortar platoons with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment; Company H, Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion; 3rd Intelligence Battalion; and the Combined Arms Training Center at Camp Fuji, Japan.
Col Reilly held staff positions in 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment; III MEF G-2; II MEF G-2; and 2nd MEB G-2. He additionally served in the Defense Intelligence Agency (Joint Staff J-2), the National Security Agency, and in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command J3/5.
Col Reilly and his family lived in Japan for seven years and he deployed seven times; including two foreign humanitarian support operations and two combat deployments to Afghanistan.
Col Reilly completed his 29-year military career by serving as the Commanding Officer and Professor of Naval Science, NROTC Unit Texas A&M University and now serves as an Associate Professor of the Practice at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service.
Regent Kelley Sullivan Georgiades ’92
Kelley Sullivan Georgiades is a 1992 graduate of Texas A&M University with a B.A. in Communications. She is also a graduate of the TCU Ranch Management Program and, along with her father, was the owner and operator of Santa Rosa Ranch, the largest registered breeder of Brangus and Ultrablack cattle in the United States, when they sold the registered division in 2021. Today, Mrs. Georgiades continues to operate the Santa Rosa Ranch commercial division in Navasota, while she and her husband, George Georgiades ’83, own and operate GKG Land & Cattle, a commercial cow/calf, stocker and equine operation, near Millican. She began her career with an Aggie-owned marketing firm and then transitioned to Johnson & Johnson, where she worked in healthcare system sales. Kelley then joined her three brothers as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Sullivan Brothers Family of Companies (SBFOC). Following the sale of the ranch, her brothers asked her to rejoin SBFOC, where she currently serves as Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives.
Kelley served on the Texas Beef Council as chair of the Marketing Committee, commissioner for the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Board of Directors as chair of Membership Development, and the International Trade and Marketing Committee for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. She has held various appointments at Texas A&M: Board of Visitors, Texas A&M University-Galveston; Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET); Advancement Board member, Texas A&M University Press; Chairman, Vice Chancellor’s Forum for Excellence in Pregnancy and Developmental Programming, and Department of Animal Science Advisory Council. She also serves on the board for the University of Texas Medical Branch Development Council and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Committee. Kelley has been involved with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension as a graduate of TALL (Texas Agriculture Lifetime Leadership) and has worked to execute various educational seminars. She was honored as “Man of the Year” in 2018 by the Texas County Agricultural Agents Association.
Mrs. Georgiades has traveled to several South American countries, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and China on behalf of the U.S. Meat Export Federation to study the agriculture production systems of the largest importers of U.S. beef. She has been active in Washington D.C. and testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee to highlight the need to pursue bilateral trade agreements with the agriculture industry’s largest trading partners; appeared before the U.S. International Trade Commission, offering a producer’s perspective on the newly-approved U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement; and provided testimony to the U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on International Trade about the state of the U.S. Livestock Industry.
Kelley is a native Galvestonian (BOI) and the daughter of Gerald ’67 and Susanne Sullivan, the eldest of their five children and aunt of fourteen nieces and nephews. She was honored as “Woman of the Year” in 2019 by the Galveston Regional Chamber of Commerce, based upon her accomplishments in the agriculture industry and setting an example for younger generations.
Mrs. Georgiades was appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor Abbott in 2025. She serves as a member of the Committee on Academic and Student Affairs, the Committee on Finance, and the Committee on Research. Her term expires on February 1, 2031.
Blake D. Petty ’98
Blake Petty serves as Executive Director of Texas A&M University’s McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship, where he leads the university’s efforts to create a supportive environment and culture for innovation and entrepreneurship across all classifications and all disciplines of study. Mr. Petty is responsible for more than 30 annual programs and experiential activities for over 5000 student and non-student entrepreneurs from across the U.S. & internationally.
A Certified Incubator Manager, Petty co-founded Texas A&M’s first student business incubator in 2012 and has since supported the launch of hundreds of companies. He also co-founded the Aggie Angel Network, a membership of private investors making seed-stage investments into technology startups.
Since 2014, Mr. Petty has served as a National Lead Instructor in the NSF’s I-CorpsTM Program, training university researchers on deep-tech commercialization practices. He concurrently teaches 4 graduate-level courses in entrepreneurship in both the Mays Business School & College of Engineering at Texas A&M.
As an Aggie entrepreneur & educator with 25 years of startup experience and more than 12 years in the classroom, his passion solidly lies in teaching, leading & serving others throughout the various stages of their entrepreneurial journey, and his mission is to support sustainable growth of the Aggie Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.