Outstanding Young Alumni Q&A: Paul Heerwagen IV
Monday, September 16, 2024
Media Contact: Hallie Hart | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | hallie.hart@okstate.edu
Editor's note: This is the final installment of a feature series celebrating the 2024 Spears School of Business Hall of Fame inductees and Outstanding Young Alumni. Previous profiles highlighted Vickie Carr, Eddy Ditzler, Ken Eastman, Carl Wiese , Bob Ault and Melinda Bell.
From the rugged landscape of Wyoming to the lively Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, Paul Heerwagen IV never stayed in one place for long.
His father’s oil-field career sent the family on the move every couple of years, but when Heerwagen headed to college, his decision to follow in his namesake’s footsteps led him home. Like his dad, Heerwagen obtained a degree from Oklahoma State University’s business school and joined a fraternity, Beta Theta Pi. Heerwagen, one of three Spears School of Business Outstanding Young Alumni award recipients this year, even met his wife, Julie, at OSU.
Not far from his alma mater, Heerwagen spends his workdays in a chic, exposed-brick office space in Oklahoma City’s Automobile Alley. Using his finance degree and his passion for entrepreneurship, he is the CEO of Selenite Energy Partners. Before founding Selenite in 2019, Heerwagen held leadership positions in several other energy companies.
How did living in different places while growing up shape your life perspective?
Heerwagen: It’s probably the most significant thing that shaped me growing up. We moved when I was 7 to Venezuela, and it just totally changes your perspective on the world. I have a ton of friends and acquaintances through those years that have popped up later in life, so really, it has given me a perspective on how small the world is. I’ll be in a random city and see someone I haven’t seen in 20 years from that point in time, but you always end up crossing paths with people.
Along with the family legacy, what made you know you wanted to go to OSU?
Heerwagen: Deliberately, one of the things I wanted to do was to find somewhere where I could get a true college experience in a college town, where it wasn’t this massive pond where I would get lost in the shuffle. Stillwater absolutely fit that bill, not only because of the connection with family, but also, it is the quintessential college town.
How did your background in the Spears School of Business guide you once you were a founder of your company?
Heerwagen: The people who come out of the Spears School of Business, particularly in the energy business, tend to have very successful careers. The ability to have interacted with them through college and later in my career has been helpful in generating opportunities for the business here. Aside from equipping you with the right tools and the right skill sets to be successful later on in life and in the job you do, the business school had a strong leaning toward entrepreneurialism. It wasn’t only, “If you’re going to work at a big bank, this is how this works.” It was always also taken down to a micro level of how it would work in a small business. The entrepreneurial angle that courses were taught at OSU gave me the confidence to be able to go down this path.
Were there any professors or courses that particularly influenced you during your time at Spears?
Heerwagen: Dr. Betty Simkins’ class, in particular, because I knew that I wanted to go down a path in energy. It’s funny, I still have on my bookshelf the textbook from her course. It’s something that through the years, I always drew upon. There were real-life, practical applications that were taught in that class, and I always found it to be interesting and engaging and validating of the path that I wanted to go down. Dr. David Carter’s course, as well. It was early enough that it was a foundational class for me. He certainly took the time to explain things and was just a great teacher. Lastly, Matt Hull was a professor for me who was very animated and made the class interesting.
What advice would you offer to current Spears Business students?
Heerwagen: The experience is what you make it, and the resources that are available there will set you up for success in the future in a way that is very differentiated. Spend time with your professors. Office hours are invaluable. Those relationships can carry on into your career. Whether you’re calling a professor asking for a recommendation for someone to hire into a role or, frankly, just trying to call and ask for advice, the longer those relationships carry forward, the better for everybody involved.
What does it mean to you to receive this Outstanding Young Alumni award and be honored at the Oct. 4 banquet?
Heerwagen: I was certainly never the smartest guy in class. I really wish that I knew that I was going to like what I do in day-to-day life as much as I do because I think I would have studied a lot harder. However, the basis that was provided to me at Oklahoma State was second to none. Great individual attention, and a great basis for setting me up for success in life.
I’ve looked back at the names (of previous honorees), a number of people around my years in school that I consider to be extreme high flyers. When I look at them today in industry, they are super remarkable. I’m humbled to be a part of that group and grateful for the tools that were provided to me at Oklahoma State to be successful. This award is extremely validating for me because OSU is effectively my home. When I think about the formative years for me, and really, where I think of as an anchor for me — as home base — Stillwater, Oklahoma, is very much home for me.