Outlook 2011, The Oklahoman by OPUBCO Communications Group

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

Visionary men, women lead the way You are holding in your hands Outlook 2011, our annual progress edition that catches up on all the projects, plans and forward-thinking ventures coming out of our state. This year, we take a look at the visionary men and women behind these projects. Editors came up with the idea about showcasing Oklahoma visionaries more than a year ago. Almost from the very beginning we compared these visionaries to great artists — those who can “see” more than others and create iconic images that stay with all who’ve viewed them. So, we decided to ask five famous Oklahomans to help us pay homage to these artists. Chef Kurt Fleischfresser, Olympians Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci, Dr. Jordan Tang and former First Lady and educator Kim Henry quickly agreed to take part. We believe the images are riveting, and hope you agree. We call this a progress edition because that’s what it takes to make a package like this. ... Progress. And vision. It is vision that we focus on this year in Outlook 2011. The vision it takes to make things happen in Oklahoma, and the visionaries it takes to have those

Yvette Walker Outlook Editor It takes vision to make things happen in Oklahoma, like fresh, locally grown produce, the future of medicine, city planning and focusing on healthy minds and bodies. PHOTOS FROM THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

dreams. It takes vision to build the Devon Energy tower, a 50-story realized reverie that will be the tallest in the state. It takes vision to help turn Oklahoma City into a diner’s delight. It takes vision to find a compound that might finally treat Alzheimer’s disease. It takes vision to lead and educate our youth. And, it takes vision to build a business that focuses on keeping our youth healthy — especially in Oklahoma, a state that has been on “unhealthy lists” for decades. A premiere digital experience: Reading Outlook in print always is a great way to spend a Sunday morning or afternoon. And as always, you can go to www.NewsOK.com/

outlook/11 to read our sections online. But this year, Outlook goes digital in a new way. We’ve created a special edition of Outlook for the iPad with story packages, photos and video built the way only the iPad can deliver. Check it out on iTunes. Some don’t-miss reading: Four veteran newsmen and women discuss what it takes to be a visionary in one of four areas: sports, business, health and education. Sports Columnist Berry Tramel, Business Editor Clytie Bunyan, former Oklahoman executive editor and health advocate Sue Hale and Ed Kelley, the editor of this newspaper, use their considerable experience in journalism and years in this state to determine what Oklahoma has and what it lacks to guar-

STAFF CREDITS Yvette Walker Outlook Editor Todd Pendleton Art Director, cover photo illustrations Moran Elwell, Felicia Murray and Jennifer Wilcox Designers Douglas Hoke Photo Editor, cover photos

Contributing Editors Clytie Bunyan, Business Editor Kathryn McNutt, Assistant Local Desk Editor Matthew Price, Features Editor Ryan Sharp, Assistant Sports Editor Gene Triplett, Entertainment Editor Nick Trougakos, Assistant Local Desk Editor

antee a bright and shiny future. Where’s the fun? If you’re an Outlook reader, you know we have to have a little trivia every year.

Don Gammill doesn’t disappoint, with littleknown facts that might surprise you. Vivid photography and video: Our photo and

video staff has done it again, shooting powerful images that tell the story. I hope you enjoy reading and experiencing Outlook 2011 — either in print or on the iPad. YVETTE WALKER, OUTLOOK EDITOR

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

KEITH AND HEATHER PAUL | RESTAURATEURS

Couple break ‘chains’ with urban core dining BY DAVE CATHEY Staff Writer dcathey@opubco.com

In just a few short years, Keith and Heather Paul have become leading names in Oklahoma City’s local restaurant scene and specialize in operating eateries in the urban core. The couple married in 1997 after meeting as sales representatives at Ben E. Keith Foods. It was during their tenure there that they got to visit restaurants throughout the city. “We were in and out of kitchens of some of best restaurants in Oklahoma City,” Keith Paul said. “Heather had a background in restaurants — her mom was a minority owner with the Painted Desert (now home to the Pauls’ Iron Starr BBQ). We saw things done wrong and correctly. And we learned a lot from the distribution side.” In 2000, the pair got their chance to pursue their dream of owning a restaurant and bought Cheevers at NW 23 and Hudson. Heather left Ben E. Keith to work full time at the restaurant while Keith kept his day job and then worked nights and weekends at Cheevers. Three years passed before Keith Paul was convinced that Cheevers was on the right track and it was safe for him to quit his “day job.” The pair now owns Cheevers, Iron Starr BBQ and Red Prime Steakhouse, and they operate the Republic Gastropub in Classen Curve. Keith Paul talks about passion for food and the business: Q: What was your favorite meal as a kid? Did you ever get to help in the kitchen? A: I helped my grandmother a ton. I always liked her yeast rolls with chicken fried steak and my grandfather’s molasses and salt rub steaks, and this was from his own cattle ranch. Q: Did you always want to enter the culinary arts or were there other career options? A: I never really thought about entering the culinary arts. I first wanted to be a football coach, and then I got interested in sales in general. Cheevers was really the first restaurant I was employed at. Q: How difficult was it to start up restaurants in a city populated by dozens of national and regional chains? A: It’s very difficult. It’s something we weren’t thinking of going in. Our love for historic buildings superseded the actual logic we should have had. Oklahoma City is full of chain restaurants. It’s difficult to get into people’s dining rotation, and it’s difficult to change their dining habits. Q: What makes your restaurants different from others? A: I think it’s our attention to detail and willingness to go one step beyond for the customer. Our secret has been our staff; we take a vested interest in our employees, their personal lives and their future. It all starts there. Q: What’s the secret to coming up with a successful new recipe? A: Experimentation — and you just need to keep it simple. Don’t get too far out of your comfort zone. And write the recipe down. That’s the most important thing of all. Q: What are your favorite local restaurants, ones not affiliated with you, Heather or Good Egg Dining Group? A: Cafe Antigua, and I enjoy La Baguette for lunch, and Tacos San Pedro and Bunny’s Onion Burgers.

Keith Paul, owner of the Good Egg Dining Group, is shown in this file photo at his Red Prime Steak restaurant in downtown Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

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KURT FLEISCHFRESSER | EXECUTIVE CHEF AND PARTNER IN THE WESTERN CONCEPTS RESTAURANT GROUP

Chef blazes Oklahoma’s culinary trail BY DAVE CATHEY Food Editor dcathey@opubco.com

The outlook of Oklahoma’s culinary frontier has never appeared more promising, due in no small part to the innovative efforts of chef Kurt Fleischfresser, whose career has been a succession of accolades and accomplishments revolving around impeccable foods with more than a little help from his friends. The Yukon High School graduate found his calling while studying toward another at Oklahoma State University. The one-time engineering major fell in love with life on the line at an early age. Today, that passion is the foundation for his dogged pursuit of establishing an Oklahoma cuisine worthy of national attention. “I’m always looking forward,” he said. “Can’t be stagnant.” Fleischfresser, 51, reaches backward and forward — classic technique and oldworld sensibility juxtaposed with a fast-changing world. He was a disciple of farm-to-table principles long before green became the color of the sustainability movement and locavore entered the lexicon. “Kurt’s vision of using locally sourced products and food has resonated through the next generation of chefs in this market,” said Ryan Parrott, Iguana Mexican Grill’s chef. “He was buying and sourcing local, long before it was cool or hip. He had the vision to source from our neighbors first, then look for outside sources later, long before it was cool. In fact, he may have made it cool — at least for this area.” In more than 20 years in the Oklahoma hospitality industry, Fleischfresser has cultivated a cooking community based on those principles. He has opened more than 20 restaurant concepts in his career and consulted on many others. He currently is executive chef and partner with Carl Milam in the Western Concepts Restaurant Group, which includes Sushi Neko, Mushashi’s, The Tasting Room, Will’s Coffee Shop, The Lobby Bar and his 25-year-old standard-bearing restaurant, The Coach House. The future of Oklahoma City’s place in the world of food is on the rise thanks to his influence, which has paved the way for ambitious concepts such as Ludivine. There, chefs Jonathon Stranger and Russ Johnson churn out an ever-evolving menu based on available local bounty. Fleischfresser’s son, Kyle, is the bartender at Ludivine and also is devoted to seasonal, fresh ingredients to concoct libations in the spirit of alchemy. “The thing that strikes me about Kurt is his generosity with his knowledge and techniques,” Cattle-

ON THE COVER

ONLINE

KURT FLEISCHFRESSER AS THE MAN OF INDUSTRY IN NORMAN ROCKWELL’S ‘THE SPIRIT OF KANSAS CITY’ The painting may be called the “Spirit of Kansas City,” but the can-do attitude of the featured man of industry could very well be Oklahoma City. Fleischfresser, who celebrated two milestones last year (he turned 50 and his Coach House restaurant turned 25) has laid the path for OKC to be the foodie city that it is now becoming. He has founded and operated stellar restaurants, and is one of the movers and shakers behind the farm-tomarket movement in getting natural foods to diners’ plates. While the character in the painting wore khakis and a white button-down, Fleischfresser came to the studio with his “uniform” — white chef’s jacket and an apron. The atmosphere jovial, Fleischfresser said he liked the original artwork, and enjoyed posing like the character ... even down to his hand posing. The skillet of food was not in the original shot, and was added later during the photo illustration process.

men’s co-owner David Egan said. “Kurt is always quick to share a recipe or technique because his only goal is to improve the customer’s experience within the local culinary community.”

Small beginnings To stand tall among his peers, Fleischfresser had to begin small as a chef’s apprentice at chef Bernard Cretier’s Le Vichyssois in Lakemoor, Ill. His instructor learned his craft under the legendary Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France. The methods were as ancient as the techniques. “I just kept volumes of little notebooks of recipes,” Fleischfresser said. From Illinois, Fleischfresser took jobs at The French Room at The Adolphus Hotel in Dallas; Enjolie at The Mandalay Four Seasons in Los Colinas, Texas; Vincent’s on Camelback in Phoenix; and La Cham-

Kurt Fleischfresser rolls up his sleeves recently at The Tasting Room in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN

pagne at the Registry Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., before life called and beckoned him home to raise a family. Convinced Oklahoma was the best place to do that, Fleischfresser found work at the Skirvin Hotel but eventually landed at The Coach House for then-owner Chris Lower. Within six months of joining Lower, the two partnered to open The Metro to rave reviews and enormous response. Soon, Restaurant Resources Group provided the seeds to allow the Western Avenue corridor to grow into the restaurant row it is today. “We traveled around the country to research new restaurant ideas,” said Lower, who said those trips are some of his fondest memories. “We went to San Francisco to research Mexican restaurants and to Houston to look at steakhouses. We went to Los Angeles to study museum

restaurants. We went to Phoenix to get ideas at Pierre Fauvet’s bakery.” From these travels they planted the seeds for The Iguana Lounge, Portobello’s, The Deep Fork Grill, Ground Floor Cafe and Earl’s Rib Palace, to name a few. When the Oklahoma City Museum of Art was thinking of opening a restaurant in its new building, Lower and Fleischfresser gave it the Restaurant Resources Group treatment. When Fleischfresser was negotiating the use of No-Name Ranch beef, the sticking point was owner Bruce Buechner’s practice of only selling the entire steer. “He told me he had no use for ground beef,” Buechner said. “I told him he needed to open a burger joint.” Welcome Irma’s Burger

Shack, which the two are still partners in after dissolving the Restaurant Resources Group in 2004 — with Lower keeping The Metro, and Fleischfresser keeping The Coach House. Most of their other concepts were sold and continue to flourish.

Next-generation chefs To maintain a level of quality at the various concepts, Fleischfresser knew he needed to give back what he’d gotten from Cretier. So, he established an apprenticeship program at The Coach House, which is now in its second decade. In 2007, it became the first culinary apprenticeship program in Oklahoma registered with the U.S. Department of Labor. The program has yielded about 30 graduates from the 2½-year program.

For video of Kurt Fleischfresser at a wine and beef pairing, go to NewsOK. com and search for “Fleischfresser.”

Robert Black, executive chef for the Good Egg Dining Group, said he chose Fleischfresser’s program over the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York. “Starting out as a young, aspiring chef-to-be, I had gotten accepted into and planned on going to CIA at Hyde Park to get my training to be a chef. I got a job at The Metro Wine Bar and Bistro as a way to save up some money before I went to school. That’s where I met Kurt; within six months, he had convinced me to go through his apprenticeship program instead of the formal schooling. I look back now on that decision as being a defining moment in my life. How things would have been different, I don’t know, but I’m positive that I made the right choice.” One of the early graduates of the program was chef Chad Willis, formerly of The Metro and now of Saturn Grill. “The program is limitless learning,” Willis said. “Before you can start making great dishes, you have to learn to cook first, and that’s what Kurt teaches you. It’s all about technique and how you apply them together.” Joseph Royer, who owns the two Saturn Grill restaurants, is also a Coach House graduate. “Kurt embodies a spirit that the parameters are far. Don’t be afraid to stretch them. But pay attention to the details.”

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

BIG TRUCK TACOS | CALLY JOHNSON, KATHRYN MATHIS AND CHRIS LOWER

Respecting the past, looking to future Dave Cathey dcathey@ opubco.com

FOOD DUDE SERVED TO YOU BY:

THE

CULINARY KITCHEN WHERE HIGH PERFORMANCE APPLIANCES MEET HIGH STYLE 7302 NORTH WESTERN AVENUE, OKC

The folks who brought you Big Truck Tacos want you to know they did not invent the taco truck. They want to be sure you know they didn’t even own the first one in town. All they wanted to do was drive mobile kitchens into the 21st century. “We have tremendous respect for the trucks that were here before us,” said Cally Johnson, chef and co-owner of Big Truck. “We love to drive down to the south side for tacos at 3 a.m. We feel like we’re honoring what they’ve been doing.” Some of the earliest editions of The Oklahoman describe chili and tamale wagons roaming the prestatehood Oklahoma byways. Taco trucks and wagons have crowded the streets, parking lots and corners of south Oklahoma City for years. Without them, Big Truck Tacos wouldn’t have celebrated its first birthday in July. But what Big Truck has that none of its local mobile predecessors had is social media.

First and foremost Big Truck Tacos, which specializes in gourmet taqueria fare, isn’t the first and far from the last restaurant to use Web-based social media tools to help connect with customers. But Big Truck intended social media to be a major part of the business model. When classically trained chefs Johnson and Kathryn Mathis teamed with The Metro Wine Bar and Bistro owner Chris Lower, their concept was modeled after the Kogi truck sensation in Los Angeles. Purveyors of Koreanstyle tacos there use Twit-

Kathryn Mathis and Cally Johnson look at one of the food vending trucks for Big Truck Tacos in Oklahoma City in this September photo. PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

from what we thought it would be as you could imagine.”

Market shift

Chris Lower

ter the way ice cream trucks use polyphonic show tunes. Imagine if the Pied Piper could take requests. But when asked whether their success is following the plans they’d set for themselves, Lower — a longtime restaurateur with interests also in CoolGreens and Irma’s Burger Shack and whose fingerprints are on some of the city’s most recognizable brands — was succinct. “Not at all,” he said with a laugh as crowds for lunch began to gather in the tiny headquarters before the breakfast crowd could thin. “It’s been about as far

Johnson, Mathis and Lower thought Twitter and Facebook would make the truck roll, but Johnson said social media has been more about making friends. Johnson operates on Twitter and Facebook. She refers to Twitter as “the mosh pit,” whereas Facebook is more like having your own suite at the same show. “I’m just a little more comfortable on Facebook,” she said. On weekends, Twitter and Facebook are used to announce stops as initially intended. During the day, the sites are used to describe specials, show photos and unveil Big Truck’s daily Fifth Amendment taco ingredients, but it’s mostly used to say “hey.” And it’s this part of the medium that’s been the biggest success. The proof was in the roughly 1,000 devotees who showed up at Big

Truck on a broiling Sunday afternoon to engage in, among other things, a jalapeno-eating contest at Big Truck’s headquarters, 530 NW 23, to celebrate its first year of business. Friends don’t let friends go on jalapeno binges on 100degree days. But love is blind, and love is, in a Sublime-sung sense, what they’ve got. Despite the usually reliable philosophy of the Beatles, the owners found love isn’t all you need. They found also necessary were extended hours, patio expansion, a second truck, more kitchen space and a gift shop. Big Truck recently leased additional space for a second prep kitchen that will be fronted by a new gift shop full of flying discs, T-shirts, sunglasses, bottle-openers and even laptop sleeves. The overwhelming popularity of the brand as a whole has meant far more private bookings than anticipated, making those late-night, tweet-driven trips less crucial to the operation.

“We’re booked for corporate events pretty much daily,” Lower said. “It’s not unusual to have both trucks at private bookings at the same time.” Not only can businesses book the truck for a lunchtime stop, but so, too, can event-promoters and party-throwers. And that switch in the model didn’t end with just Big Truck Tacos. A funny thing happened to Big Truck Tacos owners Johnson, Mathis and Lower on their way to opening a gourmet taqueria with a mobile kitchen: The world took notice. And now they’ve got $10,000 and a date with Food Network’s “Great Food Truck Race” to show for it.

To the future Of course, the world is a much smaller place than it was 15 years ago. With Facebook and Twitter to bind us, you can fall in love without ever meeting face-to-face. And that’s just what happened to Big Truck —

the 12,000-plus Facebook friends and 4,000-plus Twitter followers helped vote them into this spot at the end of the rainbow. I can’t think of a more ironic representation of Oklahoma City. These two unlikely women — Johnson from Cali, Mathis from Guymon — and Lower, who has spent his career developing the city’s most important spots for fine dining. Two classically trained chefs and a high-end restaurateur who decided that tacos were the answer. (Hey, I’ve been saying that since I was 5.) Big Truck Tacos is in an old hamburger stand that’s housed many concepts, including a doughnut shop. And now they’re going to be on the big stage, and the viewing audience outside of our region will likely doubt the legitimacy of a truck from Okie City. If their competitors take them for granted, the last thing they’re likely to see is the taillights of the BTTmobile.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

Sports visionaries laid the foundation for Oklahoma’s vibrant athletic successes Berry Tramel btramel@ opubco.com

COMMENTARY Vision built Oklahoma. Seeing what others could not see. Focusing not on what was, but what could be. Embracing possibility. From tribal members forced to flee their homeland who built societies in a foreign land, to pioneers who refused to accept the notion that this was the great American desert, Oklahoma went from literally no man’s land to statehood in a matter of decades. Sports, same way. The games we enjoy, the championships we remember, the status with America’s mightiest cities, all came about after certain people looked at a largely vacant canvas and imagined how things could be. Like Lloyd Noble. The University of Oklahoma regent famously suggested in 1945 that a powerful football team might pay dividends throughout the state. OU made a commitment to football, and you know the rest. Sooner football is a national brand that today is an economic, cultural and psychological force in Oklahoma. Like Perry Maxwell, who designed golf courses all across Oklahoma in the first half of the 20th century, two of which, Oklahoma City’s Twin Hills and Tulsa’s Southern Hills, have brought major championships to the state. Tiger Woods was the latest major champ at Southern Hills, with the 2007 PGA. Like Thurman Medley, head of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce’s sports and recre-

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook dunks during the April 8 game between the Thunder and the Denver Nuggets at the Oklahoma City Arena. PHOTO BY SARAH PHIPPS, THE OKLAHOMAN

ation committee, who in 1957 spearheaded efforts to form the All Sports Association. We have had NCAA and Big 12 championship events in basketball, baseball, wrestling and softball, in many ways becoming a college sports mecca, because of the vision of the still-strong All Sports Association. Like the many who helped bring the NBA

Hornets here in September 2005, when Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans. Oklahoma City literally went from nowhere on the professional basketball radar to NBA success story in two months. Now the Thunder thrives on the court and at the box office, and while some cities wait for decades and still wait today to achieve major league sta-

tus, Oklahoma City’s rise was meteoric. Less than 13 years after the MAPS vote of 1992 that spawned the building of the Ford Center, the likes of Dwight Howard and Dirk Nowitzki were playing ball in downtown Oklahoma City. Mayors like Ron Norick and Kirk Humphreys and Mick Cornett have kept that sports vision burning, and we see it still in

operation today, with the thriving boat district on the Oklahoma River that is bringing world-class rowers to Oklahoma City. Business leaders like Clay Bennett, who in the 1990s tried to bring a National Hockey League franchise to town, was rebuffed, and instead stood ready to help the Hornets. Bennett and business partners Aubrey Mc-

Clendon, Tom Ward and G. Jeffrey Records eventually bought the Seattle SuperSonics and moved them to Oklahoma City. These visionaries saw what could be, and Oklahoma sports fans have reaped the benefits. Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@ opubco.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40 to 5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at NewsOK.com/berrytramel.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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During lockout, ex-Sooners help women, kids in Africa AT A GLANCE NFL players who traveled to Africa with the Oklahoma City-based Pros for Africa I Baltimore Ravens wideout Mark Clayton I Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson I Cincinnati Bengals safety Roy Williams I Tampa Bay defensive tackle Gerald McCoy I Arizona Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald I Defensive tackle Tommie Harris I Minnesota Vikings tackle Bryant McKinnie I Dallas Cowboys wideout Roy Williams I San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis I Miami Dolphins cornerback Vontae Davis I Tennessee Titans defensive end Derrick Morgan

Pros For Africa Advisory Board Member and NFL player Adrian Peterson hands supplies to orphan children in Gulu, Uganda during the Pros for Africa 2011 mission. BY JAKE TROTTER Staff Writer jtrotter@opubco.com

While many pro football players spent the first few days of the NFL lockout stressing about their future, a small group of former Sooner players were back in Africa. The nonprofit group Pros for Africa — based in Oklahoma City and cofounded by former OU stars such as Tommie Harris, Mark Clayton, Adrian Peterson and Roy Williams — is geared toward helping women and children suffering from the impacts of poverty, war and natural disasters by providing food, water, shoes, clothing and medicine. Other co-founders of Pros for Africa are Reggie Whitten, Bill Horn, Jay Mitchel, Jared Mitchel. This time, the team, which included doctors, dentists, audiologist and several other volunteers, visited Uganda and Rwanda for two weeks. “Why wouldn’t you want to do this? This trip makes an impact. We’re helping a lot of people,” said Williams, who, along with Gerald McCoy, flew out of Oklahoma City. Meeting them in Africa were a host of NFL players, including Peterson, Clayton and Harris, as well as several non-OU alums like Vernon Davis, of the San Francisco 49ers, Santonio Holmes, of the New York

Cayci Parker, 22, a University of Oklahoma student, returned recently from a trip to Uganda. She was there for three months with Pros For Africa. PHOTOS PROVIDED

Jets, Roy Williams, of the Dallas Cowboys and Larry Fitzgerald, of the Arizona Cardinals. In Uganda, the players spent part of their time working with Sister Rosemary Nyirmube, who runs a facility that houses hundreds of displaced women and girls abandoned by their villages because of unintended pregnancies stemming from

sexual assault. In Rwanda, the group provided a deaf soccer team with hearing aids thanks to the Starkey Hearing Foundation. “Last year, I couldn’t go because I was getting drafted,” said McCoy, who traveled outside the United States for the first time. “When I found out they were going back, I knew I wanted to go.”

ONLINE For video on Pros for Africa and more stories on the organization, go to NewsOK.com and search for “Pros for Africa.”

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DAVE SMITH | MTM RECOGNITION

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

Big name trophies from world of sports Vision took company

to NCAA, bowl games BY JENNI CARLSON Staff Writer jcarlson@opubco.com

MTM Recognition’s Dave Smith

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

Dave Smith hates when people talk about his garage. He shouldn’t. His trophy business got its start there, and while MTM Recognition has changed a bunch since then, you don’t truly appreciate just how far it has come unless you start with the garage and those early days. A business that made $16,000 in its first year now has annual revenues of nearly $100 million. A company that consisted of a single building on Southeast 29th Street now has a 20-acre campus of workshops and warehouses. Credit Smith’s vision. “We’ve invested in innovative technology, the physical plant, machinery and, of course, our people,” he said. “People are the game changer.” Smith, a former high school basketball coach, started the company with some of his nearest and dearest friends.

They used their connections in the sports world to quickly have a hand in all sorts of sporting events in the region. That caught the attention of Josten’s. Best known for its class rings, it wanted to buy out Smith. He agonized over what to do. But when he walked through his facility and looked at the people — he knew their names, their families, their stories — he realized what he had to do. He kept the company. But Smith wasn’t about to let Josten’s interest go to waste. He suggested an alliance — Josten’s would sell the goods, MTM would produce them. The partnership, which began in 1982 and continues to this day, helped further establish MTM’s foothold. It added contracts with college conferences, bowl games and NASCAR. It started doing the World Series MVP and the Jim Thorpe Award. Then, it landed the granddaddy — the NCAA. MTM applied for the NCAA contract twice before scoring it in 2007. Eventually, the

NCAA saw that the company could do everything for it. Redesign the trophy. Produce it. Ship it. That has always been part of Smith’s strategy, being a one-stop shop for customers. Now from the company’s expansive campus in Del City, it produces everything from the big trophies that are hoisted overhead by champions to the miniature replicas that are given to every member of every championship team at every level. “When you see the award lifted in the air in victory, that’s a memorable moment,” Smith said. “At the same time, it has become part of the branding of the organization.” Who knows what’s next for MTM Recognition? From those early days, Smith has never put any limitations on what his company or his people could do. “Our vision has remained the same over the years,” he said. “We’re very committed to the industry and continue to be innovative as the industry leader.”

Before Midwest Trophy became MTM Recognition, the company’s biggest accounts came from bowling leagues and softball tournaments. Now, it makes some of the most recognizable trophies in sports. Here’s a look at a few:

BCS National Championship Game trophy

World Series MVP trophy

Jim Thorpe Award

NCAA trophies for all sports, all divisions

Big 12 Conference championship trophies for all sports

Orange Bowl trophy

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SAM PRESTI | GENERAL MANAGER OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER

Thunder manager succeeds in attracting right kind of talent that will someday soon compete for numerous championships.

BY DARNELL MAYBERRY Staff Writer dmayberry@opubco.com

The success Sam Presti has had in stockpiling talent has been nothing short of spectacular. But it just might be his second-greatest achievement as general manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder. While transforming the franchise from a pushover to a potential perennial contender over the last three seasons, Presti has purposely acquired highcharacter players. The focus hasn’t just been on bringing in talent, it’s been on bringing in the right talent — mature, civicminded players with community pride who will represent the state with class both on and off the court. That vision was present from the start. Presti never wavered from it when the Thunder was a 23-win outfit. And he has no plans on shifting gears now that his club is a 50-win squad. “With this being just our third year of existence in Oklahoma City, our focus is deeper than building a team,” Presti said. “It is on building a franchise, one that is sustainable and capable of endurance through the cycles of professional sports and be-

No quick fixes

Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti talks about player trades at a news conference in February in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

comes ingrained in our community. “To help establish this, we work to add people who we feel fit our organizational values and those of the community that supports us. No one is perfect. We all have our own challenges. But we do try to

look for people who are reliable and consistent, teammates with enough self-awareness to recognize and overcome their own agendas and in turn are capable of embracing sacrifice and accountability.” Presti knew early on

that, without that approach, all of his wheeling and dealing for top talent could fall on deaf ears in the Oklahoma City market. But that’s not to say what Presti has achieved in his assembly of the Thunder’s roster hasn’t been

plenty impressive. With Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins, James Harden and a host of role players who fit the puzzle perfectly, the Thunder has evolved into a team many consider the best young nucleus in the league, one

Presti’s ability to build a roster that can sustain success has been as critical to the Oklahoma City franchise as the talent itself. By wisely budgeting when he took the job four years ago — and avoiding rash decisions on quick fixes when things got tough — Presti has kept the Thunder’s payroll clear of exorbitant contracts that handicap franchises. It’s a significant structure in today’s economic climate that will allow Oklahoma City to compete with the NBA’s traditional powers for the foreseeable future despite playing in one of the league’s smallest markets. “Sam is as thorough as a general manager as I’ve ever been around,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “He understands the dynamic of team very well. He understands chemistry and important pieces that make teams work. … He does his homework as well as anybody. He’s methodical, he’s patient and he understands what we need. And he’s willing to search for those answers every day.”

AT A GLANCE SAM PRESTI’S BEST PERSONNEL MOVES The five best roster moves Thunder general manager Sam Presti has made:

PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN

I Drafting Russell Westbrook: Kevin Durant was the no-brainer No. 2 selection behind Greg Oden in 2007. But when Westbrook was taken with the fourth-overall selection in 2008, his selection was met with skepticism. Two and a half seasons later, Westbrook blossomed into an All-Star and a top five NBA point guard.

AP PHOTO

I Sign-and-trade Rashard Lewis: Presti was putting his imprint on today’s roster when the franchise was in Seattle back in 2007. Rather than losing Lewis outright in free agency, Presti orchestrated a sign-and-trade with Orlando that landed the then Sonics a $9.5 million trade exception and a future secondround pick. Through a series of subsequent moves, those assets turned into Serge Ibaka, Cole Aldrich and Byron Mullens.

PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN

I Trading for and signing Kendrick Perkins: For two and a half years, analysts said the Thunder needed a big man. Feb. 24, 2011, will go down as the day OKC got one. The Thunder acquired Perkins and guard Nate Robinson from Boston in exchange for Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic and a future first-round pick. Four days later, Presti inked Perkins to a four-year contract extension that ensured the big man will be a cornerstone for the foreseeable future.

PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN

I Trading for Eric Maynor: One of the best examples of Presti’s penchant for opportunistic maneuvers. Early in the 2009-10 season, Presti capitalized on a cost-cutting Utah franchise and found a reliable backup point guard.

PHOTO BY SARAH PHIPPS, THE OKLAHOMAN

I Signing of Nick Collison/ Thabo Sefolosha: Every championship team has reliable role players. The Thunder locked up two of theirs in midseason each of the last two years. And by all accounts, the contract extensions for glue guys Collison and Sefolosha, which combined cost OKC a relatively cheap $24.8 million through the 2014-15 season, are the types of deals that complete the puzzle for championship caliber teams. DARNELL MAYBERRY, SPORTS WRITER

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HOLLY SHELTON | MANAGER OF SPORTS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

Drawing athletes, events to OKC BY MIKE BALDWIN Staff Writer mbaldwin@opubco.com

If it involves sports and Oklahoma City, there’s a good chance Holly Shelton has had a hand in the process. Manager of Sports Business Development at the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau, Shelton assists the All Sports Association with high profile events like Big 12 and NCAA basketball tournaments. But Shelton’s primary job is to bring regional and national sporting events to Oklahoma City each year. One highlight event this year is the USA Wakeboard Championships that will be held June 24-26 downtown on the Oklahoma River. National titles will be determined in wakeboarding, wake surf and cable wakeboarding. “It’s really cool we’re getting all three,” Shelton said. “Most of the time it’s held on lakes outside of city but this can be held near downtown. “Oklahoma State has a really good wakeboard program as a club program. They’re usually ranked really high. We’d love to bid on the NCAA wakeboard championships some year.” Another big event is Oklahoma City will host the USA men’s and women’s national wrestling trials June 9-11. Winners will represent the country at the world championships later this year in Istanbul. “It’s the premier event for U.S. wrestling,” Shelton said. “It will determine which men and women will represent our country at the world championships later this year in Istanbul. In an Olympic year it would determine the Olympic wrestlers.” Shelton tries to attract anything sports-related that generates hotel business. On Aug. 22, Oklahoma City will host a Kids Iron Man event at Lake Hefner in partnership with the local YMCA. “Maybe a local soccer club wants to bid on a U.S. youth soccer tournament,” Shelton said. “We help with the whole bid process. We help them put a bid book together, collect hotel rates and collect local attractions, things to do in Oklahoma City, even help them find resources in the community.” “We filter everything through Wimgo.com and it goes through our site. We can help groups if they need to put out news releases. If it’s a volunteer organization, we have event sponsorship dollars we can help them with.” Shelton works with both youth and adult organizations. “An example is the North OKC soccer club has hosted the Red Earth Invitational for several years in April,” Shelton said. “We bring about 6,000 people to Oklahoma City. Some are local but they come from Texas, Arkansas and Kansas and we help them with hotels.” Sports groups interested in hosting regional or national events can go to the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitor Bureau’s website: www.okccvb.org.

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KATIE TAYLOR-RIVERS | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE WES WELKER FOUNDATION TALKS FOOTBALL, CHARITY

Receiver ‘goes deep’ to share his love of sports with children BY JOHN ROHDE

Holly Shelton

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

Staff Writer jrohde@opubco.com

Katie Taylor-Rivers is embarrassed to admit she didn’t initially know who Wes Welker was. Worse yet, she had often rooted against the New England Patriots. “I know. That’s horrible for me to say,” Taylor-Rivers said with her omnipresent good cheer. Taylor-Rivers then did some research on the AllPro wide receiver and potential NFL Hall of Famer someday. “I Googled him and immediately went, ‘Oh, wow,’ ” said Taylor-Rivers, who serves as executive director of the Wes Welker Foundation, which targets at-risk youths in Oklahoma City and aims to provide a level playing field by funding three main aspects — sports camps; grants to school and youth organizations; coach and leadership development. Before she had familiarized herself with the foundation’s namesake, Taylor-Rivers already knew she was in the right place. “They really sold me on what they wanted to do,”

Katie Taylor-Rivers poses with Wes Welker. She is the Wes Welker Foundation executive director. PHOTO PROVIDED

Taylor-Rivers said. “They didn’t have any staff and everyone was just volunteering. It was just a perfect fit. I got to do something I love and something I believe in. It’s really taken off these last two years.” Taylor-Rivers is married to Paul Rivers, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s director of minor league operations & basketball technology. The couple relocated from Seattle when

the NBA franchise moved here in 2008. Though Welker never experienced hardship growing up in Nichols Hills or as a standout athlete at Heritage Hall, he decided to start the foundation in 2006 alongside sister-in-law, Sarah, and brother, Lee. Wes Welker frequently donates his own money and knows exactly how the funding is distributed.

“We don’t just write a check and say, ‘Go get what you need,’ ” TaylorRivers said. “We build relationships with all these organizations and coaches and make sure they get what they need. We make sure everything is accounted for.” Though the foundation originally was built with a football camp, TaylorRivers said there are no bounds. “We want to make sure people know this isn’t just about football. It’s about all sports, especially in this economic climate, because sports often are the first activities to get cut,” Taylor-Rivers said. “For some of these kids, going to school might be the only meal they get for the day.” Thunder guard Thabo Sefolosha held a basketball camp last December and there are plans to add summer camps. Several other Thunder players, including Nick Collison and Kevin Durant, also have helped the cause. The Wes Welker Foundation so far has centered its efforts in Oklahoma City, but Taylor-Rivers said there are plans to also hold an event in Boston.

During a trip there last December, Taylor-Rivers got a firsthand look at the Elvis treatment fans gave Welker during a CelticsThunder game. “He’s like really famous up there,” Taylor-Rivers said. “I told him, ‘This is ridiculous. I can’t go anywhere with you in public.’ ” Welker’s modesty is reflected in the fact his program originally was known as the 83 Foundation, after Welker’s jersey number. “That’s Wes,” TaylorRivers said. “He didn’t want his name out there. He didn’t want this to be about him. I told him, ‘I can appreciate that, but we need your name out there.’ Wes has just been great. If I need anything, I call him and he’s right there. He is so humble. It’s refreshing.” The foundation’s biggest fundraiser is its annual Cleats & Cocktails event, which was held March 26 at the Oklahoma History Center. For more information, go to www.weswelker foundation.org. JOHN ROHDE: 475-3099. JOHN ROHDE CAN BE HEARD MONDAY-FRIDAY FROM 6 TO 7 P.M. ON THE SPORTS ANIMAL NETWORK, INCLUDING AM-640 AND FM-98.1.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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ZAC LOGSDON | FOUNDER OF OLD HAT CREATIVE

Old Hat Creative founder Zac Logsdon sits in his office in Norman.

PHOTO BY STEVE SISNEY, THE OKLAHOMAN

Making an impact on the world of sports BY SCOTT WRIGHT Staff Writer swright@opubco.com

NORMAN — Maybe you didn’t realize it at the time, but you’ve probably seen some of the work done by Zac Logsdon’s company, Old Hat Creative. Maybe it was something as simple as the “Get Loud” sign that flashes on the scoreboard at Oklahoma City Thunder games, or the artwork promoting the recent Bedlam softball games at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. Maybe you happened to be in New York when Logsdon’s 17-story billboard promoting Syracuse University athletics was hanging in Times Square. Logsdon’s company is only 7 years old, but it made a quick national impact in the graphic design world of sports. The company handles a variety of Internet, print and in-arena promotional

products for sports teams all across the country. Stanford, Florida State, the Milwaukee Bucks, Gonzaga, South Dakota State, Syracuse and dozens more. “We bill ourselves as a full-service creative agency,” Logsdon said. “Anything that can be done to help market your sports organization, we’ll do it. We can do iPhone apps, Web sites, print collateral, video production, intro videos.”

How it all began Logsdon, 34, is a Guthrie native and University of Oklahoma graduate. He was working as a graphic designer in the OU athletic department when he began to see the potential for his business idea. “I saw a hole in the market,” he said. “There was nobody out there that was offering really highquality design work specifically for the collegiate

sports marketplace. “You could go to your local print shop and have their $5-an-hour graphic designer put something together and the quality was really low, or you could go to an ad agency that would charge you way more than you could afford. “So I landed somewhere in the middle.” Through a friend, he picked up some work at the University of Michigan, and also did some for OU. “When you start a business in sports with Oklahoma and Michigan as your two clients, things kind of snowball from there,” Logsdon said. “That was seven years ago. We had one employee. Now we have around 60 universities and pro sports teams we’ve done work with, and 22 people on our staff.” Logsdon admits the company’s most notable project was that 17-story

There’s plenty of interesting OKC trivia to pursue BY DON GAMMILL Communities Editor bgammill@opubco.com

A visitor asks for information about Oklahoma City. What would you provide? You could talk about sports or entertainment. You might describe the fine museums and cultural centers. And don’t forget the restaurants. Maybe you would talk about historic areas, or those that have been revitalized. But don’t forget the tidbits, the simple, trivial pieces of information that make nuggets for conversation. For instance: I In addition to cabs, buses and limousines, you can ride a water taxi, a boat on a river, a trolley, a horse-drawn carriage, a bicycle, a motorcycle, a Segway, or a pedicab. I Downtown Oklahoma City has 40,343 theater seats. I More than 52,000 people are employed in the downtown area. I There are more than 20,000 public parking spaces downtown, including more than 1,300 at parking meters on the street. This is in the city where parking meters were

Construction of the skywalk between Oklahoma Tower and the City Center east garage at Park and Harveyis seen in this 2009 photo. Downtown Oklahoma City has more than one mile of skywalks and “hidden” tunnels connecting 33 businesses. PHOTO BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

invented. I The aforementioned water taxi operates on the Bricktown Canal, which is 1.6 miles round-trip. I The Segway twowheeled, self-balancing electric vehicles are available for rental in Bricktown, along the Oklahoma River. I The Devon Boathouse along the river is a reality, but Boathouse Row eventually also will have those for the University of Central Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma. There also is the Chesapeake Finish Line Tower, another beautiful structure.

I Connecting Regatta Park and the Bricktown Canal is a high priority. Moving pedestrians and river cruise boat traffic under the new Interstate 40 will boost both the boathouse district and Bricktown. I You can get a better image of a revamped downtown through the Cityscape exhibit. The exhibit for 2010 was huge in one way. It took more than 2 million Lego bricks and elements to recreate downtown Oklahoma City. For more Oklahoma City trivia, see Pages 31S and 37S.

billboard for Syracuse. “That was neat,” Logsdon said, “to be able to see something I designed hanging in Times Square.” Logsdon says he has turned down 99 percent of the non-sports clients that have approached Old Hat. The biggest reason is that designing artwork for a bank isn’t as fun as creating All-Star posters of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Fun is at the heart of everything Old Hat does. One look at the company’s website tells you that — i.e. the link for “Random Animal Noises.” “I am not a salesman, and that was my biggest concern when I started this,” Logsdon said. “So I decided if I’m go-

ing to be successful, I have to find a different way to sell. My approach was to make people like us. Make people want to be a part of Old Hat. “There are 100 companies out there who can do what we do. What makes us unique is that we’re fun and we have a good time,”

he said. “I marketed Old Hat as a fun place to be associated with. “We’re goofy. Our business cards are trading cards. You’ve got to spend eight hours a day with these people. You might as well enjoy it while you’re here.”

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MIKE HOLDER | OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

Oklahoma State University athletic director Mike Holder poses recently inside Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.

PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN

OSU athletic director tackled challenges of building a winning football program Boone Pickens Stadium is seen in this file photo.

BY BRANDON CHATMON Staff Writer bchatmon@opubco.com

STILLWATER — Upon taking over as athletic director at Oklahoma State University in 2005, Mike Holder wanted to take the Cowboy football program to another level. “I had no illusions about how difficult it was to compete in football,” Holder said. “I’ve been here since 1966, and I haven’t seen a lot of championship banners raised. So I knew it was an uphill struggle.” Holder immediately identified two obstacles: lack of state-of-the-art facilities and the inability to retain quality coaches. “My challenge was to try to remove all the obstacles that stood in the way of our ability to compete for championships and win championships,” Holder said. Fundraising became a high priority, and thanks to several donations including a $165 million gift from Boone Pickens, the Cowboys now have facilities that rank among the nation’s best. Raising the salaries of assistant coaches also became a priority under Holder. “(I wanted to) get and

PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

retain good coaches,” Holder said. “A good portion of that is what you are able to pay them.” This season three assistant coaches (Todd Monken, Joe DeForest, Bill Young) each will make $400,000, making the Cowboys assistant coaching staff among the highest paid in the Big 12 Conference. A change in commitment was also in order. “There just wasn’t a commitment to championship football,” Holder said. “I don’t feel there ever was a strong commitment to football until Boone Pickens rode in on his white horse.

“There’s definitely a commitment now and a commitment to winning at the highest level; without that, it’s a just an exercise in futility, which it had been for the last five or six decades.” It’s an exercise in futility no longer. In 2010, the Cowboys shared the Big 12 South championship and won 11 games for the first time in school history. “We are enjoying unprecedented success, and the future’s never been brighter,” Holder said. “I think everyone who cares about OSU football feels like championship seasons

are just around the corner.” Since Holder took over as athletic director, OSU has become a program on the rise and is gaining increased national recognition thanks to three straight seasons of nine wins or more. Thanks to Holder’s vision, the days of dreaming about competing for championships are gone. Heading into the 2011 season, OSU is expected to compete for the Big 12 championship. “I love the fact the expectations have changed. I embrace that and all that comes with it,” Holder said.

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MIKE KNOPP | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOATHOUSE FOUNDATION

Rower’s dream for river flows into reality

Mike Knopp stands inside the boat bay at the Devon Boathouse in Oklahoma City. BY ED GODFREY Staff Writer egodfrey@opubco.com

When everyone else saw the Oklahoma River as a drainage ditch, Mike Knopp saw something much more. He envisioned a world class venue for rowing. Standing on the Lincoln Bridge in 1997 and looking over the river, Knopp had an aha moment. Olympic courses built for rowing are long, straight stretches lined with riprap that are protected by the wind. “That is essentially what we had here,” Knopp said. “This totally straight section of the river next to downtown. I could see if it had water, it could really be something.” Knopp is credited with inspiring the emergence of Boathouse Row, drawing thousands to the river, including dozens of Olympic athletes who have made Oklahoma City their home. Knopp was talking about a boathouse on the river before there was any water in it. In less than a decade, Oklahoma City has built a rowing culture that cities on the Eastern Seaboard have been building for more than a century. “Oklahoma does not have a deep, rich tradition in this sport like they do in Philadelphia and Boston, so we had opportunities to kind of think outside of the box,” Knopp said. “That helped us define our mark in the sport.”

River’s ‘bad stigma’ A 1990 Edmond Memorial graduate, Knopp moved to Oklahoma from Baltimore as a junior in high school. Rowing was popular in the Baltimore area, and Knopp wanted to try it but thought that chance ended upon moving to Oklahoma. But while attending Oklahoma State University, Knopp discovered the school had a rowing club. He joined and was introduced to the sport in a “very rugged way with the most antiquated equipment and primitive facilities.” In law school at the University of Oklahoma, Knopp discovered there once existed a rowing club on Lake Overholser in Oklahoma City. He and his wife, Tempe, helped restart the Oklahoma City Rowing Club. “Tempe and I started getting people involved in

IF YOU GO 2011 EVENTS May 7-8: Central District Youth Rowing Championships, a regional qualifier for USRowing Youth National Championships May 11: RIVERSPORT Youth League Spring Championship June 25: OKC RIVERSPORT Spring Classic Regatta featuring corporate racing July 20: Let’s Move! OKC RIVERSPORT Challenge Race (youth and adult) Aug. 11-14: USRowing Masters National Championships Sept. 29-Oct. 2: USA Rowing World Challenge; blu VIP party; Oklahoma Regatta Festival; OCU Head of the Oklahoma Regatta Oct. 27: Haunt the River at Route 66 Boathouse Nov. 9: RIVERSPORT Youth League Championships ONLINE: For the latest events, go to NewsOK.com.

the sport again,” Knopp said. “She started getting kids involved. I started getting adults involved and eventually wanted to get the colleges involved.” It was then Knopp hatched the idea for a rowing venue on the river near downtown Oklahoma City. He started attending river trust meetings and pitching the idea to city leaders. “There was such a bad stigma associated with that river back then,” Knopp said. “It was really hard for people to see. That was a challenge, raising money for a boathouse on a river that was a ditch.” Knopp helped persuade Oklahoma City University to start a rowing club. He became the team’s coach for a $1 per year. Through the Oklahoma City Rowing Club, the Knopps had started a corporate rowing program and made contacts with business leaders.

‘Modest concept’ Knopp sent proposals to Aubrey McClendon, chief executive officer for Ches-

apeake Energy, to fund a boathouse on the river. “It was a very modest concept,” Knopp said. “We didn’t have a picture at that time of a Rand Elliott building.” The first major rowing event on the river was held in connection with the Sooner State Games. City and business leaders were invited, including McClendon. “That opened up everyone’s eyes,” Knopp said of the Sooner State Games. (McClendon) is the one who actually said, ‘We need to up the ante here.’ ” McClendon brought architect Rand Elliott on board and the decision was made to build a worldclass boathouse. “That was a huge turning point,” Knopp said of the Chesapeake Boathouse. “It was really Aubrey seeing the vision at the time, seeing the boats on the water and understanding the power of the river.” Since then, OCU made rowing a varsity sport for men and women. Both the University of Central Oklahoma and OU have added rowing as varsity women’s sports. The recently built Devon Boathouse is home to OCU and the High Performance Center, a designated Olympic training site for athletes. UCO is raising funds for its own boathouse, which will include a live music venue. OU also is planning to build a boathouse on the Oklahoma River, which was home to the first night racing in the country. The OGE Night Races are part of the Head of Oklahoma Regatta, a collegiate competition in September that draws thousands to the river with its festival of music, food and the arts.

‘Pretty amazing’ More than 50 athletes have moved to Oklahoma City to train and pursue their Olympic dreams in rowing. Knopp is no longer practicing law. He is now executive director of the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation. Standing on the Lincoln Bridge more than a decade ago, Knopp admits he didn’t envision all of this. “In less than 10 years to go from being a ditch to having the Olympic rings on the river is pretty amazing,” he said.

PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN

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DESMOND MASON | ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER FOR THE $130 MILLION DOWNTOWN PARK THAT IS PART OF THE MAPS 3 INITIATIVE

Mayor nets help of a new Oklahoman

Desmond Mason poses with his painting “Nicole” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in Oklahoma City in 2009.

PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

BY JOHN HELSLEY Staff Writer jhelsley@opubco.com

Desmond Mason claims obvious ties to Oklahoma. A star basketball player at Oklahoma State University. Stints in town with the NBA’s Hornets and Thunder. But Mason, an Okie? “I am,” Mason, a Waxahachie, Texas, native, said with a laugh. “I’m about to be a resident. I’m always a Texan, but I’ve traveled so much and had residences in Seattle and Portland. ... This is home for us now. We’re going to be residents of Oklahoma. “My wife’s an Oregonian, and she’s going to be an Oklahoman.”

Desmond Mason cheers during the basketball game between Oklahoma State University and Texas in January at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater. PHOTO BY SARAH PHIPPS, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

A MAPS 3 player And Mason is all in on Oklahoma City, even serving on the advisory board for the $130 million downtown park that is part of the MAPS 3 initiative. Given an opportunity to serve on the board by Mayor Mick Cornett, Mason leaped like he did for the Cowboys and in the pros. “The mayor asked me if it was something I’d like to do,” Mason said. “I told him, ‘Absolutely, I would love to.’ I’ve traveled around and seen a lot of different places. I see growth here, and I want to be a part of that.” Mason, also an accomplished artist, said he sees the 70-acre park that will link the core of downtown to the Oklahoma River as a blank canvas, offering many possibilities. And he has some visions. “We lived in Portland, Oregon, and Portland has some of the most beautiful parks in the country,” Mason said. “It offers great things for the community – walking, biking, things like that. Everybody’s outside and exercising. “And we have the space to do it. There are a lot of funds that are going to go behind it. The people involved are very creative. I think I can bring some things that will really help, ideas to help make it more friendly in the downtown area, more walkable, with shopping and a lot of other things.” This is, after all, Mason’s new home. And he’s excited about all that’s going on. “When you’re looking at everything that’s going on in the state and Oklahoma City in general, the

Desmond Mason, an Oklahoma City Thunder player in this 2008 photo, gives a bag of food to families in need at the Presbyterian Urban Mission in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

When you’re looking at everything that’s going on in the state and Oklahoma City in general, the growth, it’s impressive. ... So you look at what’s going on and the opportunity to grow this thing.” DESMOND MASON

growth, it’s impressive,” Mason said. “You’ve got Classen Curve, a lot of new businesses, the style of the businesses and the design and the architecture, the

boathouses — the rowing is so big now in Oklahoma — and everyone is so health conscious these days in Oklahoma. “So you look at what’s going on and the opportunity to grow this thing.”

On the art scene Mason’s involvement in the community extends to his artwork. He’s opened his own studio in Plaza Court at 10th and Walker Avenue in the MidTown area. His December show benefited Allied Arts and EduCare. Soon, his charitable works will extend outside the country, with a show in Mexico dedicated to helping a man who was paralyzed in an accident. “I came from a place where we didn’t have a lot,” Mason said. “Nobody around me had a lot. It was one of those neighborhood scenarios you hear about a lot, where the athletes go through bad communities. “To be blessed in having a gift that pertains to art

and to playing basketball, and to utilize that to help other people is what I’ve always been about. I want to be able to show my faith and have kids see me and know that I came from hard times and utilize art and say, ‘You know what, it’s not always about sports either. I can do something else and be successful at it,’ ” Mason said.

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MIKE NUNLEY | EDMOND PUBLIC SCHOOLS ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

Edmond teams, community enjoy special ties BY ROBERT PRZYBYLO Staff Writer bprzybylo@opubco.com

EDMOND — It wasn’t some grand master plan by Edmond athletic director Mike Nunley. It just sort of evolved. Edmond athletic teams had been participating in community services projects before Nunley, but Nunley realized how much the community supported Edmond. He wanted to return the favor. Nunley began requiring all athletic teams from middle school to all three high schools — Memorial, North and Santa Fe — to be part of at least one community service project. What started out as a requirement has become some of the students’ favorite moments together, Nunley said. “It’s out of control now,” Nunley said. “The community has meant so much to the athletic teams and these kids have gone above and beyond in giving back. “This is bigger than I could have ever dreamed of, and we’ve created some great relationships.” One of those is with the Edmond North softball team and their assistance in the Miracle League. The league, started in 2000, provides children and adults with special needs the opportunity to play baseball in a safe and supportive environment. North coach Rick Nordyke was quick to offer his assistance to the program because of a personal connection with Margo Price, the league’s organizer. Price’s son James, who is autistic, used to be the team manager for the Huskies baseball team when Nordyke was still coaching softball and baseball. For the last five years, North softball and baseball have helped out

Edmond Public Schools Athletic Director Mike Nunley

with the league.

Special relationship “The games mean so much to those kids, and we just want to do anything we can to help make it special,” Nordyke said. The projects have helped the teams bond together away from their sport, and it’s helped them build that relationship and friendship with each other. And Edmond athletics have never been hotter. North won the most state championships of any school last year, while the Santa Fe girls earned Edmond Public Schools’ first girls basketball championship. The Memorial boys

also won the state basketball championship. “Mike has always tried to have a high standard,” Santa Fe athletic director Barry Blagowsky said. “He sets the tone for athletics, but class and character means even more to him than athletic success.” Nunley’s approach has been there is no such thing as a minor sport. “Whatever sport it is, we’re going to put out the best possible product,” Nunley said. “We aggressively pursue everything we can. Whether it’s middle school or JV (junior varsity), we do everything we can for the kids.”

HOW THEY HELP EDMOND SCHOOLS SERVICE PROJECTS Here are some of the other service projects the Edmond schools perform: I Santa Fe boys basketball adopts a family for Thanksgiving and Christmas and provides everything for them. I Memorial basketball works with the Blue Star organization on packing items for the military. I Baseball teams have performed free clinics at Mitch Park for youth baseball. I Sequoyah basketball wraps presents at the mall for donations to the Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation. I Sequoyah football worked with Habitat for Humanity on two house projects. I Summit basketball raised funds for the Bethany Childrens’ home and the Oklahoma Blood Institute. I Sequoyah girls basketball collected blankets and quilts for the neonatal center at Integris. I Cheyenne cross country did a canned food drive for a local food shelter. I Each high school has its own fundraising week: Double Wolf Dare (Santa Fe), Swine (Memorial) and Balto (North). ROBERT PRZYBYLO, STAFF WRITER

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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MUSICALS, PLAYS, DANCING AND MORE MAKE UP LINEUPS FOR 2011-2012

What season holds for arts patrons Central Oklahoma’s myriad arts organizations are hoping to entice patrons with their 2011-12 season lineups, many of which are still in the process of being finalized. For those who may be curious about what lies ahead, here’s a sneak peek at some of the season’s diverse offerings.

Sarah Coburn

Edgar Cruz

Louis Lortie

Philharmonic favorites The Oklahoma City Philharmonic welcomes back a trio of favorite guest artists who have graced the past seasons, including Louis Lortie playing Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto,” Jon Kimura Parker playing the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto and Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing Gershwin’s “Concerto in F.” Making their Philharmonic debuts next season are Oklahoma native Sarah Coburn singing a program of operatic arias, James Ehnes playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Rachel Barton Pine performing Corigliano’s chaconne from “The Red Violin.”

Cathy Rigby starring in “Peter Pan”

Showstoppers Headlining the pops season are “Mysterioso,” a program featuring quickchange artists and magicians; an ABBA tribute group and “Wicked Divas,” a collection of Broadway showstoppers featuring Julia Murney and Stephanie J. Block.

Shannon Calderon

Celebrating music Canterbury Choral Society kicks off its season with an evening of “Latin Rhythms,” featuring guitarist Edgar Cruz and flamenco dancer Shannon Calderon. Closing the season is “Experiences With Sound,” a program that celebrates music composed or performed by those with hearing loss.

On the stage Celebrity Attractions’ eclectic season will feature encore presentations of “Peter Pan” starring perennial favorite Cathy Rigby, and the percussive delights of “Stomp.” Making their Oklahoma City debuts are the musicals “Memphis” and “The Addams Family.” Lyric Theatre’s 2011 summer season of musicals will feature two locally-produced premieres, the Tony Award-winning “Hairspray,” a joyous look back at the 1950s, and “Ragtime,” a compelling story about early 20th century immigrants and the challenges they faced coming to America. Lyric’s Plaza season, which resumes in October, includes the premieres of “Altar Boyz,” a rafterraising celebration of the boy band craze, and “A Christmas Carol,” a musical version of Charles Dickens’ classic novel.

In the park The centerpiece of Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s 2011 summer season is a production of “The Seagull.” Bookending that Anton Chekhov classic are Shakespeare’s “The

Jon Kimura Parker

Lyonel Reneau, Shane McClure and Mitchell Reid appeared in last year’s performance of “The Taming of the Shrew" in Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park.

Merry Wives of Windsor” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Michelle Swink and Sean Eckart appeared last year in “The Scarlet Letter” at Carpenter Square Theatre.

Old and new Other theatrical enticements include Carpenter Square Theatre productions of “Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde” and “You’ve Got Hate Mail,” a comedy about sex, lies and laptops. The Reduxion Theatre will celebrate its first full season at its new downtown location with productions of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility.” The Oklahoma City Theatre Company will offer productions of the musicals “Quilters” and “Gypsy,” along with Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” a stage adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel.

An Oklahoma lead The Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre will present the Oklahoma premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical “Next to Normal,” with Oklahoma native Stacey Logan in the demanding lead role. Also planned are Alfred Uhry’s “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” and Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady.”

Stacey Logan

Award-winners Next up at the Poteet Theatre is Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel,” followed by Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” and the Tony Award-winning musical “Annie.” On stage at the Jewel Box Theatre in the 2011-12 season are “Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles,” “Around the World in 80 Days” and the world premiere of “The Broken Statue,” a fictional tale about Lydie Roberts Marland, wife of Oklahoma governor E.W. Marland. The Pollard will close its current season with “Passing Strange,” a 2008 Tony winner for best book of a musical. Subsequent productions include “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” Rupert Holmes’ musical based on Dickens’ unfinished novel,

and David LindsayAbaire’s Pulitzer Prizewinning “Rabbit Hole.”

On point The Oklahoma City Ballet will celebrate its 40th anniversary season with a nice mix of old and new, from Leo Delibes’ “Coppelia” and Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird” to “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Nutcracker.” To honor its commitment to new works, the company will present Robert Mills’ “In Between Dreams” and a world premiere by Alan Hineline. As this preview suggests, there’s something to satisfy virtually every taste, from favorite musicals and celebrated concert artists to award-winning dramas, theatrical comedies and dance productions. Additional programming will be announced in the coming months. As always, programs are subject to change.

The Oklahoma City Ballet will feature old and new productions, including “The Nutcracker,” above, and “The Wizard of Oz,” below.

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

SCOTT BOOKER | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF ACM@UCO AND FLAMING LIPS MANAGER

Scott Booker, CEO of the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma, and manager of the Flaming Lips, sits at the production console in one of the Bricktown classrooms of ACM@UCO. PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN

Flaming Lips’ manager sees city as musical hub BY GENE TRIPLETT Entertainment Editor etriplett@opubco.com

Scott Booker is a man who knows how to make his dreams come true. Back in the 1980s as a college kid from Midwest City, he started working his way up from the bottom of the music business, first as a clerk and then a manager of local record stores. Then one day he sold a Led Zeppelin album to a weird young dude in a motorcycle helmet who turned out to be the leader of a wild, ragtag, psychedelic pop band from Oklahoma City that was starting to make waves in the indie-label underground. Wayne Coyne and his Flaming Lips eventually signed to Warner Bros. Records and selected their friend Booker to be their manager. Ten albums, three Grammys and the building of an international cult following later, other dreams have come true for Booker beyond the fearlessly freaky world of the Flaming Lips. He’s worked with other high-profile acts such as the late, great, Academy Award-nominated alternative singer-songwriter Elliott Smith and Mercury Prize nominees British Sea Power. In 2003, Booker cofounded World’s Fair Label Group, an Edmond

and New York-based company that ran independent and artist-owned record labels, allowing artists to self-release their own music. But he recently sold his ownership in World’s Fair to focus on another big dream — the launching and growing of the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma. “I just look at it as, these are things we want to try to do, and let’s figure out how to do it,” said Booker, 45. “I think that’s how Wayne and I have always thought about everything. ‘What do you wish would happen? Let’s make it happen.’ ” The grand opening of ACM@UCO happened in August 2009 in its renovated high-tech home on the fourth floor of the old Oklahoma Hardware building in Bricktown. And Booker became its chief executive officer. “I mean this guy is going to do for music in Oklahoma what Alan Freed did for rock ’n’ roll in Cleveland,” then-UCO President W. Roger Webb said of Booker at the time. Booker was the man most responsible for bringing the first authorized U.S. branch of Great Britain’s prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music to Oklahoma City. And its partnership with UCO made perfect sense

ONLINE To see video of Scott Booker, go to NewsOK.com and search for “Booker.”

to him, having earned an education degree from the Edmond-based university himself. “I was supposed to be a high school history teacher,” Booker said. “So I had this degree in education, and when I started working with the Lips, in the back of my head I thought, ‘Well, I’ve always got this to fall back on if this thing managing bands didn’t work.’”

A bit of luck “I would say early on in my career I was very lucky that there were people that were willing to spend time with me, ranging from people at Warner Bros. Records to the Flaming Lips’ lawyer, spend time with me explaining how the music industry worked,” Booker said. “And I think even back then I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there was just a class I could take that would explain this?’ And I think that little notion has stuck in my head since the early ’90s, like this is something that needs to happen.” A few years back, Booker found himself sitting

next to one of the chancellors of the state Board of Regents at a meeting of Creative Oklahoma, the not-for-profit organization that supports creativity and innovation in commerce, culture, and education in the state. He mentioned his idea about a class dealing with the contemporary music business, and the intrigued chancellor introduced Booker to Webb, who was also interested in Booker’s brainchild. “We started having these luncheons once a month and started talking about it,” Booker said. “And I was busy, and he was busy, but the idea was that there would, somewhere along the way, be a music business class that was about contemporary music — rock ’n’ roll.” Booker’s research led him to discover the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey, England. “And I thought, wouldn’t be great to bring in a European institution like ACM and tie it to something here?” Webb agreed, and during a trip to the U.K. on other business, he took time to visit the music school. Webb liked what he saw, and as it turned out, the British school was interested in partnering with a university in the United States.

Partnership formed Upon visiting Oklahoma and UCO’s Edmond campus, ACM officials were sold on the partnership. Plans were put in motion to establish an off-campus school modeled after the institution in Britain. “We’ve taken their program the way it works,” Booker said. “There are three areas of study — performance, production and the music business. We followed their format and basically the majority of their classes.” Since its 2009 opening, the school has expanded to include the ACM@UCO Performance Lab at 323 E Sheridan as a venue for students to gain stage experience in front of live audiences. The 350-capacity club also offers music business students hands-on experience in the world of booking, producing and promoting shows, bringing in national acts. The school’s rapidly growing reputation — and Booker’s music industry contacts — have already attracted such guest lecturers as Jackson Browne, the Who’s Roger Daltrey, jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and the Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd. Up to now, the school has offered a two-year associate degree in music performance and production, but this fall, ACM@UCO will begin offering students who grad-

uate with an Associates of Applied Science degree the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Applied Technology with a focus in contemporary music. While ACM students were previously eligible to pursue bachelor’s degrees through UCO’s alreadyestablished programs, this marks the first bachelor’s degree to focus on contemporary music and is the only program of its kind in the country. “My idea and my dream, really, for the ACM@UCO is not just a school,” Booker said. “I want it to be a hub. I want it to be a place where anyone that’s from Oklahoma or living here or wants to come here, and is looking for a way to become a part of the music industry, we can be that entry point. “When you look at other cities that are musiccentric, say, Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry, it was something that drew people that were interested in music and music as a business. Austin had the ‘Austin City Limits’ TV show and it had Willie Nelson, and they did things to create something that made the city look like a music city. “I believe we can do the same thing here with ACM,” Booker said. Judging from his past record of turning wishes into realities, a lot of other people tend to believe what Booker believes.

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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BRIAN HEARN | FILM CURATOR AT THE OKLAHOMA CITY MUSEUM OF ART

John Springer, head of the University of Central Oklahoma’s film studies program, left, and Brian Hearn, Oklahoma City Museum of Art film curator, stand in front of a projection of a still frame from the movie “Metropolis,” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

Technology drives curator’s vision for museum program BY GEORGE LANG Assistant Entertainment Editor glang@opubco.com

In 1995, when Brian Hearn began his job as film curator at what was then called the Oklahoma City Art Museum, all he had at the old State Fair Park location was a converted gallery space, some old projectors, a VCR and bigscreen television setup and some metal folding chairs. To top it off, his debut event, a screening of the 1963 classic “Tom Jones,” amounted to a minor disaster. “It was a very old, worn-out print, and it had some sprocket damage to begin with,” Hearn said. “This older projector ... when it hit these bad sprockets it just started shredding the film. And the soundtrack was bad — it was pretty unfortunate. Some people walked out, and I was like, ‘Oh God — what have I gotten myself into?’ It was obvious that we had to make some technical upgrades.” These days, Hearn oversees the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s film program at the $40 million downtown facility’s stateof-the-art Noble Theater, where he can project film in virtually any format on the theater’s twin, German-made, 35 mm Kinoton projectors and a 2005 digital cinema upgrade that recently delivered a popular, Blu-ray enabled screening of “Gone With the Wind.” But technology has not changed the principle driving Hearn’s mission — it simply makes it run like clockwork.

1994 start The film program started with a 1994 endowment from Jeanne Hoffman Smith, who was inspired by a 1993 summer film series to make a $30,000 initial donation followed by a $50,000 challenge grant. Like Smith, Hearn understood that people craved access to films they could not see at the local multiplex, and they often wanted background information on the production instead of “coming attractions” and commercials.

A row of Harley-Davidson motorcycles is outside the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in 2002. Members of the Oklahoma City Harley Owners Group attended the museum’s screening of “Easy Rider” as part of the Library of Congress Film Preservation Tour. PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

“I always try to remember that we are what we are — an art museum — and we view cinema as an art form and we’re celebrating that,” Hearn said. “It’s a curated program, so we try to offer a lot of diversity in terms of documentary, short films, international and independentnarrative features, and just offering a high-quality mix, as well as classics and repertory.”

More to come Hearn said there are upgrades on the horizon, designed to keep pace with emerging technology and shifts in the marketplace. These days, he often finds himself fielding questions about delivery systems for the movies: Will it be on 35 mm film or will it be dig-

ital? Some patrons love the idea of seeing a pristine, high-definition transfer of a classic, rendered in digital perfection, while some demand aesthetic purity and want to see it come off a spool. Either way, those patrons have a voice and are participating in an ongoing discussion over what they love and what they want to see at the Noble Theater. That sense of community, Hearn said, is what keeps people involved when the options for seeing films are becoming more plentiful. “I think that’s what our future is,” he said. “Deepening that relationship with the audience, growing it, getting people downtown and enjoying the Arts District — just building a film culture.”

ONLINE I For more on the Oklahoma Museum of Art film series, go to NewsOK.com. I For a list of current films, go to www.okcmoa.com/ see/film.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

DON JORDAN | CO-FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY REPERTORY THEATRE

Director discusses company’s rich history BY RICK ROGERS Fine Arts Editor rrogers@opubco.com

Successful arts organizations can sometimes have rather inauspicious beginnings. On New Year’s Day 1998, a group of former Oklahoma City University students attended a brunch and began discussing the city’s theatrical scene. Most had established careers in theater outside the state but for various reasons had recently returned to Oklahoma. With Bricktown thriving and the various MAPS projects under way, would the time be right to establish a local professional theater? After numerous planning meetings, discussions about a possible venue and countless other details, the Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre was formed. A fundraising campaign was launched in 2001, and in November 2002, City Rep kicked off its inaugural season. Nine years later, City Rep’s mission remains unchanged: “To serve Oklahoma’s diverse artistic, educational and civic needs by providing dynamic professional theater.” From the beginning, City Rep made it a practice

Don Jordan, artistic director of the Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre

to devote part of each season to plays that hadn’t previously been staged in Oklahoma. “We’ve always been about the passionate pursuit of excellence,” artistic director Don Jordan said. “There’s a certain amount of risk in doing that, but we’ve never shied away from taking on artistic challenges. The only rule we can’t break is that it must be good theater.”

Diverse mix of shows A look back through City Rep’s archives reveals a healthy mix of unusual, thought-provoking and cutting-edge theater. The company’s many Oklahoma premieres include “The Oklahoma City Pro-

The Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre filled out its 2009-10 season with a production of the comedy “A Tuna Christmas,” the second part of the Tuna trilogy by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard. PHOTO PROVIDED

ject” (Ruth Charnay’s play about the aftermath of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing), “The Laramie Project” (a riveting story about the murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard) and “August: Osage County” (the 2008 Pulitzer Prize-win-

ning drama by native Oklahoman Tracy Letts). “Our philosophy from the beginning was to be a theater smorgasbord,” Jordan said. “By presenting a wide-ranging season with a broad range of styles, people can have a diversity of theatrical experiences.” As a Small Professional

Theatre (SPT, an Actors Equity term for professional theaters whose seating capacity is 349 seats or less), City Rep presents its productions in the Freede Little Theatre and the CitySpace Theatre, both in the Civic Center Music Hall. City Rep also takes pride

in its desire to collaborate with theater departments from local universities. Student actors get to work alongside professionals, a situation that is mutually beneficial. “Collaboration allows you to create a healthy and vibrant theater scene,” Jordan said. “Students need to be mentored and trained by pros, so we try to reach out and serve as many young people as possible in that way.” When one considers that 80 percent of new businesses fail, usually within the first five years, Jordan is understandably proud that the theater has ended each season in the black. As City Rep looks ahead to its 10th season and beyond, he’d like to continue building audiences and start an endowment. “The hard part in the beginning was getting people to come see our shows,” Jordan said. “With so many entertainment choices available, you have to offer people an extraordinary experience. Since we’ve succeeded for nearly a decade, we don’t look so much like a flash in the pan. We just have to keep setting that standard of excellence and do good work. It’s about taking chances.”

GROUP INAUGURATED DOWNTOWN LOCATION WITH A PRODUCTION OF SHAKESPEARE’S ‘A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM’

Curtain goes up on Reduxion Theatre’s new site FROM STAFF REPORTS

The Reduxion Theatre Company inaugurated its new downtown location in February with a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Performances were at the Broadway Theatre, 1613 N Broadway. “We are very proud that our first production in the new Broadway Theatre will be Shakespeare’s most beloved comedy,” Reduxion’s Artistic Director Tyler Woods said at the time. “Our lively take on an audience favorite is an apt welcome to our new venue and home.” This production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” also served as Reduxion’s first tour. After the main stage production closes, cast members are taking “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to several metroarea public libraries on select Saturday afternoons through April. Reduxion performed at Midwest City Library, the Downtown Library, the Ralph Ellison Library and the Village Library this spring.

Above: The Fairies make merry, as the cast of Reduxion Theatre puts on the William Shakespeare play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Edmond Library. Left: Kyle Watson, as Lysander, proposes to Claudia Fain, as Hermia, in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Sponsoring feet To promote community involvement and benefit space renovation at its new location, the Reduxion Theatre launched a donation program in December called “Sponsor a Square Foot.” “We’ve gotten a great response,” Woods said of the new program. “Every square foot sponsor, at $26 per square foot, helps to improve a performance space to benefit the growth of the arts in Oklahoma City.”

In its first two seasons in Oklahoma City, Reduxion has performed at various locations in the metro area, including Stage Center and the City Arts Center Theater at State Fair Park. Developing a new performance location exclusively for Reduxion offers the theater company more freedom in its production schedule, and bolsters the performing arts community by offering a much needed additional venue for rental to area artists.

Titania, queen of the fairies, played by Holly McNatt, speaks to the audience, as the cast of Reduxion Theatre puts on "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." PHOTOS BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

LARRY PAYTON | PRESIDENT OF CELEBRITY ATTRACTIONS

Organization brings best of Broadway to Oklahoma

Larry Payton is the president of Celebrity Attractions. PHOTO PROVIDED

Past productions by Celebrity Attractions include “Wicked,” “On Golden Pond,” “Man of La Mancha,” “The Rock & The Rabbi” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE GRAPHIC

BY RICK ROGERS Fine Arts Editor rrogers@opubco.com

Larry Payton can readily identify with the premise of the film “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium,” a 1969 comedy about a guy who traveled to nine countries in 18 days. As president of Tulsabased Celebrity Attractions, Payton regularly visits the seven markets where he presents theatrical touring productions. Driving to each of those communities — Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, Little Rock and Springfield — results in a 1,400-mile round trip if one starts and ends in Tulsa. That’s about the same distance from Oklahoma City to San Francisco. Established in 1983, Celebrity Attractions was a modest operation back then, a time when Payton brought an occasional touring production to Tulsa. The Oklahoma City market was added in the early 1990s. Abilene, Celebrity’s newest market, is now in its second season. “During the early years, we went cherry picking to find shows we thought might make it,” Payton said. “It wasn’t until the late 1980s that we did full seasons. It was the whole idea of learning to crawl before you walk, and learning to walk before you run.” Oklahoma City’s early seasons reflected that eclectic approach, with opera (Verdi’s “Rigoletto”), concerts (“The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber”) and traditional musical

It’s not just about going to the theater, but the kind of experience you’re going to have once you get there. I’m most proud when people tell me ‘That was a great show’ or ‘I didn’t know much about that, but I had a great time.’ Theater is a business that I love even when things get challenging.” LARRY PAYTON

theater fare (“Oklahoma!”) being showcased. As Celebrity grew, Payton began to streamline the selection process. These days, Payton typically packs a season with a blockbuster (“Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King”), a family show (“Annie,” “Peter Pan”) and an innovative or unusual offering (“Stomp,” “Blast”). During any given season, there’s a limited number of touring productions from which to choose. They have ranged from one-man shows with little scenery (“Bully,” “The Male Intellect”) to elaborate productions with large casts and complex set designs (“Miss Saigon,” “Wicked”). Others create theatrical magic through special effects (“Cats”), star appeal (“Hello, Dolly!”) or hightech production values (“The Phantom of the Opera”). While each of those productions could be considered artistic and financial successes, others have struggled to find audiences. Payton remembers when he booked the musical “Titanic” a decade ago in Tulsa. “That show sank before

it ever went on stage,” Payton said. “It was a beautiful show. It had gorgeous music and an unbelievable set. But Leonardo di Caprio killed the audience for that stage production because everybody had seen the movie. It was a very expensive lesson to learn.” Despite the up and down nature of the theater business, Celebrity Attractions has built a loyal following of 11,000 subscribers in Oklahoma City. And while such numbers are impressive, Payton says it’s the relationships he’s forged with patrons that are particularly gratifying. “It’s not just about going to the theater, but the kind of experience you’re going to have once you get there,” he said. “I’m most proud when people tell me ‘That was a great show’ or ‘I didn’t know much about that, but I had a great time.’ Theater is a business that I love even when things get challenging. You have to stay dynamic and be willing to be flexible in order to roll with the punches. If you have subscribers who believe in what you’re doing, you’ll probably keep them for the long haul.”

Other past Celebrity Attractions productions have included “Movin’ Out,” “Cirque Dreams,” “The Will Rogers Follies,” “Peter Pan,” “Hairspray” and “Blast!” OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE GRAPHIC

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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KEN MENDENHALL | NFL PLAYER-TURNED-MINISTER

Former OU football player now known for work through Search Ministries BY BRYAN PAINTER Staff Writer bpainter@opubco.com

Former Baltimore Colts center Ken Mendenhall once said it was best that his number not be mentioned during the broadcast of a game. Because if it was, he’d probably just been called for holding. Now, the man who was a starter for the University of Oklahoma Sooners from 1967-69 and played 143 National Football League games for the Colts through the 1980 season, is known by many for his years of work through Search Ministries. Personally and spiritually, Mendenhall has chosen a life in which he allows God to use him and allows God to receive the credit. In 1987, after football and a brief career in the oil industry, Mendenhall joined Search Ministries, which can be found in 25 cities around the nation. It is a marketplace ministry primarily to business and professional people that provides answers to life and God questions. Mendenhall, who earned All-America honors while with the Sooners in 1969, held the Colts franchise record for consecutive starts with 115 games. That record lasted about 25 years until it was broken by Peyton Manning. Today, the Edmond resident continues to be consistent in ministering to fellow Oklahomans. Q: Where were you professionally and spiritually when you accepted God in your life? A: My first year in the NFL, I had been cut by four teams, and I was beginning to wonder if I should give up my dream of playing in the NFL. My fifth team was the defending Super Bowl champions. After making the roster in 1971, we began attending the team Bible study, and it was then that I made the discovery of what it means to be a new creation in Christ.

Maybe in earlier years I would have thought Godliness correlated with the spiritual impact one had on the most number of people. Today, I think a better criterion for godliness is the question of what type of husband, father, brother or friend am I.” KEN MENDENHALL

TO LEARN MORE Ken Mendenhall is pictured as a University of Oklahoma football player in 1969. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO

Ken Mendenhall, of Edmond, is shown at a recent event in Baltimore where he played for the thenBaltimore Colts. PHOTO PROVIDED

Q: How did you meet Larry Moody of Search Ministries? A: Larry Moody began teaching our Bible study in 1979, which was my ninth season with the Colts. Q: Has your personal definition of a godly man changed through the years? A: Maybe in earlier years I would have thought godliness correlated with the spiritual impact one had on the most number of people. Today, I think a better criterion for godliness is the question of what type of husband, father, brother or friend am I. Q: Often when we think of spiritual outreach, the corporate sector or the professional athlete sector would not be something that quickly comes to mind. What

are some of the ways you have reached out to these individuals? A: Regardless of one’s station in life there are needs that adulation or success don’t touch, therefore Christianity has relevance for everyone. We seek to create environments where spiritual issues can be discussed without trying to control the conversation or the conclusion. Q: Why is that so important, not only to the individual, but to the community led and influenced by that individual? A: To be a follower of Jesus enables one to be more effective, whatever their calling. Whether it is leading a company, being a professional athlete or a role all of us are called to, that of being a child, spouse, parent or friend.

OKLAHOMA CITY TRIVIA DID YOU KNOW? I Oklahoma City is the nation’s 30th largest city in population, but it ranks as the second largest city by area that is in full compliance of clean air standards. I Oklahoma City is about equidistant from the West and East coasts. Two of the nation’s most important interstate arteries (Interstate 35 and I-40), as well as other valuable highways, go through Oklahoma City. I Oklahoma City is spread over 608 square miles, but the highway system allows drivers to reach almost any side of the city in about 20 minutes or less. I Oklahoma City’s roadways include 130-plus miles of the federal interstate and state highway systems, with most highways and expressways four lanes or wider, centerdivided and access-controlled. I Oklahoma City is served by nine federal highways with 14 outlets. The highways are I-35, I-40, I-44, I-235, I-240, U.S. 62, U.S. 77, U.S. 270 and U.S. 277.

SkyDance Bridge As part of the new Crosstown Expressway, an 18-story structure inspired by the flight of Oklahoma’s state bird, the scissor-tailed flycatcher, will become a part of downtown Oklahoma City. I The SkyDance Bridge will be 30 feet wide and 440 feet long. Plans are for the pedestrian bridge to span the semidepressed section of the new 10-lane Interstate 40 and the BNSF Railway, between the existing I-40 and the Oklahoma River near Robinson Avenue, just south of downtown. I Designers said the two giant wings will frame the roadway,

Traffic travelling south on Interstate 235 merges with traffic from NW 63rd, at right, near the Interstate 44 interchange in Oklahoma City in this December photo. PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

the taller one stretching 185 feet high. A 66inch-high ornamental metal railing will span the length of bridge. I The $5 million structure is the work of architect MKEC Engineering and Butzer Design Partnership, led by Hans Butzer, who designed the Oklahoma City National Memorial, and Stan Carroll, who has been recognized for his work with architecture and metal sculpture. I The bridge is designed so that its steel panels will shimmer in sunlight by day and amid traditional lighting by night. I Funding for the bridge will come from the city of Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. DON GAMMILL, COMMUNITIES EDITOR

For more Oklahoma City trivia, see Page 37S

For more information about Search Ministries, go to www.searchnational.org.

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

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GENE BARNES | MISSION NORMAN CO-FOUNDER

Minister serves apartment dwellers BY CARLA HINTON Religion Editor chinton@opubco.com

NORMAN — Gene Barnes heard about an out-ofstate ministry that reached out to people in need in apartment complexes in places like Houston and Arlington, Texas. Barnes said at the time, he was an ordained Southern Baptist deacon with a heart for missions. When he learned that ministry-minded leaders in other states were starting outreach programs aimed at apartment residents, he saw a need for such a ministry in Norman. Easter Sunday 1998, he and his wife, Malinda, founded Mission Norman in a small apartment. “Our dream was to bring the gospel to multifamily housing,” he said. Barnes, 75, said they had a Bible study with a young man they hired to help run the organization. Then one apartment resident showed up. She stayed for a while and then left, only to return with two other people. Barnes said that’s how the small apartment Bible study grew: one or two people at a time. “Our goal was to plant Bible studies all over this area and it still is,” Barnes said. Today, Mission Norman at 2525 E Lindsey has grown into a multifaceted nonprofit nondenominational ministry that includes a food pantry, utility and rental assistance program, medical/pharmacy assistance and of course, Bible study/Bible club programs. Barnes, who attends Brookhaven Baptist Church, said in January, the organization served more than 800 Normanarea families. He said Mission Norman now leads 15

Gene Barnes, director of Mission Norman, stands in his office at 2525 E Lindsey in Norman.

Bible studies with an average weekly attendance of 188 people. He said the group’s goal has always been to reach people for Jesus. Often that means meeting their tangible needs as well as their spiritual needs. “We know that a lot of times, we have to give them physical bread before

we give them spiritual bread,” Barnes said. Though he is now a licensed Southern Baptist preacher, Barnes said he prefers to preach by serving Mission Norman than preaching in the pulpit. As a retired AT&T employee, Barnes said his retirement will be spent doing the work of the ministry because there is such a

need. He said apartment dwellers are a ripe mission field because the apartment population is often more transient, and people haven’t established a spiritual home. Also, he said many apartment residents don’t have adequate transportation and may not be able to get to weekend services at

PHOTO BY STEVE SISNEY, THE OKLAHOMAN

a church. He said some of them may feel they don’t have appropriate clothes for church or perhaps they have been hurt at a church. Barnes said Mission Norman is trying to raise $3.2 million to build five fourplexes that will serve as transitional housing for families with children. He said the project also

will fund an 18,000square-foot mission center that will aid the organization as it continues to serve Norman residents through its food pantry. “This is my retirement,” Barnes said of the ministry work ahead. “I don’t work for AT&T anymore, but the Lord works me harder than AT&T. It’s all worth it.”

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

CRAIG GROESCHEL I FOUNDER OF LIFECHURCH.TV

LifeChurch.tv’s growth exceeds founder’s hopes Craig Groeschel

I wanted to create a church that maybe a person who wasn’t raised in church could come and not feel like they had to know everything, but could come and kind of start where they were. So I think we’ve accomplished that. Do I feel like we’ve finished the work? No. I feel like we’re only starting.” CRAIG GROESCHEL

LifeChurch.tv distributes the Bible through YouVersion, an online Bible study application for the iPhone and other smartphones and mobile devices. BY CARLA HINTON Religion Editor chinton@opubco.com

During any given week, LifeChurch.tv campuses are full of people attending worship experiences. Craig Groeschel, founder of LifeChurch.tv, recently took time for an interview about his days as head of the Oklahoma based multicampus megachurch. LifeChurch.tv was founded by Groeschel, 43, in 1996 with about 27 people attending services in a rented dance studio in Edmond. Groeschel, wife Amy and their six children continue to live in Edmond, and the church has its headquarters there at Interstate 35 and Second Street. However, the church has grown to include 13 campuses throughout the metro area and Oklahoma, plus other states like New York, Texas, Tennessee and Florida. And that is not to mention the church’s online campus, which people all over the world may attend with the simple click of a button. LifeChurch.tv spokeswoman Lori Bailey said more than 30,000 people attend one of LifeChurch.tv’s 13 campuses each weekend. She said tens of thousands more attend its Church Online weekly. Here, Groeschel talks about his role as the church’s founding leader and his vision for its future: Q: Do you see yourself as a visionary? A: Growing up, I never did see myself as a visionary, but now I’m actually excited about being a visionary who has dreams to take the message of Christ through the church in a way that will reach people both today and in the future. Even in the early years of the church, I really didn’t see myself as a visionary. Q: What were your goals for LifeChurch.tv when you founded the ministry? Have you met those goals? A: When I grew up in church, I never really understood the message of the Bible. It wasn’t necessarily the church’s fault, but it just didn’t engage me. I wanted to create a church that maybe a person who wasn’t raised in church could come and not feel like they had to know everything, but could come and kind of start where they were. So I think we’ve accomplished that. Do I feel like we’ve finished the work? No. I feel like we’re only starting. Q: What have been some of the challenges you have faced as your

ministry has grown? A: There have been too many challenges to count. For me, spiritually, I’ve had to mature. I was 28 when I started, and there are things that it just takes life experiences to really gain so I had a lot of growing up to do. I think as a leader, I have so many limitations, and I’ve had to surround myself with the right people to help push through certain obstacles. We’ve faced lots of painful decisions through the years of changing things that weren’t working and trying things that didn’t necessarily work. I could write books about all the challenges we faced. Q: What have been some of the ministry rewards you have experienced over the years? A: Unquestionably, there’s nothing better than when someone says to us “My life has been changed by God through your church.” I’m thankful that we do hear that often, and that’s why we do what we do. There’s nothing more rewarding than that. Q: When you first started, did you ever imagine that Life Church.tv would include numerous campuses and thousands of members? A: Never. I never dreamed of it. Back then, we didn’t even know if it was even legal for a church to be in two different places. To my knowledge, it had never been done. I hoped to have 700 to 1,000 people meeting at one time. I would have been thrilled and thankful for that so it exceeded everything I’d hoped for. Q: Let’s talk about Life Church.tv as a leader in innovative church technology. Was that something that you envisioned? A: It’s really not. I’m not the driving technological force behind the church, but what I am is passionate about reaching people. A key phrase is that we’ll do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ. With everything going online through the apps, the phones and such, we really believe that leveraging technology to take the message of Christ around the world is essential. So we use any means possible to get the message out.

Q: What are some of the things you would like to see happen with the church in the future? A: We’re going to start a new LifeChurch.tv campus in Midwest City (in the Heritage Park Mall building) this summer, so we’re really excited about it. It should be open by July. We’re hoping to open another one in Owasso.

LIFECHURCH.TV FOUNDER

Then, we’re really passionate about giving the Bible away through YouVersion (an online and software Bible-Bible study application for iPhone and other smart phones and mobile devices). I think we’ve given away about 17 million right now, and we’re hoping to give away tens of millions more in the future.

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

THE MOST REV. PAUL S. COAKLEY | ARCHBISHOP OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF OKLAHOMA CITY

New archbishop is off to busy start BY CARLA HINTON Religion Editor chinton@opubco.com

The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, is shown in February. PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

Parishioners in Kansas say they’ll miss Coakley Editor’s note: In this reprint, parishoners speak about the Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley after his installation as archbishop in February. BY HEATHER WARLICK-MOORE Staff Writer hwarlick@opubco.com

EDMOND — Tears filled

the eyes of the Woolsoncroft family after the installation of Oklahoma City’s new archbishop, the Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. The family was among the 1,200 people who attended the ceremony. “We’re crying because we’re going to miss him,” Monica Woolsoncroft said at a reception after the installation ceremony. She, her husband Gary Woolsoncroft and their daughter, Zoe, 14, drove to Edmond from Salina, Kan., where Coakley served as bishop the past six years. “He’s a very good friend of ours,” she said. The family and Coakley watched the Super Bowl together. Coakley is a “people person,” Monica Woolsoncroft said. “He’s always hugging, shaking hands. ... He loves kids, loves youth. He’s revitalized our youth program in the diocese. He can talk the talk.” Woolsoncroft said Coakley was active in community and civic projects outside the church. Coakley, 55, possesses the energy needed to tackle the goals he’s set for himself, she said. Two Edmond teens in attendance were excited about their new archbishop. Patty Stein, 18, and T.J. Krug, 17, said they were about to bounce out of their seats throughout the ceremony. “I don’t think either of us thought we were going to be able to be here because the ticket thing was such a VIP kind of thing,” Stein said. “But we found out a few weeks ago that we were going to be gift-bearers and not just have general seating, and that’s even more special.” The two brought for-

ward the bread to be blessed by the archbishop during the celebration of the Eucharist. They were chosen for the honor because they serve on the archdiocese’s youth advisory board. “I was cracking up during his sermon when he made a reference to Facebook. It’s just kind of funny; it’s not something you’re used to hearing from a bishop,” Krug said. The two said they support Coakley’s embrace of technology. “Kind of like he said, with this 21st century, the message that we have isn’t going to change, just how we’re bringing it to people, how we’re presenting it, needs to change,” Krug said. Even Catholics who are not techno-savvy agreed that Coakley’s methods could be a good change. “(Social media) is of course very popular with almost everybody now,” said Richard Shulte, with the Knights of Columbus of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province. “It’s the way we communicate now. I don’t see any problem with it. Obviously it doesn’t replace being there in person and certainly won’t take the place of being in Mass in person.” Excitement about the new archbishop was palpable during the reception. But there were many who said they were happy for Oklahoma yet sad about losing their former leader. The Rev. Jarett Konrade, the first priest ordained by Coakley, said he saw the sense of loss on the faces of the Woolsoncrofts during the installation, and tears came to his own eyes. “It’s hard to put into words the impact he had on Salina, the diocese,” said Konrade, who was appointed by Coakley as the diocese’s vocations director. From rejuvenating the youth ministry to bringing more seminarians into the diocese, Coakley’s influence was great and will be missed, Konrade said.

“It’s been a real blessing to be a part of his journey,” Konrade said. The Woolsoncrofts echoed that sentiment, saying they knew when Coakley came to Salina that he was “going places.” “Hopefully, you’ll have him for a while,” Monica Woolsoncroft said. “People just relate to him. Oklahoma City is very, very lucky and blessed to have him.”

The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley has just begun as leader of the Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Coakley was installed as the new archdiocesan archbishop in February at an elaborate ceremony at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. He became the fourth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, succeeding the Most Rev. Eusebius Beltran, who retired. Although he was not born in the Midwest, Coakley said he identifies with the region because he spent much of his growing up years in Kansas. Considering monastic life, Coakley spent some time at a French monastery after graduating from the University of Kansas. However, he decided to become a priest instead and served the Diocese of Wichita, Kan., for 21 years. Coakley served as bishop of the Diocese of Salina, Kan., before Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Oklahoma City archbishop. Oklahoma City Archdiocese has about 109 parishes and missions, representing about 108,171 people. Since his installation, Coakley has been busy. He let his voice be heard across the state when he recently joined with another Oklahoma bishop to express concern about an immigration bill making its way through the state Legislature. Coakley and the Most Rev. Edward Slattery, bishop of Tulsa, said they are troubled about a Senate bill that would allow local and state law enforcement officers to arrest a person if there is a reasonable suspicion to believe he or she is in the

Religion and faith Religion and faith can determine and inspire our deepest beliefs and values. Learn more about world faiths. KNOWIT.NEWSOK. COM/RELIGION-FAITHOKLAHOMA

The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley was installed as the fourth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City in in a tradition-rich ceremony in February at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond. Coakley is shown elevating a consecrated host as he celebrates the Mass. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

country illegally. Coakley and Slattery said they are concerned that the bill will have an intentional or unintentional effect of instilling fear in an already vulnerable population.

Easter activities Meanwhile, the new archbishop also is busy with confirmation ceremonies throughout the archdiocese. Confirmation is one of the sacraments of initiation in the Roman Catholic Church. Coakley will preside

over his first Easter Mass as archbishop today at Our Lady’s Cathedral in Oklahoma City. Coakley plans to visit Rome in June for a ceremony in which he will receive his pallium from the pope during a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica. The pallium is a white woolen band worn over the shoulders and is bestowed upon new metropolitan archbishops. It symbolizes authority and expresses the special bond between the archbishops and the pontiff.

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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THE REV. ANTHONY JORDAN | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-TREASURER OF THE BAPTIST GENERAL CONVENTION OF OKLAHOMA

Baptist leader has new dream for future BY CARLA HINTON Religion Editor chinton@opubco.com

When the Rev. Anthony Jordan became executive directortreasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma in 1996, progress meant tearing something down before building something up. Jordan, 61, envisioned an enclosed tabernacle to replace the historic outdoor tabernacle at the convention’s popular Falls Creek encampment near Davis. In his mind’s eye, he saw youths worshipping in an air-conditioned building where they could clearly see and hear every word that was said during evening worship services. The miserably hot services in the summer heat in the outdoor tabernacle would be a memory after the old structure was torn down. Though generation after generation of Southern Baptists had sang hymns and accepted God’s call to serve in the aging tabernacle, it had seen better days and The Rev. Anthony Jordan, longtime executive director-treasurer of the Baptist General Convention its usefulness was over. of Oklahoma, sits at his desk at the convention’s headquarters in Oklahoma City. Jordan, who left his pastor’s PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN post at Northwest Baptist Church to take the helm of the convention, touted a new taber- the tabernacle recently played warm feelings and reaching a new ily includes wife Polla and two grown children. nacle as progress, and he imme- host to a large women’s confer- generation, and we did.” Falls Creek easily comes to The Ponca City native said diately set out to achieve that ence, and a men’s conference is Jordan’s mind when he talks many churches continue to build scheduled to begin Friday. goal. new cabins at Falls Creek, while “Falls Creek has truly become about his vision for the future. Today, he said the 7,253-seat In his 15th year as the conven- others upgraded their facilities. tabernacle, completed in 2007, a year-round facility — it’s what tion’s leader, Jordan said the He said the convention hopes to stands as a testament to the we envisioned,” Jordan said. He said he heard the Lord’s call conference center and encamp- add more motel-like units there commitment of Oklahoma Baptists, who donated about $30 to preach while attending a Falls ment figures prominently in his as well as a new dining facility and million for the project. And Creek service in the old taber- assessment of progress for fu- an enclosed 2,000-seat amphithough the idea of taking the old nacle, but the dream of reaching ture generations. Southern Bap- theater that can be used as an autabernacle didn’t set too well out to more youths and others tists are the largest denomina- ditorium and multipurpose room. with a small minority at the with a climate-controlled build- tion in Oklahoma, with about He said he also is focusing on 1,700 churches statewide. time, the new facility is rapidly ing overcame sentimentality. other priorities. “We’ve dreamed a new becoming one of the centers of “Many people were just like Jordan said he’d like to develop Oklahoma Baptist life. In fact, me, but we had to choose between dream,” said Jordan, whose fam- strong pastoral leadership in the

state by developing ways to educate today’s pastors and equip them with good ministry skills. He said the convention has recently entered into a partnership with institutes of higher learning to help train black, American Indian and Hispanic Southern Baptist ministers. He said the convention also is partnering with Oklahoma Baptist University to help preachers continue their education and obtain graduate level degrees. Jordan said church planting continues to be key, with the convention averaging 50 church plants a year. He said probably a third of the churches are Hispanic, and the convention is now focused on planting more black churches. He said the convention includes about 200 American Indian churches, but he’d like to see more started. “Oklahoma Baptists are the most ethnically diverse in this state,” he said. Jordan said another important focus in the years ahead is retaining young people, who tended to fall away from church attendance in their 20s. “While we engage young people, keeping them in (ministry in) college and young adults has been challenging.” Other priorities include continuing to use technology for outreach and continuing mission efforts to reach people across the globe. He said Oklahoma Baptists are reaching out through international mission efforts to East Asia and Mexico. as well as domestically in Utah, Idaho, Indiana and Arizona. “Our goal as Oklahoma Baptists is to give ourselves away,” Jordan said.

THE REV. HERBERT COOPER | SENIOR PASTOR OF PEOPLE’S CHURCH IN OKLAHOMA CITY

People’s Church pastor sees huge growth as a blessing BY CARLA HINTON Staff Writer chinton@opubco.com

The visionary behind People’s Church in Oklahoma City said the Lord has blessed the ministry, resulting in growth beyond his expectations. The Rev. Herbert Cooper, senior pastor of People’s Church, 800 E Britton Road, said church leaders have focused on making all they do relevant and the result has been exponential growth. Last year, the church was named one of the fastest-growing churches in America. The church, affiliated with the Assemblies of God, was No. 4 on Outreach magazine’s 2010 list of the fastest-growing churches in the country. The church reported an increase of 1,085 people from February/March 2009 to February/March 2010. Church leaders have said about 4,000 people attend the church’s four weekend services. Researchers, led by LifeWay Research President and Outreach columnist Ed Stetzer, contacted more than 8,000 churches to gather the self-reported data used to compile the lists. The listings are based on weekend attendance averages in February and March. The 2010 “largest church” list includes churches with an attendance of more than 5,500, while the “fastestgrowing” list includes churches with attendance greater than 1,000 — a numerical gain of 250 or more and a percentage gain of at least 3 percent. Rankings for “fastest-growing churches” are determined by factoring percentage growth and numerical gain. Cooper, 35, said there are likely several reasons the ministry is drawing more people each week. “When you are living in it, you don’t really sit back and say ‘Wow!’ ” Cooper said, after the list was announced. “I’m just excited to see how the Lord has blessed us.”

FASTEST-GROWING CHURCHES These are the top five fastest-growing churches in America. The list includes church name, location, pastor’s name, growth by percent and growth by number. I 12Stone Church, Lawrenceville, Ga., Kevin Myers (30 percent, +2,226). I Experience Life Church, Lubbock, Texas, Chris Galanos (60 percent, +1,061). I The Rock Church and World Outreach Center, San Bernardino, Calif., Jim Cobrae (25 percent, +2,646). I People’s Church, Oklahoma City, Herbert Cooper (58 percent, +1,085). I Faith Church of St. Louis, Fenton, Mo., David Crank (36 percent, +1,200). SOURCE: OUTREACH MAGAZINE/LIFEWAY RESEARCH

Cooper started the church in his home in 2002 with longtime friend the Rev. Brian Rush, and spent several years holding the church’s Sunday services at the Quail Springs AMC movie theater. Rush is the church’s creative arts director. The congregation bought land at its current location on Britton Road between the Broadway Extension and Kelley Avenue and opened its new facility in spring 2006. Cooper has said moving from the theater to the new free-standing building was a catalyst for growth. In addition, people have begun to hear about the church through its many outreach activities. “I think our heart for evangelism and outreach is key,” he said.

Nontraditional approach Cooper said the church’s “out of the box” worship experiences seem to appeal to people, and this also could be a reason for the ministry’s growth. He said the church’s nontraditional approach appeals to many people, particularly youths and young adults in their 20s who are “coming in droves.” “I don’t want that to come across as if we think that traditional churches are wrong. I grew up in a traditional church, and I love traditional churches. But we are doing some-

thing different that is appealing to people.” He said one way People’s Church is nontraditional is the dramatic musical performances church leaders offer in conjunction with the Sunday messages. Cooper said church leaders are very intentional about this and have weekly creative meetings to plan these “performances with a purpose” about three to four weeks ahead of time. “We ask ourselves, ‘How do we take what God wants us to share in the message and illustrate it?’ ” he said. On one Sunday, church

The Rev. Brian Rush, People’s Church associate pastor, left, and pastor the Rev. Herbert Cooper stand outside their church in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

members performed a dramatic routine similar to the musical theater style of “Stomp,” beating garbage cans, walking on stiltlike items and dancing as a raging fire was displayed on a big screen in the background. The routine was tied to a message about the end of the world. Rush said another recent dramatic performance involved several women attired in wedding dresses singing and dancing to a People’s Church version of Beyonce’s pop culture hit “Single Ladies.” Rush said the performance was tied to a series about Christian singles. Cooper said another time, dancers performed to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” before a message about the importance of prayer. A spoof

of old-school rapper M.C. Hammer’s “Pray” also was done for that series. “It creates excitement, and I think they (performances) are a strength.” Meanwhile, the church formerly called itself a multicultural church, and Cooper said that was by design. He said church leaders wanted to call attention to the church’s diversity. Cooper said the church doesn’t highlight that aspect of the church as much because the diversity in the staff, worship team and congregation speaks for itself. “Brian and I started the church together — a white guy and a black guy — and we said we were ’a multicultural church designed with you in mind,’ “ he

said. “Nowadays, we just live it out. We don’t make a big deal about it.”

Looking ahead Cooper said church leaders hope to open a satellite church in the south Oklahoma City metro area in the coming year. He said the church has a significant number of members from the region that includes Spencer, Moore and particularly Midwest City and Del City. Cooper said attendees at the south complex will see his Sunday messages via satellite. And in the meantime, Cooper said church leaders plan to continue their mission to reach the unchurched. “It is humbling to watch what God is doing.”

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IMAD ENCHASSI | IMAM AND PRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF GREATER OKLAHOMA CITY

Muslim leader brings humor to role BY CARLA HINTON Religion Editor chinton@opubco.com

As one of the more prominent Muslim leaders in the Oklahoma City metro area, Imad Enchassi’s quick smile and endless supply of jokes often diffuses any tension over religious differences. Enchassi, the imam and president of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, said he learned that making people laugh humanizes him so that people learn to look beyond common Muslim stereotypes. “Comedy is part of our ‘treach’ — preach and teach,” he said. “We’ve (Muslims) been dehumanized so when I go and crack a couple of jokes, they say ‘This imam, he’s funny, he’s human.’ ” Enchassi, 46, readily brings his humor to the forefront, but his life has not always been filled with fun and jokes. Prejudice and religious bigotry have marked portions of his life, but he said he refuses to be defined by it. Enchassi grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, to a Syrian mother and Palestinian father. He said he spent his teen years in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps and was there in September 1982 when the camps were

Imad Enchassi, imam and president of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, holds a copy of the Holy Quran at Mercy School, an Islamic school opened in 2010 in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

set upon by a group called the Lebanese Christian militiamen and hundreds of refugees were killed. Enchassi said surviving the massacre made him think long and hard about the power and destructiveness of hatred. “I knew that hatred had to stop. What hatred is so deep that would make someone cut a baby

from the womb?” he said. Enchassi said he immigrated to the United States soon after the massacre and attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and Texas Wesleyan College in Fort Worth. He said he worked his way through college (he obtained a graduate degree in human resources management) with a cafeteria chain that even-

tually sent him to Oklahoma City to operate one of its restaurants. Enchassi said he joined with a relatively small contingent of Muslims to form the Islamic Society. He said a shortage of imams prompted the society’s board to ask him to fill in as the organization’s spiritual leader. He said he he’s the position of imam and society president since 2003. Enchassi said the society started in an apartment on NW 50 and Portland Avenue and met there for four years before opening the organization’s current mosque in December 1997. He said the Muslim community that attends services at the mosque, 3214 N St. Clair has grown from about 27 people to more than 1,000. Enchassi said he went back to school in Lebanon several years ago to earn a bachelor’s degree an doctorate degree in Islamic studies. He said he felt it was important to obtain more knowledge about the roots of his faith because he is now serving as spiritual guide for many Oklahoma Muslims. Enchassi said he’s proud of the fact that the society built a new building to house Mercy School, the Islamic school it founded for local Muslim youths. He said the school is part of his two-fold vision for the future.

He said first, he and other society leaders will continue working to educate Muslims, particularly young Muslims, about their faith. They want to make sure they are proud of their faith and their place in American society. “Being American and Muslim does not contradict each other — they complements each other,” Enchassi said. Second, the Muslim leader said he wants to continue educating the community-at-large about the Islamic faith. He said strong interfaith relationships in Oklahoma were developed in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 when false rumors circulated that Muslims were responsible for the tragedy. Enchassi said that interfaith awareness helped in the aftermath of the 2001terrorist attacks and he said his vision is for those relationships with people and leaders of other faiths to be strengthened. “The aim is to prepare and educate people about Islam in order to move forward in the future.” He’s writing a book about the lessons he’s learned. “There is an Islamic proverb that says ‘Anytime I debate an intelligent person, I win. Anytime I debate an ignorant person, he wins.’ ”

EDIE ROODMAN | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER OKLAHOMA CITY

Jewish Federation’s chief loves OKC, people, her job BY CARLA HINTON Religion Editor chinton@opubco.com

It’s hard to believe Edie Roodman didn’t want to move to Oklahoma when her husband landed a job in the metro area more than two decades ago. Roodman, longtime executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, has become a fixture in the Jewish faith community and the community-at-large. The affable Roodman said she and her husband, Dr. Eli Reshef, had been living in Louisville, Ky., with their children when he received several different job offers. Reshef is a reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist. Roodman said he eventually decided to take one of the offers for a position at the University of Oklahoma. “I came, every bit the loyal wife — picked up everything, the kids and came here. I honestly came kicking and screaming,” she said, smiling. These days, most people can’t imagine Roodman in any other place beside her office at the federation, 710 W Wilshire Blvd. Suite 103. That is unless she’s out and about establishing partnerships with other agencies, overseeing the federation’s varied programs or taking trips to Israel to expose other Oklahomans to the nation.

She’s in her 20th year She said she began as a volunteer at the federation, then served as interim when the organization’s director moved on to head a Jewish Federation group in another city. Before long, Roodman couldn’t see herself doing anything else but the work of the federation. “I started working, and I fell in love with the opportunities,” she said. “I realized that I really wanted this job.” Now in her 20th year as executive director, Roodman said she sings Oklahoma City’s praises all the time. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I think this is a place of opportunity for anyone new,” she said. Roodman said the federation is one of 163 such nonprofit organizations across the country that acts as a sort of mini United Way for the Jewish community. She said the

I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I think this is a place of opportunity for anyone new.” EDIE ROODMAN

federation’s mission is to bring local Jews together and instill in them a sense of pride in being Jewish. She said the organization also raises funds for Jewish programs in Israel, while raising money for programs that enhance the local community. She said she helped start a campaign to raise funds in 1991 when she became executive director. She said despite the fact that Oklahoma’s economy was struggling, people gave to the campaign, perhaps because the federation began to place emphasis on local programs rather than overseas partnerships. Roodman described herself as “green” and something of a “renegade” at the time because she was very interested in building relationships that would help serve as the core of change for the federation. She said the federation’s board was great and allowed her to forge ahead with new partnerships that served to help bring the federation to the forefront. “In a small community, we have a little bit of everything but not a lot of anything,” she said. “We really needed to work together. It’s always been a challenge.” Partnerships abounded with organizations like the Ronald McDonald House, Oklahoma City Beautiful, the Oklahoma Israel Exchange (OKIE) and the Oklahoma National Memorial & Museum. She said the organization also received grants from organizations like the Kirkpatrick Foundation, Sarkey’s Foundations and the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to help more many of its programs forward. In its 70th year, the local federation is now at a place where it has much to celebrate, she said. She said her vision for the future is to see young Jews take leadership roles in their faith communities beyond. Roodman, whose three children are grown, said she’s going to do what she can to instill a sense of

purpose and community in the younger generation. “They are the leaders of tomorrow, so I think it’s really important that the established Jewish community figure out a way to engage those young people,” she said. And Roodman said she’ll continue to pursue partnerships with other organizations and groups with like-

minded goals and values. One such avenue for annual partnership is the federation’s Yom HaShoah Holocaust remembrance service. Roodman said she is proud to say that the federation goes out of its way every year to partner with a different group so that different segments of the community can come together to honor Holocaust survivors and remember those who did not survive. She said this year’s service is set for May 15 at Edmond North High School. “I don’t see an end in sight,” she said of her continued work. “I can’t imagine how I would spend my time because this brings together the values that I love with the people that I love.”

Edie Roodman Longtime executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City

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DEBBY HAMPTON | CEO OF THE UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA

United Way’s new chief learns value of volunteers BY HEATHER WARLICK MOORE Staff Writer hwarlick@opubco.com

When she was a little girl, Debby Hampton, who officially began her position as the new CEO of the United Way of Central Oklahoma on Jan. 1, wanted to try everything. “I was the little girl that wanted to do it all. Every person I met, I thought they had the best job,” Hampton said. She wanted to be a doctor, a nurse or maybe a police officer or ambulance driver. Because of a favorite teacher, she, too, wanted to be a teacher one day. She even remembers how happy the garbage collectors in her neighborhood seemed and thought maybe one day she might like to be a garbage collector. “That might be part of the reason I chose the nonprofit field. Because you know, when you start with smaller nonprofits espe-

cially, you really wear many hats,” Hampton said. “You’re the fundraiser; you’re the PR person; you’re the program director. So I did get a chance to kind of do it all, in some ways.” Born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised most of her life in Del City by an Air Force father and her mother, whom her father met after World War II in Germany, Hampton remembers summers spent visiting her mother’s family in Germany. She remembers helping her mother learn English. She remembers a somewhat idyllic childhood. But she always wanted to help others. That’s one reason she decided to get a degree in psychology: so she could work in the mental health field, as she did right out of college. For a short while she was a case worker with the chronically mentally ill at a nonprofit hospital. And so began Hampton’s career in

nonprofits. After working with the mentally ill, she spent 16 years working for the American Red Cross where she said she learned the value of a nonprofit agency’s board of directors. “During the May 3, 1999, tornado, the ability to call various leadership volunteers from the board of directors was invaluable,” Hampton said. “You just had access with your board members to unbelievable resources that you could call on.” After taking a year and a half off work to be a stayat-home mother to her two sons (“I have to be honest, that is the hardest job, ever.”), she landed the executive director position at the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits. In that role, she traveled across the state visiting with many of the states 18,000plus nonprofit organizations, helping them learn to comply with regulations, budget wisely and

function successfully. Throughout her nonprofit career, she said her most valuable position was being a volunteer coordinator. “To this day, that’s my real passion. The volunteers,” she said. As CEO of The United Way of Central Oklahoma, Hampton’s short-term goal is to meet with each individual board member and agency director to learn about their goals their agencies and the United Way. “This is a very successful United Way. I learned that because the first week in January, I went to United Way Worldwide, the national United Way, and spent time with 40 other new CEOs across the nation,” Hampton said. “The more I looked at the statistics and what we’re doing here in Central Oklahoma, I realized just how incredible we are.” That success is largely due to the work of Bob

Debby Hampton The new CEO of the United Way of Central Oklahoma.

Spinks, her predecessor of 10 years, and the forwardthinking board of directors she now works with. She, the board and agency directors have some long-term goals in sight. One goal is to look at the high rate of incarcerated women in Oklahoma. Another is the West Town, a project United Way has helped coordinate between the various agencies that work with the

homeless populations, especially the Homeless Alliance, to create a one-stop shop where the homeless can find all kinds of different services they need. “It’s wonderful,” Hampton said. Her enthusiasm for all the United Way has accomplished is infectious. But she is humble about her new position. “Obviously, I cannot take any credit for this. I started Jan. 1.”

GEORGE B. KAISER | CEO AND PRIMARY OWNER OF GBK CORP.

Billionaire Kaiser pledges his fortune to philanthropy BY DON MECOY Business Writer dmecoy@opubco.com

As Oklahoma’s wealthiest citizen, George B. Kaiser has won acclaim for his business acumen as head of an energy company, major bank and his numerous successful investments. But his infrequent public statements are most often about his philanthropic efforts. Kaiser, who grew up in Tulsa, created the George Kaiser Family Foundation as a way of attempting to break the cycle of poverty through investments in early childhood education, community health, social services and civic enhancement. Kaiser long ago pledged his fortune to philanthropy, and last year he renewed that pledge through an organization called Giving Pledge. “I had the advantage of both genetics (winning the ‘ovarian lottery’) and up-

bringing,” Kaiser wrote to Giving Pledge. “As I looked around at those who did not have these advantages, it became clear to me that I had a moral obligation to direct my resources to help right that balance.” Kaiser, 68, is president, CEO and primary owner of GBK Corp., parent of Kaiser-Francis Oil Co., which he has managed for 40 years. Kaiser is chairman of the board and majority shareholder of BOK Financial Corp., one of the largest regional commercial bank holding companies, and a major shareholder in several energy, oil and gas, mining and technology companies. Forbes magazine estimates Kaiser’s net worth at about $10 billion, which would make him the 29th wealthiest person in America.

About his projects His foundation has invested heavily in expanding the availability of highquality, very early child-

OKLAHOMA CITY TRIVIA THE DEVON ENERGY TOWER I Oklahoma City’s tallest building is the Devon Energy tower, which is still under construction. When completed, it will be 50 stories, 850 feet tall. I The tower’s reinforcing steel will weigh 19,000 tons, equal to 100 Boeing 747s. I The tower will weigh 140 million pounds. I The entire complex, including the rotunda and garden wing, will weigh 200 million pounds. I The rotunda, which will serve as the public entrance to Devon Energy Center, is 120 feet tall, spanning 25,000 square feet, and is almost as tall as the nearby Colcord Hotel. I The garden wing is 120 feet tall, spanning 450,000 square feet, and will include restaurants and retail open to the public. I Devon Park will span two acres and will include more than 150 trees. I The Devon auditorium will feature 285 seats, a large lobby and a 30-degree angled glass facade that will overlook the park. I The completed Devon Energy garage features 10 floors (expanded from five), more than 1 million square feet, a wellness center and glass storefronts built into the west facade to accommodate potential future retail.

MAPS III Oklahoma City’s bold development through the MAPS programs has produced or transformed several areas in the downtown area. But there’s more. The MAPS III plan, a $777 million venture, includes: I A 70-acre downtown park, $130 million. I A new convention center, $280 million. I Mass transit initiatives, $130 million. I Oklahoma River improvements, $60 million. I State Fair Park improvements, $60 million. I Health and wellness aquatic centers for senior citizens, $50 million. I Additional bike and pedestrian trails, $40 million. I Sidewalks, $10 million. DON GAMMILL, COMMUNITIES EDITOR

hood education for lowincome children in Tulsa County. Kaiser, a Harvard graduate, notes that research studies suggest that giving at-risk infants and toddlers exposure to such programs is the most effective way to improve their opportunity for success in school and life. The foundation also supports numerous health and human service organizations in the Tulsa area to reinforce its anti-poverty efforts, and supports projects in community health, such as the University of

Oklahoma School of Community Medicine and the Community Prenatal Project. The foundation also backs civic enhancement and beautification in Tulsa through programs such as the Arkansas River Enhancement project and the Tulsa Beautification Foundation. It also leads the National Energy Policy Institute, an initiative to develop a national energy policy focusing on alternative fuels and conservation to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

George B. Kaiser President, CEO and owner of GBK Corp.

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

JANE SUTTER | PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF OKLAHOMA COUNTY

Group’s president takes joy in new role BY HEATHER WARLICK MOORE Staff Writer hwarlick@opubco.com

When you walk through the front doors of the Boys and Girls Club at 3535 N Western Ave. during afterschool hours, you’ll be greeted by the boisterous voices of hundreds of children of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities, playing bumper pool, video games, doing homework and virtually every other activity any kid would love doing. Jane Sutter’s office, on the other hand, is serene, peaceful and quiet. That’s where the new president and chief executive of the Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma County spends much of her time securing funding, fulfilling the needs of the board of directors and performing all the other duties that come along with the position she’s held since Jan. 3. But all she has to do is open the door that leads

Jane Sutter is shown at The Boys and Girls Club at 3535 N Western Ave. PHOTO BY HEATHER WARLICK MOORE, THE OKLAHOMAN

from her Zen-like office to the more rowdy part of the club and “it’s like instant boost of energy,” she said. The joy she feels about her new position is as obvious as the joy on the faces of the kids who frequent the club. “They are so happy when they get here. They jump off those buses and run. I mean they almost

like run over each other to get in the building. They have big smiles on their face, and they’ll give you hugs as they walk through. Yeah. It’s just such a gift. It’s really wonderful.”

‘A second career’ Her new position at The Boys and Girls Club is in some ways similar to her

previous position as the deputy director of the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments. There, she also worked with a board of directors, built relationships and planned for the future. But at ACOG, she didn’t get hugs from dozens of kids each day. “It was very meaningful

work,” she said of her former position. She was with ACOG for 30 years with various job titles. She was on the team of people who implemented the 911 system in 1989. She helped get the organization involved with The United Way. She spent countless hours mentoring and tutoring children through the organization’s volunteer programs. But after three decades, she said, she was interested in trying something different. “This is a great place to kind of have a second career and a whole new life,” she said. “I really feel like I have a whole new chance at life because it’s such a new fulfilling experience for me.” In the near future, Sutter looks forward to expanding the number of children who can attend the club after school thanks to two new 30passenger buses the club

was given from Impact Oklahoma. They’re not being driven yet because the process of getting the club’s drivers properly licensed is a time-consuming process. But soon, “you’ll see them around town. They have big smiling faces of kids on them.” The club serves about 300 kids daily during the school year. These buses, she said, should allow the club to serve up to 500 kids per day, their maximum capacity. As a long-term goal, Sutter said she hopes to expand the areas served by The Boys and Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County by possibly working with the Oklahoma City Public Schools or with the City of Oklahoma City. “There are needs all over our city and we really realize that. I think part of my mission here will be to look at how we move forward and how we meet those in other parts of the community.”

RON NORICK | ORGANIZER OF DEVON ENERGY HOLIDAY RIVER PARADE AND FORMER MAYOR OF OKLAHOMA CITY

A decorated boat floats on the Oklahoma River during the 2010 Devon Energy Holiday River Parade last December. PHOTO BY SARAH PHIPPS, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE Fireworks from the first Devon Energy Holiday River Parade and Festival in 2004 explode over the Oklahoma River as boats with holiday lights float on the water. PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

Ex-mayor’s vision has kept holiday river parade afloat BY LILLIE-BETH BRINKMAN Assistant Features Editor lbrinkman@opubco.com

Each year around Christmas, thousands of people get into the holiday spirit by lining up along the Oklahoma River’s banks to watch a nighttime parade of boats. The festive atmosphere surrounding the annual Devon Energy Holiday River Parade goes back to 2004, when the event officially opened the Oklahoma River thanks to the efforts of a committee including former Mayor Ron Norick. Norick has been quietly organizing the event ever since and is more than halfway to a goal of raising $1 million to the Oklahoma River Foundation Fund to start funding improvements in the area that the city doesn’t have the money to do. “We just kind of get out there and do it,” Norick said. Each year during the parade, about 25 or 30 boats decorated with lights float by cheering crowds, and fireworks either start or end the show with downtown Oklahoma City as a backdrop. The festival atmosphere brings a lot of families to the river to kick off the city’s holiday season. “I wanted to do some-

thing kind of different,” said Norick about starting the Devon parade after being inspired by a boat parade he had seen at Grand Lake. “It was always so much fun, and I thought, ‘let’s try that on the river.’ ” The parade skipped one year — 2009 — when the boat ramps were temporarily removed to make room for Devon Boathouse construction. The 2010 parade brought in about $100,000 for the Oklahoma River Foundation Fund after a recent $10,000 grant from the Oklahoma City Community Foundation boosted those totals, organizers said. Overall, the parade has brought in about $565,000. When the foundation is fully funded, Norick envisions using the money for things like more boat landings to let people ride Oklahoma River Cruisers and stop in places like Stockyards City west of downtown and the Native American Cultural Center to the east, when it is finished. Norick enjoys seeing all the families with bundledup children filling Regatta Park and packed along the river banks to enjoy the boats. “It’s just a great kickoff for the holiday season,” Norick said. “It’s really a family event. That’s what it was intended to be.”

It’s just a great kickoff for the holiday season. It’s really a family event. That’s what it was intended to be.” RON NORICK

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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MICK CORNETT | OKLAHOMA CITY MAYOR

Envisioning a better Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett uses a kayaking simulator as he joined hundreds of people last June taking part in Let’s Move Day with a variety of athletic activities on the Oklahoma River and at the Chesapeake Boathouse. Watching Cornett, from left, are former Olympic athletes Nadia Comaneci and Dominique Dawes, Oklahoma City University rowing coach Mike Knopp and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

New colored concrete will mark bicycle lanes downtown as shown in this photo of Walker Avenue looking north toward Sheridan Avenue. PHOTO PROVIDED BY PROJECT 180

DOWNTOWN | MAPS 3, PROJECT 180, DEVON TOWER ALTER AREA BY BRYAN DEAN Staff Writer bdean@opubco.com

Mayor Mick Cornett said city leaders have a lot on their plates this year with MAPS 3. The plan, approved in December 2009 by voters, includes $777 million to fund projects including a 70-acre downtown park, a downtown streetcar and transit hub and a new convention center. “We are going to be extremely busy,” Cornett said. “The key is to make sure we pay attention to the details because we are making a lot of very important decisions here in the next year.” Many of the details about MAPS 3 projects will be decided in the coming months, including the route of the downtown streetcar and the location of the convention center. Complicating matters is Project 180, a separate initiative that seeks to make downtown streets more pedestrian-friendly. The street projects are ongoing even as plans for the MAPS 3 projects are unfolding. City Manager Jim Couch said the city needs to get some work done on the numerous projects before residents get restless. “It would be good to get a few streets finished downtown,” Couch said. “People have been great so far. There is a lot of inconvenience downtown. And

the people living and working and visiting have been really great as we go through this process.” Cornett said between MAPS 3, Project 180 and the construction of the Devon tower, Oklahoma City has an abundance of new construction at a time when most cities are still suffering from the effects of a national recession. “If you look at the things we are doing, the projects that are rolling out and the way the city is changing, there aren’t a lot of cities that are dreaming big right now,” Cornett said. “It’s amazing how much we’ve got in the pipeline.”

Major projects abound City officials across the nation have praised Oklahoma City’s ability to create a vision of a better city with the MAPS programs and see it through to completion. Local business leaders credit the visionary leadership of Cornett and others with making downtown a great place to live, work and play. Couch said he can’t remember a time when the city had so many major programs going on at once. “The key focus is building what we’ve been tasked to do,” he said. “You have to focus on the details because one bad misstep, and people may forget about some of the success you’ve had in the past.” Key to maintaining that success will be the citizens

advisory panel appointed to oversee the MAPS 3 projects. The 11-member group appointed by Cornett is being led by Tom McDaniel, the former president of Oklahoma City University. Cornett said his main focus in selecting the members of the committee was to get a diverse group with expertise in many areas, a goal he believes he accomplished. “I wanted a collection of people that were passionate about these projects and passionate about the city, but I was not looking for a list of city hall insiders,” Cornett said.

This model of Maps 3 was unveiled in 2009.

PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

THE OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: MARKING 100 YEARS

Grading is underway on the Turner Turnpike west of Bristow at Catfish Creek in this 1951 photo.

THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

From dirt and mud to interstates, state celebrates a century of roads BY DAVID ZIZZO Staff Writer dzizzo@opubco.com

Dirt, gravel or mud. A century ago in Oklahoma, that was the choice of road when going for a drive. If you had a choice at all. You had worn cattle trails, old military roads and a patchwork of roads scratched out by townships and counties, if you could call frequently mudrutted paths without drainage ditches “roads.” “There were no highways really to speak of,” said Michael Dean, spokesman for the Oklahoma History Center.

A new department That also was when the new state decided things must change. In 1911, the Legislature created a state Transportation Department with meager funding of a $1annual charge on the few autos in the state. The agency would eventually help guide a boom in road building that would lead to the 12,000 miles of paved roads the state has today. The Transportation Department’s first commissioner was Col. Sidney Suggs, an Ardmore newspaper publisher and proponent of the “good roads” movement. In a speech recorded in the 1960s that Dean, a connoisseur of everything vintage, dug from the History Center’s audio archives, E.K. Gaylord, then editor and publisher of The Oklahoman, described Suggs’ method of road campaigning. “He just spent his time going around the state holding little meetings,” Gaylord said. “He had a guitar and he’d play ‘Turkey in the Straw’ and he’d get a crowd and he’d talk good roads.” Gaylord said the first hard-surface highway in the state — paved with brick — ran from Oklahoma City to Guthrie. It was later resurfaced, he said, but the brick remained underneath, “a pretty good foundation for an asphalt road.” The first road paved in Oklahoma City — also with bricks — was Main Street near the railroad tracks and Broadway, Dean’s research found. In an audio interview made in the 1970s that Dean found, Oklahoma City banker

IF YOU GO CENTENNIAL EVENTS I Automobile exhibits: The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is celebrating its centennial with numerous events, including an exhibit of vintage automobiles from collections of members of the Sooner Regional Group of the Horseless Carriage Club of America. The exhibit, on display through March 2012 at the Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, includes an 1899 Knox threewheeler steered with a tiller, a 1903 Oldsmobile and a 1909 wooden-body Ford Model T originally owned by an Oklahoman. I ODOT Day: Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52, will host an ODOT Day on May 13. The event will feature road-building equipment with crew members to answer questions, hands-on activities such as bridge building and using survey equipment and a liquid nitrogen experiment with road salt. I Open houses: Open houses are planned at each of ODOT’s eight division headquarters across the state.

ONLINE I For more information, go to www.okladot. state.ok.us and click on “Celebrating 100 Years.” I To read more, go to NewsOK.com and search for “ODOT.”

Harvey P. Everest talked about what was believed to be Oklahoma City’s first “conveyance,” as automobiles were called back then. The 1903 Stanley Steamer was bought by Everest’s uncle. The contraption generated about 10 horsepower, traveling 50 miles before needing a refill of water. Seating was on top of the

Deep mud was a common problem for early roads in Oklahoma. PHOTO PROVIDED BY OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

boiler, a risk of the new technology. “You was always a little fearful the tank might explode, which they did occasionally,” Everest said. His uncle’s steamer never did, though, he said on the recording. The conveyance drew “comments and admiration from everybody. They thought it was a wonderful thing.”

Early improvements Early road proponents worked to build support for new roads along the Chisholm Trail and eastwest and north-south routes roughly along the current Interstates 40 and 35, also an “Interstate Postal highway” in southern Oklahoma following rail lines to Davis and a northwestern route to Colorado through Woodward. At one meeting in 1913, proponents suggested a holiday so 10,000 volunteers could meet along one route to work on the road for the day. Suggs in 1915 spoke against a proposal to tax “autoists” for road improvements, calling the idea a “glaring discrimination against the one citizen whose only ‘crime’ is that he has been compelled to invest in an expensive means of transportation.” The first federal funding for Oklahoma came in 1918, and it was used to build a bridge over the Canadian River near Newcastle, Transportation Department spokesman David Meuser said. By 1925, Oklahoma had 374 miles of paved roads and 621 miles of gravel roads.

Roy Turner, Oklahoma governor from 1947-1951, cuts the ribbon over a lane of the new Turner Turnpike in this 1953 photo. PHOTO PROVIDED

Cecil Walker of Western Paving Company stands with the steam roller “Ambrose” in this photo published in the Daily Oklahoman in 1933. THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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BILL ANOATUBBY | CHICKASAW NATION GOVERNOR

20 years later, leader still works to get Indian museum completed BY CHRIS CASTEEL Washington Bureau ccasteel@opubco.com

WASHINGTON — It’s been 20 years since Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby announced the formation of a nonprofit organization to develop a worldclass American Indian museum in Oklahoma. Much has happened since then. Much still needs to happen to get the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum — under construction on a 300acre site in Oklahoma City — opened in four years. During his lengthy and extensive involvement in the project, Anoatubby has seen many ups and downs. Despite the need for a major infusion of money now, he hasn’t lost a bit of his optimism. “I just believe in the project, and I believe we’re going to get it done,” he said. “All along, sometimes when you really think you’re at your wits’ end, something happens and you go on to the next level. I’m confident and I’m hopeful that we’ll get to the next phase.”

Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby and then-U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin cut the ribbon Oct. 8, 2008, during ceremonies for the first building to be completed at the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

State tribes unite It might be hard to pinpoint a first phase in the project — former Seminole Nation Principal Chief Kelly Haney had a vision of an Indian museum decades before a plan took form — but there were major first steps in the early 1990s. Former President George H.W. Bush signed a bill by former Oklahoma Rep. Glenn English in 1991 for a feasibility study on an Indian museum and cultural center in Oklahoma; Anoatubby testified at a hearing for the bill. In that same year, Anoatubby announced the formation of the nonprofit organization. At the time, there were two tribal groups hoping to launch a museum project, one with the backing of 29 tribes, and Anoatubby’s group, with the backing of five tribes. But when it came time to submit a formal proposal to the state, Anoatubby’s group was the only one that did, suggesting a site in Oklahoma City. If there was division at first among the state’s 39 federally recognized tribes, that’s no longer the case, Anoatubby said in a recent interview. “We’re at the point where the tribes in Oklahoma are supportive,” Anoatubby said. The mission of the museum and cultural center is to tell the stories of the Oklahoma tribes, and they have been asked for their input on the exhibits. “Their histories and heritage and culture are all taken into account,” Anoatubby said.

Hope for financing The estimated cost of the center now tops $177 million, up from the estimated $143 million six years ago. The Native American Cultural and Educational Authority, established by the Oklahoma Legislature in 1994 to oversee the project, wants to raise about $80 million through a combination of bonds and donations. If the money becomes available this year — the Legislature would have to approve the sale of bonds — the cultural center and museum could open in 2015, said Anoatubby, the chairman of the authority. “That completes the building and gets all the exhibits open and we’re open for business,’’ he said. In 2002, Congress authorized $33 million in funding if matched by private money, but the federal government hasn’t come through with all of that

A photo taken Sept. 30 shows the white steel frame of the Hall of People at construction site of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

An aerial photo taken Oct. 1 shows the construction of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum. PHOTO PROVIDED BY AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURAL CENTER AND MUSEUM

TIMELINE CULTURAL CENTER AND MUSEUM 1991 Congress approves feasibility study for American Indian museum in Oklahoma. Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby announces formation of nonprofit group to develop a world-class Indian cultural center. 1994 Oklahoma Legislature creates Native American Cultural and Educational Authority to execute plans for the cultural center and museum. 2002 Congress approves legislation authorizing $33 million in federal funds for the project (far less than that has been appropriated). 2005 Ground blessed on 300-acre site near Interstate 35 and Interstate 40 in Oklahoma City. 2007 Native American Cultural and Educational Authority approves exhibition design plans by Ralph Applebaum Associates. 2008 Visitors Center becomes first building completed on the site. 2010 Shell completed on Gallery building.

funding. U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, RMoore, a Chickasaw and a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, has secured funding for the museum in previous years. Other current and former Oklahoma members of Congress have also gotten money for it. But, with a congressional ban on earmarks in place and tight budgets, Cole said more federal funding will be very difficult to obtain. Anoatubby said the

longer the project takes to complete, the more expensive it will be, “so the sooner that we can lock in the (financing), the better.” Anoatubby still views the project as he did when he — and many others — first began the labor of love to get it built — as a way to educate people and provide an economic boost to the city and state. The story told by the museum, he said, will bridge cultural differences. “I think this binds us together,” he said.

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BOB BLACKBURN | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Bob Blackburn is the executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society.

PHOTO BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

Man becomes face of state’s history BY KEN RAYMOND Staff Writer kraymond@opubco.com

Bob Blackburn stands at the nexus of history, looking back at events that shaped Oklahoma and ahead to a future he hopes will come true. As executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, Blackburn, 59, is uniquely positioned to examine the past. He has authored 18 books on Oklahoma history, delivered well over a thousand lectures and appeared frequently on television. He helped spearhead the effort to fund and construct the 215,000square-foot Oklahoma History Center, a worldclass museum near the state Capitol building. And he is one of the guiding forces behind the historical society’s transformation into a powerful, vital organization that pushes constantly for excellence. “Our philosophy now is: If the Smithsonian can do it, we can do it,” he said.

Bob Blackburn helped spearhead the effort to fund and construct the Oklahoma History Center near the state Capitol building. PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

Born to be a historian “I could tell I was going to be a historian even as a kid,” Blackburn said recently. His father was an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper. His mother was a local television star best known as “Ida B.” He’d grown up listening to his grandmother tell tales of the Civil War. Her father had fought on the confederate side, and her stories ignited Blackburn’s imagination, transporting him to a time long past. The Civil War also led to Blackburn’s marriage, albeit indirectly. He met his wife, former state Rep. Debbie Blackburn, in a Civil War class at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. His interest in history solidified when he entered graduate school at Oklahoma State University. He published his first history book while working on his doctorate. After graduation in 1979, he joined the historical society as editor of “The Chronicles of Oklahoma,” a state history journal that has been published since 1925. Only two people preceded him in that job. “That got me into the academic side of this operation,” he said. “I’ve been in administration since 1989 and then became executive director in 1999.” He chuckled. “I guess I’m on a 10-year plan.”

I look forward to coming to work every day. I like to be the last person to leave. I love walking through this history center when it’s empty.” BOB BLACKBURN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Planning ahead

Bob Blackburn, executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, stands inside the Oklahoma History Center. PHOTO BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

In addition to his administrative and fundraising duties, Blackburn currently is working on three books. “I don’t have many wasted moments,” he said. “I had a three-day weekend (recently), and I wrote all three days. But I enjoy it. As I tell my wife and people who complain about how much I work, ‘What am I going to do? Watch TV?’ That’s not going to happen.”

Providing opportunities Blackburn said that he has received other job offers over the years, among them opportunities to return to academia. “Time after time, I’ve

decided, ‘No. I’m doing what I want to do,’ ” Blackburn said. He loves almost everything about his work, from collecting historical artifacts and watching exhibits develop to fundraising. “People think I’m perverse sometimes because I even enjoy the politics,” he said. “I work with governors and legislators. I work with county officials. I admire public servants so much ... people willing to put themselves on the line to serve a greater good.” Blackburn put himself on the line to help turn the Oklahoma History Center into reality. The museum was bundled into a package of improvement pro-

jects, including the Capitol Dome, in the late 1990s. Funding from a bond issue was insufficient, stalling construction, so Blackburn and others looked for donors. They raised an additional $12 million, which augmented funds from a second bond, Blackburn said. “I look at it as if I’m giving people the opportunity to invest in something important,” he said. “I used to go somewhere and ask someone for $5,000. ... Now I ask for millions. I’m asking them to take the bounty of life that Oklahoma has provided them and share a little of it with others.”

Blackburn has spent almost four decades championing Oklahoma’s history. Along the way, he has earned himself a place in that history — a role he occasionally considers. He hopes he is seen as a public historian. Each of his books is written for a wide audience, not a handful of academics, and his efforts have gone to making history seem as vibrant and alive to the general public as his grandmother’s stories were to him. By the time he retires, he said, he’d like to see a pop culture museum completed in Tulsa and at least five state sites or museums up to world-class standards. “We need a living history farm in Oklahoma,” he said. “We have a donor who’s already given the land. It’s very important that we have a 1907 living history farm, where things are done mainly with horses and mules, highlighting the impact of rural life on our culture.”

An estimated 70,000 students will visit the Oklahoma History Center this year, he said. To appeal to the children, the center is working on Web sites and interactive content. Researchers and a documentary crew are working on a video about the “Tulsa sound,” the musicians who’ve come out of Tulsa and influenced popular music and culture. “What I’ve got to do is use my connections to make sure we set up this next generation,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that someone is here who sees the same opportunities to reach out, to build bridges, to keep pushing to be the best.” He’s got time to find that person. Blackburn is years away from retirement, and he’s in no hurry to leave. “I look forward to coming to work every day,” Blackburn said. “I like to be the last person to leave. I love walking through this history center when it’s empty.”

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

43S

KARI WATKINS | OKLAHOMA CITY NATIONAL MEMORIAL & MUSEUM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

A crowd attends a 90-minute service April 19, 2010, at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum on the site where the federal building once stood in downtown Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

Our vision (at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum) is to teach the impact of violence, to share those lessons to help others understand the impact of violence. ... It’s a lesson about bullying that is relevant to today. We have figured out a way to make that story resonate.” KARI WATKINS OKLAHOMA CITY NATIONAL MEMORIAL & MUSEUM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Kari Watkins, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum executive director, talks to the media in 2009 about the museum. PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

Memorial’s lessons remain meaningful MELISSA HOWELL Staff Writer mhowell@opubco.com

This year, the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum celebrated its 10th anniversary. After a decade of heightened political fervor and unrest in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, has the memorial had to change its focus? No, says Executive Director Kari Watkins. In fact, its mission is as pertinent as ever, she said. “The core mission is the same, but it has evolved,” she said. “This isn’t just about a story that is 15 years old. We want to try to take that story and make it relevant to today.”

Staying relevant One of the ways the mission has evolved is by taking the issues that were integral to the bombing of the Murrah Building and relating them to today. “Our vision is to teach the impact of violence, to share those lessons to help others understand the impact of violence,” she said. “(Timothy) McVeigh was more aggressive. (Terry) Nichols was more subservient. It’s a lesson about bullying that is relevant to

People stand in front of memorial chairs on April 19, 2007, before the start of the 12th anniversary ceremony. PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

today. We have figured out a way to make that story resonate. We have video, exhibits and programs that humanize the story.”

Experts in memorialization Its ability to share the lessons that were learned with other places that have undergone tragedy is another way the Memorial’s mission has evolved. “We don’t ever diminish

what happened. … But we’ve had to figure out ways to move forward. We are looked at now as the experts in memorialization.” Watkins said. Following tragedies, representatives from the Oklahoma City National Memorial have been sent to numerous places including New York, the Pentagon and SEE LESSONS, PAGE 44S

44S

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

Marathon participants make their way through the Oklahoma City National Memorial before the start of the eighth annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in this 2008 photo. PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

Lessons: Visitors come from 50 states, 35 countries FROM PAGE 43S

Pennsylvania after 9/11, Virginia Tech, Columbine, and most recently Tuscon. The museum also shares the Oklahoma City bombing story through partnerships with other museums, including the Newseum in Washington, D.C., and the William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark.

A timeless lesson Looking to the future, Watkins said the core lesson from the Murrah bombing is timeless. It will be as important 10 years from now as it is today. “It’s important to keep this site pristine today for future generations,” she said. “Coping and moving forward are the essence of our DNA. It’s really about fostering more understanding in the world. For instance, the political hysteria that we find ourselves in ... in neighborhoods and legislatures, if we can’t figure out how to get along with our neighbor, we’ve lost the core essence of who we are as a nation.” The first part of the mission statement reads “We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever.” Watkins wants visitors to know not only what happened April 19, 1995, but what happened in the weeks, months and years to follow. “Oklahomans look at this as a sad place,” she said, “but we’re also trying to show the tenderness of the response. It’s remarkable how we’ve recovered.” Five years after the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, the outdoor symbolic memorial was dedicated during a visit by President Bill Clinton. Less than a year later, President George W. Bush dedicated the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum, on Feb. 19, 2001. Visitors have come from all 50 states and from more than 35 countries. It is an affiliate of the National Park System, but it is owned, operated and maintained by the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation. The national memorial does not receive any annual operating funds from the federal, state or local government. Museum admissions, store sales, the OKC Memorial Marathon, earnings from an endowment and private fundraising allow the Memorial & Museum to be self-sustaining. Its top two priorities are remembrance and education.

New York Times Beirut Bureau Chief and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony Shadid speaks on April 7 at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN

Above: A man and a women use chalk to trace and color the outline of their hands on a large easel near the “Jesus Wept” statue across the street west of the Oklahoma City National Memorial in this photo from April 19, 2010. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE Right: Former President Bill Clinton carries flowers as he visits the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in Oklahoma City in this April 21, 2010, photo. Clinton was in town to receive the Reflections of Hope Award for his work in Oklahoma City after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

ONLINE THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING For ongoing coverage of the bombing, the museum and memorial, go to NewsOK.com. BOMBING.NEWSOK.COM/BOMBING/HISTORY

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | THE WAY WE LIVE

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

45S

DWIGHT SCOTT | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY ZOO

CEO has homecoming at OKC Zoo

BY CARRIE COPPERNOLL

The crowd gets a close-up view in March of Chandra and her sister Asha, who recently gave birth, after the afternoon elephant show at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

Staff Writer ccoppernoll@opubco.com

PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

When Dwight Scott took the reins of the Oklahoma City Zoo 2 ½ years ago, he described it as a homecoming. “My heart’s been here the whole time,” he said when he was hired in 2008. “It feels like coming home. ... It’s a dream come true.” The executive director and CEO worked at the Tulsa Zoo, the Kansas City Zoo and Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida. But leading the Oklahoma City Zoo was the perfect job for him, he said. In a recent interview, Scott discussed his leadership style, his vision and the future of the Oklahoma City Zoo. Q: What’s in store for the Oklahoma City Zoo in the coming years? A: The future is certainly bright for the Oklahoma City Zoo. With the opening of the elephant facility, we will shift our focus to the completion of the Expedition Asia exhibit. Due to dropping revenues from the dedicated sales tax several years ago, we decided to focus solely upon the elephant portion of Expedition Asia. Additionally, we will work with the Zoological Society on a capital campaign that focuses on a new veterinary hospital. Unlike our current hospital, our new one will allow guests to enter a portion of the facility and see some behind-the-scenes veterinary care. Q: How do you as a leader shape the longterm planning at the zoo? A: This past year we developed a new zoo master plan, which lays out our new projects over the next 10 years. As the zoo director, I ensured that our planning sessions were open to all zoo employees, members of the Zoological Trust and Oklahoma Zoological Society Board members. An open process allows everyone the opportunity to contribute to the development of our institution. I believe that we have built a great master plan, one that will exceed the expectations of our guests. Q: How do you think the trajectory of the zoo has changed since you took over at director in 2008? A: When I was announced as the zoo director in 2008, the zoo was in great shape. An area that I chose to focus upon was building positive working

I’m very grateful that Oklahoma City has embraced our zoo. We have always had incredible support from citizens, going back to 1949, when the children of Oklahoma City raised pennies to buy Judy the elephant. Of course in 1990, the voters passed a dedicated sales tax for the zoo, which has enabled us to build one of the best zoos in the country.” DWIGHT SCOTT, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY ZOO

Dwight Scott

ONLINE For the latest news on the zoo and the elephants, go to NewsOK. NEWSOK.COM/ ELEPHANTNATION

relationships in all directions. I sincerely believe that when everyone is working well together, the rate at which things are accomplished can be exponential. I also developed a committee to help focus our conservation efforts — the Conservation Action Now program — and have encouraged the development of professional leadership behaviors among staff. Another area that is important to me is customer service, so we have instituted an annual training program to remind our employees the tremendous positive impact they can have on our visitors and each other. Q: What is your leadership style? A: I’m not sure how to describe my style. As a leader, I believe in always treating everyone with respect. It doesn’t matter what your title is on my team; everyone is important. I occasionally say to staff that just because my title is executive director/ CEO that does not mean

that I always have the best ideas. I certainly rely on their experience and expertise. Q: How does the zoo fit into the community here? A: I’m very grateful that Oklahoma City has embraced our zoo. We have always had incredible support from citizens, going back to 1949, when the children of Oklahoma City raised pennies to buy Judy the elephant. Of course in 1990, the voters passed a dedicated sales tax for the zoo, which has enabled us to build one of the best zoos in the country. Fast forward to today, and Zoological Society memberships are at an all-time high of 21,000 households, which represents over 175,000 individuals. The interest and support throughout Oklahoma City motivates us to do an even better job at the zoo for our guests. Q: What are your longterm hopes for the zoo? A: First and foremost, to continue serving Oklahoma City as a great place to come with family and friends to experience beautiful animals and plants from all over the world. Beyond that, I hope to increase awareness nationally about our beautiful zoo, our great city and our conservation efforts locally and globally.

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GOVT JOBS Restaurant Managers & Multi Unit Managers Positions Available In Northern AZ Fast-food restaurant is seeking Restaurant mgrs & Multi Unit Mgrs. Individual must be highly skilled in fast-food management. Required skills include the ability to manage an AM and PM Shift at a high level of excellence with current Burger King, Wendy’s or McDonalds Restaurant experience. Individual must have experience in restaurant standards in hiring and training, have Microsoft computer skills, and a good understanding of financial information. Great people skills, self-motivated, good ethical standards, punctual, honest, and able to work flexible shifts is required as 10-12 hour days is not uncommon. Serve Safe experience would be helpful. Traveling is required, must be willing to work in one of our five restaurants four to five days per week. Salary depends on experience. For more information telephone (928) 380-6314 or (928) 380-1278. Email: bk_hicorpoffice@ frontiernet.net

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Registered Nurse Practitioner The White Eagle Health Center is currently seeking a Registered Nurse Practitioner. Hours will be 8am-4:30pm Monday thru Friday. If you are interested in this position you may pick up an application at 200 White Eagle Dr, Ponca City, Okla. 74601 or call (580) 765-2501 x2222 or send resume to angela.thornton@ ihs.gov

» WAKE UP » This Is A Great Job Use Your HTS skills and creativity for care of clients with disabilities. Various shifts in OKC. Driver’s License/ Insurance Required 3000 United Founders Blvd. Suite 221, OKC EOE 405-879-9720 EOE

BANKING Bank of the West has a great opportunity for a Branch Manager in Oklahoma City, OK to develop a marketing plan, direct sales and service activities, plan/implement budgets, and drive the overall profitability and operational integrity of the branch. The position is located at the Windsor Hills branch. Specifically, you will ensure that the branch provides superior customer service and meets all regulatory compliance standards; direct branch business development through outside calls, inbranch selling, telemarketing, branch campaigns and targeted direct mailing; promote staff development; oversee all branch human resource issues; and manage branch portfolio for optimum performance. Requires a BA/BS or equivalent; 5-8 years of banking experience; 5 years of lending experience including commercial, consumer and real estate; branch banking and consumer lending; and exceptional sales, business development, leadership, interpersonal and organizational skills. For immediate consideration, visit www.bankofthewest.com, click on ‘Careers’, search under ‘Oklahoma City, OK’ and apply online. Bank of the West and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity/affirmative action employers.

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6 FIGURE INCOME POTENTIAL Have you ever had one? Do you want one? $3,000 Monthly Training Incentive Call today to set up an interview. Overnight travel required (Mon.-Thurs.) Mark Headrick (866) 326-4316 A RARE OPPORTUNITY exists for someone in the home improvement industry. Salary, Incentives & Bonus. Car essential. 75k+/yr potential. Sales exp.pref. (405)604-0645 Sales Representative Lincare Inc., leading national respiratory company, seeks results driven Sales Representative. Create working relationships with MD's, nurses, Hospital Case Managers and articulate our excellent patient care w/ attentive listening skills. Competitive Base Salary, un-capped commission, benefits package. Drugfree workplace, EOE. Fax resume to 405-736-0908 or apply in person at 2828 Parklawn Dr., Midwest City, OK. Telemarketing Pros Wanted! Appointment Setting $$$ Daily Incentives $$$ 9.50-12hr +Com/ Paid wkly Mon-Fri. 9:00am-3:30pm 866-652-7760 Ext 4020 Telemarketing Pro’s Wanted! Appointment Setting $$$ Daily Incentives $$$ 9.50-12hr +Com/ Paid wkly Mon-Fri. 9:00am-3:30pm 866-652-7760 Ext 4020

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405-232-0206 service@fleetservices1.com DRILLER & HELPER - Engineering firm is in need of a geotechnical driller & helper for CME rig. The people we seek must be experienced, reliable and have CDL. PSI 801 SE 59th St. 632-8800 EOE M/F/D/V

HVAC Service Techs If you are looking for a career, not a job, in Heating and Air Conditioning, we have HVAC Service Technicians that earn $55K-$75K per year and have advancement opportunities. Must be Licensed HVAC Journeyman, well groomed, drug free and dependable. Health Insurance, Paid Holidays and Year Round work. Call Jamie to set your future in motion at (405) 387-2000.

METRO TRANSIT DIESEL MECHANIC / TECHNICIAN $19.67 per hour Additional pay for current ASE certifications Metro Transit is now accepting applications for a Diesel Repairman. Applicants should have the ability to accurately diagnosis & repair diesel engines, automatic transmissions and A/C systems and must have their own tools. Schedule will include shift work. Successful applicant will be required to obtain an Oklahoma Commercial Drivers License, Class B, with a Passenger (P) endorsement within 60 days of employment. COTPA offers an excellent benefit package including health, dental, life and short-term disability insurance, tool and shoe allowance, tuition reimbursement program and shift differential pay.

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Applications and resumes accepted beginning April 11, 2011 until position is filled from 8:30am to 4:30pm Metro Transit, 2000 S. May, OKC, OK, 73108

80A Pott Co, live stream, turkeys, deer, meadows, pond, $2K/acre. Owner finance 405-329-2208 Air Comfort Solutions, Heat & Air, leading provider of Commercial & Residential HVAC, is looking for qualified Journeyman Service Techs Great pay & benefits. Guraranteed 40hr/wk. Apply in person at 908 Messenger Lane, Moore. Call 405-721-3740.

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THE OKLAHOMAN

NEWSOK.COM

Former Olympians and fitness business owners Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci as the farm couple in Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” Devon Energy Corp. has grown into an unmistakable part of Oklahoma City’s future.

Chesapeake is reshaping the area around its campus with a variety of businesses.

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G. Jeffrey Records doesn’t court the limelight.

Rand Elliott’s portfolio includes some of our most visible landmarks.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

Visionaries send the message that state is ‘open for business’ They are familiar names to business and industry in Oklahoma. Names such as Pickens, Nichols, McClendon, Hamm and Ward — people who have become masters of their industry, building companies that now compete on

a global stage. But they are also community leaders, helping to transform a city and state, bringing national visibility to Oklahoma. That involves the input of visionaries from various business sectors —

from the developers and architects who have forged a bustling mix of residential and commercial districts from former blighted areas; to real estate brokers who are maximizing the use of technology to handle the

sale of property with precision for the wellbeing of the state; to those who are staging an environment for entrepreneurs to thrive and succeed. It also involves leaders with the unique ability to

sell the merits of living and working in Oklahoma, efforts that recently have attracted companies such as Boeing to relocate hundreds of jobs here. Collectively, these visionaries are re-creating Oklahoma into a destina-

Clytie Bunyan cbunyan@ opubco.com

BUSINESS EDITOR OUT AND ABOUT tion — including an emerging, hip entertainment district in Oklahoma City — that’s gaining a reputation of being the most affordable place to live and sending the message to industries nationwide that the state is open for business.

BART CONNER AND NADIA COMANECI | OLYMPIC ATHLETES AND OKLAHOMA BUSINESS OWNERS

Olympic athletes make fitness their business BY MELISSA HOWELL Staff Writer mhowell@opubco.com

Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci are Oklahoma’s golden couple — emblematic for their vision of fitness and recreation and their passion for mentoring young gymnasts. Throughout the last decade, they have parlayed their life’s work into a thriving business that produces some of the United States’ best gymnasts. Promotion of health and fitness is at the heart of their company, the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy. It begins with Oklahoma, which faces its own set of challenges. “I just want to be a part of the solution,” Conner said. “I know a lot of people are doing good things in our community, and it takes a whole community.” The path to healthier living, Conner believes, begins with Oklahoma’s youths and creating a mindset for fitness that is fun and fulfilling, not painful and boring. “It has to be fun. Kids don’t want to be in a fitness program,” he said. “Obviously, my background comes from the competitive sports. But a byproduct of (competitive sports) is that you take ownership of health and wellness. In competitive sports, you own your fitness; you own your competitive record. It’s up to you to understand how much you exercise and what choices you make. “I think we have to impact kids. If it’s a mindset, it will stay with you for a lifetime.”

Taking ownership With teens and adults, Conner said we have to disengage from the concept of doing “what’s normal” and adopt a practice of doing “what’s good.” “One of the issues for me is that people go along in life and just follow everyone else. Then, years later they look at (themselves) and say, ‘What happened?’ You have to buck the trend to do what’s right for yourself,” he said. Conner said a good example of “following” instead of “leading” is in eating calorie-bloated portion sizes because that is what is on your plate. “One of my biggest issues is portion size. You have to realize restaurants are not concerned with your health. People go and just eat what’s in front of them,” he said. “So you have to sort of push back. Say, ‘Wait a minute. I own my wellness. I don’t have to go along.’ My wife and I go out, and we split an entree. People look at us funny, but I’m willing to take a funny look.”

Business sense That sense of ownership can have the greatest impact on health and fitness in Oklahoma, Conner said. “You have to own your numbers. Own your cholesterol, your sugar. We’re more aware now than we were 30 years ago, and yes, we’re less healthy. It’s not just about awareness,” he said. “You make choices regarding everything in life. We need to decide what our priorities are. There are a lot of issues at

ON THE COVER BART CONNER AND NADIA COMANECI AS THE COUPLE IN GRANT WOOD’S ‘AMERICAN GOTHIC’ Oklahoma’s famous sports couple came to the photo studio smiling and laughing. They’d agreed to be photographed as the somewhat dour farm couple, and while they don’t match the couple’s mood, they certainly match their commitment and dedication in bringing Olympicscaliber gymnastics to Oklahoma City. Conner earlier had reported that he’d found a black jacket, to match the jacket the old farmer wore. But no one knew what Comaneci would wear. She’d been told to try to match the spirit of the painting, and to wear her shoulder-length hair pulled back, ala the austere fashion of the woman she would try to model. Nadia Comaneci, austere? That’s like trying to make a peacock dowdy. When the two arrived at the studio, editors smiled. They were perfect. He indeed wore a black jacket and white shirt. Comaneci wore a conservative black sweater with a white blouse and ruffled collar. She even found a traditional oval brooch to wear, which pulled the “costume” together. Conner nodded his approval and said, “I told her to find the least sexy outfit she had.” YVETTE WALKER, OUTLOOK EDITOR

BART CONNER QUOTES AND QUIPS ON FITNESS: I “I think one of the great things about sports is that your fitness matters on a team. It’s important how I take care of myself if I want to be in the game.” I “There’s no magic pill. No quick fix. I think it’s a mindset as much as anything.” I “A component of your day should have something to do with fitness. I know every day exercise is a component of my day. I’m going to eat, I’m going to sleep, and I’m going to exercise.” I “All the time I think I just don’t want to do it. Everybody’s busy. But on the average, I do some type of fitness five days a week because my fitness pays off. I am more fulfilled. Success breeds success.”

stake.” He knows about ownership. Conner and Comaneci have business interests in several companies, all health and fitnessrelated. In addition to the academy, there is Perfect 10 Productions, a TV production company that produces the Nadia Comaneci International Invitational and the International Gymnastics Hall of fame; The Bart & Nadia Sports & Health Festival, a multisport, health and wellness event; International Gymnast magazine; and Gym Divas and Grips, purveyors of gymnast apparel and gear. As for the future of their business, Conner said he believes in being flexible and taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. “I’m willing to sort of morph with the times. I believe it’s good to have a plan, but I want to be available to seize opportunities and go where we can have an impact,” he said.

Corporate citizens Conner won Olympic

Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner pose with a picture of Grant Wood’s painting “American Gothic” at The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN

ONLINE For more stories on Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci and video on the couple, go to NewsOK.com and search for “Bart Conner” or “Nadia Comaneci.”

gold in the parallel bars at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and was also part of the team that won gold. Comaneci won three gold medals in 1976 in Montreal and added two more in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow that the U.S. boycotted. The two met in 1976 and reconnected in 1991 before getting married in 1996. They play a big role with International Gymnastics Hall of Fame and perform charity work for the Special Olympics and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Conner said Oklahoma, as a community, needs to implement incentives to reach a higher level of fitness. Yes, we need to be accountable, but we also have to enjoy our path to fitness, he said. “I’m a big believer in the carrot instead of the stick. How many people go on a diet and then quit after a week? Sometimes the stick works, but it’s not long-term motivation. You need a combination of both.”

THE OKLAHOMAN

NEWSOK.COM

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

LARRY NICHOLS | CHAIRMAN OF DEVON ENERGY CORP.

Growing into a leading downtown employer BY STEVE LACKMEYER Business Writer slackmeyer@opubco.com

Larry Nichols wasn’t pursuing a career in oil and gas when his father, John Nichols, asked him to quit his job clerking for a future Supreme Court justice and return home to help start a new energy company. That startup, which began in 1970, is now Devon Energy Corp., and as executive chairman, Larry Nichols is behind an almost $1billion transformation of the downtown skyline. “He (John Nichols) wanted to start up a new oil and gas business,” Nichols told The Oklahoman as he recalled the ambitious beginning of Devon Energy. “He had some relations in Europe and North Africa and saw in those people a desire to make a safe investment in oil and gas properties by buying and selling properties rather than drilling. “He persuaded me to come back and help do it. I had a geology degree, a law degree, but I could not read a financial statement. And I said, ‘We’ve got a negative worth,’ and he said ‘Larry, all oil and gas companies have a negative net worth. Don’t worry about it.’ “He was serious. Small startup companies have a negative net worth, and we were going to fix that.” Nichols was 30 years old when he returned to a downtown dominated by major energy companies, such as Amarex and KerrMcGee Corp. “I was planning and interviewing for jobs in Washington, D.C., with law firms. I spent one year with the Supreme Court and a couple of years with the Department of Justice. I worked with one of the assistant attorneys general, Bill Rehnquist, who ended up on the Supreme Court. “Our goals were very modest. We would raise money, buy some properties and stay alive for another three to four years. They were the most modest goals you could imagine. And as we took a step each year, we would focus our eyes on what we thought was a stretch goal and then try to get there. “Within about 12 months of getting married, I moved from Washington, D.C., bought a house and did a lot of things all at once. When we first got back we stayed in the Indian Creek Apartments at (NW) 122 and May and then bought a small house in Crown Heights.”

The next step Nichols can’t remember one big discovery that helped the company grow to where it is today. But in 1982, at the height of the oil boom, Devon Energy made one play that likely saved the company from joining a long list of companies that disappeared during the ensuing oil bust. “Our goal was to have one acquisition in each thing we did that we could use to take the next step. And without taking that

Larry Nichols Devon Energy chairman and CEO

step we couldn’t take the next step. “The only really contentious board meeting we ever had concerned leases we had acquired through several transactions in the deep Anadarko Basin. And in 1980 and 1981, deep Anadarko was the most exciting exploration play there was. Very deep, very expensive, and no one had yet completed a well, but the numbers on the test results were hugely impressive. “And right before the board meeting there was an article in Forbes Magazine and it talked about how each of the big oil companies had gotten big on one discovery or another. And then it started talking about the deep Anadarko Basin and it concluded there were some major companies in the making in the deep Anadarko Basin. And we had some directors from New York City coming in having read that article, and they arrived at the meeting with their chests all pumped out and thinking they were directors of a major company in the making. “And the first thing on the agenda was that we sell everything we had in the Anadarko Basin. That resulted in a spirited debate. We ultimately agreed and sold most of what we had in the Anadarko basin for $5,280 an acre, plus a 50 percent back in on each well. We sold to seven or eight companies — and every one of them ended up bankrupt and none of those wells worked out. And it was very strategic; we used all of that money to pay off all of our debt.”

A changing city Devon Energy’s rise to where it is today coincides with the resurgence of downtown Oklahoma City following voters’ approval of the Metropolitan Area Projects initiatives in 1993. Nichols doubts the company would still call Oklahoma City home if not for MAPS. “Certainly during the late 1980s and early 1990s Oklahoma City was a pretty depressing place. But in fairness, everyplace else in the oil and gas industry, Houston, Midland (Texas), Dallas, Fort Worth and Denver, there was no one immune from the bust. “If Oklahoma City had stayed the way it was in 1990, before Mayor (Ron)

Norick got us to where we are with MAPS, we couldn’t have hired the people we needed to be where we are. “When we were trying to recruit people to come to

Oklahoma City, even a decade ago, it was very difficult. Now it’s a very interesting proposition, and the city has grown incredibly and the reputation of the city has grown incredibly.”

Nichols played a major role in the revival that went beyond the growth of his company, which is set to move into a new 50-story headquarters next year. Nichols served several years on the board of the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority. It was a tenure that ended three years ago and included the development of hundreds of new apartments and for-sale homes downtown, construction of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, redevelopment of the Skirvin Hilton Hotel, and creation of Lower Bricktown. Nichols’ advocacy of downtown continues with Project 180, a $141 million makeover of streets, sidewalks, parks and public spaces fueled by a tax increment financing district established with development of the $750 million Devon Energy Center. Nichols is especially enthu-

siastic for the makeover of Myriad Gardens, which will reopen this spring with a new grand lawn and amphitheater, restaurant, ice rink and children’s area. For Nichols, the effort all goes into making Oklahoma City an easier sell to drawing potential new employees from other states. “Now in the last year or two we’ve gotten so much press, the effort to get them down here is less than it was five years ago,” Nichols said. “They’ve read about us, they’ve seen the stories about the Hornets, about the Thunder — that gives us credibility in being major league. They read stories in The New York Times about the growth of downtown or they’ve talked to someone who has been here. It’s a gradually changing yet perceptively changing momentum.”

THE OKLAHOMAN

NEWSOK.COM

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

IDEAL HOMES | VERNON MCKOWN, CO-OWNER AND PRESIDENT OF SALES; GENE MCKOWN, PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT; AND TODD BOOZE, PRESIDENT OF CONSTRUCTION

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

MARK DALE | HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT

2 kinds of green fuel Ideal Homes Mark Dale, president of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, stands in a model home in northwest Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

Builder comes back by popular demand BY RICHARD MIZE Real Estate Editor richardmize@opubco.com

Gene McKown, Vernon McKown and Todd Booze are the owners of Ideal Homes. PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

BY RICHARD MIZE Real Estate Editor richardmize@opubco.com

NORMAN — It was the old-fashioned kind of green that got Ideal Homes into the new kind of green building: Moolah. Scratch. Cold hard cash — the company wanted to make money by building homes designed to save their owners money on energy. “We were looking for a sales differentiation,” said Vernon McKown, who leads the company as a coowner and president of sales. “We just felt like we could build a few thousand dollars extra on our houses and show our customers how they could save a bunch of money. We weren’t really environmentally (sensitive) when we started.” That was in the late 1990s, almost a decade after McKown, his father, Gene McKown, president of development, and Todd Booze, president of construction, started the company. Before long the firsts and accolades started piling up: I 1998 — Ideal Homes became the first company in the country to build affordable homes — under $150,000 — to meet the conservation standards of the federal Energy Star program. I 1999 — Built the 18th “Health House” for the American Lung Association. I 2001 — Won two national Gold Awards from the NAHB Research Center’s national Energy Value Housing Award program. The NAHB Research Center is an arm of the National Association of Home Builders. I 2002 — Earned Louisiana Pacific’s “Engineered for Life” Status of Distinction. I 2003 — Was among Professional Builder Magazine’s “101 Best Companies to Work For.” I 2005 — Was among Professional Builder Magazine’s “101 Best Companies to Work For.” I 2005 — Won Gold Award and Silver Award from the national Energy Value Housing Award program. I 2005 — Built the first “zero-energy home” — meaning it generates more energy than it consumes — in the United States for under $200,000. I 2005 — Built the first home certified in Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design in the United States.

Ideal Homes worked on the home of the Skaggs family in Slaughterville for the television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” PHOTO BY STEVE SISNEY, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

ONLINE For video from the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” go to NewsOK.com and search for “Extreme Home.”

I 2006 — Won Gold Award from National Housing Quality Award presented by the NAHB Research Center and Professional Builder Magazine. I 2007 — Named America’s Best Builder by Builder Magazine. I 2008 — Built the first home certified “green” in the National Association of Home Builder’s National Green Building Program. I 2010 — Named Builder of the Year by Professional Builder Magazine. I 2010 — Partnered with ABC-TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to build a home for a Central Oklahoma family. Vernon McKown, on request, has preached the green-building message — how homeowners can save the old-fashioned green and builders can make more of it by building the new kind of green — all over the country: International Builders Show, Pacific Coast Builders Conference, Energy and Environmental Alliance national conference. Are he and his partners visionaries? “No,” he said. “I really consider myself pretty fortunate. We tried something out and it worked for us.” But ask it like this: Do you have a vision? “I have a vision for wind energy,” he said, talking of neighborhoods where the energy from a turbine powers every 500 homes. But all that’s pie-inthe-sky dreaming, he said, until somebody figures out how to make the old-fashioned kind of green doing it. He’s thinking on it.

Last year wasn’t the first time that Mark Dale had to stand up for a beaten-up homebuilding industry and lead its walking wounded. He had been there before, in 1990, his first time as president of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, a tight-knit bunch of folks who couldn’t help take the slump personally when they saw friends and colleagues fall. Twenty years later, during a second turn as president, Dale’s experience leading the industry as it slogged out of the 1980s oil and real estate bust helped give younger builders perspective and remind older ones that recessions can be survivable. He also was able to lend a seasoned hand to construction of the new association headquarters campus at 420 E Britton Road — something else with a generational twist to it. Dale’s father, Everett Dale, was president in 1960 when the previous headquarters was being planned at 625 NW Grand Blvd. It was no accident that Dale, 59, owner of Carriage Homes — started by his father in 1958 — returned to the association leadership. He answered a true encore. In 2007, with housing wheezing and dark

clouds rising, he was asked to return to the leadership structure of the association, which put him in the president’s chair for 2010. About the same time, Chesapeake Energy made the group an offer it couldn’t refuse and bought its old headquarters near the growing Chesapeake campus. The ensuing site search and planning had the new digs coming out of the ground under Dale’s new presidency. It was great timing. Just of a few 2010 members were in the business in 1990, and none were around for the group’s own last big construction project 50 years earlier. “During Caleb McCaleb’s presidency, we sensed a need to bring back a seasoned leader within (the association) to bring both historical context and experience through what we anticipated to be the first downturn some of us had experienced,” said Jeff Click, who was active as an officer as president in 2009 and immediate past president in 2010. “It was rather serendipitous that Mark not only served that need, but also played a key role in leading us through the completion of our new campus.” Last year was a tough one for builders — those still building. The national housing crash, while it never was felt as severely here as elsewhere, did damage, taking out some

companies and causing others to shift emphasis to remodeling or other kinds of construction and development. Some builders who didn’t quit slowed way down. Dale said he often thought of his dad, who died in late 2005. “He was always so levelheaded and calm when he looked at any situation,” he said. “He’d step back and analyze: Now where is the pressure point in this deal?” Whether it was giving advice to younger builders, putting the housing slowdown in perspective for the media and others outside the industry, wrangling with details of the headquarters construction project, or running his own business amid it all, Dale said he kept his father’s wisdom in mind and kept a long view in tramping through the slump. Hindsight, it turned out, was not exactly 2020, he said. “You still have to focus, even if you’re looking in a mirror,” he said. Looking ahead, Dale said he knows one thing will remain the same. “Even though building techniques change and appetites for houses change and economics change, you’re still building a home for people, which is usually their most prized possession,” he said, and that is what energizes most builders in good times and not-so-good times.

THE OKLAHOMAN

NEWSOK.COM

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

AUBREY MCCLENDON | CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP. CEO

McClendon skillfully deals with challenges BY JAY F. MARKS Business Writer jmarks@opubco.com

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon seems to have an answer for everything that comes his way. The company he cofounded in 1989 has prospered despite the 2006 departure of partner Tom Ward, a precipitous crash in natural gas prices in 2008 and even the ominous presence of activist billionaire Carl Icahn as one of Chesapeake’s largest shareholders last year. Some analysts wondered whether Chesapeake was ripe for a takeover as Icahn boosted his stake in the company, but McClendon responded in January by unveiling an ambitious plan to reduce Chesapeake’s debt by 25 percent over the next two years while limiting production growth to 25 percent. “This plan represents a fundamental shift from our aggressive asset accumulation of the past few years to a multiyear period of asset harvest, characterized by a clear focus on capital discipline and

AT A GLANCE

Aubrey McClendon opted to create a college-style campus for Chesapeake Energy Corp. as the company grew rather than a traditional office building. He said there are a number of reasons behind that decision, beginning with the fact that he never has liked elevators. McClendon also said he could not figure out how to accommodate a growing company in a tall building. Plus, he really enjoyed college and liked working close to home. McClendon estimated his office is about three minutes from his house.

maximizing returns,” McClendon said at the time. “We believe we have assembled the best assets in the U.S. and have the technology, experience and financial and human capital to convert these assets into rapidly growing production, proved reserves and cash flow.” The plan already is reaping dividends, as Chesapeake’s stock surged in

G. JEFFREY RECORDS | MIDFIRST BANK CEO

Bank chairman’s accomplishments speak volumes

MidFirst Bank now has offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, New York, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix and Southern California. PHOTO PROVIDED BY DON MECOY Business Writer dmecoy@opubco.com

G. Jeffrey Records doesn’t court the limelight, and the CEO and chairman of MidFirst Bank may not be one of Oklahoma City’s most recognizable names. But when Records joined with some of his contemporary local business leaders to buy the Seattle SuperSonics, he gained some level of recognition. Records doesn’t talk publicly about his accomplishments. The team, of course, moved to Oklahoma City to become the Thunder, and Records’ MidFirst Bank remains one of the team’s major sponsors. In addition to an ownership role with Professional Basketball Club LLC, Records also serves as a director with Casady School, the Oklahoma State Fair and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. Records took on the role of chief executive officer at MidFirst in 2009, and since that time the bank has grown and remained profitable. That same year, Records discussed MidFirst’s attributes when the company acquired an insolvent Arizona bank. “We attribute MidFirst’s success and stability to the fact that we provide the ‘best of both worlds’ to our customers, the capabilities of a large commercial bank and the responsiveness and personalized service of a privately held community bank,” Records said. MidFirst employs about 1,900 people and has offices in Oklahoma City,

We believe we have assembled the best assets in the U.S. and have the technology, experience and financial and human capital to convert these assets into rapidly growing production, proved reserves and cash flow.”

CHESAPEAKE GROWS COLLEGE-STYLE CAMPUS

We attribute MidFirst’s success and stability to the fact that we provide ... the capabilities of a large commercial bank and the responsiveness and personalized service of a privately held community bank.” G. JEFFREY RECORDS CEO AND CHAIRMAN OF MIDFIRST BANK

Tulsa, New York, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix and Southern California. MidFirst Bank believes in supporting the communities it serves, investing time and money in educational, charitable and civic organizations. “Our volunteerism is powered by MidFirst Bank employees from all of the communities in which we live and share with our customers,” the bank said.

AUBREY MCCLENDON CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP. CEO

in Arcadia, and part of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Moving toward oil Aubrey McClendon Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO

February after the company announced a deal to sell its holdings in Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale to a subsidiary of Australia’s BHP Billiton for $4.75 billion. Chesapeake, one of the largest lease holders in the industry, also has struck a series of lucrative deals with other foreign oil and natural gas giants to subsidize its drilling programs in some of the nation’s

largest resource plays. That has McClendon feeling optimistic about the company’s future. “I think we’ve only begun to scratch the surface,” he said. “I think I’m more excited about the next 10 years than I’ve been at any time in the past.” McClendon’s success is not limited to Chesapeake. He also owns POPS, a popular attraction on Route 66

McClendon said this is a great time to be in the energy business, especially in Oklahoma City with industry stalwarts like Devon Energy Corp., SandRidge Energy Inc. and soon Continental Resources Inc., which is moving from Enid. McClendon said he is proud of Chesapeake’s growth and success over the past 20-plus years, as well as the value it has provided for its shareholders and the community. Despite continued weak prices for natural gas, he said Chesapeake remains

its “champion” because it is cleaner than coal and cheaper than crude oil. McClendon said Chesapeake isn’t ready to abandon natural gas, even as the company shifts its focus to producing more oil. “Our job is to make money for our shareholders,” he said. “It’s easier to do, finding oil right now.” The lessons Chesapeake learned in becoming one of the country’s premier gas producers have helped in that quest, McClendon said. The company has holdings in most of the emerging oil and liquids plays in the United States.

THE OKLAHOMAN

NEWSOK.COM

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

10T

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

T. BOONE PICKENS | ENERGY INVESTOR AND CREATOR OF THE PICKENS PLAN

Pickens pushing national energy plan FROM STAFF REPORTS

Holdenville native T. Boone Pickens has not given up on his quest to wean the United States off foreign oil. Pickens continues to push the eponymous Pickens Plan, his vision for a national energy plan. Pickens has been preaching about the evils of foreign oil for more than two years. He introduced the Pickens Plan in July 2008, when he laid out his comprehensive solution to America’s growing de-

T. Boone Pickens

pendence on imported oil. The plan, which has attracted support from many in the energy industry and

consumers, calls for increased use of domestic renewable resources, such as wind and solar, in power generation and using abundant supplies of natural gas as a transportation fuel alternative to oil from the Middle East. Pickens has spent millions of dollars of his own money to publicize the plan, speaking to lawmakers, campus groups and seemingly anyone else willing to listen to his views. He even sends out monthly figures detailing U.S. oil imports, with

spending broken down to the minute. In March, the United States paid more than $750,000 a minute for oil imports in February. “Price shocks and instability led to a reduction in imports, but a significant increase in the amount of money the U.S. is spending on foreign oil every day,” Pickens said in a March 11 news release. “With no end in sight to the unrest in the Middle East, this spending spree is not going away. While import numbers may have been down, we

saw no increase in domestic production.” Pickens maintains there are sufficient domestic resources to supply the country’s needs. “We are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas and need to take advantage of that,” he said. “Using natural gas to fuel heavy-duty trucks can immediately reduce our dependence on OPEC oil, improve national security and strengthen our economy. I correctly predicted we would see $100 oil by end of the first quarter and it’s going to go even

higher. We are going to see oil prices hit $120 a barrel this year. The solution is right in front of us and it’s time for Congress to act and put an end to our dependence on OPEC oil before it’s too late.” The Pickens Plan to encourage more heavy duty fleet vehicles to run on domestic resources has been included in several pieces of legislation introduced in the House and Senate, but none have been passed so far. Pickens remains optimistic that will change.

PETE DELANEY | OKLAHOMA GAS AND ELECTRIC CO. CEO

GREG PHILLIPS | OKLAHOMA NATURAL GAS PRESIDENT

Future of OG&E to include smart grid technology

New ONG president stressing customer service

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. is revolutionizing its transmission grid with new technology meant to help customers reduce their electricity bills by managing energy use during times of peak demand. Smart grid technology is expected to significantly reduce the company’s operational costs. Future additions to the system will make OG&E’s power grid more reliable and efficient, officials have said. OG&E CEO Pete Delaney said the smart grid program is an important part of the company’s stated plan of not adding any fossil-fueled generation facilities to its system until at least 2020. “We saw very positive, year-one outcomes from

Renewable energy has a role in continuing ... to offer customers reliable and reasonably priced electric service.” PETE DELANEY

our smart technology study in the Norman area last summer,” he said. “Customers used the technology to reduce their peak demand and save on their energy bills.” Delaney said OG&E is

dent of another ONEOK subsidiary, Texas Gas Service, since July 2008. Under Phillips’ leadership, Texas Gas Service earned the highest score in the region on J.D. Power and Associates’ 2011 Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Pete Delaney Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. CEO

on track with its 2020 plan so far. “There’s still a long road ahead with many unknowns, but we believe that we have the plan in place to take us to 2020,” he said. OG&E will continue to utilize renewable resources like wind to meet customer’s energy needs. “Renewable energy has a role in continuing to pursue a balanced portfolio that will enable us to continue to offer customers reliable and reasonably priced electric service in the future,” Delaney said.

Greg Phillips is excited about the future of Oklahoma Natural Gas, because of its namesake fuel source. “Recent natural gas discoveries across our nation will allow natural gas to reliably fuel the United States for the foreseeable future at current usage levels,” said Phillips, ONG’s president. “This increased natural gas supply has had a positive effect for our customers, as natural gas prices have dropped over the past two years, lowering gas bills for consumers.” Phillips said natural gas benefits Oklahoma as well. “The natural gas we deliver to Oklahomans today is acquired from Oklahoma producers and marketers,” he said. “Using natural gas to heat homes and businesses makes sense, because you

‘Excellent service’

Greg Phillips ONG President

save money, help the environment and you keep Oklahomans employed.”

Background Phillips is new in his role with the Tulsa-based company. He was named president of ONG in February, succeeding the retiring Roger N. Mitchell. Before moving to ONG, Phillips had been presi-

Officials hope Phillips can achieve similar results for ONG, which finished seventh among eight companies in the region in the survey released last month. “Our primary mission at Oklahoma Natural Gas is to provide clean, reliable energy to our customers with outstanding customer service,” Phillips said. “Thanks to feedback provided by our customers, we are now able to individually track our employees’ ability to provide excellent service to our customers.”

THE OKLAHOMAN

NEWSOK.COM

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

PRICE EDWARDS & CO. | CO-MANAGING PARTNER FORD PRICE AND PHIL JACKSON, CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

Price Edwards’ tech stays ahead of game BY RICHARD MIZE Real Estate Editor richardmize@opubco.com

Today’s pain is tomorrow’s gain. That about sums up Price Edwards & Co.’s running approach to keeping up with information technology — and run the firm does, compared with most others in often slow-tochange commercial real estate. Ford Price, comanaging partner, is making sure of it. To Phil Jackson, chief information officer, that, more than anything, is what keeps Price Edwards on the cutting edge, whether with the proprietary interactive property databases the firm deployed years ago, the iPhone app it debuted last fall, or its integration of the iPad and internal databases and systems into the daily lives of property managers and others earlier this year. That’s because the biggest obstacles to technological innovation, Jackson said, aren’t always hardware or software, but comfort zones and familiar habits — and it helps to have the boss on board. “No one likes their job to change, so every time you want to do something new technologically there’s a lot of company culture that has to change with it,” he said. “I could outline 10 or more specific times when we’ve tried something and people run to Ford or someone and complain that ‘this is worse than just doing it manually.’ Rather than give up and go back to the old way, Ford convinces the people

Ford Price Co-managing partner of Price Edwards & Co.

in our company to stick with it, keep trying, tweaking and working, and almost always, six months later people come around and say ‘wow this is really a good system.’ ” Not every innovation works, of course. It “takes a belief that change isn’t easy but if you spend time on the front end, that yields dividends later down the road. There’s things we’ve done wrong. We’ve had failures in tech, things that didn’t work or didn’t save time,” Jackson said. “Without failure, we wouldn’t have success. It’s not always obvious when going into the change IF it will work, how it will work, or what benefits it might yield. If it was easy everyone would do it. Ford is committed to doing the hard things now that reap rewards later.” Price put it like this: “We just view technology as an investment, not an expense.” Here’s another indication of Price’s view on tech innovation: Jackson has been the top staff tech guy since 1996. Fifteen years ago. When

the Internet, for most people, was still a baby. Jackson said that there was a “pivotal point” when the informationtechnology staff quit being seen as a repair crew and started being part of business strategizing. Price said it was in the mid-to-late 1990s that he came back from a Realcomm conference — Realcomm, “the intersection of commercial real estate, corporate real estate, automation and technology” — and got with Jackson and some others and decided to push innovation rather be pulled by it. Yes, there are downsides. It diminishes personal contact, which Price said is still critical to relationships, which still define commercial realty management and brokerage in big ways. Face time goes scarce “when you’re flipping emails around all the time,” he said. “And obviously the compression of time. Like it or not, we are all plugged in 24/7. This notion of ‘see you in a week, I’ll be on vacation’ is long gone,” Jackson said. Price Edwards also struggles to decide how much staff-produced data to make available to the public. “We do a lot of primary market research,” Jackson said. “Do you give all that away for free?” What is the latest challenge? How to use Facebook and other social media in business, not just as novelty — and how to balance employees’ freedom of expression with their responsibility to help maintain the company’s

Phil Jackson, chief information officer for Price Edwards & Co., demonstrates an iPad app at the firm’s offices downtown. PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN

reputation. Such issues are hashed out regularly. “We actually sit around this table every month and talk about technology. All the relevant people sit around a table and talk,” Jackson said. “We know things are going to change. How do we adapt and

change to meet it? And ... the main guy is involved. I’m not sure other people are (so) committed. Ford is, month to month, quarter to quarter.” And Price wouldn’t turn back technology for all the ink, paper spreadsheets and typewriters left in the world. He has painful me-

mories of manual number-crunching — crafting multiyear revenue and expenditure scenarios, calculating debt service and the like. “That would take hour after hour. It was torture,” Price recalled. “And inevitably there’d be mistakes in it.”

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

TOM WARD | CEO OF SANDRIDGE ENERGY INC.

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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MORGAN HARRIS | OWNER OF GREEN BAMBINO

Ward, SandRidge plan to reshape downtown FROM STAFF REPORTS

Tom Ward is no stranger to building. He has a proven record of success in the energy industry, despite a brief hiatus to pursue more personal pursuits. Ward’s current venture is SandRidge Energy Inc., a growing company with plans to reshape part of downtown Oklahoma City. Ward has been CEO of SandRidge since he paid $500 million for 46 percent of the company in May 2006, when it was known as Riata Energy Inc. and based in Houston. He had left the energy industry three months earlier when he resigned as president and chief operating officer of Chesapeake Energy Corp., which he cofounded with CEO Aubrey McClendon in 1989. Ward moved Riata to Oklahoma City and renamed it SandRidge in September 2006. Ward has shepherded SandRidge through an unprecedented transformation over the past couple of years. The company was 80 percent natural gas in 2008, when officials decided to focus on oil instead. SandRidge hedged all of its gas at more than $8 a thousand cubic feet, then set out in search of oil. “It was a very unique time, during the recession, for us to make a bold move,” Ward said. SandRidge officials decided to focus on Texas’ Permian Basin, which has produced more than 39 billion barrels of oil. “That’s more than all of Canada, all of Nigeria, all of the U.K. or Norway,” Ward said. “Just in this one small area, it’s produced more than all these countries. “It has the best source rocks that we could find.” SandRidge acquired $800 million worth of properties in the Permian from Forest Oil Corp. in late 2009 then spent another $1.4 billion last year to acquire Tulsa-based Arena Resources Inc.

Ward said those investments now are worth nearly $4 billion. SandRidge’s holdings are now about 80 percent oil. “It’s the most dramatic shift of gas to oil of any company in the U.S.,” Ward said. That shift has spurred SandRidge to grow out of its current accommodations. SandRidge has resided in downtown Oklahoma City since Ward swung a deal with former partner McClendon to acquire Kerr-McGee Tower in July 2007. “Our company is growing very rapidly, and the KerrMcGee tower is an ideal location for our corporate headquarters,” Ward said in a news release when the deal was announced. “I look forward to becoming a member of the downtown business community and to contributing to the ongoing renaissance of downtown Oklahoma City.” More than three years later, SandRidge is in the midst of an ambitious renovation plan, which calls for construction of one new building at 120 Robert S. Kerr and replacement of six remaining structures with landscaped plazas. The development dubbed “SandRidge Commons” is expected to add usable open space to downtown through the replacement of old blighted buildings. Ward said the expansion is necessary to accommodate SandRidge’s growth. The company already has filled more than two-thirds of its current downtown home, so it needs more space, he said. Ward said he expects SandRidge’s workforce to double over the next few years because its core holdings are in areas with high rates of return. He said SandRidge has plenty of acreage to develop in the Permian and the Mississippian formation in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. “We have 10 years worth of drilling in each of the areas,” Ward said.

Morgan Harris is the owner of Green Bambino in Oklahoma City.

PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN

Baby store celebrates its first birthday BY JENNIFER PALMER Business Writer jpalmer@opubco.com

Morgan Harris’ baby is one year old. Not her son, he’s three. The Green Bambino retail store she’s nurtured tirelessly for over a year now recently celebrated its first birthday. Throughout that year, Harris has met many new parents and grandparents in the metro area. She has become a sounding board for problems like eliminating stink, laundry issues, toilet training, diaper rash and more. Issues moms easily become obsessed with when it’s affecting their baby 24/7. And for Harris, her passion for using eco-friendly reusable diapers hasn’t changed a bit. “I still wake up thinking diapers, and I go to sleep thinking diapers,” she said. “I enjoy being the person who I wish I had when I was a stay-at-home, cloth diapering mom.” What has changed is the store. In just one year, Green Bambino has gone from a one-woman operation to having eight employees. Lots of new products have been added: organic baby clothes, non-

plastic dishes and eating utensils, baby food making supplies, green cleaners, and of course, diapers and diapering accessories. Reusable cloth diapers of different brands, styles and even colors and prints, remain the focus and the main source of revenue — Harris said the store has been in the black since it opened. “We have been so successful partly because we sell a product that saves people money,” Harris said. Product knowledge is so important to her that when Harris is interviewing potential employees, she asks: ‘What diapers do you use and how do you wash them?’ Harris is cultivating a community of like-minded parents through her Facebook page and with classes in the store, like cloth diaper basics, breast-feeding and babywearing. Before Harris gave birth to her son, she spent five years working at Full Circle Books, an experience that gave her a solid retail background. But transitioning from employee to stay at home mom to business owner, wasn’t easy. She credits the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center with helping birth her

business. Her business adviser assisted with funding, merchandising and all the nitty-gritty details she’d never dealt with before. The organization helped with the startup of 278 new businesses in 2010, creating nearly 900 jobs and injecting more than $25 million into Oklahoma’s economy, director Susan Urbach said. For 2011, Harris wants to host more workshops outside the store in hospitals and obstetrician’s offices. And she’s looking into expanding the store or adding a second location. Customer Abbi Meadows has shopped at the store since it opened in March 2010, when she was expecting her first child. “The best thing about Green Bambino is the customer service. Morgan has remembered my name and my son’s name ever since we first came in the store. She remembers what brand of diapers we like and can therefore make educated suggestions as to what new products may interest us,” Meadows said. “I feel that she cares about my family, our health and our eco-friendly efforts more than she cares about the store’s bottom line.”

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

JEFF CLICK | OWNER OF JEFF CLICK HOMES

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

P.B. ODOM III | REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER

In homebuilding, help is only a Click away

Developer P. B. Odom III stands on a bridge on SW 131 east of May Avenue, which leads into the Rivendell addition. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

Homebuilder Jeff Click stands in one of the buildings in the Main Street Business District, east of Pennsylvania Avenue between NW 150 and NW 164.

Focus on long-term goals has paid off for developer

PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN

BY RICHARD MIZE BY RICHARD MIZE

Real Estate Editor richardmize@opubco.com

Jeff Click has always worked the cutting edges of technology and home design. At 35, he is both already an old hand as a builder, and the go-to guy for everything new in the constantly evolving dance of form and function, whether in the living room or a handheld communications device. He started building houses at age 22 after already starting a successful software company. In 13 years, Jeff Click Homes has built about 300 houses and become a regular face of homebuilding. Two years ago, he was president of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association. He is on track to be president of the Oklahoma State Home Builders Association — before he is 40. He latest endeavor is a branch out into office development with Main Street Business District, itself an edgy kind of place, on Pennsylvania Avenue north of NW 150. But housing, design and tech are still his mainstay. Here are his thoughts on the industry during a recent interview with The Oklahoman: Q: You’re a visionary, not only in tech stuff, but in cool urban residential design — in a sea of suburbia. How in the world did that happen? A: I’ve always been drawn to the style of urban and metropolitan design and architecture, particularly in residential spaces that were created within old buildings. I love the idea of embracing otherwise mundane aspects of old, urban structural details and drawing attention to them as a major focal point for interior design — brick walls and columns, exposed undersides of upper-story floors and even pipes and air ducts. As I started experimenting with recreating those details in a new construction setting, I began to notice these details getting all the attention when people came through my homes. The fact that I implement them in a suburban setting is merely incidental, as that’s where I’ve built to this point. But there is an inherent irony there that I’ve embraced as bringing a little “urbana” to suburbia. Q: Where do you look for inspiration in design? A: Almost everywhere, in anything. If I travel, I’m always taking photos of cool ideas I come across. I have a huge bin of design magazines and catalogs that are often a great source of solutions to design challenges. There are also numerous design and architecture blogs I check in on regularly. Locally, I enjoy looking at design in trendy restau-

There are some great homebuilders and designers here, but I want to resist the temptation to copy or do something that’s already being done here. JEFF CLICK

rants and work spaces of innovative companies, but don’t pay much attention to other residential design here. There are some great homebuilders and designers here, but I want to resist the temptation to copy or do something that’s already being done here. Q: In technology? A: Technology to me is what dark chocolate is to my wife, Deziray. Technological advancement is happening so rapidly, and new innovation opens the door to even newer possibilities that didn’t previously exist. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about how technology is creating new conveniences and solving age-old problems in our every day living habits. This is important for homebuilders to be paying attention to, as these products and solutions are changing the way we wire and even design living spaces. Technology even plays a pivotal role in the way my company builds homes, as we rely heavily on a job management system we’ve designed that allows us to store every plan, design note and sketch for a home, as well as track every task on a project and communicate among staff, trades and suppliers electronically. Our jobsites are no stranger to iPads, iPhones and other gadgets, as we’ve been able to go almost paperless, even down to blueprints. I’m challenged to find a good term to replace “blueprint,” because literally, they’re seldom actually printed at Jeff Click Homes. Q: You were 22 when you started out in building. Did local builders first tend to see you as an upstart with your fancyschmancy high-tech stuff? Did anyone caution you to stick with the tried-and-true? Did anyone step up as a mentor? What was it like that first year or two? A: When my building career began, I also managed a software development company I had started in college. Technology — at that time email, Internet commerce, gadgets, being mobile — wasn’t a schtick to me, but just a part of my everyday way of operating and living. I designed software, which required a great deal of consideration to the graphical user interface, and to me a home is

the quintessential human interface. I didn’t receive much notice from other builders until I became more involved with Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, where I began to help bring the organization more forward-thinking in the use of technology. From a general business perspective, I would say my father has made the greatest impact on how I run my business. I would credit guys like the late Jim Ferris, owner of JF Homes, and his then building staff Rick Melton and John Broadhead, with showing me the ropes of the building process. As I became more involved at an industry level, experienced guys like Mark Dale, Tom French, Jim McWhirter, and Mike Means have played significant roles in mentoring me on many levels as a builder and in industry leadership.

P.B. Odom III does not suffer pessimism gladly. Those prone to tsk-tsk at an aggressive approach to real estate development need not apply. The developer of southside Oklahoma City’s upscale Rivendell neighborhood — more than 500 homes, 3,000- to 10,000plus square feet in size, at SW 131 and May Avenue — and numerous other developments is quite willing to take a little pain now for gain later. That could be partly why, when so many other developers were still licking wounds from the recession, Odom expanded Palagio, a shopping center at SW 104 and Western Avenue; started the fourth phase of Talavera, a residential addition at SW 164 and Santa Fe; and started expansion at Rockport, another neighborhood, at SW 125 and Portland. “I do nothing shortsighted or short-term. I always take the long-term view,” said Odom, 58. “Sometimes that hurts in the short term.” He got that from his grandfather, P.B. Odom. He was the one who pushed Odom III through his first envelope. “Let me tell you how he pushed me,” Odom III recalled. “I started going into

Dad has been a great adviser and confidante through these many years, but Papa got me started.” P.B. ODOM III

the fields with the crews when I was 12 years old. I’ve always worked for a living. I worked several summers. (One day), he said, ‘Have you ever thought about building a house?’ I said, ‘Well, I guess it would be OK.’ ” A couple of weeks later, young Odom was riding with his grandfather from job site to job site when he drove up to one — in his Ranchwood Manor addition near SW 89 and Santa Fe 93 — and stopped. Reaching into the back seat, he retrieved a rolledup set of plans. Handing them over, he said, “Do you remember that house you said you wanted to build? Here’s the foundation.” That was in 1969. Odom III was 17. He gulped and said, “But Papa, I only said I guessed it would be OK!” But with years of handson building knowledge already under his belt, he did

it. A few months later, he sold the house, 2,000 square feet, for $27,000. Therein lies the start of the third generation of builders-developers by the name of Odom in Oklahoma City. Inspired as a young man by his grandfather, guided as an older man by his father, Paul Odom Jr., 82, P.B. Odom III has been acting rather than reacting ever since. P.B. Odom started building in Nichols Hills in the 1930s but turned to Ranchwood Manor in the 1940s and 1950s. Also in the 1950s, Paul B. Odom Jr. developed property from SW 74 to SW 89, then west of Pennsylvania, then south of SW 89 — some 2,000 homes. P.B. Odom III started building in earnest after graduating from Moore High School in 1970. Aside from a push, and inspiration, from his grandfather and occasional advice from his father, Odom III said what he mainly got from the first two generations of Odom builders-developers, rather than financial help, was what Proverbs 22: 1 says is “greater than riches.” “They both gave me something more valuable than money; their name. With that and their advice, I was able to capitalize on that,” he said. “Dad has been a great adviser and confidante through these many years, but Papa got me started.”

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

15T

CHAD HUNTINGTON | CO-OWNER OF OKLAHOMA’S RED DIRT EMPORIUM AND THE BRICKTOWN MARKETPLACE

Dreams become reality for retailer BY STEVE LACKMEYER Business Writer slackmeyer@opubco.com

Chad Huntington was a young, enthusiastic new director of the Automobile Alley Association in the late 1990s when he was schooled in the stark realities of retail by one of downtown’s veteran developers. “I was very excited about the potential for retail on Automobile Alley,” Huntington said. “The reason it made so much sense to me was the configuration of the buildings — they were designed for retail from the outset. They had these great windows, great sidewalks, and I just knew they could be great for creating retail on Automobile Alley.” Nicholas Preftakes was the first to gamble on downtown housing in the 1990s with the Garage Lofts at NW 10 and Broadway and at the time was proceeding with renovation of a handful of former dealership buildings along the strip. Huntington pled with Preftakes and others to consider putting more effort into recruiting retailers.

Chad Huntington is a co-owner of Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Emporium and the Bricktown Marketplace. PHOTO BY STEVE LACKMEYER, THE OKLAHOMAN

“He gently steered me away from the idea by injecting a dose of reality by saying downtown needed more rooftops first,” Huntington said. A dozen years later, Huntington admits Preftakes was right. And in that interim, downtown has seen an influx of hundreds of new

BOB BENHAM | OWNER OF BALLIETS

apartments and condominiums with hundreds more still being built despite the Great Recession. Those retailers Huntington dreamed of setting up shop along Broadway have taken root and include Broadway Wine Merchants, Schlegel Bicycles and Rawhide gifts, clothing and furniture.

Business Writer jpalmer@opubco.com

Balliets corners luxury market BY JENNIFER PALMER Business Writer jpalmer@opubco.com

There are many names that can make an upscale shopper swoon: Prada. Jimmy Choo. Diane von Furstenberg. Milly. Valentino. But in Oklahoma City, only one name has them all: Balliets. The retailer has settled into its new space at the Classen Curve shopping center, in a store that is every bit as beautiful as the shoes and dresses within. The store is a dramatic display of natural light, features a gorgeous center staircase and defies department store tradition with an upstairs cosmetics department. “The scale of this store says we’re part of something big now,” said owner Bob Benham. He made the leap from being a boutique at 50 Penn Place to anchoring the Classen Curve shopping center in August, expanding the store’s inventory and redesigning the company logo to emphasize its rebirth from the ground up. Before making the big move, Benham, who has served on the board of the National Retail Federation for 33 years and is currently corporate secretary, asked some of his retail counterparts if they were interested in coming to Oklahoma City. Despite the clout that came with gaining an NBA team, luxury retailers Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys say this market is not even on their radar. Oklahoma City’s income per household indicates it won’t be worth it, Benham said. “It’s just not on people’s minds. We’re still perceived as a big box retail market,” he said. Britt Beemer, chairman

of America’s Research Group, predicts overall retail sales will increase 2 percent in 2011, but luxury sales will jump 8 to 11 percent. He noted that the luxury consumer follows the stock market, and barring a crash, wealthy consumers will keep on shopping. There is a market for luxury retail here and Balliets is proof. Total sales have increased by 51 percent since the store relocated, Benham said. Highend apparel hasn’t fully recovered from recession lows, increasing just 17 percent. But shoes and handbags are way up, which more than compensated, he said. Balliets also seems to be successfully attracting a younger, hipper crowd. The number of customers using store charge accounts hasn’t changed but credit card sales are “through the roof,” Benham said. The new store added a contemporary department, with more denim and lower prices, to attract 20- and 30-something shoppers. And Benham’s own daughter, Lisa Shinn, has been quick to push him to adapt to changing times. He talks about a day when she’ll take over the store but balks at the mention of his own retirement. He says he’s here for the long haul. “My definition of an optimist is a 70-year-old retailer signing a 10-year lease for a new, bigger store,” he said, adding that without Aubrey McClendon’s vision for a retail corridor near the Chesapeake Energy campus, Balliets wouldn’t be where they are today. “My vision for Balliets was to be part of something new.”

have, and he’s become very passionate about it and has come up with his own ideas and has supported these ideas very much.” Going one step further, Huntington and Bekoff opened their own booth within the marketplace, “Classic Toys,” where shoppers can find oldstyle tri-cycles, hard-tofind Viewmasters, Lincoln Logs and other beloved diversions too often overshadowed by video games and computers. “It’s been a hit,” Huntington said. “Visitors to the marketplace have really responded well to it.” Huntington said he and Bekoff have listened carefully to visitors who repeatedly ended their excursions along the Bricktown Canal with questions about where to shop. “The retail environment is getting dramatically better,” Huntington said. “The mixture of added residential and a large increase in hotel rooms — quality hotel rooms — are a constant pull. Along with the visitor market the city has created an environment where the well crafted retail endeavor can do very well.”

Macy’s, Dillard’s have new things in store BY JENNIFER PALMER

Bob Benham, president and CEO of Balliets, stands inside the store at Oklahoma City’s Classen Curve shopping center. PHOTO BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

Huntington, meanwhile, has spent the past decade operating the water taxis along the Bricktown Canal, promoting Oklahoma City tourism, and, with backing from Water Taxi owner Bob Bekoff, has launched two of the biggest retail operations yet in Bricktown. In 2007 the pair

launched Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Emporium in the Miller Jackson Building along the canal. The store proudly focuses on Oklahoma themed merchandise, including music and books, crafts, historic photos, Flaming Lips collectables, food and clothing. Encouraged by the success of the Emporium, the pair last year launched a second store, the Bricktown Marketplace, which is the largest retail operation opened downtown in recent years without any public incentives. (Bass Pro Shops in Lower Bricktown is the largest retailer, but it opened after the city agreed to spend $21 million to build the store). The marketplace now boasts an array of retailers ranging from clothing and antiques to art, jewelry, Western and American Indian gifts, food and toys. “I’ve always been very excited about the prospects for retail back to my time on Automobile Alley and even before as a worker,” said Huntington, who is also a longtime downtown resident. “But with Bob Bekoff, I’ve had the opportunity to explore the retail ideas I

Macy’s and Dillard’s department stores say Oklahoma is an important market and worth investing in. There are four Macy’s in the state, two each in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and 10 Dillard’s stores in Oklahoma — three in the metro area. Neither has plans to add stores in the state; each retailer is focusing on remodeling existing stores and tailoring its merchandise selection.

Macy’s Tom Harvey, Macy’s district vice president for Oklahoma and Fort Worth, Texas, said the company is about to begin a remodel of Tulsa’s store inside Woodland Hills Mall. In Oklahoma City, the retailer is looking at upgrades to the merchandise at Quail Springs Mall, including expanding the home store, fine jewelry and watches. At the Penn Square Mall store, exclusive lines from designers such as Kinder Aggugini are debuted — the only store in the district to receive those, Harvey said. It’s also the only store carrying Tommy Bahama and Lacoste sportswear. “Our vision for Oklahoma is to offer brands that are exclusive to Macy’s ... that the customer can’t get anywhere else and better brands so that we are the destination for brands both exclusive (to Macy’s) and national for value,” Harvey said. Macy’s Inc. has corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York and also operates Bloomingdale’s. Though Harvey is based in Fort Worth, he said he has been spending a lot more time in Oklahoma developing the four stores here. “We are very much alive and well in Oklahoma and believe in this market,” Harvey said.

Dillard’s Presenting a more upscale mix of merchandise and emphasizing service is on the agenda for the Little Rock-based retailer, said Dillard’s spokeswoman Julie Bull. Last year, the company brought Kiehl’s cosmetics to its stores, including the three metro area locations in Oklahoma City and Norman. A MAC counter was added to the Quail Springs Mall location, and in Penn

Square Mall, the store revamped its handbag and lingerie departments. “Handbags, shoes, accessories and cosmetics are ways a woman can really freshen up her wardrobe,” Bull said. To localize the company’s appeal, it has been giving customers a chance

to interact with celebrities through personal appearances. Area stores have hosted Oklahoma City Thunder basketball player Russell Westbrook and celebrity Chef Emeril Lagasse recently. Bull said the lack of an upscale department store such as Saks Fifth Avenue

or Neiman Marcus in Oklahoma City presents a huge opportunity for Dillard’s. “We completely realize our role there as an upscale, contemporary choice,” she said. Dillard’s first opened in Oklahoma in 1960 when it acquired Brown-Duncan Department Store in Tulsa.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

MARK FUNKE | BANK OF OKLAHOMA’S PRESIDENT FOR OKC

Banker is passionate about serving public

Mark Funke is the head of the Oklahoma City market for Bank of Oklahoma. PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

BY DON MECOY Business Writer dmecoy@opubco.com

As head of the Oklahoma City market for the state’s biggest bank, Mark Funke believes his company and his city work best together. “I think banks flourish when their communities do,” said Funke, president of Bank of Oklahoma’s Oklahoma City operations. “If the community is doing well, we’re doing well because people have deposits here and they have loans with the bank and they use our products and services. Because banks are a beneficiary of a lot of that, I think it’s incumbent on banks to give back to the community.” “As a banker I feel like that’s part of my role as a leader in our market to lead by example for our employees and to show them I think it’s important,” he said. Funke has served as head of Oklahoma City’s annual United Way fundraising campaign and has led the Allied Arts campaign. Funke’s community service benefits the bank and the area, but also fulfills his passions, he said. “I try to be involved in things where I have a passion,” he said. “I think that arts are a great economic tool, not only to provide for economic development and a great quality of life for the community, but I also think that it does provide a great level of jobs in our community and benefits from that perspective.” Funke also has held leadership positions with the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, including stints as vice chair for

community redevelopment and vice chair of biosciences. “I think our chamber is a very strong economic development engine and can help provide growth in jobs in our community with the work that they do,” he said. “I think they can also help existing businesses here grow, provide benefits to them.” Funke’s passion for service isn’t lost on Bank of Oklahoma employees. “We have hundreds of employees on boards, in the community that volunteer and give back and do things,” Funke said. “I think it’s very important to give back to the community in different ways.” Despite Funke’s record of service, his main job remains banking. Funke has become more involved in lobbying and information efforts as federal policymakers consider major regulatory changes. “My activity has changed a little because I’m much more involved with the American Bankers Association and the Oklahoma Bankers Association to help legislators understand,” he said. “Three or four years ago I wouldn’t have been involved with at all.” Funke said his financial expertise is something he can offer to the various community causes he volunteers with. “I represent Bank of Oklahoma, so in some cases, I can utilize resources that the bank has or commit resources that the bank has to those agencies in the community that might otherwise not get committed,” he said. “I’ve been able to be in some reasonably high-profile positions because of my job with the bank, and I think because of that I can add some value.”

HAROLD HAMM | CEO OF CONTINENTAL RESOURCES INC.

Oil company will make move to foster growth FROM STAFF REPORTS

Enid oilman Harold Hamm is poised to become downtown Oklahoma City’s next energy mogul. Hamm called the recent decision to move Continental Resources Inc. from its longtime home in Enid bittersweet but acknowledged Oklahoma City is better equipped to help the company achieve its desired growth. Continental is about 12 months into a five-year plan to triple the size of the company, with officials indicating things are ahead of schedule so far. “That sounds like that’s a huge growth target. It’s really not,” Hamm said. “We typically have doubled the size of the company every five years.” That kind of growth is what is forcing Hamm to move his company into the downtown office tower being vacated by Devon Energy Corp. Such growth is a hallmark for Hamm, whose success has made him one of the state’s richest residents. “That’s all I’ve ever run is growth companies,” he said. “We started with less than nothing.” Hamm said he enjoys the challenge of making his business ventures successful. “Our whole culture is built around growth companies,” he said. “You have to find oil and gas to do that.” Hamm has said he views himself as something of a rebel for his dogged pur-

Enid oilman Harold Hamm

suit of oil, even when big companies moved their operations out of the United States and other independent producers switched their focus to natural gas. That “contrarian view” is paying off now, as Continental is poised to move into the same territory occupied by Oklahoma energy giants like Devon and Chesapeake Energy Corp.

‘Simple beginnings’ That is quite a leap for a company formed by Hamm in 1967 when he was only 22 years old. Hamm, who is the youngest of 12 children, moved to Enid when he was 16, leaving the family farm in Purcell to finish high school. Two years after graduation, the young entrepreneur went into business for himself, starting HammPhillips Service Co. with a

single service truck. “I borrowed money at the bank for the few things I needed to outfit it and start that business,” Hamm told The Oklahoman in 2008. “I had somebody co-sign a note for me. It was pretty simple beginnings.” Hamm took Continental public in June 2007, a move that made him a billionaire because of his majority stake in the company. The company’s stock initially sold for about $15 a share, but continued growth has pushed the price as high as $73.48 this year. Hamm, who also has a stake in several other Enid-based companies, is confident Continental is well-positioned to continue growing in the future. “We’re involved in some of the hottest plays in the U.S.,” he said recently.

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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DEVELOPERS | BOB HOWARD, MICKEY CLAGG AND CHRIS FLEMING

Trio transforms MidTown neighborhood BY STEVE LACKMEYER Business Writer slackmeyer@opubco.com

Standing atop the Plaza Court Building in MidTown, Bob Howard and Mickey Clagg gaze at a neighborhood they’ve known for years — an area they’ve also dramatically transformed in a relatively short period of time. Howard, a veteran car dealer who sold most of his operations to a Texas company in the early 2000s, has worked with Clagg on redeveloping the MidTown area and other holdings for the past nine years. But the pair’s friendship goes back further to the days when the pair worked at the original Bob Moore Cadillac at NW 5 and Walker. “We’ve come a long way since the 1970s,” Howard jokes, “about five blocks.” The MidTown Howard and Clagg knew in the 1970s was a neighborhood in sharp decline when they quietly joined former partner Greg Banta in buying up landmarks like the Plaza Court and Osler buildings and flophouses like the old Cline Hotel and Hadden Hall. The city and county rushed in and promised street and infrastructure improvements to the area when its last anchor, St. Anthony Hospital, flirted with abandoning its historic home in 2003.

Pair begins a renaissance It was soon after that Howard and Clagg began investing in the neighborhood, turning longtime eyesores into trendy restaurants, shops and renovating flophouses into upscale apartments. Howard fondly recalls riding a bus as a child from Moore to see movies in downtown Oklahoma City, and those memories are driving their plans to establish MidTown as a truly mixed-use urban neighborhood filled with housing, offices, shops and restaurants. “Our vision in this is more a little town of its own like I saw it 50 years ago,” Howard said. “We started with the restaurants, then we add residential, then we add some offices. We want a mix. And we’re starting on the outside and hoping to have the inside fill up.” It’s Clagg who is most often seen representing their MidTown Renaissance efforts at public meetings. Clagg has immersed himself in the study of urban design, historic tax credits and the best approaches to redeveloping old neighborhoods. His library includes everything from a copy of Jane Jacobs’ “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” to copies of analysis of downtown by experts like walkability consultant Jeff Speck. “People are coming to MidTown for a different reason: it’s historic. There are a lot of cool restaurants you can walk to,” Clagg said. “And with Oklahoma City, we have an advantage in that downtown is in the middle — there are over 600,000 people within 1520 minutes of downtown. We have the third-shortest commute time in the country.”

The business of growing up The third partner in this venture, Chris Fleming, was on the fast track before joining Howard and Clagg in 2006. He had grown up working for Pleasant Pools, a successful family-owned business started by his father and uncle in 1978. “Growing up, business was dinner table discussion,” Fleming said. “At the age of 16, I was managing one of my family’s retail stores. Throughout high school and early college, I was highly involved in the family business, and this in-

volvement provided me with a broad base of practical skills that continue to serve me today.” Fleming graduated from the University of Oklahoma in two and a half years, and then followed up with an MBA in 2005. He had done stints in corporate finance with Devon Energy Corp. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. before joining up Howard and Clagg. “They were looking for someone, I was looking for something with a little more variety and different from what I was doing,” Fleming said. “We do a lot of things, including the MidTown development. I like the variety and challenge. One minute I’m wearing a hat

where I am dealing with architects and next I’m with hedge fund guys, and then maybe something after that where we’ve got another investment.” When historic tax credits were being threatened last year by legislators looking to save money, it was Fleming who worked behind the scenes to help preservationists convince lawmakers to turn a cancellation of the credits to a deferral. Fleming admits he is constantly learning from Howard and Clagg. “They continue to be great mentors,” Fleming said. “They’ve got stories and situations for everything we come across — if not exactly, then pretty close.”

From left, Mickey Clagg, Bob Howard and Chris Fleming stand on top of the Plaza Court Building with downtown Oklahoma City in the background. PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

CHIP FUDGE | COLLECTOR AND DEVELOPER

Collector works to get projects done right BY STEVE LACKMEYER Business Writer slackmeyer@opubco.com

Bringing life back to downtown’s Film Row may not be as lucrative as Chip Fudge’s daytime job. But for Fudge, it’s as much fun as his other hobbies — restoring old cars and international travel. In just a few short years, Fudge has led efforts to convert the section of Sheridan Avenue west of Walker into downtown’s newest creative district. An area once considered “skid row” is now home to architectural and design firms, media companies, IAO gallery and OK City Scape, the nonprofit that stages the annual Lego recreation of downtown every December. The area was for a few decades one of the country’s 35 film exchange dis-

tricts, where Hollywood studios hosted movie screenings for regional theaters. Fudge spent most of his life living in Oklahoma City’s historic inner-city neighborhoods, and that, combined with antique shopping sprees with his grandmother, have turned him into someone who doesn’t just collect old things but also does what he can to bring them back to life. His family ran a collection business — Credit Collections — which he still chairs, and in 1988 he started Claims Management Resources, which employs 125 people. The company last year handled $100 million in property damage claims. It was also in the late 1980s that he first began buying and renovating historic homes and du-

Chip Fudge in the Film Exchange Building

plexes. He later moved on to such landmarks as Kamp’s before his current project — Film Row, along the 700 block of W Sheridan Avenue. “My projects typically get done over budget, but

STEVE MASON | OWNER OF CARDINAL ENGINEERING, EARL’S RIB PALACE

it’s more important to me they be done right,” Fudge said. In addition to buying and redeveloping several of the historic buildings, Fudge also led efforts to add the area to the downtown business

improvement district so that a streetscape now wrapping up could include new landscaping. “The upstairs of the Film Exchange Building (700 W Sheridan) has to be my favorite project,” Fudge

said. “It was on the verge of falling down. To effectively bring it back from the brink, that has to be my most favorite. Financially it’s not my biggest achievement, but personally, I’m very happy it was done appropriately.” Fudge said he was influenced early in his life during visits to his grandparents’ historic homes. “For some reason, at an early age I could tell the difference between a cheaply built apartment and a well-built home from the 1920s or ’30s,” Fudge said. “To me it was the difference between real wood or real stone and fake wood or fake stone. In a perfect world, I would have been an architect instead of in the claims or collection business. I think I’m a frustrated architect, and that’s why I do this stuff on the side.”

JOHN BELT | PASEO DRIVE DEVELOPER

Attorney is bringing Paseo ‘back’ BY STEVE LACKMEYER Business Writer slackmeyer@opubco.com

Iguana Mexican Grill is seen in this file photo at 9 NW 9 Street in Oklahoma City. Below, a residence at 7 NW 9 Street, now home to Sara Sara Cupcakes, is seen next to the Iguana Grill in 2008. PHOTOS BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

Developer works to save historic OKC properties BY STEVE LACKMEYER Business Writer slackmeyer@opubco.com

Steve Mason is a big believer in “spheres.” Historically, he notes, “spheres of influence” were cited in somewhat ominous tones when Cold War-era fears spurred talk of Communism enveloping Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. But Mason cites the “spheres of influence” concept as the reason for downtown Oklahoma City’s ongoing revival. If done alone, his work along the 1000 block of N Broadway along Automobile Alley might have resulted in little if any success. But when paired up with the work started 20 years ago by Nick Preftakes, Mark Ruffin, Chris Salyer, Meg Salyer and Rand Elliott, the area as a whole “clicks.” Mason expands those spheres of influence even further, adding in Bob Howard, Mickey Clagg and Chris Fleming’s work in MidTown; Ron Bradshaw, Anthony McDermid and Pat Garrett’s work in Deep Deuce; the legacy of the Brewer family in Bricktown, and so on. Mason’s own investment downtown started in 2006 with a century-old former Cadillac dealership at 1015 N Broadway that had frustrated previous owners’ attempts at redevelopment. Mason, owner of Cardinal Engineering and Earl’s Rib Palace, admitted at the time he was a suburban guy discovering the urban core. Mason never intended to go as far as he did with his renovation of the 1015 N Broadway building, noting his Realtor initially advised him he could do an easy “flip” of the early-day car dealership. “I bought the building for under a half-million dollars and thought it would be a good invest-

ment,” Mason said. “My Realtor said I could flip it in three months.” Instead, Mason discovered the building was dilapidated, despite stabilization efforts done a few years earlier with Murrah Building bombing recovery funds. Mason proceeded with a top-to-bottom renovation in which he had to tear up the building’s foundation while propping up the facade, and then worked with state preservation officials to restore the building in a way that would earn him tax credits — and ultimately placement on the historic register. It was during that restoration that Mason insisted on walking across the street and on to NW 9. The street was a disaster. An old brick garage was the only building that wasn’t overrun with brush and trees. And even it looked like a building best left to the fate of a bulldozer. The three old houses along the north side of the street looked like an oversight of either Urban Renewal from the 1970s or more recently the city’s neighborhood services department. By any standard, the houses were blighted and were dangerous to the public. “You’re going to tear them down, aren’t you?” Mason was asked. He paused. “No, I think I can do something with them.” And yet he didn’t know what. He had a vague idea

of setting up an overflow parking lot around the mechanic’s garage building for the Iguana Mexican Grill he was planning to reopen at 1007 N Broadway. Mason instead took a huge gamble and moved the restaurant to the garage (9 NW 9) and gave it a cool urban oasis vibe by adding a front bar area and an outdoor patio under the shade of some of downtown’s oldest trees. The restaurant was a hit, even with blighted houses next door. Mason took another gamble and renovated the house next door into the home of Sara Sara cupcakes (contractors advised him repeatedly to tear the homes down). Mason proceeded with renovation of the two remaining homes, which are now home to Shop Good and the Pachinko Parlor. With the glow of Rawhide’s new neon sign lighting up the 1000 block of N Broadway, Mason admits the job of drawing retailers and life to Automobile Alley is getting easier. Rawhide, meanwhile, is the seventh business opened downtown in the past three years as a result of Mason’s efforts to redevelop NW 9 and Broadway. “The seventh was easier than the first,” Mason said. “And the eighth, I think, will be easier than the second. It’s like a strip shopping center, and it’s filling up. The last bay is easier to fill than the first bay.”

As a metal sculptor who has shown his work at the Paseo Arts Festival for the past decade, Kenny McCage constantly wondered about the one large, plain-looking white building in the heart of the arts district. Once he even stepped inside the four-story building at 3010 Paseo Drive only to find it being used for storage. “I really thought the building would sit just the way it was,” said McCage, who also has sculptures on display at the nearby Contemporary Art Gallery. “It’s so big — it required the right person to come in and buy it to make something happen.” That person was John Belt, who has spent the past three decades redeveloping the majority of Paseo Drive and waited patiently for the chance to take on what was once the home of the Paseo Plunge and later the Spaghetti Factory. Belt, who bought the building in 2009, launched a renovation that added a tile roof matching those on surrounding buildings and a more colorful facade that included new window openings and the exposure of a long hidden deck. “The deck originally overlooked the (Paseo Plunge) swimming pool and it had a slide on it,” Belt said. “We’re just bringing it back.” Bringing Paseo back has been a passion for Belt

John Belt talks about his plans for the building at 3010 Paseo Drive in Oklahoma City in this file photo. PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

since 1976. Belt, an attorney, was dismayed to learn a favorite sandwich shop where he often ate lunch was about to be closed by a neighbor who planned to buy the building and use it for storage. In a quick cash upfront deal, Belt did the deal instead, and the restaurant stayed put. More deals followed. As Belt renovated one building after another in the funky former Spanish Village, artists opened up galleries and the neighborhood enjoyed a slow but steady rise from blight. Belt’s exterior renovation of the former Spaghetti Factory completes a decades-long redevelopment of Paseo Drive, though he has yet to finalize plans for what will occupy the strip’s largest single building. That long-lost patio deck has its own history, dating back to when it was once the popular Paseo Plunge. The plunge closed during the polio epidemic of

the 1950s. The pool was converted into cold storage for frozen pizzas in the 1960s. The structure was enclosed into a quirkily multi-leveled building that featured a narrow ramp for trucks to make pickups and deliveries. In later years the building was home to the Spaghetti Factory — a restaurant still remembered by Paseo visitors even though it closed almost 20 years ago. “There were a lot of young people who came to the Spaghetti Factory who are now adults,” Belt said. “And they had a lot of good memories there.” Belt urges inquisitive minds to share his patience for determining the building’s future, emphasizing he waited 30 years to add it to his Paseo holdings. “I’m having a lot of fun doing this and I’m enjoying the whole process,” Belt said. “I’m not in any hurry, though I do want this building contributing to this wonderful street.”

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

19T

RAND ELLIOT | ARCHITECT

Classen Curve architect Rand Elliott stands recently at the complex in Oklahoma City.

PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN

Designing a vision of OKC’s future FROM STAFF REPORTS

Rand Elliott’s architectural portfolio includes some of the city’s most visible landmarks, including the Chesapeake Energy Corp. campus at NW 63 and Western Avenue, nearby Classen Curve, Boathouse Row along the Oklahoma River and POPS in Arcadia. The ascent for the architect wasn’t quick or easy. He is quick to recall a time, more than 30 years ago, when he paired up with friend (and now a successful contractor) James Pickel to form Elliott + Associates and survived on tips Pickel earned on the side as a waiter. The men were fraternity brothers at Oklahoma State University. Elliott graduated and apprenticed at Lockwright Foster, HTB and Howard and Porch. Pickel, meanwhile, took a job with Dow Chemical.

‘A fabulous time’ Elliott has fond memories of his time at Howard and Porch, which in the 1970s was a premier firm in the city, based downtown. “It was a fabulous time to be downtown,” Elliott said. “At that time, on Friday there would be music playing on all the plazas at Fidelity, Kerr Park, and it was an important time for me to be introduced

ONLINE For more on the Classen Curve complex, go to NewsOK.com and search for “Classen Curve.”

to downtown.” But Elliott wanted to start his own firm, and Pickel was unhappy as a salesman. Pickel wasn’t an architect, but the business major proposed forming a firm with Elliott. The architect was free to spend his time on design, and Pickel would oversee the business. The men began working in 1976 from their duplex homes along NW 42 and Classen Boulevard. “We lived one block away from each other,” Elliott said. “We started from an absolute dead standstill. We had no money, no wealthy parents, no inheritances. We literally started with one phone number that rang at both places.” Pickel, now executive vice president of Smith and Pickel Construction, recalled Elliott even in those early days displayed a unique design style. “One of his first niches was doing graphic designs,” Pickel said. “He did stationery and logos.” Within six months of starting the firm,

money ran out. Pickel took jobs waiting tables at Steak and Ale and later the Grand Boulevard Restaurant (now Flips Wine Bar). For two years, Pickel divided the tips with Elliott to keep the firm alive. “We only grossed $5,000 that first year,” Pickel said. “It wasn’t enough to pay for supplies.”

1980s, Elliott + Associates was devastated by the mid-1980s oil bust. His firm shrank to four employees and spent the next decade rebuilding. “It was like starting over,” Elliott said. “I consider James to still be my closest friend.”

A taste of success

Elliott returned to downtown in 1995 after renovating the fire-gutted Heierding building at 35 N Harrison. The contractor for the job was Smith and Pickel Construction. Other notable projects in Elliott’s portfolio includes the transformation of the Conncourse into the Underground, renovation of City Hall, the corporate headquarters of Kirkpatrick Oil. Elliott calls his job “an old man’s profession,” in which one only gets better with time. “This profession is all about evolving; your experiences, growing in capabilities and being able to push,” Elliott said. “It’s about timing. I know people who start with family money, and there are advantages to that. For me, it has been a very slow process. And from that standpoint, the experiences are real. You learn by being on the front line, and it’s a very slow growth. And I don’t know I could have done it any other way.”

The client list improved over the years, with Elliott winning jobs designing home extensions. Elliott said key jobs were a commission to do a poster for Junior League, a rendering for Nichols Hills Plaza and a house addition for attorney Hugh Rice. “When you start from zero, it takes a very long time,” Elliott said. Elliott and Pickel opened their first formal office in the Hightower Building at Main Street and Hudson Avenue. They stayed downtown until an oil company took their space, forcing them into temporary offices along Classen Boulevard. While still in their Classen Boulevard office, the pair began to manufacture modular bank buildings. By the mid-1980s, the firm was up to 22 employees. After eight years, the partners split when Pickel departed to go into construction. Like many architecture firms in the

Better with time

DESIGNERS | JAMES WILLIAMS, HANS BUTZER AND DAVID WANZER

Designers get to the core of OKC urban development Many people are working to redesign the urban core of Oklahoma City. Here is a look at three: FROM STAFF REPORTS

James Williams Designer James Williams is no stranger to the JFK Neighborhood east of the Oklahoma Health Center. He watched as the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority cleared entire blocks of the area and solicited new housing construction in the 1970s and into the early 1980s. Then everything came to a halt with the oil bust in 1983. Williams is one of several developers who have restarted development of the neighborhood in recent years as Urban Renewal went with a new plan that called for a nicer mix of housing stock with a policy of allowing individual lot sales instead of massive development contracts. Over the past decade the JFK Neighborhood has revived, with dozens of new homes built by Williams and several other developers who saw a chance to rebuild a once thriving neighborhood.

Williams started housing development in JFK with a nod to the past he remembered — with an emphasis on porches facing the front yard and garages behind the home. “It had a real neighborhood feel; it had the feel of an extended family,” Williams said. “It had sidewalks; it had porches. You knew your neighbors. You could walk to the grocery store; you could walk to church. You could walk to your school. It was a very friendly community.”

Hans Butzer Hans Butzer may forever be best associated with one of downtown’s best known architectural triumphs — the Oklahoma City National Memorial. But in the near future millions of travelers along the new Interstate 40 south of downtown will pass under yet another addition to his portfolio — the Skydance Bridge. Butzer moved to Oklahoma City after winning first prize in the 1997 international competition to design a memorial for the fallen Alfred P. Murrah

Federal Building. He is now a professor at the University of Oklahoma, and his design practice is located on Film Row on the west edge of downtown.

David Wanzer David Wanzer saw a blighted stretch along Sheridan Avenue west of the central business district and instead of being scared away by the area, which was also home to several homeless shelters, he marveled at the area’s Art Deco buildings. After doing research into the area’s history, the designer discovered most of the buildings were once associated with major Hollywood studios including RKO Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Paramount. After presenting that history to developer Chip Fudge, the pair embarked on a revival of the area that almost a decade later has been recast as the home to the IAO Gallery, Joey’s Pizzeria, and several design firms including Wanzer’s own 308 Design Collaborative.

James Williams

Hans Butzer

David Wanzer

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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Integris Edmond is hospital President Avilla Williamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; baby.

Dr. Gabriel Pardo brings treatment to MS sufferers and recognition to Oklahoma.

The Regional Food Bank is one of the most influential relief efforts in history.

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Former journalist Tres Savage has a vision of free health care. PAGE 10

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | ADVANCEMENTS IN HEALTH

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

Envisioning a healthy state without smoking and obesity BY SUE HALE Special to the Oklahoman

When I was young, I took health for granted. I didn’t have money but I was getting an education and time was a luxury. Now, I have time and adequate funds. Health, however, is a concern, not just for me but all of

Oklahoma. Enter Central Oklahoma Turning Point. Its goal is to educate Oklahomans how to be healthy. We envision an Oklahoma where no one smokes, obesity is rare and this state leads the nation in healthy lifestyles, no longer rated in the bottom 10 of states with the poor-

est health statistics. Visionaries have to be patient, focus on small successes, create strategies and accept educating a few people at a time in order to make a difference. That’s hard. Many give up. Fortunately, a core group is staying the course and seeing the rewards when parents learn to pro-

vide nutritional food for their children, policy makers include walking trails in housing developments and schools adopt nonsmoking policies. Collaboration has become critical. The Health Alliance for the Uninsured started because competitive health providers came together to share statistics

ROSALYN JOHNSON | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS INC.

Director calls care for needy a passion BY RANDY ELLIS Staff Writer rellis@opubco.com

Making sure poor Oklahomans have access to quality medical and dental care is more than just a job for Rosalyn Johnson — it’s a heartfelt mission. Johnson said she believes she has been preparing all her life for her job as chief executive officer of Community Health Centers Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates five federally subsidized health care clinics in central Oklahoma. “I’m the product of a single-parent home and was born and raised in the projects of Chicago,” Johnson said. “All my life I have seen people die who didn’t need to die.” “My own mother died from heart disease that was secondary to a lack of dental care,” she said. Johnson said her mother’s gums became infected. Sepsis later spread to other parts of her body, leading to her death. The preventability of it left a lasting impression on Johnson, whose job as Community Health Centers CEO places her in a position to assist thousands

Rosalyn Johnson chief executive officer of Community Health Centers Inc.

of central Oklahoma residents in similar predicaments.

Wide range of care Because the nonprofit organization’s clinics are federally subsidized, they are able to offer a marketbasket of health care services on an ability-to-pay, sliding-scale basis, she said. The main clinic is the Mary Mahoney Memorial Health Center at 12716 NE 36 in eastern Oklahoma County. It offers medical, dental and mental health care, as well as lab, X-ray, pharmacy and other services. The organization offers medical care for the homeless at 411 NW 11 in Oklahoma City and additional clinics in Langston and

northeast Oklahoma City. Not all services are offered at all locations. Johnson said subsidized dental care, in particular, is in high demand, with some patients coming to the Mary Mahoney clinic from as far away as Texas and Arkansas. “One thing we tell patients is we want to provide their primary care physicians,” Johnson said, explaining clinic doctors would rather see patients on a regular basis and prevent medical problems than constantly respond to emergencies. The clinics never lack for patients, with about 17,000 patients making about 50,000 visits to the clinics this past year. The need for services is to be expected in a state that ranks among the worst in the nation for its mortality rate, heart disease, strokes and lack of physical activity, she said.

Molded for the role As she looks at her background, she can see how she has been molded for the task at hand. As a teenager, Johnson said she went away from home to go to college but

discovered she wasn’t ready for the experience, so she returned home to attend the Cook County School of Nursing. “I met my husband, who joined the military,” she said. As Johnson followed her husband to duty stations in Europe and elsewhere, she said she discovered she had aptitude for business, so when they moved back to Texas, she obtained a bachelor of business administration in accounting from Angelo State University. Later, she decided to meld her aptitude for business with her passion for health care and obtained a master’s of business administration in business and health organization management from Texas Tech University. Among the jobs she held before her current one were clinic administrator for the Oklahoma CityCounty Health Department, corporate compliance and epidemiology manager for the citycounty health department and director of primary care clinics at the University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas.

and start free clinics that give the uninsured a medical home where their medical history can be tracked. We have a long way to go. I believe our end goal would be much farther in the future if we hadn’t started 10 years ago. Giving up now is not an option. Being a health visionary

Sue Hale

is difficult but all our children and our grandchildren deserve quality of life. That drives the passionate few to believe success is attainable. — SUE HALE IS THE OKLAHOMAN’S FORMER EXECUTIVE EDITOR AND CO-CHAIR OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA TURNING POINT.

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | ADVANCEMENTS IN HEALTH

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DR. JORDAN TANG | OKLAHOMA MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION RESEARCHER

Researcher solves medical puzzles ON THE COVER DR. JORDAN TANG AS CLARK KENT/SUPERMAN IN AN HOMAGE TO SUPERMAN COVER DESIGNER ALEX ROSS

Internationally recognized scientist Jordan Tang works on enzyme research in his lab at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in this 1958 photo. PHOTO PROVIDED BY OKLAHOMA MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION

BY SONYA COLBERG Staff Writer scolberg@opubco.com

Every day and every night, seven days a week, the light stayed on in the little research lab in Oklahoma City. Before it was switched off after midnight, it illuminated a young researcher named Jordan Tang, hunched over his lab table with test tubes and vials of chemicals. The quiet genius knew he had to crack the composition of a cousin to a stomach enzyme he discovered earlier as a technician. But this enzyme wouldn’t tell. Undeterred, Tang pursued the truth every day for six years. Then one Sunday morning, Tang conducted one last experiment and clicked off the light at 2 a.m. That last piece of evidence once again had evaded his grasp. He drove home and crawled into bed next to his sleeping wife, Kuen. At 5 a.m., his eyes flew open. The pieces of the composition began coming to light in his mind’s eye. He woke his wife. “Look! Look! I think I’ve finished!” he said. “Really?” his stunned wife asked. Tang jumped up, threw on his clothes and rushed to the research laboratory in the hospital at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. He switched on the light and examined all the evidence again and again. He went through the results of the experiment and got the final confirmation of the scientific data at 10:30 that night. “I was the only person on Earth who knew that piece of information at that point,” Tang said. He ran out of his lab, into the hospital lobby, where he spotted the head nurse in charge of the night shift. “I threw up my hands. I said, ‘I’ve done it! I’ve finished!’ “I hugged her and I ran out of the building,” Tang said. “She must have thought I was crazy.”

A biological scissor Tang had been working on the chemical structure of pepsin, the prototype of a biological scissor called protease. In his eureka moment, he realized he had found a bridge structure that gave him the final piece of the chemical structure of pepsin. His experience with scissor enzymes led him to discover a way to make small molecules called inhibitors to stop these scissors from cutting proteins. Later, scientists found that the AIDS virus used the same type of biological scissor to assemble the virus. From there, Tang’s team moved into HIV research. Scientists used Tang’s work to design many drugs used in today’s drug cocktail to treat HIV patients. By serendipity, his continuing biological scissor work led to his research team’s discovery in 1999 of memapsin-2, a brain enzyme involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. “For many years, people

If somebody gave me a million dollars, maybe I’d say, ‘How nice,’ and it would keep me happy for maybe a half-day. If I discovered something of great significance, the happiness would last for a long time.”

Tang is most known for groundbreaking discoveries in the field of Alzheimer’s study, ultimately finding an enzyme that might lead to treatment of the terrible, debilitating disease. Like the mild-mannered Clark Kent, who keeps the secret of his alter ego to himself, finding cures takes years of painstaking research, with little glory. But while many would concur Tang’s a perfect model for Superman, he disagrees. “Although I have not seen much about the Superman cartoon or in TV shows, I know that he is a heroic figure who saves people in trouble and fights evil. My self image is not that of a hero, so it is hard to have a great resonance with the Superman.” Perhaps it doesn’t make sense to Tang to be photographed in his white lab coat, revealing the “S” on his sweater, but it does to the many who hope his discoveries lead to a cure. YVETTE WALKER,

OMRF researcher Dr. Jordan Tang poses with an image of a Superman painting by Alex Ross at The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City.

OUTLOOK EDITOR

PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN

DR. JORDAN TANG

Shared interests were looking for it,” Tang said. “And we sort of stumbled over it and recognized what it was.” He redirected the team into the area that turned Tang into a sort of superhero: Alzheimer’s disease. An estimated 5.4 million Americans live with the disease, including 74,000 Oklahomans.

Beginning in China Tang insists he’s not even close to a superhero and that his parents never envisioned their little average student would rise to become a famous researcher. Tang attended a oneroom, wood-frame school in southern China, where teachers noted his inability to memorize facts. His thinking process prevented him from seeing the trees for the forest. He doesn’t get bogged down with the details and somehow quickly understands relationships between facts. “I have trouble remembering my own phone number, if I’m confronted all of a sudden,” Tang said. There were early hints that Tang was cut out to grasp something much more than simple memorization. Fascinated with the inventor Thomas Edison, Tang and his brother put together a little notebook with the slightly ambitious title of “Invention Book.” Whenever they dreamed up an invention, they entered it in the book. The entries were more than cute. One was prophetic. “You know the moving sidewalk at the airport? I remember mine had two wheels and a belt so you could move people from one place to another,” Tang said, recalling the first invention he drew in the notebook at age 7. “I had invented it before I saw it in an airport in the United States.” Tang, who describes the research world as a tough one where only the fittest survive, may have picked up some of that aptitude as a child of World War II. As Japanese airplanes began bombing his hometown, the Tang children were rushed away to live in a secluded hilly village with relatives. When their father, an educator with the government, felt it was safe, the family was reunited and eventually returned to their hometown.

The family later moved to Taiwan, where Tang attended college. After military service, he got his master’s degree from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater in 1957. There, he met his wife and discovered they had attended the same high school in Taiwan and shared an interest in research. Tang went to work as a technician at Oklahoma

Medical Research Foundation in 1957 and Kuen soon also went into research on the OU Health Sciences campus. The couple married in a tiny chapel behind OMRF and began their family. They have two sons, Albert and Joseph. Buoyed by his “stroke of luck” in discovering the new stomach enzyme that launched his research career at OMRF, Tang got his Ph.D. from the University

of Oklahoma in 1961. He completed his postgraduate work at the University of Cambridge in England.

Lasting happiness He returned to the research lab at OMRF in 1966, where he still sometimes clicks off the light late at night, though now it’s the light from his laptop at home. Tang said he loves his job and is most passionate about making

new discoveries of significance that can ultimately add considerably to knowledge, medicine or people’s well-being. “If somebody gave me a million dollars, maybe I’d say, ‘How nice,’ and it would keep me happy for maybe a half-day,” Tang said. “If I discovered something of great significance, the happiness would last for a long time.”

THE OKLAHOMAN

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | ADVANCEMENTS IN HEALTH

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AVILLA WILLIAMS | PRESIDENT OF INTEGRIS HEALTH EDMOND

New Edmond hospital is president’s baby BY DIANA BALDWIN Staff Writer dbaldwin@opubco.com

EDMOND — Avilla Williams keeps a notebook beside her bed for the sleepless nights when she can’t stop thinking about the $94 million hospital and medical office complex being built under her watch. Her staff knows it will be a busy day when she shows up with her notes in hand and an announcement that she didn’t sleep the night before. Williams, president of Integris Health Edmond, is overseeing the construction of a 40-bed hospital just north of 15th Street and Interstate 35. She considers the hospital her baby. She helped design it, build it, staff it and will run it when it opens in the fall. Williams gets a little emotional when she talks about her vision for the hospital. “No matter the outcome, when people leave here I want them to say they got compassionate care,” Williams said while looking at the three-story hospital being built among the trees on 44 acres of hilly terrain. The concept for the project is about bringing the outdoors inside to help with the healing. “We always come back

Avilla Williams, president of Integris Health Edmond, poses at the construction site of the city’s new hospital and medical offices. PHOTOS BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

to the concept,” Williams said. “We want our patients comfortable.” Natural tones — greens, browns, golds and taupes — are being carried from the outside to the inside. Wood and rock also are be-

ing used inside. Large windows line the walls throughout the hospital, medical office and a walkway between the two buildings. Williams spent about a year working on the hospi-

tal design. She wants the patients and guests to have easy access to whatever they need, whether it’s a hospital bed, outpatient care, laboratory tests or an X-ray. The hospital’s relation-

ship with the community is something Williams takes seriously. Her staff has worked closely with city officials to make sure their vision is part of the project. Like many places in Ed-

mond, a piece of public art will stand outside the entrance to the hospital. Williams selected the bronze statue of a nurse and child. “We want this to be a place that Edmond will be proud of,” she said.

MEDICINE | JAMES LONG, PHILLIP STRATEMEIER AND JAMES DIXSON

Doctors bring innovation to Oklahoma medical fields

spiritually. He established a foundation with his wife, Bonnie, to deliver health care and humanitarian aide in Calcutta, India.

Stratemeier is considered a visionary partially because of his work in the imaging of hearts. The hospital uses a calcium score to identify heart disease probability after a 10 second CT scan of a patient’s heart. He said now doctors can look at coronary arteries without having to put a catheter in a patient. “We use a CT scan with much higher detail so we can see these arteries: Are they open? Are they closed? Or are they someplace in between?” The newest big thing in brain imaging is called tractography. “This is beautiful stuff,” Stratemeier said. Tractography shows the location of certain parts of the brain in three dimensions. “You can show the neurosurgeon: Here’s the elegant pathway. This is something that controls voice, here’s something that controls hearing or speech or movement. Stay away from that tract ... get to a tumor by a different method,” he said. He said doctors hope to have that type of imaging within a year.

Phillip Stratemeier, St. Anthony Hospital

James Dixson, Mercy Health Center

Phillip Stratemeier says it’s unbelievable that sitting around looking at a computer can be so much fun. Stratemeier was a freshly minted radiologist when he left his Kansas City home to take a job at St. Anthony for just a few years. That was 32 years ago. As others recognized his visionary bent, he progressed to his present position as medical director of radiology. Imaging three decades or so ago revolved around X-rays, sometimes ultrasound and a touch of nuclear medicine. But now the imaging business is exploding and Stratemeier envisions even more exciting developments. He does a lot of neuroradiology, focusing on abnormalities of areas including the spine, head and neck. “Dr. Stratemeier has always challenged us to not be afraid to be innovative, to push the boundaries of imaging,” said Jeffrey Neff, administrative director of Cardiovascular and Diagnostic Services.

The medical profession drew in James Dixson when he was growing up in Seminole in southeastern Oklahoma. As a high school sophomore, he found a job at the hospital as an orderly. It gave him an inside look at the profession as he performed routine, nonmedical chores all the way through undergraduate school at the University of Oklahoma. After medical school at OU and a residency, he began practicing internal medicine in Guthrie. Hospitals had focused for years on delivering primary care. But two decades ago, the Guthrie doctor envisioned a better way to practice medicine and Dixson became the first physician in 1991to join the Mercy Health Network. “We see literally millions of patients a year ... about 4.5 million last year. Only about 150,000 of those ended up in the hospital. It’s really about being out in the communities, in these small towns in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas,” said

BY SONYA COLBERG Staff Writer scolberg@opubco.com

A heart-and-lung surgeon with Integris Baptist Medical Center, a radiologist with St. Anthony Hospital and a president of Mercy Health Center’s primary care division all are considered visionaries in the medical field.

Dr. James Long

James Long, Integris Baptist Medical Center James Long touched hearts years before he began replacing them. The world-renowned cardio thoracic surgeon followed his missionary parents around as they administered to the hearts and souls of people in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines. The mission to serve got him into medicine, while his penchant for technology helped move him into the field of advanced heart care. “It used to be that we would give up on end stage heart failure,” said Long, co-director of Integris Baptist Medical Center’s advanced cardiac care program. “Historically, end stage meant just that.” He began doing heart transplants a couple of decades ago to help more people live longer and ultimately reach the end of life with grace. “The biggest limitation is today we will get access to six donor hearts across the entire United States. Only six. And there are 5,000 people on the waiting list today for those six hearts,” Long said. Inventors decided a transplant, while pretty good, wasn’t good enough. So when technology jumped into the area of artificial hearts, Long was ready. In fact, he helped develop some devices and became an investigator with the first implantable heart pump approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Technology has improved and more people are getting a second chance at life. Long used different types of devices, ranging from those that replace the heart to those that allow doctors to leave the real heart in place and implant a pump that delivers blood to the body. Long continues to be involved in matters of the heart, both physically and

Dr. Phillip Stratemeier

Dr. James Dixson

Dixson, president of Mercy’s primary care division. Knowing all these doctors had to find an easier way to communicate about patients, Mercy leaders determined electronic health records were the way to go. A portion rolled out in the past few months, called My Mercy. It allows

patients to log on and do everything from seeing their own lab reports, to making doctor’s appointments online, to requesting a prescription refill, to pulling up their children’s immunization records. Already, more than 100,000 Mercy patients are using that feature. “Think about the mom

who has a sick child at 3 a.m. They want to get into see their pediatrician. They can go online at 3 in the morning and make an appointment for the next day to be seen,” Dixson said. “It’s really the patient’s link to their electronic health record. It really makes them truly a part of their health care team.”

THE OKLAHOMAN

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | ADVANCEMENTS IN HEALTH

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

DR. GABRIEL PARDO | MEDICAL DIRECTOR FOR THE OKLAHOMA MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION’S NEW MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

Pursuing MS cure is an ongoing dream AT A GLANCE WHAT IS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS?

Dr. Gabriel Pardo, medical director of OMRF’s Multiple Sclerosis Center for Excellence, is pictured at the center in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

BY SONYA COLBERG Staff Writer scolberg@opubco.com

The unconventional twists and turns of multiple sclerosis physician Gabriel Pardo’s life began in an unexpected location, considering his raven eyes and olive complexion. “I was born in Lincoln, Neb.,” Pardo said with a rapid-fire Latin inflection, “as you can tell from my accent.” By all rights, Pardo should have been born in Bogota, Columbia, instead of Lincoln. He was born in Nebraska while his economist father was taking a summer class there as part of his master’s degree course work. When the class ended, the parents swaddled their new baby to return to their hometown of Bogota to raise him within a close, extended family. All seemed in place for Pardo to proceed through life in a conventional, somewhat uneventful manner. But that didn’t happen. The world was nearly robbed of watching the child grow into a physician of international stature. One warm day during a family outing at a Bogota area park, 4-year-old Gabriel and his father climbed into a one-man

kayak and paddled out into the lake. Suddenly, something went terribly wrong. The kayak flipped. Little Gabriel couldn’t swim. He and his father were pinned upside down in the cockpit, struggling to get out; struggling not to gulp in the churning, dirty water. They finally shoved themselves out of the kayak but they became separated in the confusion. Gabriel dropped to the bottom of the lake. Somehow, he kicked off from the lake bottom and propelled himself upward until he hit the legs of his father, who was swimming furiously through the murky water in search of his boy. After that, Pardo’s parents immediately incorporated proper swimming lessons into their children’s education. The boy’s formal education took an unconventional course to a bilingual school in Bogota taught by Benedictine monks from North Dakota. Pardo, 48, remembers his principal and the monks, whose disciplined, contemplative teaching turned out students who eventually became presidents and cabinet ministers of the nation — and doctors. Pardo said he would

never have accomplished what he has done without the guidance of his family and the monks’ stringent, disciplined instruction.

The best lesson “The outcome of learning is not to know facts but to know your way out of a problem. To solve a problem,” Pardo said. “That is what I do everyday when I’m seeing patients. That methodical approach to learning is what I do. It’s what I continue to do every single day.” Pardo entered medical school when he was 17. Following high school, students in Colombia go immediately to a professional school, such as medical school, which lasts several years longer than in the United States. With medical school at Universidad Militar Nueva Granada behind him, Pardo completed further training, a number of residencies and a faculty appointment in Colombia. He received more training, including a fellowship in Galveston, Texas, to study neuro-ophthalmology, or the study of eyesight related to the nerves. In Galveston, Pardo fell in love twice: Once with the baffling disease of multiple sclerosis and again with his future wife, Diana

Hampton, an Oklahoma City woman who was finishing medical school. After the couple returned to Oklahoma for additional medical training at the University of Oklahoma, Hampton became an ophthalmologist in Edmond and Pardo continued working with multiple sclerosis patients. They are raising two daughters — 8-year-old Isabela, who knows how to roll her r’s like her dad and wants to be a veterinarian, and 5-year-old Carolina, who complains that she still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. Pardo said he loves just spending time with his girls.

The ultimate goal For the past 11 years, he has devoted his work hours to MS, bringing treatment to thousands of MS sufferers and recognition to Oklahoma for MS treatment and clinical study. Pardo’s efforts led to the creation in 2004 of The MS Center of Oklahoma at Mercy’s NeuroScience Institute. In January, Pardo became the medical director for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s new Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence, 825 NE 13 in

Oklahoma City. The center opened in March. It is designed to allow top scientists to work with MS doctors treating and devising new treatments for the nation’s 400,000 MS patients, and Oklahoma’s 4,000 patients. “Finding a cure is the ultimate, ultimate goal,” Pardo said. “We realize the process is long and defining a cure is relative.” Some “super responders” take today’s medications and do so well, without relapses, that those people have what amounts to a cure for them, he said. But he dreams of a similar scenario for all patients.

A distant dream Though an MS cure is still a distant dream, he said this is a history-making time for the disease that affects the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. He points to the center opening and the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval last fall of fingolimod capsules to replace frequent injections or monthly hospital infusions. Pardo said he goes to bed smiling after a day’s work with MS patients. “After I’ve treated someone they often say, ‘Thank you so much.’ But I say, ‘Don’t thank me. It’s

MS is a chronic, unpredictable disease of the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord. The central nervous system disorder is thought to be an autoimmune disorder, in which the immune system attacks the person’s healthy tissue. I Symptoms include: blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, extreme fatigue, problems with memory and concentration, paralysis and blindness. These problems may be permanent or may come and go. I Age of diagnosis: usually between the ages of 20 and 50, but 2-year-olds and 75-year-olds have developed it. I Deaths: MS is not considered a fatal disease. The vast majority of people with it live a normal life span, though they may face increasing limitations. A large Scottish study looked at 216 multiple sclerosis deaths and found the mean survival period was 24.5 years. One-third of patients survived longer than 30 years after onset. The age of death ranged between 25 and 80 years, with the majority dying in the seventh decade. SOURCES: NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY; JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, NEUROSCIENCE AND PSYCHIATRY

something I do for myself. It makes me feel good.’” Pardo said he intends to continue seeing MS patients for the rest of his life. In the end, he jokes that he’d like his tombstone to quote an inside family joke saying, “I was right.” He said he often takes a position different from his wife and, “lo and behold, I end up being right.” So his wife likes to tease that those words will be inscribed on his tombstone. If not that inscription, he’d like to have one that says, “A family man that cared about what he did, about the community. A man that really cared.”

SCOTT SABOLICH | OWNER OF SCOTT SABOLICH PROSTHETICS AND RESEARCH

Third-generation prosthetist makes mark in Oklahoma City BY MICHAEL KIMBALL Staff Writer mkimball@opubco.com

Scott Sabolich says he still gets a rush at work every day. Patients who have recently had limbs amputated or lost in accidents come into his Oklahoma City business and put painful surgeries, rehabilitation and memories behind them. “When they walk in our doors here, we turn the corner on pain and lack of ability,” Sabolich said. “Everyone has told them bad news until they get to our door, and then we tell them good news. We get to see their faces light up and eyes tear up.” Sabolich, 39, is the owner of Scott Sabolich Prosthetics and Research, 10201 N Broadway Extension. He is part of the third generation of his family to practice in prosthetics in Oklahoma City. His

grandfather, the late Lester Sabolich, opened a prosthetics business here in 1946. Scott’s father, John Sabolich, followed and John’s own two sons and grandson continued in prosthetics. “My dad was my hero,” Scott Sabolich said. “You know how little kids want to do what their hero does when they grow up? Well, my dad could make someone walk. ... I idolized what he did and wanted to have that same kind of rush.”

Known worldwide The Sabolich family has turned Oklahoma City into a hub in the prosthetics industry. The name is so well-known that a Russian man with no legs showed up at Will Rogers World Airport knowing only one word that the locals here understood: Sabolich. Sabolich has done his part to carry the family name, and the family busi-

ness, across the globe. He has worked with American athletes since the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, and was Team USA’s prosthetist in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. His prosthetics helped U.S. athletes claim 10 medals and set six new world records. Sabolich, who raced sprint cars as a youth, said helping athletes at the highest level allows him to feed his competitive spirit. “I love competition and professional racing. That was my thing,” Sabolich said. “Now I can live vicariously through these guys and be their pit crew. I mean, I’m the pit crew for Team USA. How cool is that?”

Joy in helping Sabolich credits the low cost of living in Oklahoma City with helping make his business competitive. The lower overhead lets his

team do things it wouldn’t be able to in another location, he said. And the medical talent in the prosthetics field and other areas means some of the best professionals in the business are close by, he said. About 3,000 people per week in the United States lose a limb, Sabolich said, and many are not athletes. He and his team of 40 employees find joy in helping each one of the many individuals who come through their door, he said. “You get this incredible feeling doing what you do that you can’t get anywhere else in the medical field,” Sabolich said. “I can give somebody their walk back. If they’re a leg amputee using crutches, I can give them their hands back. You can go pick up your kid. You can go running across the yard with them — things that are intangible and amazing things in life that we take for granted.”

Scott Sabolich, seen here with some casts, followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father to work with those who have lost their limbs. PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN

THE OKLAHOMAN

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | ADVANCEMENTS IN HEALTH

TRES SAVAGE | PROJECT COORDINATOR FOR THE REMOTE AREA MEDICAL VOLUNTEER CORPS

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

RODNEY BIVENS | REGIONAL FOOD BANK FOUNDER

Food bank founder recalls how hunger impacted him BY BRYAN PAINTER Staff Writer bpainter@opubco.com

Tres Savage works at the Variety Care clinic in south Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN

Ex-journalist follows vision in health care BY VALLERY BROWN Staff Writer vbrown@opubco.com

As a journalist, Tres Savage observed the rancor and emotion swirling around the health care debate in Congress and at the state Legislature, where he worked as a reporter. He was on the outside, looking in, until the day he dove headlong into the hard-to-navigate and often frustrating position of helping people access medical care. A 2008 news broadcast about the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps so stirred the curious and persistent reporter, he decided to raise money, form a committee of volunteers and eventually change careers to bring the organization to Oklahoma City. Along the way, Savage helped change state laws to allow volunteer doctors from out of state to give free medical services. “I think there’s a belief that the only people who can’t access health care are the bums on the street begging for money,” said Savage, 26. “My life goal is for everyone to have access to quality care.” The fruit of his labor — a three-day event in July 2010 at State Fair Park — brought out mothers, children, middle-class workers, grandparents, the insured, uninsured and people who’d never seen a health care provider. More than 1,600 Oklahomans in need of medical, dental and vision care waited in lines amid tents, medical equipment and just shy of 1,000 volunteers. By all accounts, the event was a success. But for Savage, the only child of a history professor and archeologist, the job had just begun.

650,000 uninsured “Let’s say we help 2,000 this weekend and somehow we could make it happen every weekend of the year. That’s only 104,000 people. There are 650,000 uninsured people in Oklahoma,” he said. Savage was struck by the number of middleaged women attending the event who needed annual gynecological exams. Nearly 60 percent of attendees were women, and of the 102 pap smears performed, some 15 percent came back positive for an abnormality. “Those are someone’s moms, daughters, sisters,” he said. Pam Cross, executive director for the Health Alliance for the Uninsured, met Savage in 2009 as he was planning to bring the project to Oklahoma and seeking volunteers and a board of professionals who could plan the logistics of bringing Remote Area Medical to the state. “I was immediately struck by his vision,” Cross said. “As a young person having the wherewithal to

DID YOU KNOW? REMOTE AREA MEDICAL Remote Area Medical is a Tennesseebased organization founded by Stan Brock, of “Wild Kingdom” television show fame. Founded in 1985, the nonprofit, all-volunteer organization mobilizes medical professionals to bring no-cost health care to people worldwide.

CONTACT For more information about Variety Care services and locations, go to www.varietycare.org or call 632-6688.

see a need and a partial solution and to dedicate himself to that was pretty exceptional.” Cross is keenly aware of the need for medical services for uninsured and underinsured Oklahomans. She and Savage see eye-toeye on continuing care and options for people in need of services. Many people who were served at the event also are patients at charitable clinics in the area.

Ongoing care needed “That might be the first time they sought care, but it couldn’t be the end of their care,” Cross said. “It had to be ongoing.” Savage now works at the nonprofit community health center Variety Care, which offers medical, dental, behavioral and vision care to patients on a sliding scale based on income. “It’s for people who have insurance and don’t,” Savage said. “But it lets them take ownership of their health care.” Cross said Savage continues to bring innovative ideas to the health care community. His background brings a fresh vision to his efforts. He was a finalist for the Blue Cross Blue Shield 2010 Champions of Health awards in the category of Champion of the Uninsured. “He struck me as a very sincere and focused and, for all of his youth, he somehow has gained life experience that had caused him to be sensitive to people in need,” Cross said. While the Remote Area Medical project is on hiatus in Oklahoma this year, Savage is working on a pilot project that would bring services to women in need of gynecological services. While he doesn’t know exactly what the future has in store, he’s not slowing down anytime soon. “This is life and death and the solutions are doable,” Savage said. “We have people standing in lines waiting for services, and we have people willing to provide them.”

The year the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma started, 1980, the organization delivered 280,000 pounds of food to about 35 organizations in or very close to Oklahoma County. Rodney Bivens, executive director and founder of the food bank, said in the fiscal year ending last June 30, the organization distributed 36.5 million pounds of food to about 53 counties. Based on distribution in the first half of this fiscal year, it appears that number will climb as high as 42 million pounds by the end of June. The Oklahoman recently talked with Bivens about the issue of hunger in this state. Q: When was the first time you realized someone you knew or had come across was chronically hungry and how did that impact you? A: I do remember when I was really young that I saved up my pennies and bought a dozen baby chicks at Easter. I rigged a cardboard box with a light to keep them alive and watered and fed the chicks scraps every day. I remember that most of them lived, and my parents were really happy when they started laying eggs. Unfortunately, a day came when my dad had to kill the chickens so that we had food for our family. I never did get over that. My parents always shared food from our garden — and in this case, the chicken coop — with other families that were struggling. Q: Did you have any friends when you were a child that you knew weren’t getting enough to eat? If so, do you still think about them when you see one of the backpacks filled with food in the Food for Kids program? A: I think about my friend Walter, who was later killed in Vietnam. His father always seemed to be home and his mother had several chronic medical conditions that prevented her from working. As I reflect back on all this, I now realize that other challenges existed in the home that were probably related to alcohol. Walter had a younger brother and sister. I remember how thin they were and how fast they ate the little food they had. I remember sneaking food out of our house for Walter, even though my parents would have given it if I had asked. The Food for Kids backpack program would have helped Walter and his sister and brother. Q: At what point did you go from observing to battling hunger? A: Formally, it started in graduate school. Part of my practicum in the field included training in public housing projects and youth projects. I saw the true effects of children and seniors struggling to get by and not having enough food. Many children were skipping school and wandering the streets, and many seniors were living alone and felt left behind. My first job after graduate school involved helping start a food co-op, an emergency food closet and mobile meals program for folks in eastern Oklahoma County. I started going door to door, introducing myself to get families involved in the food co-op as a way for them to get to know me. Later, several of the churches invited me to speak to their congregation and were willing to start emergency food pantries for the community. I’ve just always had this will — which probably stemmed from my own

Rodney Bivens Executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma

childhood experiences — to make sure that everyone has access to food. Q: Feeding the hungry brings both pain in realizing the suffering and joy in realizing a need fulfilled. Do the two ever balance out? A: As long as there is one child, one senior or one individual who is struggling with hunger, there is not a balance. I choose not to see it as suffering, but as a challenge. Everyone has challenges in life – it’s how we respond to those challenges that matters. We have a responsibility to help our neighbors who are struggling to keep food on their table — many of whom have had to swallow their pride and ask for help for the first time in their lives. It is through sharing the stories of their lives and their challenges that

we provide hope for a brighter future. Q: What encourages you the most about how individuals in Oklahoma respond to the needs of others? A: As they say, “Is this a great state or what?” We have a strong and rich history in Oklahoma of sharing through our faith, our deeds and our means. We have a diverse culture of people that is bound by the common thread of respect for each other’s humanity toward each other. While it has been tested at times through man-made and natural disasters, Oklahoma’s best has always been about sharing with others in times of need. Oklahomans truly recognize that no one in this great state of ours should be without food because of behavior or circumstance.

Q: What encourages you about how the corporate community responds to those in need? A: We are extremely blessed to have the richness of corporate support for our community. I think the revitalization of downtown, changes on the river and the continued investment in our infrastructure and people speaks to the leadership, vision and compassion that exist in our corporate community. Whether they are donating food, funds or volunteers, we are extremely fortunate to have the support of the corporate community in Oklahoma. Our partnership of so many individuals, corporations, the faith community and foundations allows us to continue fighting hunger and feeding hope.

THE OKLAHOMAN

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Former first lady and educator Kim Henry as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rosie the Riveterâ&#x20AC;? in the World War II poster.

David Boren is proud to see OU setting records. PAGE 6

Burns Hargis has a passion for creativity that cuts across disciplines at OSU. PAGE 6

Oklahoma City Chamber President Roy Williams and i2E CEO Tom Walker want to see more entrepreneurs.

A former Oklahoma Teacher of the Year and a Professor of the Year have made careers out of giving students a fair shake at life.

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | EDUCATION & CAREERS

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Educational programs show that Oklahoma can compete Who will be the visionaries for a better educated Oklahoma? According to the state Regents for Higher Education, some 90 percent of the fastest growing jobs in the global economy of the 21st century will require a college degree. If our state is going to compete for those kinds of jobs, then it will take lead-

ership to give young Oklahomans educational experiences that are wider and more meaningful than in the past. Fortunately, Oklahoma has shown it can be creative and compete with other states through programs that have benefitted thousands of youngsters. One example is Oklahoma’s prekindergarten

program, widely regarded as the nation’s best. No state has higher participation in pre-K for 4year-olds than Oklahoma. Pre-K is particularly helpful for small fries from disadvantaged homes who get little or no educational stimulation before they’re old enough to go to school. Another example is Oklahoma’s Promise. It

started in 1996 as the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program, as scholarships for low to middle-income students. Over the past 15 years more than 90,000 Oklahomans have enrolled in the program. The best part: Students participating as early as their eighth-grade year did better in high school and

went to college at a higher rate. Both pre-K and Oklahoma’s Promise started with little fanfare. They were created by leaders who understand education is a process that is deliberative and requires great care and persistence. Today these outstanding programs have enriched student learning in

ED KELLEY Editor

Oklahoma. Building on these kinds of successes will determine what opportunities await our state the rest of this century.

ROBYN HILGER | CHILD ADVOCATE AND FORMER TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Teacher connects communities and schools BY MEGAN ROLLAND Staff Writer mrolland@opubco.com

Don’t dare tell Robyn Hilger — former Oklahoma Teacher of the Year and child advocate extraordinaire — that poverty in Oklahoma City is the reason students aren’t excelling in school. “My experience has been the complete opposite,” Hilger says. “Parents are working two jobs and taking night school because they want more, they want more for their family, they want more for their kids. Don’t put up barriers or stigmatize lowsocioeconomic kids.” She has made a career out of ensuring Oklahoma City Public School children get a fair shake at life, first in the band room, then as state Teacher of the Year, and for the past four years through a nonprofit foundation that floods the district with resources. Hilger, 33, is one cog that helps run the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, which every year donates hundreds of thousands of dollars in competitive grants, classrooms supplies and scholarships to teachers, students and principals.

Working as a ‘translator’ As a director of programs, she gets to pair members of the public who want to assist the inner-city schools with teachers and principals in need. “I don’t know if it’s the verbiage,” she says, “but I serve as a translator a lot.” If a corporation wants to start a mentor program, she explains the logistics of the education system. If an administrator is puzzled why the community isn’t involved, she explains the corporate culture. The outcome is publicprivate partnerships that result in playgrounds for children, classroom resources, top-level training programs for teachers and funding to send students to regional and national competitions. “I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of Oklahoma City toward our city schools,” Hilger said. “The 43,000 kids in Oklahoma City Public Schools are our community responsibility.”

Robyn Hilger, former state Teacher of the Year who helps run the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, is seen at Edgemere Elementary School, where she helped a group of concerned parents organize and provide playground equipment for the school. PHOTO BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

Robyn Hilger, right, reacts with delight and surprise as her name is announced as the 2005 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of Oklahoma City toward our city schools. The 43,000 kids in Oklahoma City Public Schools are our community responsibility.”

Engaging the public

ROBYN HILGER, A FORMER OKLAHOMA TEACHER OF

But it wasn’t always that way for Hilger. As a teacher she didn’t realize there was an outpouring of concern and support for the district until she became Teacher of the Year and it became her full-time job to engage the public in education. She said most teachers probably aren’t aware of what community support is available, and most people in the community don’t know how to reach out to teachers who might

THE YEAR WHO HELPS RUN THE FOUNDATION FOR OKLAHOMA CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

not have time to check email or return a phone call for several days. “I take all of the pieces and put them together so it works on both ends.” In May, Hilger received her master’s degree in school administration from the University of Central Oklahoma — a pursuit she began because

she thought she wanted to be a principal. “My initial intent was not to be at the foundation for more than five years, but I’ve found that it is a perfect fit for me,” Hilger says. “It truly is a dream job to be able to spend my entire time at work totally focused on helping people.”

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | EDUCATION & CAREERS

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KIM HENRY | FORMER TEACHER AND FIRST LADY OF OKLAHOMA

Former first lady promotes involvement BY MELISSA HOWELL Staff Writer mhowell@opubco.com

Community cohesion has for eons been the conduit through which customs, wisdom and mores are passed from generation to generation. But these days, it doesn’t take an anthropologist to see that cohesion has become fuzzy. It’s a weak link — especially in the middle school years — that former teacher and first lady Kim Henry sees as a challenge for Oklahoma’s educational system. “The biggest thing that directly influences classroom performance is parental involvement. ... And for some reason, parents’ involvement with their kids’ schools tends to drop off in middle school,” Henry said. “If you go to a parent-teacher conference in elementary school, there’s a line outside. In middle school and high school parent-teacher conferences, the halls are like a ghost town.” When parents and teachers know each other and work together, and the community as a whole supports its teachers, children reap the benefits. “When I taught high school, I never saw the parents I needed to see. Parents need to have awareness that they need to stay involved,” she said. Henry’s perspective is based on unique qualifications. Not only is she an educator and wife of a two-term governor, she also grew up in Shawnee where she was well acquainted with customs, wisdom and mores — the gathering of tribal elders every day at the coffee shop, family feasts on Sundays and the shared wisdom that came from her community at the First Baptist Church.

ON THE COVER KIM HENRY AS “ROSIE THE RIVETER” IN THE POSTER BY J. HOWARD MILLER The graphic arts poster of WWII-era “Rosie” was one of the first we selected to reproduce in our homage to Americana imagery. The image of Rosie was perfect — strong, brash and in your face — but not so with the “real” Rosie, Geraldine Hoff Doyle. Doyle, who recently died in December at the age of 86 in Michigan, was tall and slender, “a glamour girl,” her daughter told The New York Times. She didn’t have muscular arms, her daughter said, and quit the job in the factory after two weeks, fearing she would injure her hands and be unable to play her cello. When we decided we’d use this image for the education cover because of its strong and positive message, we asked Kim Henry to pose. True, she didn’t have dark hair, but Rosie is the embodiment of all strong women, and Henry’s dedication to Oklahoma’s youths is key. But could Henry, known as a natural beauty, pull off the “made-up” look of the World War II glamour girl in the poster? Henry emerged from the dressing room ready for her photo shoot in the iconic red polka-dot bandanna, jeans, boots, — and a perfectly made-up face. Doyle would be proud. YVETTE WALKER, OUTLOOK EDITOR

The biggest thing that directly influences classroom performance is parental involvement. ... And for some reason, parents’ involvement with their kids’ schools tends to drop off in middle school.” Kim Henry holds an image of “Rosie the Riveter” recently at The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN

KIM HENRY

“Growing up, the church was everything. My whole life centered around its activities, the choir, the youth group and going to Falls Creek in the summertime. That’s where you found your friends, in the church,” Henry said. “It kept me from making bad choices. I really credit growing up (in Shawnee) with that a lot. I was a good kid, but it all comes from the family you find in church.” She married Brad Henry at First Baptist Church and

moved to Norman, where he was a law student. In 1989, she found out she was pregnant. The Henrys decided it was time to move home. “Turned out, it was the right decision. We needed our home, our family, and that included the church here,” Henry said in a 2007 interview with The Oklahoman. A love of children — and history — eventually led Henry to become a teacher. She taught history, government and advanced placement classes at

An Oklahoma girl grows up to become ‘Rosie’s daughter’ BY YVETTE WALKER Outlook Editor ywalker@opubco.com

Matilda Butler may not have as recognizable a name as Rosie the Riveter, but she’s spent the last several years educating others about the famous World War II icon. She believes living in Oklahoma as a teen helped form her eventual interest in a group of women she calls “Rosie’s Daughters” — women born during the World War II era — and their contributions to this country. “I very much was shaped by the 1960s in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has helped shaped me to be the person I am now,” she said, speaking on the phone from her home in Oregon. Butler runs rosiesdaughters.com, a website that is everything Rosie, down to the red polka-dot bandanna. She and Kendra Bonnett have written a book, “Rosie’s Daughters: The ‘First Woman To’ Generation Tells Its Story,” and they archive excerpts from the book, women’s histories and Rosie paraphernalia, including the “limited edition” Rosie bandanna used in our photo shoot. Butler said she interviewed a number of women from Oklahoma for her book. “I wanted to sample people, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t just have people from the coasts.” Butler lived in Oklahoma City until near the end of her high school years. “I grew up on NW 20th St. and went to Northwest Classen,” she explained, adding that she would have graduated in 1960, however, she moved to Washington, D.C. in 1958, where she finished high school at National

Matilda Butler

Cathedral School. As a girl, she remembers taking a “strong interest inventory,” a survey that suggested what field would mesh with the child’s interests. “It came back and said I would be good as a forest ranger,” she said, laughing. “Most unusual for a woman. It was the late ’50s and it was a time when (women) still were on a straight trajectory. And if we veered off we were unusual,” she said. Butler said it was at her 2000 class reunion in Washington that she began to realize what a “unique generation of women we were,” but it was in Oklahoma she felt that first sense of freedom as women. “I have a number of strong memories about Oklahoma. I remember thinking that this was a young state, and (women) had a sense of independence. ... I didn’t have to do the things that women were always expected to

I remember thinking that this was a young state, and (women) had a sense of independence. ... I didn’t have to do the things that women were always expected to do. There was a sense of newness and freshness and we could try things.” MATILDA BUTLER

do. There was a sense of newness and freshness and we could try things. If I had been raised on the East Coast I would not have had that inner strength that you can do something different.” Many of “Rosie’s Daughters” were the “first woman to” do something, Butler said, explaining the title of her book. Those women were the role models for the next generation, the boomers. Butler notes this when the topic of Gov. Mary Fallin enters the conversation. “I’m delighted that you brought up Mary Fallin — the first woman to be elected governor of Oklahoma. It is a perfect example showing that while Rosie’s Daughters flung wide the doors of employment opportunity that Rosie had unlocked, women today continue to break through the remaining barriers.”

Shawnee High School for eight years before resigning to help in her husband’s gubernatorial campaign. Henry’s is a journey that gives her a unique viewpoint on education. She has seen the classroom close up. She has seen the system from a statewide perspective. And she has seen what strong relationships and a caring community can do for a child. So where as a state do we begin? For Henry, the answer is to focus the strength and insight of

communities on critical areas. Oklahoma has done much to buoy early childhood development programs, now it needs to focus on middle school issues, she said. “We’ve had a lot of reform, but we haven’t really addressed reform in middle school years. If you talk to teachers there’s a falling off in middle school. That’s when they start struggling in math and English,” Henry said. “We need to think about creating ways to address math and English issues. I’d like

to see a comprehensive study of why these kids are dropping out.” Henry also said supporting teachers can make or break a student’s desire to do well in school. “I think respecting the teachers and the system and what they’re trying to do (is vital). A lot of times teachers don’t get the respect they deserve. We think the bad ones are the norm. They’re not. We have some phenomenal teachers in Oklahoma who put their hearts and souls into it.”

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | EDUCATION & CAREERS

BURNS HARGIS | PRESIDENT OF OSU

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DAVID BOREN | PRESIDENT OF OU

Head of record-breaking university has dream job BY JANE GLENN CANNON Staff Writer jcannon@opubco.com

Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis shakes hands with students as they leave GallagherIba Arena in August 2010. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO

Innovative businessman guides OSU BY DARLA SLIPKE Staff Writer dslipke@opubco.com

— Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis says people make a living by what they earn, but they make a life by what they give. It’s a message that Hargis exemplifies, said Calvin Anthony, chairman of the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges — the board that governs OSU. “He’s been an inspiring figure for our entire community,” Anthony said. During his first three years as president of Oklahoma State, Hargis has worked to increase enrollment and student retention, foster creativity and raise more than $730 million. OSU’s 18th president is the second OSU graduate to serve as president of the university. He earned an accounting degree from Oklahoma State and a law degree from the University of Oklahoma. Hargis came to OSU in 2008 after a legal and business career. He and his wife, Ann, work as a team. Whether the couple is hosting students for hamburgers or Hargis is making a pitch for OSU’s $1 billion fundraising campaign, his passion for the university is evident. Oklahoma State is closing in on the $1billion mark in its Branding Success Campaign. Hargis said he is confident the university will get there. “When we do, we’ll probably just start again,” he said. Hargis said he loves being surrounded by students because their energy and enthusiasm is inspiring. One afternoon, Hargis noticed a group of students outside his window playing a game he didn’t recognize. Curious, Hargis went outside to watch. When the students recognized him and invited him to join their game of cricket, he didn’t decline. An advocate for creativity and imagination, Hargis has promoted entrepreneurial programs at OSU, including the start of an Institute for Creativity and Innovation. He encourages students, staff and faculty to devise creative solutions, like a student recycling initiative to clean up cans and bottles after home football games. STILLWATER

Cares about students, university employees Robert Sternberg, OSU’s provost and senior vice president, said one of the main reasons he took the job at Oklahoma State last year was so he could work with Hargis. Sternberg, who has a background in

ALSO ... NURTURING INNOVATION The success of Oklahoma’s future depends on creative ideas, says Oklahoma State University president Burns Hargis. Hargis has been a champion for creativity and innovation. He often talks about the importance of creativity and asks people throughout the state to help foster creativity. At Oklahoma State, Hargis has tried to bolster creativity by soliciting ideas and promoting innovative programs. In September, OSU opened an Institute for Creativity and Innovation, which is designed to promote creative thoughts and solutions across disciplines. Creativity requires a tolerance for new ideas and a willingness to take risks, Hargis says. Many creative ideas don’t work, but sometimes mistakes can lead to better ideas. Everyone has creativity, Hargis said, but sometimes society dampens that spirit. He says people have the power to affect great change by being creative. STAFF REPORTS

psychology, has studied leadership. He said Hargis possesses the qualities of a great leader, including creativity, intelligence, wisdom, analytical skills and passion. Hargis cares about his students and employees and takes a personal interest in their lives, Sternberg said. “Easily he’s the best person I’ve ever worked for,” he said. “You don’t feel like you’re working for him. You are, but he makes people feel like they’re working as part of a team.” Hargis said Oklahoma State’s mission as a land grant school is to serve the state by developing great talents. He said he is proud of the fact that freshman enrollment this year was the highest it has been since 1982 and this year’s freshman class was the university’s highest ranking class academically. Next year’s class looks to be strong, too, Hargis said. “We need more college graduates and OSU wants to do its part,” Hargis said.

NORMAN — University of Oklahoma President David Boren hit a milestone this year: He became the second longest-serving OU president, behind George Lynn Cross. He marked his 16th anniversary by announcing he planned to shoot for being the longest serving. Boren, 70, said Cross, who was president for 25 years, from 1943-68, was his mentor, his teacher and his friend. “I think he would approve of me setting out to break his record,” he said.

Top rankings Setting records is nothing new for Boren. Under his leadership, OU now ranks in the top 10 in the country in attracting National Merit Scholars, with a record 225 National Merit Scholars in this year’s freshman class — 29 more than the previous OU record. Since coming to OU, he has helped start 20 new programs, increased the number of endowed faculty chairs to more than 560 from 100, overseen $1.9 billion in construction projects and taken private fundraising efforts to new heights, garnering more than $1.9 billion in gifts and pledges since taking office in 1994.

Coming back Many were surprised when Boren, a former Oklahoma governor, abandoned a still thriving political career as a U.S. senator to accept the OU presidency. To Boren, it was the job of his dreams in the place he loved best. “Molly and I missed Oklahoma. We wanted to come home,” he said. Boren believed he could render the most service to Oklahoma by coming back to the university where both he and his wife had obtained their law degrees. He wasted no time in proving his worth. Together, the Borens literally have transformed the appearance of OU’s three campuses, creating gardens and parks and installing sculptures, fountains and benches designed to create a sense of community.

Making a home A condition of Boren’s employment was the renovation and return of Boyd House as the official presidential residence. Built in 1906 by OU’s first president, it had been used for other purposes for the past 27 years. Boren wanted no house in suburbia, but rather a home near campus, where he could walk to his office and regularly mix and mingle with students on their way to class. Another condition was that he be allowed to teach. He’s garnered an undergraduate teaching prize for the introductory course in political science he instructs each semester. Through his efforts, he has created one of the premier Honors Colleges in the country. Boren also has helped expand OU’s international exchange and study abroad opportunities, making OU one of the top programs in the nation, establishing an International Programs Center and a new College of International Studies, adding an undergraduate degree in Arabic and Chinese Studies and endowed chairs in seven new geographic areas. He has spearheaded efforts to revive old traditions such as Sooner Yearbook, Homecoming and OU’s national championship-winning

University of Oklahoma President David Boren shakes hands with Julia Wynn, recipient of a scholarship bearing his name during the New Sooner Convocation at the Lloyd Noble Center in August 2010. PHOTO BY STEVE SISNEY, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

debate program. Under his leadership, a rapidly growing Research Campus has resulted in record-setting funding for externally sponsored research, spinoff businesses and an increase in patents.

Because of the economic recession, managing the budget without sacrificing quality education for our students is an even bigger challenge than it was 10 years ago.”

Seen everywhere In short, Boren’s thumbprint is everywhere on Norman’s main campus, as well as the Health Sciences Center campus in Oklahoma City and the OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center. The job is not without challenges. Boren admits to frustration over the need to increase tuition and fees to compensate for state bud-

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESIDENT DAVID BOREN

get cuts to higher education. “Because of the economic recession, managing the budget without sacrificing quality education for our students is an even bigger challenge than it was 10 years ago,” he said.

Despite the challenges, his level of energy and enthusiasm for the job show no sign of slacking. “I have about eight more years to go” to catch up with Cross, he said. And probably more than a few other records to break along the way.

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W. STEPHEN DAMRON | OKLAHOMA’S PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR

Professor of the Year loves learning BY DARLA SLIPKE Staff Writer dslipke@opubco.com

W. Stephen Damron, an animal science professor at Oklahoma State University, was selected as Oklahoma’s 2010 Professor of the Year. Damron has taught for 29 years. His wife, Rebecca, is an assistant English professor at OSU and director of the OSU Writing Center. Their daughter, Aubryana, is a freshman at OSU majoring in hotel and restaurant management and their son, Joshua, is a junior majoring in chemistry. Q: What do you enjoy about teaching? A: I very much like the idea of taking what needs to be learned and turning it into something people want to learn. I like the contact with people who are in transition to new phases of their lives. Students are exciting, a little frightened, and open to suggestions. I like feeling that I am of service to society by being of service to them. Q: Why is the land grant education system so important to you? A: I grew up on a farm in Tennessee the oldest of three children. My father died in a plane crash when I was 14, and my mother was left to raise us. She worked at public work to provide for us, and I ran the farm. I managed and worked on the farm until I went to graduate school. For my B.S. degree, I lived at home and attended the University of Tennessee at Martin, which was five miles from our home. I went to graduate school at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and earned both my M.S. and Ph.D. there. I am a product of the land grant system. I would not have been able to afford an education any other way. I never forget that. Somebody has to make the world function, and I think people educated in the land grant system are especially suited to that. I think the land grant-educated are very results-oriented. We think in possibilities but we focus on outcomes. What we offer is a chance for people from every station in life to acquire the greatest leveler to the playing field ever conceived — an education. Education gives people the opportunity to take their skills, abilities, and potential, and make them better, add to them, find a place to use them and get on with it. My students change the world — literally. Q: What do you do to try to inspire your students? A: I am a lover of learning and I want others to be, also. When I was in graduate school, I took mineral nutrition from Dr. Jane Savage. Mineral nutrition had never been one of my favorite topics until then. Dr. Savage got a kick out of mineral nutrition and she made the room come alive with excitement over the topic by the simple willingness to share her own enthusiasm. It meant so much to her that I felt like it needed to mean more to me. It occurred to me that not only were the intricacies of the topic at hand indeed interesting but so was the entire topic of mineral nutrition. I still love mineral nutrition. What a gift! I try to give others that same gift. Q: What are some of the most memorable experiences of your career? A: These are always related to students and former students. When I see a former student that has gone out into the world and been successful and done good things, or one that has faced some great challenge with grace and style, or one who lives outside of themselves by giving back to the people around them in significant

W. Stephen Damron, an animal science professor at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, was selected as the 2010 Oklahoma Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

and laudable ways, I am the happiest guy on the planet. I am a sucker for happy endings. Q: What is your hope for your students? A: I want them to be happy and healthy and successful. I know that sounds trite, but sometimes the simplest wishes are the best. Beyond that, I want them to be honest and upright citizens. I hope that they will do good things for

others — contribute to the greater good while they tend to their own affairs. I want them to give back to society. I want them to remember the people that have helped them, and in gratitude, I want them to help others. And, I want to know how they turn out. I love getting calls and letters and emails from former students. Q: What are some of

your hobbies and interests? A: I really like livestock shows and rodeos. My family surprised me with tickets to a rodeo for my birthday this year, and it was fantastic. I like vegetable gardening, reading ... mystery and suspense novels, traveling — especially to places I have never been before — and tending to the chores on our small farm. I actually think that mowing pastures is fun.

Somebody has to make the world function and I think people educated in the land grant system are especially suited to that. I think the land grant-educated are very resultsoriented. We think in possibilities but we focus on outcomes.” W. STEPHEN DAMRON, OSU ANIMAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

JANIS WALKINGSTICK | MOORE WEST JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER

Moore West Junior High School special education students Sam Sweeten and Will Scott fill butter trays as they work on their vocational training at Alfredo’s Mexican Cafe in Moore. PHOTOS BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN

Teacher prepares students for work by having students prepare for lunch BY AMANDA ALFANOS Staff Writer aalfanos@opubco.com

MOORE — Every other Wednesday eight Moore West Junior High School students take a bus to a nearby Mexican cafe. They don’t go to eat lunch, but to learn about working in a restaurant. The students, ranging in age from 12 to 17, are in Janis Walkingstick’s special education class. Walkingstick, 56, first developed outside vocational training opportunities for her students in 2009. “The federal government pushes for transitional training at age 14,” she said. “But it’s pretty unusual for junior highs to start this type of training.” Walkingstick approached Kory Allen, coowner of Alfredo’s Mexican Cafe, about partnering with the school by allowing her students to observe the employees on the job. “But the owner said, ‘Why don’t we let them work side-by-side?’ ” Walkingstick said. “In the beginning it was a tough transition for the students, but it’s old news now.” Eighth-grader Julyan Cunningham, 16, said she was nervous to work at the restaurant at first, but she has adjusted. The students help the

restaurant at 2713 S Interstate 35 Service Road prepare for lunch. Jobs include taking chairs off tables, wiping tables and menus, setting out pre-wrapped silverware, dusting shelves and filling butter bowls. Walkingstick’s passion for her students is apparent, Allen said. “That’s a great act to help them and empower them to have a job in some way and to eventually be on their own and independent,” he said. “She’s awesome.” The greatest impact the program has had on the students is teaching them to work together, said Principal Michaele Benn. “So many children will move to group homes, and if they have that skill going in — not only getting along individually in the world, but with other people in the world — it will be so helpful,” Benn said. Walkingstick also arranged a training opportunity for students this year with a local Mazzio’s. The students fold pizza boxes for the restaurant a few days a week. A bus drops off loads every two weeks at the school, Walkingstick said. Outside vocational training for students won’t stop here. Walkingstick said she wants to expand the program next year by finding funding to provide a full-

Moore West Junior High School special education student Chelsea Salcido cleans booster seats as she works on her vocational training at Alfredo’s Mexican Cafe in Moore.

time bus on school property and partnering with additional businesses. “All of the work we do is volunteer-based,” she said. “You have to really solicit your program to partner with these businesses. That’s really what it’s all about.” Walkingstick is a pioneer who isn’t afraid to think outside the box, said April Daniels, her coteacher. “She’s never afraid to get no for an answer,” Daniels said.

Janis Walkingstick talks with her special education students from Moore West Junior High School after they finish their vocational training at Alfredo’s Mexican Cafe in Moore.

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GREATER OKLAHOMA CITY CHAMBER PRESIDENT ROY WILLIAMS AND I2E CEO TOM WALKER

Chamber, i2E create alliance for entrepreneurs BY PAULA BURKES Business Writer pburkes@opubco.com

A new partnership between the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and an organization that brings innovations to enterprise aims to grow and strengthen entrepreneurial efforts in the state. Effective March 1, the chamber has loaned an executive, Josh O’Brien, to i2E to concentrate on entrepreneurial development over the next two years. “We want to provide more in-depth services to entrepreneurs to make them stronger,” said i2E CEO Tom Walker. Those services, he said, may include helping startups build stronger business plans by providing executives-in-residence to management teams that may number only a few people.

Organized sources Chamber President Roy Williams also hopes to build more organized sources of private capital in Oklahoma, from angel investors and others. “Pooling capital is critical when we don’t have a lot,” Williams said. Funding sources for entrepreneurs typically start at credit cards or family and friends, he said, and progress to angel capital, seed money from organizations such as i2E, venture capital and finally to conventional capital or, for companies brought public, an initial public offering.

A different strategy Recognizing 95 percent of Oklahoma businesses employ 100 or fewer, the chamber two years ago began incorporating entrepreneurial development into its strategy, Williams said. As chairman of the i2E board, Williams soon learned i2E had parallel goals, which led him and

Roy Williams, president and CEO of Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, and Tom Walker, president and CEO of i2E, pose in the newly renovated offices of i2E in Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park. PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN

BACKGROUND We want to provide more in-depth services to entrepreneurs to make them stronger.” I2E CEO TOM WALKER

Walker to create the alliance versus having overlapping programs. Funded 60 percent by the state, i2E over the past 13 years has helped more than 500 companies statewide raise more than $400 million in private equity capital.

Getting grants The organization recently landed one of two million-dollar three-year

grants from the Federal Economic Development Agency (EDA), which required a $1 million match that was supplied through Oklahoma City’s economic development authority, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, the Oklahoma Business Roundtable and i2E. The EDA hopes i2E will build a program that can be replicated, Williams said.

ROY WILLIAMS Roy Williams became the president and chief executive officer of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber on Jan. 1, 2004 after first serving a twoyear stint as executive vice president of economic development. Under his leadership the chamber waged successful campaigns for a $121 million makeover of the Oklahoma City Arena and construction of a practice arena for the NBA Thunder, MAPS 3, and wooed major employers including Boeing’s C-130 maintenance

program. Before his arrival in Oklahoma City, Williams held executive leadership positions with chambers of commerce and economic development organizations in Texas, Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma. His resume includes positions with the Texas governor’s office, the Texas Department of Commerce, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. STEVE LACKMEYER, BUSINESS WRITER

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | EDUCATION & CAREERS

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2011

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DERRICK PARKHURST | OWNER OF ‘COCO,’ EXTOLS THE BENEFITS OF OPEN-AIR ALTERNATIVES TO THE OFFICE OR COFFEE SHOP

Shared work space is bringing entrepreneurs together at ‘Coco’ BY PAULA BURKES Business Writer pburkes@opubco.com

When Robert Frantz picked up his dog from the kennel after a recent week’s vacation, the owner told him they’d have to square up on his bill later because their computer system had crashed. He knew just the person who could fix it, Frantz said, referring her that very Saturday morning to information technology (IT) expert Sean Fenton, who was on the job the next day. Frantz and Fenton have adjacent offices at The Oklahoma City Coworking Collaborative, or known familiarly as “Coco” by them and the some 70 other people who office there at 723 N Hudson in Oklahoma City’s Midtown Village — reborn with nearby restaurants and bars, a yoga studio and more. Derrick Parkhurst leased the 7,500-squarefoot space two years ago, painting the walls in bright oranges, greens and blues, and adding several modern desks to its 4,000-squarefoot open area, a kitchenette and windowed walls that separate a private boardroom and nine executive suites. The shared work space — with free Wi-Fi, coffee and a dedicated parking lot — is meant as an alternative to doing business in a coffee shop packed with strangers, Parkhurst said. “Here, we bring people together who are working in similar businesses,” he said. “We may, for example, connect a Web developer with a Web designer. They’re in separate businesses, but they need each other.” Most are in their 30s and have technology in common, though Frantz, 47, is a patent agent who primarily serves clients in Austin, Texas, and Cambridge, Mass., and another member, Sarah Atlee, is an acrylic painter who uses her suite as her studio. In addition to managing Coco, Parkhurst runs two other businesses from the space — developing social media software for diabetics and other patient populations and producing training and other videos for businesses. Other members develop applications for iPhones. In all, some 70 entrepreneurs use the Coco, which is available through memberships that start at $30 a month for up to three hours a day and rise to $200 a month for a reserved desk in a wall-less office and $600 a month for a private suite. The central meeting room space also is available to members; one demonstration launch for Java contractors drew 200 attendees. “I like the energy here,” Frantz said. “It buoys your spirit to make a referral or when you hear someone got a contract.” Said Fenton, “You’re pretty much guaranteed to have a fascinating conversation with just about anyone you talk to.” Fenton plans to partner with other small IT firms to better serve his customers. “I wouldn’t have considered it,” he said, “if not for Coco.”

Here, we bring people together.” DERRICK PARKHURST

ONLINE www.okccoco.com

Derrick Parkhurst, founder of OKC Coworking Collaborative, sits recently in the board room available to members of OKC Coworking Collaborative in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN

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OUTLOOK VISIONARIES | EDUCATION & CAREERS

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

W. ROGER WEBB | OUTGOING PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

Webb has helped UCO through growth FROM STAFF REPORTS

W. Roger Webb announced his plans to retire from the University of Central Oklahoma in January, after 14 years as president, but he still has strong ideas about UCO’s future. Webb led an era of change at the university, overseeing new initiatives such as the Academy of Contemporary Music at UCO, the only industry-based music education program of its kind in the country; the establishment of the UCO Forensic Science Institute; and the opening of the UCO Jazz Lab, among other programs. His early years in law enforcement helped him in his role as a national voice on campus safety, preparedness and violence prevention. Q: What is your overall vision for the university? A: I have been blessed with the honor of serving as president of the University of Central Oklahoma for the past 14 years. As many of your readers know, a couple of months ago my wife, Jeanie, and I together decided that it is time for me to step down, which I plan to do on July 1. When I first came to Cen-

tral, I viewed my most important work as helping the university to see itself, as if for the first time, and thereby become open to the constantly changing vision of itself, which is needed for any university to pursue its mission. It’s the capacity of those I work with at this great university to be creative, innovative and nimble as the world around us changes that has allowed Central to grow and prosper as an institution of purpose and vision. Q: What accomplishments at UCO are you most proud of? A: All of the major goals we have reached at Central — and there have been many — have been accomplished by many, many people. Some would point to new buildings or programs, or to growth in enrollment or the opportunity-rich environment we have created for our students. I am proud of all of these things. But I think I look with most pride to the fact that because of the tireless efforts of our faculty and staff, now more than ever, our students take more pride in their degree from Central, confident they have made a smart in-

vestment in their future. Because of the personal relationships they’ve developed with our faculty and staff, our graduates leave prepared to become productive, creative, ethical and engaged citizens and leaders in their communities. Q: When it comes to education, what is the definition of a visionary? A: I’ve had the great privilege of working with a team at Central who each day define what it means to be visionary. In them, I see the courage to push Central beyond being a commuter school to becoming a metropolitan university, serving a diverse, growing community. I see the innovation to creatively use our resources to advance no matter what the economic climate. And, most importantly, I see in them a passion to serve our students through a transformative experience that helps them achieve their goals. Q: What does Oklahoma’s higher education system need to be more successful? A: Distinction — in the sense of differentiation — is what we must achieve to

survive and flourish. We must strive to distinguish ourselves first in how we view higher education: What it is, what it should be and how it should be provided to our students. Higher education in general must adapt to new ways of delivery. Technology will have a huge influence. If we continue to do the same things in the same environment, maybe even adding more processes, programs and buildings in the traditional sense, just as we have done for the past 100 years, we will likely fail in our responsibility to the community we serve. Because we live in an era of demand, which is growing faster than our resources, we must pursue our mission with clarity and efficiency. We accept the challenge of using our precious human and financial resources wisely. We must be more flexible and innovative, less bureaucratic and sluggish. We must pursue rather than avoid, the amazing opportunities presented by technology. And we must recognize that our mission to teach and prepare involves education in its broadest sense.

University of Central Oklahoma President Roger Webb speaks during the graduation ceremonies at the Edmond college in this photo from 2009. PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

JOANN W. HAYSBERT | PRESIDENT OF LANGSTON UNIVERSITY

Langston leader reflects on five years in position BY YVETTE WALKER Outlook Editor ywalker@opubco.com

JoAnn W. Haysbert, president of Langston University, brought a lot of firsts with her when arriving in 2006 from Hampton University. She is the university’s first female president, and shortly after she arrived she instituted a 10year strategic plan, the first of its kind at Langston. Five years into her tenure, she reflects on the work she has done and the work she has left to do. Q: When it comes to education, what is the definition of a visionary? A: A visionary is a person who sees people and circumstances not necessarily in the state in which they currently exist but rather in the manner in which they can become once their greatest potential is fulfilled. In some regards, a visionary can be synonymous with a dreamer. You must be able to look forward and see a dream and direct or put in place the steps to make that dream a reality. For example, if you can’t see the possibility of preparing students for a global world, then you’ll never be able to do it. Q: You’ve been president of Langston University for five years. Why did you agree to head Langston? A: This was an opportunity for me to bring my experience, skills and talents to students that were in another part of the country. Most importantly, it was and still is an opportunity for me to touch the future. When I accepted this position, I accepted it with the full understanding that it would be a prodigious responsibility given the fact that I am the first African-American female president of Langston and the first in the great state of Oklahoma. It also came with immense humility because of the challenges I knew that I would face as the first woman president, but I wanted to do it because I believed that I could make a difference. Q: What is your overall vision for the university? A: One of the first initiatives I implemented was to engage the community of scholars in the creation of a joint vision that would serve as the foundation of our efforts to advance the institution. That said, our

We are definitely interested in developing our local community through the building and ownership of homes.” JOANN W. HAYSBERT

Langston University president JoAnn W. Haysbert with actor and brother-in-law Dennis Haysbert at the 2010 Scholarship Gala.

vision is to become a more academically advanced, research-competitive, and student-centered regional campus that spawns innovation, generates new technologies and ideas, and produces talented graduates for the global marketplace of tomorrow. Q: You’ve instituted a 10-year strategic plan for Langston. You’re at the halfway point. What was the goal, and are you on track to reach it? A: My guiding mantra, which was introduced during my inauguration, is to move the institution from excellence to greatness — which can best be attained when we complete our ambitious 10year strategic plan that is premised on eight strategic objectives. They are: academic excellence, student development, teamwork and trust, faculty enhancement, financial strength, state-of-the art technology, public relations, and enhanced physical infrastructure. Yes, we are on track to reach it. As a matter of fact, we are more than halfway through seven of our objectives and on the eighth one, information technology, we are more than 90 percent complete. Q: Langston is Oklahoma’s only Historically Black College or University. You also worked at Hampton, another HBCU. Why are HBCUs still needed today? A: HBCUs are needed today primarily because more than most institutions of higher education, they have proven to be effective in educating those students who are underserved and disadvantaged. It’s the type of institution that has a proven record of success for taking students where they are and moving

them to where they should be. In our institutions, most of our students come with socioeconomic barriers, be they financial, health, family hardships or educational obstacles. The HBCU, by virtue of its mission and nurturing nature, is a second-chance opportunity. That is not to be confused with the idea that our students can’t perform. These are students who lack access, not aptitude. For them, college is a choice that reflects their identity — it is a statement about how they see themselves, who they are now, and who they will become. They are drawn to the HBCU because they see reflections of themselves powerfully displayed in these environments. It is where they meet strong role models and mentors and see themselves as central to the educational enterprise. Q: State and local officials and community leaders joined you recently to announce the completion of the repaving of old State Highway 33 and the initial paving of sidewalks along the “Miracle Mile” in Langston. What other things would you like to see happen to the city of Langston that would benefit the university? A: First and foremost, our ultimate goal is to do what is perhaps unprecedented anywhere else in the nation, and that is for a university to take the lead in creating a college town. We have already completed phase one of this project with the completion of Miracle Mile. Phase two includes the expansion of City Hall and a newly integrated town park that will include a softball field that will be

used by our softball team. We are looking at bringing in those goods and services that will attract not only the residents but our community of scholars, as well — businesses such as a drycleaners, a bank, a grocery store, a carwash and eateries. Additionally, we are definitely interested in developing our local community through the building and ownership of homes. In so doing, we will not only increase our population, but also expand our tax base, which will ultimately result in the upgrading of our town services, and perhaps even lead to the building of a charter school for our children. Q: Last year at the university’s scholarship gala, you said you accomplished your greatest goal: to get your actor brother-in-law, Dennis Haysbert, to come to Langston. Do you hope to get more celebrities to visit Langston students? A: Absolutely. In fact, I

think our greatest challenge for the gala committee and the institution is to answer the question, “who are we going to get now?” And, we are working on that, and

the public can expect to see a celebrity entertainer and a celebrity host that they are familiar with each and every year at the Langston University gala.

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Oklahoma colleges and universities Oklahoma City

1. Oklahoma Panhandle State University • Goodwell • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Agriculture and education • Contact: High School and Community Relations, (580) 349-1310 or (800) 664- 6778, ext. 1310, www.opsu.edu

2. Northwestern Oklahoma State University • Alva; branches in Enid and Woodward • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts and sciences, Master of Education and Master of Counseling Psychology • Contact: Office of Recruitment, (580) 3278546, www.nwosu.edu

3. Northern Oklahoma College • Tonkawa; branches in Enid, Stillwater • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: Associate degrees in art, science and applied science • Contact: Coordinator, High School & College Relations, Tonkawa, (580) 628-6668, or Enid, (580) 548-2353, or associate vice president of Stillwater Campus, 744-2246, www.north-ok.edu

4. Oklahoma State University • Stillwater • Type of institution: Four-year comprehensive research university • Emphasis: Agriculture, arts and sciences, business administration, education, engineering, architecture and technology, human environmental sciences, veterinary medicine • Contact: OSU Office of Undergraduate Admissions, 744-5358 or (800) 233-5019, ext. 1, www.okstate.edu

5. University Center at Ponca City • Ponca City • Type of institution: Two-year, four-year and comprehensive university, degree programs delivered through distance education • Emphasis: Course work for associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in a variety or subjects from multiple institutions • Contact: (580) 7622856, www.ucponca city.com

6. Oklahoma Wesleyan University • Bartlesville • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: Enrollment Services, (918) 335-6219, www.okwu.edu

7. Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College • Miami; branches in Grove, Vinita and Jay • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: General edu-

cation, technical/occupational technical, terminal and transfer programs • Contact: Recruitment Office, (918) 540-6291 or (888) 464-6636 (gogoneo), www.neo.edu

8. Rogers State University • Claremore; branches in Bartlesville and Pryor • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Business administration, business information technology, liberal arts, social and behavioral sciences, applied technology, nursing, game development • Contact: RSU Claremore, (918) 343-7777; RSU Bartlesville, (918) 338-8000; RSU Pryor, (918) 825-6117, www.rsu.edu

9. Northeastern State University • Tahlequah; branches in Broken Arrow and Muskogee • Type of institution: Four-year University • Emphasis: Business, technology, social sciences, math, sciences, optometry, education, language and the arts • Contact: director of Office of High School and College Relations, (918) 458-2130 or (800) 7229614, www.nsuok.edu

10. Oklahoma State University — Okmulgee • Okmulgee • Type of institution: Two-year technical college • Emphasis: Technical • Contact: Admissions Office, (918) 293-4680 or (800) 722-4471, www.osuit.edu

11. Bacone College • Muskogee • Type of institution: Four-year college • Emphasis: Professional programs and liberal arts • Contact: Office of Admissions, (918) 781-7353 or (918) 683-4581, www.bacone.edu

12. Western Oklahoma State College • Altus • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: Technical education and academic transfer programs • Contact: Office of Admissions, (580) 4772000, www.wosc.edu

13. Southwestern Oklahoma State University • Weatherford; branch in Sayre • Type of institution: Four-year university, master’s, pharmacy doctoral • Emphasis: Professional/ liberal arts • Contact: (580) 7743782, www.swosu.edu

14. Cameron University • Lawton; branch in Duncan • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Business, education/behavioral

Tulsa

• Contact: (580) 7452060 or (800) 435-1327, www.sosu.edu

ONLINE To read more on state colleges and universities and get the latest news, go to NewsOK.com.

undergraduate college • Contact: 382-9950, www.sscok.edu

• Warner; branch in Muskogee • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: General studies, occupational, transfer • Contact: (918) 463-2931, www.connorsstate.edu

18. East Central University

22. Eastern Oklahoma State College

• Ada • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts and sciences • Contact: (877) 310-5628 or (580) 559-5628, www.ecok.edu

• Wilburton; branches in McAlester, Idabel, and Antlers • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: (918) 465-1811, www.eosc.edu

19. Murray State College

23. Carl Albert State College

• Tishomingo • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: Transfer programs and technical/ occupational programs • Contact: (800) 3420698, ext. 155, www.mscok.edu

• Poteau; branches in Sallisaw and Idabel • Type of institution: Two-year college

NEWSOK.COM/OKLAHOMA-COLLEGESAND-UNIVERSITIES

sciences, graduate studies, liberal arts and science/technology • Contact: (580) 581-2289 or (888) 454-7600, www.cameron.edu

15. University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma • Chickasha • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: 574-1357 or (800) 933-8726, www.usao.edu

16. Ardmore Higher Education Center • Ardmore • Type of institution: Off-campus consortium of colleges and universities • Emphasis: General education, business, education and liberal arts • Contact: (580) 223-1441, www.ahec.osrhe.edu

17. Seminole State College • Seminole • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: Two-year

21. Connors State College

20. Southeastern Oklahoma State University • Durant • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Business, liberal arts and sciences, teacher education and aviation sciences

• Emphasis: General studies, vocational and compensatory • Contact: (918) 647-1452, www.carlalbert.edu

24. Southeastern Oklahoma State University — McCurtain County Campus • Idabel • Type of institution: Branch campus • Emphasis: Lifelong learning • Contact: (580) 286-9431 or (580) 584-3932, www.se.edu/mccurtain/

25. Wayland Baptist University • Altus • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Business, occupational education • Contact: (580) 481-5243 For a list of Oklahoma City and Tulsa metroarea schools, see Page 14.

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THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

Oklahoma City-area colleges and universities Downtown College Consortium • Oklahoma City • Type of institution: Consortium of two-year and regional institutions • Emphasis: General studies • Contact: 232-3382, www.downtowncollege.com

Oklahoma State University — Oklahoma City • Type of institution: Two-year technical branch • Emphasis: Associate of science, associate in applied science and certificate programs • Contact: 945-9150 or (800) 560-4099, www.osuokc.edu

DeVry University • Oklahoma City • Type of institution: Four-year university, bachelor’s and graduate programs • Emphasis: Technological fields and business • Contact: 767-9516, www.devry.edu/locations/ campuses/loc_oklahomacity.jsp

Platt College

PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

Oklahoma Baptist University

Rose State College

• Shawnee • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: Admissions office, 878-2033 or (800) 654-3285, www.okbu.edu/admissions

Oklahoma City Community College • Oklahoma City • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: Transfer and technical/occupational • Contact: Recruitment and Admissions, 682-7580, www.occc.edu

Langston University

• El Reno • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: General, transfer and technical • Contact: 262-2552 or (866) 415-6367, www.redlandscc.edu

Redlands Community College

Southwestern College • Midwest City • Type of institution: Private college. Bachelor’s degree completion and master’s degree programs • Adult programs, online and onground programs • Emphasis: Graduate, undergraduate, and certificate programs, business, leadership, management, security, ministry • Contact: 733-3301 or (866) 342-3301, www.southwestern

• Midwest City • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: Associate in arts, science or applied science and one-year certificates • Contact: Prospective student services, 7337372, www.rose.edu

college.org

• Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Lawton, Moore • Type of institution: Private college. Vocational programs • Emphasis: Health, culinary, nursing, information technology • Contact: 749-2433 or (918) 622-1240, www.plattcolleges.edu • Langston — Branches in Oklahoma City and Tulsa • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: 466-2980, www. lunet.edu

PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

University of Oklahoma • Norman • Type of institution: Comprehensive four-year research university • Emphasis: Comprehensive • Contact: 325-2151 or (800) 234-6868, www.go2.ou.edu

OU Health Sciences Center • Oklahoma City and Tulsa • Type of institution: Professional, graduate and upper level undergraduate • Emphasis: Medicine and

health careers • Contact: HSC student services, 271-2416, www.ouhsc.edu

Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College • Moore • Type of institution: Christian institution providing courses of study leading to associate or bachelor’s degrees and master of arts and ministry degrees • Emphasis: Arts and sciences, Christian vocational studies • Contact: Admissions, 9129007 or 912-9000, www.hc.edu

Mid-America Christian University • Oklahoma City • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Ministry and liberal arts • Contact: Office of Admissions, 691-3800, www.macu.edu

Oklahoma Christian University • Oklahoma City • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: Oklahoma Christian University Admissions, 425-

Tulsa-area colleges and universities Oklahoma State University — Tulsa • Type of institution: OSU branch offering undergraduate and graduate degrees • Emphasis: business, engineering, liberal arts, education, aviation, early childhood development, elementary education, journalism and broadcasting, health and human performance. computer science • Contact: (918) 594-8355 or (918) 594-8000, www.osu-tulsa.okstate.edu

Tulsa Community College • Type of institution: Two-year college • Emphasis: Programs designed to transfer and work force development programs • Contact: (918) 595-7834, www.tulsacc.edu

Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology • Type of institution: Technical college offering diplomas and associate of applied science degrees and bachelor’s degree. • Emphasis: Aviation and related technical training • Contact: (800) 331-1204, www.spartan.edu

The Case Athletic Complex overlooking Skelly Field at the University of Tulsa. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO

University of Tulsa • Type of institution: Four-year comprehensive university • Emphasis: Preprofessional and professional preparation • Contact: (918) 631-2307 or (800) 331-3050, www.utulsa.edu

Oral Roberts University • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: (918) 495-6518 or (800) 678-8876, www.oru.edu

Phillips Theological Seminary • Type of institution: Graduate • Emphasis: Theological education • Contact: (918) 610-8303, www.ptstulsa.edu

PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN

St. Gregory’s University

University of Central Oklahoma

• Shawnee • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: Office of Admissions, 878-5444 or (888) 784-7347, www.stgregorys.edu

• Edmond • Type of institution: Four-year university and master’s programs • Emphasis: Arts, media and design, business administration, education, liberal arts, mathematics and science, graduate studies and research • Contact: UCO Prospective Student Services/ Scholarships, 974-2727, www.ucok.edu

5050 or (800) 877- 5010, www. oc.edu

Oklahoma City University • Oklahoma City • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Comprehensive; liberal arts core curriculum • Contact: Admissions, 2085340 or (800) 633-7242, www.okcu.edu

Saint Paul School of Theology at Oklahoma City University I Oklahoma City • Type of institution: Graduate • Emphasis: Theological education • Contact: 208-5757, www.spst.edu

Southern Nazarene University • Bethany; branch in Tulsa • Type of institution: Four-year university • Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: 491-6324 or (800) 648-9899, www.snu.edu

Southwestern Christian University • Bethany • Type of institution: Four-year college

• Emphasis: Liberal arts • Contact: Admissions Office, 789-7661, ext. 3420, www.swcu.edu

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University • Oklahoma City, Altus, Vance Air Force Base • Type of institution: Classroom and distance learning center • Emphasis: Aeronautics, education, technology, management, operations, safety, human factors • Contact: Admissions, Oklahoma City, 739-0397; Altus, (580) 481-5991; Vance, (580) 213-7320, www.erau.edu

University of Phoenix • Oklahoma City, Norman and Tulsa • Type of institution: Fast track degree program • Emphasis: Bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral; professional certificates • Contact: Admissions, 8428007 or (918) 622-4877 www.phoenix.edu

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AT A GLANCE Student-assisted startups that have emerged from the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup: I Digital Native Learning, Norman I EZ Vein, Oklahoma City I Hexakit, Oklahoma City I Innovative Solutions, Oklahoma City I LiveClassTech.com, Oklahoma City I Medtrieval, Oklahoma City I Nantiox, Oklahoma City I Secure Analytics, Stillwater I Synthesized Nano Coatings, Norman I Xplosafe, Stillwater I Zero Point Solutions, Tulsa

Blaine Pinard, a University of Oklahoma student, pitches his team’s ideas during the Innovation Awards portion of the 2009 Governor’s Cup at the Bricktown Coca-Cola Event Center in Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY SARAH PHIPPS, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE

Governor’s Cup rewards innovation BY DON MECOY Business Writer dmecoy@opubco.com

Since the advent of the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup six years ago, the collegiate business plan competition has awarded nearly $900,000 in cash, and $250,000 of in-kind commercialization services. About $30,000 in scholarships and $80,000 in paid fellowships have been earned by some of the more than 800 students who have tested their entrepreneurial skills. More than 26 campuses across the state have participated, and schools have built entrepreneurship classes around the competition as they seek to select the best participants. The event also has helped establish relationships

across those schools’ disciplines such as marketing, business, engineering and finance. The competition has helped create and boost more than 220 innovative ideas. Perhaps most impressively, the Governor’s Cup event has launched more than 15 entrepreneurial Oklahoma companies. Among the diverse enterprises that emerged from the competition are PreDent, which is developing a treatment to prevent periodontal disease in small animals, and Xplosafe of Stillwater, which produces a nanotechnology-based ink that changes color after detecting certain explosives. Fitness Fulfillment makes a mobile trainer employing digital technology to guide consumers

through personalized exercise routines and then tracks their workout history for them. Innovative Solutions proposes to commercialize a patent-pending intravenous IV and syringe to create a solution to a longstanding problem of systems that expose health care workers to bloodborne illnesses and patients to infection. In addition, Governor’s Cup alumni have gone on to take leadership positions in ongoing businesses such as Amethyst Research Inc. in Ardmore, Mintiva in Oklahoma City and Impact Technologies in Tulsa. This year’s competition includes more innovative ideas, including the use of human hair to strengthen concrete in areas such as Haiti that lack other

LAWRENCE K. HELLMAN | OCU LAW SCHOOL DEAN

Dean is fighting to overturn state’s wrongful convictions program started and up to speed very quickly to have her,” Hellman said.

BY TRICIA PEMBERTON Staff Writer tpemberton@opubco.com

Oklahoma City University Law School Dean Lawrence K. Hellman is working tirelessly to open the Oklahoma Innocence Clinic this fall. He’s helped law school faculty identify and hire a new director for the clinic, and in June he will retire as dean of the law school so he can turn most of his energy to fundraising for the clinic. The Innocence Clinic, one of 50 in the nation, will work to identify and overturn wrongful convictions in the state. It is part of the national Innocence Project, a nonprofit litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. “This is something everyone can feel good about getting behind,” Hellman said. “No one wants an innocent person to be in prison. That includes prosecutors and defenders alike. Oklahoma, with 18 wrongful convictions, is among the top 10 states in the nation in known wrongful convictions of innocent people, Madeline deLone, executive director of the New York-based Innocence Project, said during a recent visit to Oklahoma City. She said those wrongfully convicted spent an average of 13 years in prison, with some incarcerated as long as 32 years. Hellman said it’s been documented that 2.3 percent of the 7,534 people who were convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. between 1973 and

Building a foundation

Lawrence K. Hellman

2004 subsequently have been found to be innocent. That figure is just for death penalty cases. If the same math were to apply to noncapital cases, he said, that would mean 53,000 of the 2.3 million people currently in prison in the U.S. are actually innocent.

New director In March, the law school announced Tiffany Murphy had been hired as director of the state clinic. Murphy previously was legal director for the Midwestern Innocence Project in Kansas City, and a faculty member of the University of Missouri at Kansas City and the University of Missouri at Columbia. Hellman first met Murphy in 2008 when he was in the beginning stages of planning for an Innocence Clinic at OCU. “I was very impressed with her,” he said. Hellman said Murphy comes with both trial and post-conviction experience, having represented death row inmates in a number of states. She also has clinical teaching experience, has organized a clinic and established a case-intake system, and has raised funds. “It will give us a huge advantage in getting our

Hellman himself has been instrumental in raising more than $1.5 million to open and sustain the clinic for its first five years, but fundraising is a neverending job, he said. “We want to not only sustain it indefinitely but also build it into a robust project that will be able to accommodate more students and free more innocent people,” he said. In addition, Hellman has joined the recently formed Oklahoma Justice Commission, chaired by former state Attorney General Drew Edmondson. The group’s first meeting was in February. Hellman said while it will be the mission of the clinic to look backward at righting wrongful convictions, it will be the job of the justice commission to look forward to make recommendations on how the criminal justice system can be improved to reduce the likelihood that the kinds of mistakes made in the past will be made in the future. OCU’s Law School is taking enrollments from students this spring for the clinic. Enrollment is limited to eight students per semester and is only for third-year law students, Hellman said. “I expect there will be many more students applying for the clinic than there is room for,” Hellman said. “Just about every prospective student that I’ve talked to has mentioned the Innocence Clinic among the reasons they are really hopeful they get admitted to OCU,” he said. CONTRIBUTING: STAFF WRITER DIANA BALDWIN

strengthening materials; health care concepts that include both therapeutics and devices to assist both health care providers and patients; technology to reduce the time orthodontic patients must wear braces by speeding up the process of realigning teeth; a water-softening product that prevents the release of salt into groundwater; and energy proposals, some of which focus on aspects of wind energy while another proposes enhanced methods using nanotechnology to bring oil up from mature fields. The competition is underwritten by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, along with support from other local sources. It is managed by i2E, the notfor-profit corporation that mentors many of the state’s technology-based

startup companies. Two new awards are being presented at this year’s competition. The OG&E Positive Energy Award is a $5,000 award to the team whose business plan proposes the best use of energy generation or energy storage, delivery or other innovative uses of energy. That team’s faculty adviser also will be awarded $2,000. The Al Tuttle Business Incubation Award provides one graduate-level team business incubation space and services free for one year. This year’s winners will advance to the Tri-State competition in Las Vegas to compete against their counterparts in Arkansas and Nevada in mid-May. Oklahoma teams have brought home $90,000 from that event — half the

Student startups: I Anchor Sand, Blaine Pinard, Oklahoma City I Biopology, Christy Craig, Jochen Talmon, Joe Parker, Tulsa I Fitness Fulfillment, Jeff Johnson, Oklahoma City I GameRNA, Ted Goodridge, Tulsa I MintJar, Matt Ralston, Tulsa I PreDent, James Haddock and Mallory Van Horn, Oklahoma City I ZigBeef, John Hassell, Tulsa I Phanoll Holdings, LLC, Kenneth Knoll and Duc Pham, Tulsa

prize money that has been awarded. i2E President and CEO Tom Walker said the competition is designed to recognize and advance Oklahoma’s next generation of entrepreneurs. “It’s an exciting time for technology-based economic development as we witness the emergence of future business leaders through this competition,” Walker said.

16W

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18W

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19W

20W

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21W

22W

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23W

24W

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10Y

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11Y

12Y

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13Y

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15Y

16Y

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