OSU Alumni Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Oklahoma State University Alumni Association will induct Gene Batchelder, John A. Clerico, Lew Meibergen and Michele Smith into the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame on Friday, February 18, at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center.
Induction into the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed by the OSU
Alumni Association. It recognizes alumni and former students with outstanding lifetime
achievements in society and professional life.
While at OSU, Batchelder was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. After graduating from OSU and serving in the U.S. Army, Batchelder went to work for Ford Motor Company. He joined Phillips Petroleum Company in 1972 and has held numerous positions throughout his almost 40 year career at ConocoPhillips, including President of Phillips Driscopipe, Inc., Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of GPM Gas Corporation and Chief Information Officer.
His past professional affiliations include membership in the American Institute of Certified Professional Accountants and the Oklahoma Society of Certified Professional Accountants. He also served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Plastics Pipe Institute. He has attended executive programs at Duke University and Harvard Business School and published articles on information technology management in various publications, including Harvard Business Review. Batchelder also serves or has served on numerous civic, philanthropic and corporate boards.
A past National President of the OSU Alumni Association Board of Directors, Batchelder also served as president of the Alumni Association’s Washington County Chapter. He currently serves as a trustee for the OSU Foundation, is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association, a member of the College of Business Associates and member of the OSU POSSE.
Batchelder was recognized as an OSU School of Accounting Distinguished Alumnus and inducted into the OSU College of Business Hall of Fame in 2002 and was named an OSU Distinguished Alumnus in 2005.
Batchelder and his wife, Lori, reside in Houston and have a ranch near Anderson, Texas.
Between them, they have six children and thirteen grandchildren.
While a student at OSU, Clerico was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Missouri and University of Colorado. Clerico went on to work as the Financial Officer for Conoco, Inc. & Phillips Petroleum Company from 1965 to 1983. He then became the Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer for Union Carbide Corp. Finally, before co-founding ChartMark, Clerico worked for Praxair, Inc., where he held several positions, including the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Director.
He currently serves on the board of directors of several prominent companies, including Community Health Systems Inc., which operates more than 70 hospitals in more than 20 states; Educational Development Corporation, the exclusive U.S. distributor of a line of children’s books produced by the U.K.’s Usborne Publishing Limited; Global Industries, Ltd.; and Anyware Mobile Solutions. He also fundraises for the National Sclerosis Society and is a member of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra Virtuoso.
Clerico serves on the OSU Foundation Board of Governors, OSU Foundation Board of Trustees and the OSU Athletic Foundation. As Vice Chairman of the OSU Foundation Board of Trustees, he also chairs the Audit and Budget Committee and serves on all other sub-committees, including the Executive Committee. In 2005, Clerico gave the single largest donation ever made to the Edmon Low Library to renovate the South Plaza in honor of his late wife, Beverly, an OSU alumna. He is a member of the OSU Alumni Association.
Clerico and his wife, Cheryl, reside in Tulsa, Okla.
While at OSU, Meibergen was involved in Block and Bridle, the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and the Livestock Judging Team. After college, he served two years of active duty with the U.S. Army in Europe as a Captain in the U.S. Artillery.
From 1955 to 1960, Meibergen was the manager for W.B. Johnston Grain, Feed and Seed Company in Fairview, Okla., and then served for six years as the Oklahoma Commissioner of Agriculture.
He later worked as the Vice President of Liberty National Bank & Trust Co. from 1966 to 1969. From 1969 to 1971, Meibergen was Senior Vice President of First National Bank of Enid. He was President of the bank from 1971 to 1976. He went on to attend the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin in 1973.
Meibergen purchased Johnston Enterprises from his family in 1976. Meibergen’s business is the largest independent grain company in Oklahoma. Johnston Enterprises has grain operations consisting of 22 elevators in Oklahoma and Texas. Johnston Seed Company operates primarily in Oklahoma and works closely with OSU in developing turf grasses. The company just completed a $10 million added processing facility in Shattuck, Okla., to supply mill ready wheat for Californian & Mexican millers. Johnston’s Port 33 operates ports in Oklahoma, Louisiana and West Virginia. In 2010, the Port completed construction of additional docks in Waggoner County, Oklahoma.
From 1963 to 1966, Meibergen served on the OSU Board of Regents. He is also a member of the OSU Dean of Agriculture’s Advisory Board and of the OSU Alumni Association.
In 2000, the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources awarded him their Distinguished Agriculture Alumni Award and in 2001, the OSU Dean’s Office of Animal Science awarded him with the Graduate of Distinction Award. In 2004, he was honored as an OSU Distinguished Alumni.
Meibergen has two children, who both attended OSU, Mary Henneke and J.L. “Butch” Meibergen,
and five grandchildren who have attended OSU.
After graduating from OSU, Smith went on to win two U.S. Olympic Softball Gold Medals, three World Championships and two Pan American Games. She followed up her U.S. National Team success with a record setting eight championships during her unprecedented 16 year career in the Japan Professional Softball League. She now serves as a softball commentator for ESPN and a worldwide humanitarian representative for Musco Lighting.
Through her business, Michele Smith Fastpitch, Smith has produced a series of softball educational DVDs and books. She also devotes much of her time to conducting pitching and hitting clinics throughout the U.S. and abroad and to giving motivational speeches on women in leadership, team building and sports training. She serves as a board member for the non-profit Batters Up USA, which supplies equipment to communities wanting to establish recreational baseball and softball youth programs, and for Athletes for Hearts, a non-profit organization which works to provide financial assistance for families of children with heart disease. She is also a passionate and dedicated health and fitness advocate for kids and adults.
Smith has been inducted into the Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma
and New Jersey Sports Halls of Fame and is a member of the OSU Alumni Association.
For more information about the OSU Alumni Association's alumni awards program or to
submit a nomination, visit orangeconnection.org/alumniawards or contact Melissa Mourer at 405.744.3388.
Download Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/okstatealumni/sets/72157625473089821/