Building tribal economies
by Megan Krippel (B.B.A. ’21)
Christine Serrano (B.B.A. ’95, M.B.A. ’99) can’t remember the first time she heard of St. Mary’s University — but it was the first and only university she ever considered.
In middle school, Serrano convinced her parents to drive from her hometown in El Paso to the University’s campus in San Antonio. By eighth grade, she made up her mind — attending St. Mary’s was non-negotiable. Two degrees later, Serrano sees her time at St. Mary’s as the foundation of her calling to service and leadership.
“That’s what I like about St. Mary’s — knowing that their values are aligned with mine,” said Serrano, who is now the Director of Economic Development for the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe near El Paso. “I want to be in business, but I want to be of service. St. Mary’s gave me an opportunity to marry the two and make them happen.”
When Serrano began her education at St. Mary’s, she was set on earning a business degree through the School of Business, later named for Bill Greehey. She took part in many student organizations, including Campus Ministry, Student Government Association and the Delta Zeta sorority.
“I want to be in business, but I want to be of service. St. Mary’s gave me an opportunity to marry the two and make them happen.”
— Christine Serrano (B.B.A. ’95, M.B.A. ’99)
Before attending St. Mary’s, Serrano was guided by faith through her mother’s work as a church secretary. Through the University’s Marianist heritage and values, Serrano discovered how to put her faith into action.
“The Marianist spirit tells us that we serve others, and we put others first,” Serrano said. “We follow the guidance of the Blessed Mother and say ‘Yes’ where service is needed. That’s what St. Mary’s did for me. They taught me to think and to discern and to exercise my conscience in making decisions.”
After graduating with her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, Serrano worked in San Antonio for a few years before returning to St. Mary’s to earn her Master of Business Administration. Serrano found business to be her calling because of her love of numbers and the ability to use them to improve people’s lives. Since then, her life has been devoted to people and to ensuring that her work serves others.
“If you learn the art and tools of your craft, you can certainly work it for the betterment of other people,” Serrano said. “It makes me giddy after all these years of being in business. It still excites me every day. Seeing what we can do and how we’re going to change people’s lives gets me up in the morning.”
After earning her MBA, Serrano returned to El Paso to serve her community. She is an enrolled member of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, one of three federally recognized tribes in the United States and the only one in Texas. She grew up on the Ysleta del Sur reservation, 13 miles from downtown El Paso. Serrano and her family were deeply involved in the tribe, with her great-grandfather serving as the tribe’s governor for several years and Serrano working for the tribe as a clerk in high school. She was the first in her family to attend college and was one of the first in her tribe to earn a master’s degree.
“I had one mission in mind — to come back,” Serrano said. “When I finally came back to work on the reservation, I realized that everything I had been doing, all my education, all my experiences, were necessary to help me where I am today.”
Now, as the Director of Economic Development for her tribe, Serrano credits St. Mary’s with being the catapult that landed her in this role. The skills she learned have helped build the entrepreneurship division of her tribe, including being invited to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to meet with several U.S. representatives to relay the importance of economic independence for her tribe and tribes across the U.S. Over the past three years, Serrano and her team have helped start 63 successful small businesses and generate more than $2 million in profit.
Serrano remains strongly connected to St. Mary’s and serves as the Alumni Association’s El Paso Chapter president. Her focus is to give back to the University by helping where she can, hosting events for local alumni and incoming freshmen, and participating in fundraisers. She also remains in contact with her fellow alumni, encouraging them to attend events when possible and participate in their local alumni chapters, including her sorority sister, Michelle Saenz (B.A. ’95).
“Serrano leads with logic and heart,” Saenz said. “As a perfectionist, she likes to do things right and always seeks to better those organizations to which she belongs.”
Serrano remains thankful for the opportunities that St. Mary’s gave her and the lifelong connections she made.
“I embraced St. Mary’s so fully, and more importantly, the University embraced me fully,” Serrano said. “St. Mary’s does an extraordinary job of aligning our faith, aligning service, but still getting the job done.”
