Downtown OKC Partnership Announces 2022 Dean A McGee Honorees: Rand Elliott, Marva Ellard and Debi Martin to be honored

The Dean A. McGee Award recognizes individuals for a lifetime of contributions, ensuring that Oklahoma City has a strong, energetic core. The award is named after Dean A. McGee, an Oklahoma City business leader who chaired the Kerr-McGee Corporation from 1963 to 1983 and led efforts to construct the Myriad Gardens. He was extremely passionate about developing downtown as a gathering place for future generations.

Rand Elliott, the 2022 Dean A. McGee Award recipient, has transformed downtown above and below ground. As one of the earliest modern-day visionaries to reimagine downtown’s historic buildings and places, he redesigned downtown’s Conncourse into The Underground with contemporary, bright lighting, design and functionality, restored the Vesper Building in Automobile Alley, renovated a Bricktown warehouse into a cool art bar for four young doctors, created the Beacon of Hope in Stiles Park, transformed the Mid-Continent Life Insurance Building into the Gaylord Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, redesigned Bicentennial Park in front of the Civic Center Music Hall, and revived downtown’s most famous flatiron-style building, which won Interior Design Magazine’s Best of Year Award. Elliott’s most recent downtown achievements are the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center at the north gateway into downtown and Heartland Headquarters at 5th and Broadway. Approaching downtown from the south, Elliott’s world-class designs for all eight buildings and structures of the Boathouse District contributed to elevating the city’s status as a premier Olympic river sport venue. His firm, Rand Elliott Architects, has been honored with 10 national architectural awards by the American Institute of Architects, and 384 international, national, regional and local awards. In 2006, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Interior Design magazine.

The Stanley Draper Award is presented to an outstanding nonprofit staff member, volunteer or non-elected government employee who has made an enduring impact on downtown. The award is named after city visionary Stanley Draper, a long-time Greater Oklahoma City Chamber executive who inspired everyone to dream impossible dreams and was known as the country’s greatest “city builder.”

Debi Martin, the 2022 Stanley Draper Award honoree, exemplifies a relentless model city employee with a getit-done attitude. Martin has been City Hall’s steadfast educator and resource for incoming mayors, city council members and city executives since 1990 when named City Council Chief of Staff. She served as the city liaison to assist with relocating the Oklahoma City Museum of Arts

to downtown, which opened in 2002. During 1995, she frequently met with families who lost children in the Alfred P. Murrah Building tragedy and was named CoChair of the First Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony. Martin formed the First Tee youth golf program to help children build life skills, character and health that empowers them through life. She managed the Reading Buddies program for public school children and enlisted more than 100 city employees as mentors.

The Neal Horton Award is presented to a visionary who sparks a renaissance in a downtown area. It is named after Neal Horton, who dreamed of revitalizing the decaying red brick warehouses east of downtown into an entertainment district featuring fine dining, trendy shopping, luxury hotels and sports venues. Today, this area is known as Bricktown.

Marva Ellard, the 2021 Neal Horton Award honoree, believed residential was a viable option for Midtown. As a preservationist at heart, she purchased a decadesold vacant 1928 apartment building and transformed it into the charming urban living 38-apartment The Sieber, which kick started the economic resurgence of Midtown with retail and restaurants. The Midtown renaissance has grown residential housing and now Ellard has her eyes set on the historic Villa Teresa, a former Catholic school and convent to be rehabilitated into owner-occupied homes and a boutique hotel. She serves on the Downtown OKC BID Advisory Board.

Presented by Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership, tickets to the Dean A. McGee Awards are available to the public. Advance reservations are required and may be made by calling (405) 235-3500 or emailing Phi@DowntownOKC. com. Individual tickets are $300, and seating is limited. Corporate tables and sponsorships are also available.

This event benefits Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership’s 501(c)(3) organization, Downtown Oklahoma City Initiatives, which funds public art and other downtown improvement projects. For additional information about Downtown Oklahoma City and the Dean A. McGee Awards, visit www.DowntownOKC.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. n