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Great Companies Spotlight: Energy

By
Michael W. Sasser
-

Oklahoma has undergone an unprecedented diversification of its economy over the past couple of decades, expanding well beyond its traditional healthy sectors of energy and agriculture.
But the nation is also in the midst of an energy renaissance driven by technologies that enable drillers to reach deposits of oil and natural gas long thought to be out of reach. The result is a resurgence in the prominence of domestic energy production with Oklahoma in the middle of renewed activity. Despite the advent of other aspects of the state economy, energy continues to be the undeniable driver of Oklahoma’s economy. Furthermore, Oklahoma’s energy companies are among the best in the state in terms of employment statistics, benefits and working environments.
While some energy companies are household names, others are less high exposure. They still, however, represent some of the very best companies at which to work – and in today’s energy renaissance, they’re usually hiring.

Chaparral Energy
Employees in OK: 780
Hiring: Hiring in the fields of accounting and finance, IT, air quality, construction, drilling safety, division orders, engineering, enhanced oil recovery, field services, geology, human resources, lease records and production.
www.chaparralenergy.com

ConocoPhillips
Employees in OK: 1,733
Hiring: ConocoPhillips is hiring employees company-wide to fill business and technical roles, whether at the university or experienced-professional level. Candidates are welcome from outside the industry and from within for roles such as geologists, geophysicists and engineers.
www.conocophillips.com

New Dominion LLC
Employees in OK: 84
Hiring: New Dominion employs accountants, attorneys, division order specialists, electricians, environmental, health, safety and security specialists, executive and legal assistants, geologists, geology technicians, infrastructure and property management specialists, inventory control specialists, IT professionals, landmen and lease records analysts, well completion specialists, well production workers and more.
www.newdominion.net

SandRidge Energy
Employees in OK: 1,287
Hiring: SandRidge employs individuals in engineering, geology, land, as well as accountants, IT professionals, environmental, health and safety and people in field operations.
www.sandridgeenergy.com

Hardesty Arts Center

By
Staff
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After months of watching a brick shell transform into space for creative play, the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa’s Hardesty Arts Center is about to open and become the Brady Arts District’s newest jewel. The grand opening weekend event is scheduled for 1-5 p.m. Dec. 16. Building tours will be offered along with live entertainment and activities everyone in the family can enjoy. Concept/OK, the first exhibition on display at the center, also opens and is presented by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. The new biennial feature exhibition presents a survey of contemporary art in Oklahoma and by Oklahomans. Approximately 40 artists are represented in multiple media, informing a fresh perspective of local, state and regional art to resonate with the new surroundings and purpose of the center: To make the arts and all its expression and benefits more accessible for youth and adults. For more, go online to www.ahct.org.

Holiday Activities For Kids

By
Staff
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There’s no shortage of things to do with the children and family this month as venues offer many activities that everyone can enjoy. You can’t go wrong with a parade, and the month has several big ones, including the Cowboy Christmas Parade (Dec. 1) in Oklahoma City’s historic Stockyards City District and the 2012 Tulsa Christmas Parade and Tulsa Holiday Parade of Lights, both taking place Dec. 8 in Tulsa. Colorful lights are on everywhere (see calendar listings) inviting everyone to enjoy glowing silhouettes of reindeer, holly and other outlines of the season. You’ll find much of that along with ice-skating, music and a host of other attractions at two big festivals running through the holidays. Downtown in December is located in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown and runs through Dec. 31. You’ll find plenty of hot chocolate at the BOK Center and WinterFest. Whether you’re taking in special holiday shows like Junie B in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells from Oklahoma Children’s Theatre (through Dec. 16) and Playhouse Tulsa’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, enjoying the sounds (Michael Martin Murphey’s Cowboy Christmas Ball on Dec. 14) or decking the halls in prehistoric fashion (Holiday Happening at the Sam Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on Dec. 6), make sure its time shared with all. See the “Family” listing and more in the calendar for details on these events.

Kinky Friedman

By
Staff
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Meet Kinky Friedman – former candidate for Texas governor, child chess prodigy, Chanukkah cowboy. The singer, humorist and writer has a long and varied list of experiences in his life. Born in Chicago, he and his family moved to Texas, where he exercised an interest in chess (a 7-year-old Friedman played U.S. chess Grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky) as well as music. Music won out, and after finishing college and a stint with the U.S. Peace Corps, he went on to form bands and write country music that challenged racial prejudice with fetching music and biting satire. One of Kinky’s most famous songs is called, “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore.” Whether you like him or not, Friedman can never be called dull. He plays the Blue Door (www.bluedoorokc.com) in Oklahoma City on Dec. 2. Tickets are $30-$35. The following night, Friedman takes the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame stage at 111 E. First St. Show is at 7 p.m. Dec. 3, and tickets are $16-$50, available at www.myticketoffice.com.

Riot Girls

By
Meika Yates Hines
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At 12 and 17 years old, it’s kind of impossible not to notice the ages of Skating Polly members Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse. With this duo, however, it is vital to note that it isn’t their ages that define what makes them one of the most unique bands on the local circuit.

What sets them apart is a wonderfully punk, riot-girl enthusiasm infused with a genuine appreciation and grasp of what makes the art of music so incredible at its core.

That, and they just flat-out rock.

“I remember being 6 and singing the White Stripes. I’d always try to talk to my friends at school about all of this music that I loved and they wouldn’t know what I was talking about,” Mayo says.

“We never thought we’d get to start playing shows. We were happy just playing for our parents in the backyard.”

With a mentor like Exene Cervenka, of the iconic punk band X, in their corner, Skating Polly is fast accumulating an impressive professional network and an artillery of shows opening for headlining bands such as indie favorite Band of Horses and noise enigma Deerhoof.

The duo recently signed with SQE records to release its first LP, Lost Wonderfuls, in March, and are anticipating adding South by Southwest (SXSW) to a repertoire that already includes two Norman Music Festival appearances.

Mayo and Bighorse admit that they get a lot of attention because of their young ages, but don’t mistake them for adorable.

Girls who reference Kurt Cobain, Bikini Kill and Sid Vicious are not to be confused with their Justin Bieber and Katy Perry-loving counterparts.

As thoughtful in lyrics as they are aggressive in performance and delivery, Skating Polly’s music continues to evolve through practice and experience – and that’s what is going to keep them on the map.

“Hopefully, people like our music and they don’t just think we’re cutesy, because we’re not trying to be cutesy. We try to be real and stay true to our hearts,” Mayo explains.

“Our biggest inspirations are musicians who have been around for forever. They got in the business when they were young, and they never stopped. It doesn’t matter if they’re making $5,000 a year or $5 million a year. They keep making art, they keep writing and they never give up. That’s what we’re going to do. We want to be like them.”

The Christmas Spirit

By
Jami Mattox
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Gerald Wills is best known as Santa Claus. The 59-year-old has portrayed the jolly old elf for nearly three decades. In addition to serving as Santa Claus in various Christmas parades, he poses for Christmas ads and holiday cards and performs at parties and for many children each year. He’s had offers to perform in Los Angeles and even Japan during Christmastime, but he’s always stayed in Oklahoma. He says he would miss the children he gets to see each year.

I had a gentleman supervisor ask me in 1983 to play Santa. I had just got out of the service, and I said sure because we had a lot of young families at work. I painted my beard white, and I thought it turned out pretty good. Then all of a sudden my beard and hair started turning white. It was kind of like the (character of Tim Allen) in The Santa Clause.

It became a natural thing. I got to doing it for people I work for and work with. It just spread word-of-mouth. Eventually I picked up an agent. I don’t have a contract, they just take care of me and I take care of them. I’m my own manager. Every year seems to get more and more intense.
When Gov. Frank Keating was in office, I would light the tree at the State Capitol. Once the governor called my home. I answered the phone and he said, “This is Gov. Keating,” and I always had guys from work playing pranks on me, so I thought it was one of them. I said, “Yeah, and this is Santa Claus,” and he said, “Just the guy I’m looking for,” and I hung up on him. The phone rang again, and when I answered he said, “Don’t hang up, this is really the governor.”

I have a lady in Edmond that always plays up Christmas for her children, and she hires me to come to the house to deliver presents. One year, the family had went to Maui for vacation, and the then-5-year-old boy, Justin, had left his favorite Beanie Baby on the beach. His mother had easily found a replacement, so she gave it to me, sprinkled with sand, to give to him on Christmas. When I came by to deliver the Beanie Baby, that little boy had a runaway. He was bawling, and he said, “Thank you Santa, that is so cool.” Just little things like that that inspire me to do more. I go out of the way to make sure that kids stay kids as long as they can.

Every person I see when I’m dressed up has a smile on his or her face. They can’t keep from smiling when they see Santa. When Santa comes in the room, everyone smiles.
 

Fest Dressed

By
Staff
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His Own Terms

By
Michael W. Sasser
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The way Tom L. Ward sees it, he would be just as happy today if he had never left his hometown of Seiling, Oklahoma. Remote western Oklahoma was a great place to grow up.

“I have great memories of working with my father and brother, and mom was always there,” says the soft-spoken Ward. “It was a great opportunity to play sports, which I loved. It was a small school, so it afforded me the opportunity. My wife is from Wenoka. I never anticipated leaving. If we had never left, if I had just gone to work in a plant following high school, then we would have had a great life. It’s a fabulous place to be.”

While at times it seemed unlikely Ward would get too far from his roots, he, indeed, did. Far enough that today he’s regarded as one of Oklahoma’s energy industry giants – and, of course, energy giants in Oklahoma enjoy the same lofty epithet on the world stage.

But that seemed like an unlikely career arc then for Ward, now chairman and CEO of SandRidge Energy, Inc.

“I didn’t anticipate college,” Ward says. “When I didn’t get into college for football, I really thought that was it.”

Ward had worked his senior year with his uncle in local oil fields, and it’s possible destiny might not have taken him farther from home than that. However, he’d met his future bride in high school, and when she moved to attend the University of Oklahoma, the die was cast. His experience in the oil fields prompted his interest, and with OU’s degree options in the field, it was an easy decision for Ward to head off to the state’s largest university.

College was not thrill-a-minute, either.

“It was drudgery,” Ward recalls. “I was working all the time. I didn’t take one extra class. I worked at a local horse farm. I had no fun in college, got through in three-and-a-half years and took the last three hours by correspondence.”

Ward graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Petroleum Land Management. It was a good time to enter the field professionally, Ward recalls. “You could get a job anywhere.”

Ward again gravitated toward western Oklahoma and worked extensively in the Wenoka area, quickly becoming familiar with prominent business leaders and energy interests. But the infamous July 1982 failure of Penn Square Bank sent shockwaves through the oil and gas industry, driving many to ruin and others out of the sector completely.

“It was a difficult summer of 1982,” Ward says.

But Ward had launched his first business venture with the assistance of friends and persevered through one of the worst periods in Oklahoma economic history. By 1983, he had an office in Clinton and by 1984 he had one in Oklahoma City. In ’83 he also first met Aubrey McClendon.

“We were the only two, post-Penn Square Bank, who were aggressively buying leases and wells, so in short order we were partnering,” Ward says. “From 1983 to 1989 we dug a ton of wells.”

In ’89, Ward co-founded Chesapeake Energy with McClendon, and the years that followed are legendary in energy history. Chesapeake grew to be an energy giant, propelling both men to the forefront of the industry and Ward to a position that seemed as far removed from his hometown as possible.

But despite the success, the humble Ward’s values and focus remained unchanged.

“It reached a time when I evaluated how content I was as a person and what I could continue to do,” he says. “I decided I couldn’t keep it up.”

Ward says he always enjoyed the hands-on approach to business, and he is driven by the excitement of creating value for shareholders and the teamwork element of working with employees and colleagues. He decided to continue pursuing those interests when he left Chesapeake and founded SandRidge Energy in 2006.

Success ­– on Ward’s terms – followed. SandRidge Energy is the primary developer of the Mississippian Oil Play, with valuable assets in the oil-rich Permian Basin and Gulf of Mexico. The company owns 225,000 acres of leasehold primarily in the Central Basin Platform of the Texas Permian Basin, where approximately 7,350 potential future drilling locations have been identified. If production continues on the current pace for the Mississippian, the company predicts that 100,000 jobs will be added in Oklahoma and Kansas over the next three to five years (not just with SandRidge, but in the play overall).

Financial success is not the only – or even the primary – means by which Ward defines himself or the company culture at SandRidge.

“We like for employees to have a level of contentment in life brought by having a stable home life and by helping others that then permits them to focus on projects,” Ward says.

SandRidge is widely acclaimed for its charitable and community involvement – particularly when it comes to the disenfranchised, abused or educationally challenged youth. Ward and his son, Trent, co-founded White Fields, Inc., a home for severely abused and neglected boys, in 2000. Under Ward’s direction, SandRidge also provides employment opportunities for felons returning to society, in addition to numerous other efforts.

As an employer, Ward says he sees the company’s role as facilitating: helping people achieve their goals. “It can be fulfillment from achievement and from helping others – and then the third leg of the stool is taking that into home life.”

These days those things are also more in focus to Ward personally.

“I’m getting old,” he says. “Over time I’ve felt more contentment from helping others. I don’t have to be dependent on if something works at the office for contentment.”

Ward doesn’t just espouse his philosophy; he lives it. One Christmas Eve, he read in the Wall Street Journal about an Egyptian Coptic Christian, previously an engineer, who was washing dishes in New York City after effectively being run out of his country in the recent rash of ethnic cleansing. Quietly, without fanfare and without issuing a press release about it, Ward brought the man to Oklahoma City where today he is living and a valuable member of the SandRidge family.

“That person will be with us for a long time and be a terrific employee,” Ward says. “That’s the kind of person we love to have at SandRidge.”

There’s no denying that Ward has traveled far and wide since the days of his 40-student graduating class. But when listening to him discuss those things that are important to him personally and as SandRidge Energy’s leader, another fact emerges. You can take the man out of dusty western Oklahoma, but you can’t take the values and work ethic of his home out of Tom Ward.

Great Companies Spotlight: Sovereign Nations

By
Lindsay Cuomo
-

With millions of dollars in profits, tens of thousands of jobs and an economic impact reaching far into the billions, the business endeavors of the sovereign nations in Oklahoma are integral to the growth of the state. Operating in a wide variety of industries, tribal businesses collectively are one of the largest employers in Oklahoma, if not the largest, says George Tiger, principal chief of the Muscogee Creek Nation.

“Tribal nations are growing, making a large impact on the Oklahoma economy,” says Tiger. “It is something that Indian people take a lot of pride in.” 

The Cherokee Nation’s business endeavors posted revenues totaling more than $700 million in the 2012 fiscal year and employs nearly 9,000 people. A recent study by Oklahoma City University showed that the Chickasaw Nation alone had an economic impact of $2.4 billion in Oklahoma in 2011 and is responsible for creating approximately 16,000 jobs in the state.

“All of the money we make goes back to the Chickasaw people for things like housing, daycare, head start programs, job training, clothing and scholarships,” explains Vicky Gold, office manager for the Chickasaw Times. 

The unique aspect of these numbers is that the economic growth and jobs are largely located in rural Oklahoma, providing opportunities to small communities across our state. The Osage Nation currently employs approximately 1,000 persons in positions ranging from general clerical, executive, professional skilled to semi-skilled, non-skilled and service personnel. The Osage Nation is the largest employer in Osage county, just like many of the other Nations in their respective counties.

In 2010, the Choctaw Nation enterprises sustained 14,138 jobs, some indirectly, in the state of Oklahoma and directly employed 8,472 employees generating over $260 million in payroll income.

“All of this income spills right back into our communities,” confirms Lana Sleeper, public relations and marketing director for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

The Muscogee Creek Nation was the first tribe to own a hospital and has its own college, the College of the Muscogee Nation. When Tiger began working with the Muscogee Creek Nation in the 70s, they only employed a few hundred people, now that number has risen to nearly 4,500, says Tiger.

“We are now more like a big corporation,” explains Tiger.

In terms of profitability, these sovereign nation businesses are quite similar to mainstream corporate businesses. They differ, however, in mission, says Joseph Tillman, a division leader with the Osage Nation, who has a long professional history in private business. 

“Private businesses tend to focus on individual gain,” says Tillman. “We focus on the group gain of the Osage Nation and its people.”

Jon Davidson, senior director of Hospitality Services for Hard Rock Casino in Tulsa, which is owned by the Cherokee Nation, agrees. Similar to Tillman, Davidson spent the majority of his professional career working for privately owned hotels.

“Working in the private sector you are very much driven by the standard benchmarks of profitability – for owners and investors,” explains Davidson. “While profitability is still a significant benchmark, I am working to help fund an amazing array of programs and services for, literally, a nation.”

Each nation takes pride in not only contributing to Native Americans but to all Oklahomans, as well.  

“We want people to know we share communities,” promises Tiger. “When we succeed the State of Oklahoma does as well.”

Cherokee Nation
Total Employees: 9,000
Industries: Aerospace and defense, manufacturing, environmental, construction, information technology, telecommunications, casinos, horse track, hotels, convenience stores and retail shops.
Employee Benefits: A comprehensive package including paid leave, medical, retirement and tuition reimbursement for full time employees.

Choctaw Nation
Total Employees: 8,000+
Industries: Gaming, travel plazas, manufacturing and supplies for the federal government and branches of armed services, and contracts with federal government to provide medical care to branches of armed services overseas.
Employee Benefits: A comprehensive package including paid leave, medical at no cost to the employee, retirement, and tuition reimbursement for full time employees; additionally, a training program for employee advancement.

Chickasaw Nation
Total employees: 12,000
Industries: Tourism, entertainment, manufacturing, medical technology, medical services, government contracting, banking and communication.
Employee Benefits: A comprehensive package including paid leave, medical, retirement and tuition reimbursement for full time and some part time employees. Also feature an Individual Advancement Plan with financial incentives.

Muscogee Creek Nation
Total Employees: 4,500
Industries:  Gaming, oil and gas
Employee Benefits: A comprehensive package including paid leave, medical, retirement and education opportunities.

Osage Nation
Total Employees: 1,000
Industries: Retail shops, Okmulgee Country Club, casinos, travel plaza, convenience stores, medical and defense and other agencies
Employee Benefits: A comprehensive package including paid leave, medical including critical and cancer care, and retirement. Also offers perks like roadside assistance.

Great Companies Spotlight: Law Firms

By
Sarah Szabo
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Though courtroom dramas on TV typically follow small, core groups of characters trying cases by themselves like superheroes, the fact is that law firms are much more collaborative affairs. As a result, to work in a firm is to work with support, with many firms dedicated to helping their hires advance ever-upward – and it’s this support that makes these law firms great companies to work for in Oklahoma.

Most firms, like the Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman–based Crowe & Dunlevy, offer a strong emphasis on mentoring new hires with the anticipation that they’ll stay with the firm for their whole careers, with aims to have its hires always set on a professional trajectory toward ultimately becoming shareholders. It clearly has an effect: Of more than 120 attorneys, 80 of Crowe and Dunlevy’s hires are listed in the national Best Lawyers in America network.

“There are people who have been here for 35 years,” says Melissa Bogle, manager of development at the firm GableGotwals. “People come here for their first job, and stay until it’s their last job. There’s incredible tenure here.”

The firm, with offices in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, is an example of a much more intimate and tight-knit group than the layman may expect of a typical firm, with a total employee roster of 146 – a number that includes ownership-stake shareholders, of-counsel attorneys, associates and paralegals.

“The shareholders are the owners of the company, and of-counsel are typically attorneys who are experienced, but for whatever reason are not owners,” explains Bogle. “They may be at the end of their career and looking towards retirement, or have quite a bit of legal experience but be new to the company, and so haven’t reached shareholder status yet. And the associates are the young attorneys.”

Larger firms in Oklahoma, such as Hall Estill, which employs 120 attorneys, in addition to 120 more as paralegals and support staff, maintain a similar atmosphere while spread across the country, with offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Washington D.C., and Fayetteville. Different administrative duties are spread across the offices, but each city branch shoulders a portion of the overall client work.

“We’re large for Oklahoma, and midsize nationally,” describes Lari Gulley, the Tulsa-based director of business development for Hall Estill.

The day-to-day operations at the typical law firm, large or small, are split among the client-to-attorney work, the technical work of the paralegal staff, who assist associates with ongoing cases, and administrative functions done by office workers whose jobs are to keep the whole operation afloat.

Gulley describes her firm as “a pretty flat organization” when compared to corporate structure, with shareholders who own the company and elect a board of directors, and the associates, paralegals, managers, of-counsel and legal secretaries working in tandem on the tier below.

But the size of the firm is hardly the only indicator of quality. Take, for instance, Doerner, Saunders, Daniel & Anderson – another firm with Tulsa, Norman and Oklahoma City offices that employs 43 attorneys total, including partners, of counsel and associates, 18 of whom have been officially recognized by Best Lawyers in America.

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