John A. Rydman

John is a UNT College of Music alumnus with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. His wife, Lindy, is the daughter of Carroll (“Spec”) and Carolynn Jackson, founders of Spec’s Wines, Spirits, and Finer Foods. Today, John and Lindy, along with their daughter, Lisa, oversee the Houston-based superstore chain, which has locations scattered widely across the state of Texas.

John and Lindy were both music majors when they met at the University of North Texas; John was a saxophonist and conductor, and Lindy was a singer. Inspired by their shared passion for music, and as a tribute to the founders of Spec’s, the Rydmans created the Spec’s Charitable Foundation with the purpose of supporting educational programs. Through Spec’s Charitable Foundation, John and Lindy established an endowed fund at UNT for the One O'Clock Lab Band®, which has provided scholarship support and recording & travel opportunities for the Grammy-nominated ensemble. In 2019, a donation from Spec's Charitable Foundation funded the Spec’s Charitable Foundation Courtyard—an outdoor social & performance space, central to the entrance of UNT College of Music.

In addition to serving on the Advancement Board at UNT College of Music, John is Board Chair and President of the Houston Symphony Society. A conductor himself, one of John’s greatest honors was the opportunity to conduct the Houston Symphony for an Independence Day Patriotic Concert. He has received multiple awards for Outstanding Support of the Arts from the Texas Association of Symphony Orchestra, North Texas Business Council for the Arts, and the National Business Council for the Arts.
In his final year at UNT College of Music, John was inducted as a member of the honorary music society, Pi Kappa Lamda; additionally, he was a patron of Mu Phi Epsilon. November 7th, 2020 marks the 50-year anniversary of John and Lindy’s first date—a UNT Football game, where Phi Mu Alpha was selling copies of “Glory to the Green.” Today, John and Lindy reside in Houston, TX, enjoy extensive travel to exotic scuba-diving destinations, and orchestrate the success of their ever-growing business by using “the skills [they] learned at UNT.”