OSU Alumni Association elects new board leadership; chair and vice chair from Oklahoma City area
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Oklahoma State University Alumni Association has named prominent business figures from the Oklahoma City area to lead its board of directors.
Ron Ward, president of Ward Construction Inc. in El Reno, Okla., was named board chairman
for 2012-2013. Ward graduated from OSU with a bachelor of science in math and statistics
in 1972.
“I’m excited and humbled by this appointment, and I look forward to the year ahead,”
Ward says. “The Alumni Association has made great strides in its membership and programming.
I hope to continue that forward momentum during this exciting time at OSU.”
In addition to serving with the Alumni Association, Ward was a member of Beta Theta
Pi fraternity and the President’s Leadership Council during his time at OSU. He has
been in the construction and real estate development business for the past 30 years.
“Ron is a longtime advocate and supporter of Oklahoma State University,” says OSU
President Burns Hargis. “He has been a champion of the Alumni Association and its
needs and I know he will serve the OSU family well as chairman.”
Jennifer Grigsby, senior vice president and treasurer of Chesapeake Energy Corporation,
has been elected vice chair of the board. Grigsby graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s
degree in business and accounting in 1991 and obtained her master’s degree in business
administration from Oklahoma City University in 1999.
“It is a tremendous honor for me to represent my fellow Cowboys and Cowgirls on the
OSU Alumni Association Board of Directors,” Grigsby says. “OSU’s vibrancy and success
is evident in the lives and successes of its alumni, individually and collectively,
and I believe the pride that OSU graduates have in our alma mater is rooted in that
deep sense of community and desire to associate us with an organization that is developing
leaders who are positively impacting our world every day.”
Other appointees to the board included Kent Gardner, vice president and general counsel
with Funk Companies in Oklahoma City, and Phil Kennedy, owner and president of Comanche
Home Center in Lawton, Okla.
Gardner graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics in
2001, and went on to earn a law degree from the University of Oklahoma. Kennedy graduated
from OSU in with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 1985.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve on the board and be a part of these
transformative times at OSU,” Gardner says. “Attending OSU was a tradition in my family,
and I’m very excited to see what the future holds for our great institution.”
Three newly-elected members of the Alumni Association’s leadership council also call
the Oklahoma City metro area home. All three will serve as at-large members on the
council.
Lori Dickinson graduated from OSU in with a bachelor‘s degree in agricultural communications
in 1994. She currently serves as the president and CEO of the Foundation for Oklahoma
City Public Schools.
David Houston earned his bachelor’s degree in business at OSU in 1975. He is a wealth
management advisor with Houston Financial in Oklahoma City.
Mel Martin, president of First National Bank of Oklahoma, attended OSU from 1982
to 1984 before completing his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1986
from the University of Central Oklahoma.
For more information about the OSU Alumni Association’s board of directors and leadership
council, visit orangeconnection.org/alumnigovernance .
Photos available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/okstatealumni/sets/72157629756182842/detail/.