by Rod Jones
OCU University’s Meinders School of Business will honor five business and community leaders during the 29th annual Oklahoma Commerce & Industry Hall of Honor luncheon Oct. 14 at the Cox Convention Center. The 2015 inductees are Nancy Anthony with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Bill Lance with the Outstanding Achievement Award, William Durrett with the Chairman's Award, Linda Lambert with the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award and Ed Martin with the President’s Award.
In addition to recognizing members of the business community, the Oklahoma Commerce & Industry Hall of Honor luncheon benefits the Meinders School of Business scholarship program.
Corporate sponsorships and individual tickets are available. For more information or to make a reservation, contact Melissa Cory at 405-208-5540 or [email protected]. Registration is also available online at www.okcu.edu/business/registration.
ÐßÐßÊÓƵ the honorees:
Nancy Anthony, Lifetime Achievement Award
Anthony joined the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Community Foundation as executive director in 1985 when it had assets of $20 million and one other full-time employee. She has helped direct the growth of the Community Foundation to assets of more than $800 million. The Community Foundation has 33 full-time employees and makes average annual distributions to the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ community of $30 million.
The organization has been a leader among community foundations in the development of endowments for non-profit charities. It has also focused its discretionary resources on a group of strategically selected community issues and opportunities where it can provide both resources and leadership. It operates the largest organizational endowment program in the United States and the largest independent scholarship program in Oklahoma.
In 1995, the Community Foundation joined with several other area organizations to provide leadership in the oversight and distribution of contributions given in response to the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. The model developed in ÐßÐßÊÓƵ for cooperative response to such tragedy has set a standard for the nation. Anthony served as an advisor to several New York City charities following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, providing the experience of ÐßÐßÊÓƵ in dealing with the survivors and injured.
A native of Elizabethtown, Ky., Anthony received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University, Masters of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees in mathematical statistics from Yale University, and a Ph. D. in biostatistics from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
In her professional career, she has taught at Vanderbilt and OCU University. She has also served as a consultant in statistics and demography before joining the Community Foundation.
As a community volunteer, Anthony has served for 38 years as a member of the Metropolitan Library Commission, including seven years as chairwoman. She was honored for her work as a library advocate by the American Library Association in 2000 and by the Metropolitan Library Commission Endowment in 2004. She has served on a number of community boards and also served as a volunteer coach for several girls athletic teams. She has been active with the Council on Foundations, serving as chairwoman of the Membership Committee and as a member of the Community Foundation Leadership Team. She has served as the vice chairwoman of the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Sports Facility Oversight Board, a city commission. She is a member of the Board of Visitors of the Duke Divinity School and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy in Washington, D.C.
Bill G. Lance, Jr., Outstanding Achievement Award
Lance is the secretary of commerce for the Chickasaw Nation and is responsible for the management of all commercial business enterprises of the Chickasaw Nation. The Chickasaw Nation Department of Commerce has more than 6,500 employees and is composed of more than 60 gaming, hospitality, retail, media, manufacturing and tourism related businesses.
In addition to his role as chief executive, Lance also serves on the board of directors for several other businesses owned by the Chickasaw Nation including Global Gaming Solutions, LLC; Sovereign Native Holdco, LLC and related subsidiaries; and Chickasaw Nation Industries. He is also a regent of the University of Arts and Sciences of Oklahoma in Chickasha.
Prior to his current role, Lance served as administrator of the Chickasaw Nation Health System, where he oversaw the historic construction of the 370,000 square-foot Chickasaw Nation Medical Center in Ada.
Lance received a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Public Health, a Bachelor of Science degree from East Central University and recently became a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is also a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma class XXIV.
William Durrett, Chairman's Award
Durrett is senior chairman of the American Fidelity Corporation in ÐßÐßÊÓƵ. He previously served as chairman of the board and as president and CEO of the insurance company.
Prior to American Fidelity, Durrett served in leadership positions for INSURICA, Inc. and the North American Accident Insurance Company.
He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at the University of Oklahoma in 1952, where he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He served in the United States Air Force as a finance officer from 1952 to 1954.
Durrett received the Pathmaker Award from the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ/County Historical Society and was named to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2004.
He serves as a director of several organizations including the Cameron Family Foundation, Contractor Insurance Services, North American Limited Agency and Realtec Security Company. He is a member of the American Council of Life Insurance director’s council, Fortune Club and the Greater ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Chamber board of directors. He is a lifetime board member of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and an honorary board member of the Oklahoma State Fair.
Durrett was born in Madison, Wis., and has been an ÐßÐßÊÓƵ resident since 1930.
Linda Lambert, Entrepreneurial Spirit Award
A third-generation Oklahoman who was born and raised in ÐßÐßÊÓƵ, Lambert is president of LASSO Corp. and Enertree LLC, two family oil and gas exploration companies.
Her family business interests have also included farming and commercial real estate. Her business and community service experiences cover both ends of the Turner Turnpike from Tulsa to ÐßÐßÊÓƵ.
She is currently a director of InvesTrust, a trustee of the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute and a director emeritus of OGE Energy Corp.
Lambert is chairwoman of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, the first woman elected to that position in the agency’s 52-year history.
She has served as chairwoman of Mercy Hospital, ÐßÐßÊÓƵ National Memorial & Museum Trust, vice chairwoman of the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Public Schools Trust and treasurer of the Memorial Foundation. In partnership with the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, she created the memorial’s annual Reflections of Hopeaward. She is the founding chairwoman of Possibilities, Inc., whose goal is to strengthen, through grassroots efforts, the ability of people to work together for community change.
Lambert has received the inaugural Community Builder’s Award from the United Way of ÐßÐßÊÓƵ, the Wall of Fame Humanitarian Awardfrom the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Public Schools Foundation, the Byliner Award from the Association for Women in Communications, an Award of Excellence from the Societies of OCU University, the Alumni Achievement Awardfrom Casady School, Corporate Woman of the Year by the Journal Record and the Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) in ÐßÐßÊÓƵ. She received special NCCJ recognition for her volunteer service in Tulsa.
Ed Martin, President’s Award
Martin joined Ackerman McQueen as president in 2001, and in June of 2004 he was promoted to chairman. He is currently responsible for the management of each of the operating companies, which include offices located in ÐßÐßÊÓƵ, Tulsa, Dallas, Colorado Springs and Washington, D.C.
Martin’s career began at The Oklahoman in 1970 as a retail account executive. He later served as retail sales manager and assistant display advertising manager before being named assistant to the general manager in 1975. During this period he spent time in all departments of the newspaper and completed the press and production training course at the SPPI School in ÐßÐßÊÓƵ. He transferred to Colorado Springs in 1977 as general manager of the Colorado Springs Sun and became its publisher in 1979. He was publisher of the Sun until it was sold in 1986. He returned to ÐßÐßÊÓƵ as director of operations and was named general manager Jan. 1, 1987. On March 10, l987, he was elected vice president of The Oklahoma Publishing Company. He was responsible for all departments of the newspaper including the newsroom. After 31 years, Martin left The Oklahoma Publishing Company in 2001.
While managing newspapers, Martin had many other responsibilities including the oversight of Oklahoma Graphics, a heat-set printing company which was sold in 1987, and various real estate purchases and sales over the 31 years that he worked for The Oklahoman. He served on the board of the Broadmoor Hotel, a purchase he helped The Oklahoma Publishing Company acquire in 1988. He also served on the board of Shaw Publishing Company of Charlotte, N.C., formerly owned by The Oklahoma Publishing Company.
Throughout his career Martin has devoted time to numerous civic and business organizations. He was a member of the Newspaper Association of America, and past president of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association; he also served as chairman of the board of the Southern Production Program, Inc., as well as chairman of Mistletoe Express, a regional trucking company, for two years.
Martin is active in civic affairs. He is a lifetime board member and past chairman of the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Chamber of Commerce as well as past board member of the State Chamber and past chairman of the Oklahoma Business Roundtable. He is on the board for the State Fair of Oklahoma and has served as president for the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Economic Development Foundation and the Appeals Review Board. Martin has been on many educational boards including the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Public Schools Foundation, where he served as chairman of the board. Other affiliations include Research for Economic Development, the American Heart Association, the Oklahoma Health Center Foundation, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Committee of 100 and Allied Arts, where he served as campaign chairman in 2011.
He is the past president and executive board member of the Last Frontier Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and has served as national trustee of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Martin served as chairman of the board of Enterprise Square USA for seven years; he also served on the board of trustees of the Omniplex Science Museum for two three-year terms.
Martin is past chairman and current board member for INTEGRIS Heath, a 13-hospital health care system. He also serves on many of its committees. He has dedicated much of his time to the United Way of Metro ÐßÐßÊÓƵ, an organization he has been involved in for over 40 years – he served as campaign chairman in 2005 and as chairman of the board from 2009 to 2010.
He has received many awards throughout his career: UCO Distinguished Business Graduate, UCO Distinguished Former Student, the Silver Beaver Award from Boy Scouts of America, God & Service Award from Boy Scouts of America, Champion of Youth from Boys and Girls Clubs of America (Oklahoma Chapter), UCO Athletic Hall of Fame and Man of the Year Honoree for the Arthritis Foundation, as well as many others.
Martin was born March 9, 1947, in Ft. Smith, Ark. He is a graduate of Wilburton High School and a 1969 graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He and his wife, Kathy, reside in Edmond and have two children and four grandchildren. They are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Edmond where Ed serves as an elder.
