BraD wueSt Tarleton education provides firm footing for family enterprise

Tarleton education provides firm footing for family enterprise

B Y Ph IL rIDDL e

when Brad Wuest speaks of a family business, the emphasis is on family.

The 1996 Tarleton graduate presides over the third generation of familial leadership of Natural Bridge Caverns, an iconic Texas tourist attraction between San Antonio and New Braunfels.

Since the discovery of the cavern on the family ranch in 1960, Wuest’s kin have been in charge. It was almost predestined for Brad, who started working a cash register in the snack bar at about age eight and guided tours at 15, to take the reins.

His grandmother was the founding president of the business when few women served in such a capacity.

“She had amazing accomplishments at a time when women were not in many such significant roles,” Wuest said. “She was the first woman president of the National Cave Association, one of the founders of it. She was one of the founders of our tourism association in Texas.

“As an elementary student, one busy day here, she told me, ‘One day you’re going to be the president, CEO of this business. I’m going to do everything I can to teach you to do that.’ Even at that young age they were intending on me doing this. I felt I had an obligation to continue to build on a family legacy. I never seriously thought about doing anything else.”

With the family’s holdings split between the cavern and ranching, Wuest headed to Tarleton for an education that would encompass both. Majoring in agriculture services and development with an emphasis in business, he took as many classes as possible that pertained to the commercial aspects of the burgeoning empire.

“My thought process at the time was to get a good blending in education from an agricultural perspective,” he said, “but I also wanted to select classes I knew would be beneficial for me with Natural Bridge Caverns. Marketing, business, law, finance, things like that. I spent a lot of time in the business school.”

Earning multiple nods to the Dean’s List for his academic work, Wuest took the time to immerse himself into Tarleton traditions, too, wearing the Purple and White of the Plowboys spirit organization all four years in Stephenville.

When he graduated, his grandmother hired him as the director of marketing and public relations. Those duties lasted just a little over a year before she passed away, moving him into a VP role, behind his father, who became president. More family heartache followed four months later when his father died of throat cancer.

“After my father died I became president and my brother Travis, who was a student at Texas A&M, became VP,” Wuest explained. “Our mother became the chief financial officer and the three of us really pulled together as a team.

“We’ve got strong faith,” he continued. “We believe that God helped us through this and equipped us to be able to deal with it. We were able to get through that difficult time period and build upon the legacy my grandparents and my father had created.”

Build upon it they have.

Wuest estimates more than 400,000 visitors a year pour through the turnstiles at Natural Bridge Caverns. The attraction, which employs upwards of 220 workers, recently went through a multi-million-dollar expansion.

Family continues to be the emphasis.

Wuest recently welcomed a son into his brood. Young Harrison, namesake of grandfathers on both sides named Harry, joins sisters Ashley, 14, Clara, 3, named for Wuest’s grandmother, and Emily, 19 months, named for a greatgrandmother.

Ashley, a fourth-generation family worker in the caverns, is already running a cash register, restocking the store, sweeping and cleaning tables.

“She’ll be 15 soon,” Wuest said, “so this summer I’ll start training her to take tours.”

It’s a family tradition.