SMU Cox bestows honors on five alumni

Cox School of Business honors five alumni for achievements and community service.

SMU Cox School of Business

DALLAS (SMU) —The SMU Cox School of Business honored five alumni at the school’s annual Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni Awards Luncheon on Friday, May 15.  

Cox Distinguished Alumni: (l. to r.) Kyle Miller, Stephen Arata, Thaddeus Arroyo, Kim Butler and John Relton.(l. to r.) Kyle Miller, Stephen Arata, Thaddeus Arroyo, Kim Butler and John Relton.

Three Distinguished Alumni Awards and two Outstanding Young Alumni Awards were presented at the luncheon ceremony in the Collins Executive Center on the SMU campus.  Nominations for the honor are submitted to the SMU Cox Alumni Association and honorees are selected by a selection committee.

This year’s Distinguished Alumni honorees are: Stephen Arata, BBA ’88; Thaddeus Arroyo, MBA ’89; and Kim Butler, MBA ’88. Outstanding Young Alumni honorees are: Kyle Miller, BBA ’01 and John Relton, BBA ’00.

Stephen Arata, BBA’88, became CEO of Caiman Energy on April 1 this year, after having joined the company as CEO in 2010.  He previously served for five years as CFO for Regency Energy Partners for five years and earlier worked with UBS Investment Bank in Dallas and London.  He holds both a Bachelor of Arts in English from SMU and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from SMU Cox. 

Thaddeus Arroyo, MBA ’89, is the CEO of AT&T Mexico, which provides wireless service under the Iusacell, Nextel and Unefon brand names in Mexico. Arroyo was appointed as CEO in January of this year after having previously served AT&T as president of technology development and before that as CIO. Prior to joining AT&T, Arroyo was CIO at Cingular Wireless. He remains active with SMU Cox as a member of the school’s Executive Board, and holds leadership roles with various industry and professional organizations.

Kim Butler, MBA ’88, is the director of leasing for Hall Financial. She oversees all of the company’s leasing and is a top producer in the Dallas brokerage market. Previously, she was responsible for the Dallas region for two national companies at different times: Transwestern and Koll Management Services.  Butler was honored earlier this year by the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors with the Stemmons Service Award, the highest honor bestowed by the area’s commercial real estate brokerage business.  She graduated third in her class when she earned her MBA from SMU Cox in 1988.

Kyle Miller serves as the president and CEO of private oil and gas company Silver Hill Energy Partners, LLC, which he founded in 2011.  Prior to founding Silver Hill, he was principal and senior vice president of Energy Trust Partners.  He also previously served as vice president of Energy Spectrum Advisors.  He holds leadership positions in a number of energy industry organizations. Miller, who completed his BBA in Finance in 2001, is a member of SMU’s 21st Century Council, and is a member of the SMU Mustang Club Board of Directors. 

John Relton is the managing director of Strait Capital Company, Ltd., which he founded in 2007.  Previously, he served as chief financial and compliance officer for a Dallas-based hedge fund complex, and began his career with KPMG.  He is active on boards in the Dallas arts community and serves on the SMU Cox Accounting Alumni and Professional Advisory Board.  In 2014, Relton was named as one of the Dallas Business Journal’s “40 Under 40,” and was also listed among the “Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business” by the Asian American Business Development Center in New York.  He completed his BBA in Accounting at SMU Cox and earned his Master of Science in Accounting at SMU Cox the following year.

SMU Cox Distinguished Alumni must hold: an undergraduate or graduate degree from SMU; a position of distinction in the business community; demonstrate outstanding career success; and be active civic leaders and community partners.  Those recognized as SMU Cox Outstanding Young Alumni must meet the same criteria, but can be no more than 40 years of age at the time of the awards luncheon. Nominations for either honor may be sent to Kevin Knox, assistant dean of external relations and executive director of the SMU Cox Alumni Association at kknox@cox.smu.edu.

About SMU Cox

SMU Cox School of BusinessThe Cox School of Business (cox.smu.edu), originally established in Dallas in 1920 on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and was named in honor of benefactor Edwin L. Cox in 1978. SMU Cox offers a full range of highly-ranked undergraduate and graduate business education programs:  BBA, Full-Time MBA, Fast Track MBA, Professional MBA (PMBA), Executive MBA (EMBA), JD/MBA, MA/MBA, Master of Science (MS) in Accounting, MS in Business Analytics, MS in Finance, MS in Management, MS in Sport Management, as well as Executive Education and multiple certificate programs. The school also offers a number of unique resources and activities for students, including the Business Leadership Center (BLC); the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship; the Folsom Institute for Real Estate; the Maguire Energy Institute; the Global Leadership Program; and the Associate Board Executive Mentoring Program, as well as an international alumni network with chapters in more than 20 countries.

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