JUST IN: Merrilee Kick’s thesis led to $30 million donation to TWU’s business college

If there was ever an inspiration for an education, Texas Woman’s University (TWU) Alumna Merrilee Kick is it.

While earning her MBA at TWU’s business college in Denton in 2009, Merrilee wrote her senior thesis, which eventually became the business plan for her Carrollton-based company, Buzzballz/Southern Champion. The company “became the only woman-owned distillery/winery/brewery combination in the U.S. when it debuted the brand’s signature spherical, shatter-proof, premixed cocktails later that year.”

Fast forward a decade and a half to this March. The world’s largest privately held spirits producer, Louisiana-based Sazerac, announced it would buy BuzzBallz for an undisclosed amount and wisely keep Merrilee as CEO.

As parents and children made their way to the school last night to meet their teachers for the coming year, a small private dinner was held where Merrilee’s just announced $30 million donation to the TWU Business College was the topic of the evening.

Merrilee, a former teacher at Plano West High School, says, “My MBA from TWU enabled me to write a solid business plan for what became BuzzBallz, a billion-dollar company. As a former educator and child of educators, educating the next generation is important for our future. As my parents said, ‘A good teacher makes all the difference.’ I had some good teachers – and parents – who really cared about me and my success, and I’m determined to make that possible for others as well, to make the world a better place.”

As she explained to the Carrollton Leader’s last year Arianna Morrison“It was part of my master’s thesis at Texas Woman’s University. I wanted to start a company that would survive in good times and bad, including during the recession of 2008 and 2009. Alcohol always does well. So I used it as a final project for my MBA and then put it into action.”

Even during the “bad times” of COVID, Merrilee overcame the challenges with her entrepreneurial spirit, as she told Canvas Rebel: “During COVID, we knew that if we closed, we wouldn’t be able to pay people and keep the business afloat. I didn’t know if we would be considered ‘essential’ and allowed to stay open. So we decided to learn how to make hand sanitizer because if we’re doing something essential for health, we might as well make products. So we made 18,000 gallons of hand sanitizer and distributed it to frontline workers. We also started an elementary school for my employees’ children so they could go to school virtually while their parents worked.”

Merrilee’s record-breaking $30 million gift to the university will focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, an endowed chair and an entrepreneur-in-residence program, and will also accelerate plans to build a new building for the college.

TWU Chancellor Carine Feyten said, “This gift gives us the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the innovation and business acumen that women bring to our globally competitive economy. 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 become a titan of the entrepreneurial world.”

Thanks to Merrile’s generosity and the Dallas-based Doswell Foundation’s previous $15 million donation to establish an aviation program, TWU’s Dream Big comprehensive campaign goal of $125 million was reached nearly two years ahead of schedule. But TWU’s dreams are even bigger: They are focused “on securing support for high-priority initiatives, including health sciences, athletics and the expansion of the Dallas campus.”

Today, the TWU Board of Regents approved renaming the school’s business school the Merrilee Alexander Kick College Of Business And Entrepreneurship in honor of Merrilee.

In response to Merrile’s gift, TWU Business College Dean Rama Yelkur said, “I am deeply moved by Merrilee Kick’s extraordinary generosity in making this donation and am delighted that she shares our vision to elevate the business school by educating women in business and entrepreneurship. The Merrilee Alexander Kick College of Business and Entrepreneurship will undoubtedly create greater value and visibility and significantly enhance our mission and impact on the future of business education.”

* Photo credit: Leo Gonzalez