Alpha Tau Omega - University of Oklahoma

The Beacon 2 Blake Herndon '79 on His Career and Serving Delta Kappa Investing in Business and Brotherhood W hen Blake Herndon '79 was choosing the fraternity for him, he was drawn to Alpha Tau Omega because of the great brothers with similar values to him. "I was also a legacy, so I had already established strong friendships with some of the actives in the house, which made the decision even easier." "Pledgeship in our day was challenging but also provided some of the most character-building moments of my life," Blake added. The lessons he learned through pledgeship, the networking opportunities he gained, and the leadership positions he held in the chapter, which provided him with organizational, teamwork, and communication skills, have greatly influenced who he is and prepared him for success. In his career, Blake worked in financial analysis and mergers and acquisitions before moving into energy trading. "My trading foundations were established in the deregulating natural gas, power, and LNG markets over the last 30 years when I helped found and manage multibillion- dollar trading ventures." "Our teams have provided revolutionary services for clients to help them manage extreme risks in newly deregulated U.S. and European energy markets while providing our shareholders with record returns." He then worked for 10 years in finance roles with upstream energy firms in financial modeling and as chief financial officer. Blake is the founder and CEO of Prompti Inc., a fintech startup that provides the world's first ecosystem enabling investors to "buy stock" in individuals in any field through upfront funding and sharing in their future earnings. "Developing a new investment asset class and market is extraordinarily challenging but introduces groundbreaking prospects for individual entrepreneurs, talent, and investors globally," Blake said. The company is now extending capital markets to individuals, allowing them to fund their future without debt. It is also launching its initial investment fund, the Sooner Golf Fund, "to pool capital from Sooner fans and allow diversified investments across numerous former OU golfers to support their professional careers and provide very attractive returns to investors." Blake's team looks forward to helping investors and Sooners realize their full potential while also enhancing the OU athletics programs' competitive advantage. "The ultimate vision is to further decentralize and democratize capital markets and catalyze a global renaissance in extending the traditional capital access beyond firms to individuals." Throughout his life, the ATΩ and Greek network have continued to serve Blake, and he is grateful to have had the opportunities he did through the fraternity, which have contributed to a strong family, friends, education, and career. Because of this, he has remained involved with the fraternity and served as the former chairman of Delta Kappa's board of trustees. "We all especially owe our deepest gratitude to Mike Carter '76 for his leadership in getting the new house funded and built." While Blake has had much success throughout his career, his proudest accomplishment is having a healthy and happy family. His wife, Amy, a fellow Sooner, has built a thriving photography business. "She is truly my hero." Blake is also proud of their three children who have bright futures ahead of them. Blake's ATΩ brothers remain his best friends. "The Delta Kappa network is deep and close and I'm extremely proud of my ATΩ/DK pedigree. We have a great history and I'm glad to see our strong track record and reputation continuing to progress with the next generation." You can connect with Blake at blake.herndon@protonmail.com. The 2024 executive committee. "I get satisfaction and take pride in helping those people and organizations who have helped me along the way. It's truly been a pleasure and honor to work with numerous DK leaders, both alumni and actives, to ensure our stellar DK tradition endures and continuously improves over generations."

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