Delta Tau Delta - University of Oklahoma

F rom 2003-2011, Brad Henry '85 felt that he had the best job in the world as the governor of Oklahoma. Despite being faced with sev- eral difficult daily decisions that impacted the people of his home state, the Delta Tau Delta pillars of truth, courage, faith, and power kept him level-headed during his time in office. "I learned several important lessons during my term as president of Delta Alpha Chapter that have assisted me throughout my life. First, I learned the very simple, but powerful, lesson that you can't win if you don't run," Brad said. "In other words, you won't succeed if you don't try. While thoughtful consideration is important, too often, I believe, we get bogged down in over-analyz- ing our fears or the chances of success and we miss the opportunity entirely." Joining the Delta Alpha Chapter was an opportunity that Brad nearly missed entirely. Brad wasn't interested in Greek life when he arrived at the University of Okla- homa, but begrudgingly went through recruitment after some urging from his roommate. He still wasn't im- pressed with what the fraternity lifestyle had to offer un- til he stopped by the Delt house. "The men of Delta Alpha gave me far more than I gave them. They taught me the value of camaraderie, teamwork, and leadership, as well as the worth of discipline and hard work," Brad said. "I think it's safe to say that if not for my experiences at Delta Alpha, I likely would not have had the self-confidence to attempt—let alone accomplish—many of the things I've done throughout my life, including run for governor." Brad was honored to be a part of the first Delta Alpha Chapter that won a Hugh Shields Award, but his best memories of his Delt experience aren't limited to his undergraduate years. He returned to the Shelter to speak to the undergraduates when he was the governor of Oklahoma and considered it to be a very moving experience. When Brad was sworn into office, he inherited the largest budget short- fall—as a percentage of the overall budget—in the state's history. While the spotlight was squarely on Brad as he worked toward better financial times, he always deflected the credit to those who helped him through the process. "I had a great team, and we went to work poring over the details of every agency budget," Brad said. "Rather than make arbitrary across-the-board cuts to every agency— the easy thing to do—we made strategic, surgical cuts that made the most sense and caused the least amount of pain to the citizens of Oklahoma. In the end, we made cuts, but we also shielded education and the health agen- cies from the brunt of the cuts." As a lifelong Oklahoman, Brad also received his law de- gree from the OU College of Law. He has spent the past three years as a lawyer at Spencer Fane, LLP. Outside of work, Brad enjoys fishing, reading, traveling abroad, wine collecting, yard work, and spending time with his family. Brad has been happily married to his wife, Kim, for nearly 33 years. Kim and Brad have three daughters, Leah, Laynie, and Baylee, and have loved the experience of being grandparents for the first time. "Without question, Kim and the girls have been at the center of all of my successes in life. I would never have been elected governor without them," Brad said. "My father used to always tell me, 'We should never forget that friends come and go, but family is forever.' He was absolutely right." DELTA TAU DELTA Delt Experience Prepared Brad Henry '85 to Serve as Oklahoma Governor Roger Parkins '65 is retired and living hap- pily on Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan. Email: rlparkins@gmail.com Larry Burmeier '66 is enjoying retirement by playing golf and traveling. Email: larryburmeier@gmail.com Stephen Vargo '67 reports he is a Shidler Dis- tinguished Professor and professor of market- ing at the University of Hawaii. He has held or holds visiting positions at the Judge Busi- ness School at the University of Cambridge, the University of Warwick, the University of Maryland, the University of Auckland, Karls- tad University, Sweden, College Park, as well as VTT Technical Research Center of Finland. Stephen has had articles published in the Jour- nal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and the Journal of Ser- vice Research. Clarivate Analytics, formerly Thomson-Reuters, has identified him as one of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds/ Highly Cites Researchers, top 1 percent, in eco- nomics and business for four consecutive years (2014-2017). Email: svargo001@gmail.com M. David Kraker '75 retired in 2014 after 39 years of working in sales for Bekins Moving Storage. David and Debbie, his wife of 38 years, live in a condo overlooking Lake Mission Viejo in Orange County, Calif. They have two grand- daughters, Kaylee and Teagan, and enjoy spend- ing time with them. David was also blessed to coach freshman high school football off and on for 20 years. David currently volunteers with their church recycling ministry. He writes, "It's dirty work, but it raises a lot of money to help send bibles to the world." John Langston '76 works for a company that will disrupt the oil and gas space with a product that can provide optimization recommendations to existing oil and gas production in addition to providing leading indicators to well failure days out with an 85-90 percent accuracy rate. No one else in the industry has a product in the market- place that does this. Email: zzx375@cox.net Alumni News (Continued on page 4)

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