DSF: Tell us about yourself.
KC: I am hometown boy from Austin, TX originally. I am married, and now reside in Dallas.
DSF: What made you go to Texas, and what was your major while there?
KC: I received a bachelor of science degree in journalism from UT, and received a master’s degree in journalism with a specialty in business-economics from Northwestern University.
The reason I went to Texas is because I loved the tradition there. I had hung around the campus since high school in Austin, and I didn’t buy the old argument that people had said “it’s too big”. Delta Sig really did a lot for that too.
DSF: What made you join the Eta Chapter, and what do you feel you got from that experience?
KC: I got an incredible life-long group of friends whose ties grow stronger and the years get longer! As I tell my son, Austin (now 9) to have good friends, you have to be a good friend. I work very hard to keep in touch, too.I worked full time at KTBC-TV in Austin as a TV reporter while in the fraternity for four years. My fraternity brothers found themselves the subject of many good TV stories during my tenure there. My little brother, Cole Holmes, and I were also named Outstanding Big Brother/Little Brother while in the chapter.
DSF: You served as a volunteer for many years for the Eta Chapter. Tell us about that experience, and your best memories about it.
KC: I served on the Alumni Corporation Board for nearly 10 years, including two terms as ACB President. It was one of the most gratifying volunteer positions I have ever held. I was there during some tough times - like informing the Chapter they would become a ‘dry house’ …but I was also there to help build up our Alumni Day celebration (which still happens one big football weekend every year) and most importantly presided over the pay-off of our House! I burned the note with Jim Brauetigam at a black-tie celebration. We were then able to reward brothers with good GPAs with a break on their house rent, which I thought was a very innovative idea and good positive reinforcement to living in the House and making good grades!!
I truly felt it was important to give back to Delta Sig. Being in the fraternity was one of the biggest experiences I ever had at Texas. And a number of very, very close friends today are still several of my pledge brothers, and my big brother, Joe Dishongh.
DSF: Tell us about your career, and what how you got to the position you’re in now, as Vice President of Public Affairs for DFW Airport, one of the busiest airports in America.
KC: I started out as a television reporter where I spent the final eight years of my broadcast career at KDFW/Dallas, where I served as Austin Bureau Chief. One of the really ironic things that happened was that in my first week on the job at KDFW, I covered the Delta 191 crash at DFW. Now, I am working at DFW. Following my broadcasting career, I went into Public Relations, and have been doing that ever since.
I worked in public relations at EDS and was Director of Marketing for the State of Texas at the Texas Department of Commerce. Immediately prior to working for the airport, I worked for the Computer Sciences Corporation in the public relations area.
DSF: Talk about your experiences working at DFW Airport.
KC: I started this job on 9/11/01, which was one of the most tumultuous, yet satisfying things I have ever done. If there was ever a need for the world’s busiest airport to communicate to the public about what was going on, and what was ahead, that was the day. I was verypleased that two days after I started, Fox News called DFW “the best communicating airport in America.”
Following that, I have led the airport’s communications strategy through national security issues, possible airline bankruptcies, multi-billion dollar bond sales and the successful openings of the new International Terminal D, Skylink train and Grand Hyatt.
DSF: What’s a typical day like for you?
KC: Crazy. I could be dealing with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal one minute and dealing with a Congressman’s office the next. Anything that happens from the public parking lot to the noise of the planes seems to fall in Public Affairs, and that’s a great place to be.
DSF: Back to your fraternity experience, what was the one thing you learned while there that you have utilized the most in your post-graduate days?
KC: The ability to walk into a room of any group of people and not meet a stranger.
DSF: Who has had the biggest impact on you throughout your life?
KC: My Mom and my Dad. My Dad died when I was 10 but he taught me right from wrong and was my best friend. I am trying to do as good a job as he did with me with my son, but he’s a tough act to follow. And my Mom persevered for the past 36 years, went on to a successful career and is now retired. She’s a survivor. She’s persistent. I admire that.
DSF: Any advice you’d give to the undergraduates and other alumni of Delta Sig to be successful?
KC: A career is important but your family and friends are what will really matter. Have faith in your God, your family and yourself. Don’t lower your standards. Be a great friend and be on time. And be passionate about something out there!
Brother Capps has also won numerous awards for his work, including Corporate Communications Professional of the Year by PR News for 2002 and Spokesperson of the Year again by PR News for 2005. Recently, he served on the Big 12 Host Committee for the Big 12's basketball tournament in Dallas, and he serves on the International Advisory Committee of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce and is on the Advisory Board of Leadership Dallas. He is a Wolf Den Leader in the Boy Scouts of America.
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