Adjunct Professor
Member of the Advisory Board

Biography

Born in Oklahoma City and grew up in Odessa, Texas. Returned to Norman, in 1967 to attend OU--despite a couple of "encouragement" letters from the Engineering Dean, I graduated with a BSIE, in May, 1971.

I was recruited on campus and joined The Trane Company (commercial HVAC manufacturer) as a sales engineer--job assignment was in Cincinnati, Ohio. Left Trane in 1972 and joined Jordan Valve Company, a Cincinnati based manufacturer of process regulators and control valves--worked with manufacturers' representatives and distributors and customers in North America (lots of airplanes and hotels). In 1975, I joined the Jordan Valve distributor, in Texas, Hatfield and Company.  Bought a small equity position, in the company. Hatfield and Company is a technical sales distributor for process equipment (filters, valves, instrumentation) sold to the chemical, oil, and gas production and processing industries, worldwide. In 1975, we had five (5) employees and sales of $500K. Nearly thirty (30) years later, the company has one hundred (100) employees, ten (10) office/warehouse locations, and sales of $65M. The past fifteen (15) years, I served as President and COO. In May, 2004, at age 55, I had the opportunity to "cash in my chips" and retire. I am still involved with the business 20+ hours/week, which requires me to be in Houston, a few days each month.

In January, 2005, I accepted an Adjunct Professor position in the IE School, at OU--initially, helping Dr. Kumin with IE 4393, the Senior Design Capstone Project. I am an active member at CrossPointe Church, in Norman. The OU Athletic Office loves me--I have season tickets for football, men's and ladies' basketball, men's baseball, and ladies' softball. Golf and racquetball occupy some of my spare time, as do my family and friends.

My interest in being involved with the Engineering College is to "give something back"--without my formal and informal educations received at OU, I would not have enjoyed the business career and many opportunities of a lifetime.

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