Tim Culp is the President, CEO and Owner of Southwest Royal-ties, Inc. and Desert Production, Inc. He is a 1981 graduate of Tech, with a degree in accounting and currently lives in in Mid-land, TX, with His wife, Annette, and three of his four children also graduated from Tech. Culp is the chairman of the Texas Tech Foundation Board and the First Methodist Church of Midland executive team. He is a member and former board of director of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and former member of the Texas Society of CPAs and the American Society of CPAs. Tim was recently appointed to the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents.
What made you choose to attend Texas Tech University?
My dad went to Texas Tech and the school is about100 miles from where I was raised in Andrews, Texas. Tech was always on my list of universities to attend, and I’ve had a strong love and passion for Tech my entire life. I was the first one in my family involved in the Greek system and I always knew I wanted to bein a fraternity to build lifelong relationships. A good friend of mine from Andrews was a Pike and he rushed me and strongly encouraged me to be a Pike. I’m so glad I did.
What influence did PIKE have on your success?
When I joined PIKE, I wanted to be in a leadership role and felt that I had some qualities that could help. My first leadership role in the fraternity was pledge chairman. I later became social chairman and then President my junior year. I had a part time job, I was president, and I was working towards my accounting degree so the organizational skills it taught me during that very busy time were second to none. I didn’t have a lot of free time, so I had to stay organized, focused and on task. Our chapter had over 100 actives and 30-40 new members…so to lead that many people I had to stay on top of my responsibilities. My time was valuable, I had to make use of every spare moment to make sure I didn’t get behind on my academics, fraternity, or work. Those same leadership and organizational skills have had a tremendous impact on my 40+ year professional life.
What advice do you have for young Pikes?
One of the strongest attributes a young Pike could have is work ethic. You’ve got to maintain a strong work ethic to turn heads, to impress your colleagues and your bosses. I think it starts with work ethic but then moves to personal traits. Personality…being able to get along with people is a very strong attribute. When we hire people in our office, we’re not necessarily looking for candidates with a 4.0 GPA. We’re looking for someone who has good grades, that is dedicated to their work and academics AND can get along with people. We put more emphasis on personal traits. Now, we aren’t going to hire someone with a 1.0 GPA…we’re looking for someone who can carry both of those qualities. It starts with hard work, dedication, loyalty, and being committed to whatever cause you are in.
With your appointment as a Texas Tech University Regent, do you have specific goals?
Yes, I have several goals. The cost of higher education has gotten so expensive over the last 20-30 years that it’s becoming a burden to college graduates. Some are carrying significant debt and it’s a burden on them after they graduate. I want to find additional scholarships and grants so graduates can reduce, or eliminate, their debt as much as possible. I worked full time in the summers in the oil fields of West Texas and worked part time during the school year to pay for my college education. The cost of my education was around $25,000 for all 4 years and it’s 4 to 5 times higher to get a degree at a public university in today’s world. I want to find a way to help these students without them having to work 50 hours a week to pay for college. That would be a primary goal. Another goal: The state of Texas has significant higher education funding and also has a large budget surplus, and Texas Tech has benefitted from some of this funding. Our leadership has met with Texas legislators to try to get additional funding for Texas Tech and other public universities in Texas. The allocation of funds for higher education in the state continues to get smaller each year. Texas Tech and all public universities should benefit from the state’s surplus in 2023. A third goal would be to increase and continue the partnership between the Midland/Odessa area and Texas Tech. I live in Midland, Texas (about 100 miles south of Texas Tech) and our sister city is Odessa. Texas Tech has many events in this area as well as many medical facilities, including a nursing school and physician’s assistant school. I want to continue enhancing and pursuing this partnership between Texas Tech and our region.
What do you want to see fraternities do more of?
I think it’s always important for fraternities to engage in community service. When I was at Tech, we had a fair amount of community service but probably not as much as we needed to. Service is so important to build trust and relationships with the community, community leaders, and charitable organizations. You need to pick one or two charities to help. These organizations are working on a shoe-string budget and they need that help that fraternities can provide. In addition, fraternities need to build relationships with university leadership. Get to know your chancellor, your college president, your department heads, your provosts. These relationships are so important in building trust between the Greek system and the universities.
More About Tim:
Tim Culp is a 1981 graduate of Tech, with a degree in accounting. His wife, Annette, and three of his four children also graduated from Tech.
Culp is the chairman of the Texas Tech Foundation Board and the First Methodist Church of Midland executive team. He is a member and former board of director of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and former member of the Texas Society of CPAs and the American Society of CPAs.
