Outstanding Young Alumni Q&A: Lucas Elwell
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Media Contact: Hallie Hart | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | hallie.hart@okstate.edu
Editor's note: The Spears School of Business is releasing a series of feature stories to celebrate the 2025 Spears Business Hall of Fame inductees and Outstanding Young Alumni before their Oct. 10 ceremony. This is the first of three OYA profiles. Previous profiles highlighted HoF inductees Craig Boelte, Dr. Lee Manzer and Suzanne Wade.
Lucas Elwell was searching for a plan.
In 2009, Elwell graduated from Oklahoma State University as a student leader with bachelor’s degrees in international business and finance, but a job offer in Houston fell through because of the Great Recession, leaving him with questions about his next step.
OSU had the answer. Elwell returned for his MBA, the catalyst for his rapid career advancement. Nearly 15 years later, Elwell is grateful his alma mater eased his uncertainty during a tough time.
“The Spears School of Business really opened the door for me and got me to where I am today,” Elwell said.
It’s safe to say he paved his way in the business world.
Elwell, vice president of credit risk management at MidFirst Bank in Oklahoma City, is one of three Spears Business Outstanding Young Alumni this year. He will receive his award at the Oct. 10 Spears Business Hall of Fame banquet in the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center.
Seeing how far his education has taken him, Elwell is making a difference for current students. He has endowed two OSU scholarships, judged MBA case competitions and participated in many mentoring and networking events.
Q: Could you please tell us a little about your family history with OSU?
Elwell: Both my parents went to OSU. My mom had her bachelor’s in English and then her master’s in education, and my dad is a veterinarian, so he got his doctorate in veterinary medicine here. My grandfather also attended Oklahoma A&M.
I like to tell the story of, in fourth grade, it was the Bedlam football game, and I got all of the fourth grade boys to bet on if OU or OSU were going to win. It actually, turns out, is against school policy to gamble, so we had to have a meeting with all of our parents in the fourth grade. Going all the way back then, that’s an example of how passionate I was for OSU. My dad said, “I’m very disappointed that you broke the rules and gambled, but I’m even more disappointed that you bet on OSU in a Bedlam football game. You’ve got to be smarter than that and pick your battles with OSU.” Some of them, we could win, but that was not one of the years that we were predicted to win.
How has your time in Spears Business influenced your career now at MidFirst Bank?
It has had an enormous effect. Getting involved in the Spears School of Business was one of the reasons that I was able to obtain my first position at ExxonMobil. And then, leading to MidFirst, I had decided that oil and gas wasn’t necessarily the career path for me, and I started to look around at other jobs. I wasn’t necessarily wanting to come back to Oklahoma, and it was actually a Spears School of Business connection that reached out and said, “Hey, we have this job opening at MidFirst. Would you be interested in it?” Because of that, I was able to connect and obtain this position that has also been a great thing for my career and my family.
Did you have a favorite professor or class?
I have to shout out Dr. Lee Manzer, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. An absolute legend at OSU. I can still remember some of his stories of Dow Chemical and trying to make that marketing material connect to real-life, real-world examples. Dr. Andy Urich would be another one. I do think that he really challenged students to think about things differently than they had before, and I’ll never forget that.
Outside Spears Business, what are your favorite OSU memories or campus involvement?
I would say the Greek system. It’s kind of corny and cliché, but those guys still are my best friends and my brothers today. Some of the other memories that really stick out for me are traveling to away football games. Of course, the main one that sticks out the most is when we beat Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl, that incredible 2011 season. It also happened to be a couple years before my dad passed away. At that point, I didn’t know how special that would be to be there with him at that game enjoying that together, but that’s another special memory for me.
You endowed two OSU scholarships at a young age. What inspired you to do that?
To put it frankly, a lot of people don’t value education in the state of Oklahoma, and we have to do a better job. I care about this state. I care about my community. I care about our country, and if you do care about all of these things, we need educated people.
It is so essential to be able to have the skill set needed to compete in the 21st century in this type of high-technology economy. We have to have educated citizens. It’s the foundation of a representative democracy. It’s the foundation of a lot of things, so I find it critically important.
It’s going to take people like me to step up and try to help kids, because as the cost of higher education increases, it’s less accessible to folks who need it. I’m lucky, and I’m blessed that my parents not only had one degree but multiple degrees. Not everyone’s from that same boat, so I want to be able to help kids obtain an education because I do think it will change their lives.
What do you enjoy about staying connected to Spears and coming back for events?
One, it keeps me young. I do like being connected to the students, hearing what they’re talking about, hearing what’s on their mind, hearing cultural topics that they’re discussing.
For me, that hour that it takes to drive to Stillwater — and that’s one of the things I do love about being back in Oklahoma, is I’m able to get up here a lot more — it’s just those little things that don’t take a ton of time but then can provide a lot of benefit and value to the students, and just letting folks know there’s alumni out there that are cheering for them, that are opening doors for them, that are trying to get OSU graduates out into the world and successful.
What advice would you want to convey to current and incoming Spears Business students?
The first financial advice I would give to every single Spears student is start investing immediately in the stock market. Even just putting in $5 a month if you don’t have much, if you’re able to just put in a little bit now, you’ve got time on your side as a young person.
My second bigger, broader life advice is don’t limit yourself. The way I like to think about it is, your opportunities are all in a box. The more limitations you’re putting on it, the smaller and smaller your box is, the less things that can fit.
Especially as a young person, what I would encourage you to do is be open-minded. Experience new things you haven’t done, and at the end of the day, you will be amazed at where your life has taken you.