Stephen Cisneros joins Texas A&M AgriLife Research as associate director

Stephen Cisneros ’05 will join Texas A&M AgriLife Research as associate director for operations and development on June 1.

Cisneros brings more than 17 years of leadership experience, beginning with a history of cattle ranching. His work in agribusiness leadership has secured millions of dollars for Texas A&M University activities.

The San Antonio native will support research activities in Bryan-College Station and at 13 Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension centers across the state — largely focused on strengthening Texas commodities.

“The research that our statewide faculty are conducting is changing the world,” Cisneros said. “It is an unbelievable opportunity to be part of the state’s premier research agency in agriculture, natural resources and life sciences.”

Support for research and infrastructure

Cisneros will lead strategic and financial planning for AgriLife Research. He will work to increase available funds for research along with supervising statewide research infrastructure and investments.

In joining AgriLife Research, Cisneros departs from his position as Texas A&M Foundation assistant vice president for development within the Texas A&M University Mays Business School. In that role, he led all business development and fundraising in support of the school’s vision and mission.

Cisneros said his eight-person team specialized in cultivating long-term relationships built on a firm understanding of each stakeholder’s interests, passions and values. Since he assumed leadership of that development team in August 2019, the team’s work resulted in over $70 million in support of Texas A&M. Those efforts included a capital campaign supporting new infrastructure as well as the naming of the Department of Finance as the Adam C. Sinn ’00 Department of Finance.

“We are elated to have secured the breadth of expertise that Stephen Cisneros brings to AgriLife Research,” said Cliff Lamb, Ph.D., director of AgriLife Research. “We look forward to working together and to realizing the type of impacts that underlie his scope of work to date.”

A diverse career in service, development

Before joining Texas A&M, Cisneros was a specialty asset manager with Bank of America’s Private Bank. He managing over 295,000 acres across South and West Texas for high-net-worth clients. His work included business plan development, lease negotiations, capital allocation and agricultural real estate acquisition and disposition, among other responsibilities.

He earned a master’s degree with an emphasis in wealth management at the Texas A&M University School of Law. Cisneros also earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He is a graduate of the Texas Bankers Association Trust School.

Cisneros served eight years as an engineer officer in the U.S. Army. He first deployed to Iraq as a route clearance platoon leader and later taught at the U.S. Army Engineer Schoolhouse.

He was raised around his family’s cow-calf operations in Medina and Wilson counties, which his family still operates in Wilson. Additionally, he is a partner in a cattle and haying operation in Milam County.

“Every once in a while, we are presented with an opportunity to do what we are good at, in an industry we love, and that impacts the world,” Cisneros said. “This is my opportunity to do that. I’m ready to travel the state, meet our faculty and staff, learn what they’re doing, and support their research efforts.”