For 50 years, Texas Christian University has been training some of . . . The Best Ranch Managers in the Business

Cattleman, The, May 2006 by Wagner, Susan

Later he joined Oppenheimer Industries in Kansas City as assistant vice president and manager of the ranch management department. He was responsible for nine client-owned ranches in six states, totaling more than a million acres, 18,500 cows and several thousand stocker cattle.

His experience in many phases of ranching in numerous geographic locations in the United States made him made him a natural choice for the Ranch Management Program. Merrill recruited him as an instructor in 1976.

He later served as associate director and was appointed director in June 1994. Link spent a total of 29 years with the program, 11 of them as director. He resigned in October 2005 to become head of USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration in Washington, D.C.

While Link was director, TCU formed the Institute of Ranch Management in 1998 to provide continuing education through special projects, seminars, field studies and international travel.

In 2004, TCU began offering a four-year bachelor of science degree in ranch management through the College of Science and Engineering. The bachelor's degree requires students to minor in business.

When Link resigned, Bryan C. Vasseur was named interim director. He's been with the program since 2001.

Vasseur grew up on his family's cattle operation in Central Oklahoma and earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University. He also holds a certificate of Ranch Management and a master's degree in business administration from TCU.

After graduating from TCU, he managed ranches and stocker cattle for National Farms Inc. in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and later worked as a market analyst for Denver-based CattleFax.

Kerry L. Cornelius is the current associate director. He grew up in Fort Worth, earned undergraduate and master's degrees from Tarleton State University and a certificate of Ranch Management from TCU.

After graduating he managed the LaFuente Ranch outside of Covington, Texas, and later joined Burnett Ranches, Ltd. 6666, where he was foreman of the Brazos division near Weatherford, Texas.

Cornelius and his family run a stocker operation in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. He's been on the Ranch Management staff since 1995.

Jeffery C. Geider, assistant director of the program, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees and a certificate in Ranch Management from TCU.

After graduation, he became assistant manager of a diversified cow-calf, stocker and sheep operation in Southwest Texas. Later he pursued his interest in marketing and price discovery as a market analyst for Cattle-Fax.

From there he accepted a position with a large Wall Street investment firm as a financial consultant specializing in institutional marketing and risk management.

He moved back to Fort Worth where he joined Texas Livestock Marketing Association and later became a partner in an independent brokerage company.

The extensive hands-on experience of these instructors and the education they provide are exactly what founders envisioned. Today the program is still funded, formed and supported by the industry it serves.