By Rod Jones
Â鶹´«Ã½ City University’s Meinders School of Business will honor four business and community leaders during the 30th annual Â鶹´«Ã½ Commerce & Industry Hall of Honor luncheon Oct. 12 at the Cox Convention Center. The 2016 inductees are Nancy Ellis with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Bill Shdeed with the Outstanding Achievement Award, Jim Brown with the Chairman's Award and David Thompson with the President’s Award.
In addition to recognizing members of the business community, the Â鶹´«Ã½ 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 on the Hall of Honor page at okcu.edu/business.
About the honorees:
Nancy Ellis, Lifetime Achievement Award
Nancy Ellis is a founding member of the Heritage Trust privately-owned bank and investment management company, serving as chairman until 2004. Ellis currently serves as co-manager of KNABCO LLC. She is an organizer and former board member of Metro Bank of Â鶹´«Ã½ City, N.A.
With a passion for serving her community, a few of Ellis’ commitments include serving as trustee of the Presbyterian Health Foundation, past chairman and trustee of the Â鶹´«Ã½ City Art Museum, lifetime trustee of the Payne Education Center and board member of the National Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Ellis was the first female chairman of the Â鶹´«Ã½ State University Foundation Board of Governors. Additionally, she has served on the board of trustees for the Â鶹´«Ã½ City Community Foundation and on the advisory board of Mercy Hospital.
An avid member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Ellis has served the church as a deacon, elder and trustee.
In recognition for her contributions, Ellis has received distinguished awards including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ Woman of the Year Award in 1986 and the Â鶹´«Ã½ University Medical Alumni Association’s Friend of Medicine Award in 1995. She was inducted into the Â鶹´«Ã½ State University Alumni Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the Â鶹´«Ã½ Hall of Fame in 2005.
Bill Shdeed, Outstanding Achievement Award
William (Bill) Shdeed is a private investor and local real estate developer. He is a member of the Â鶹´«Ã½ and Â鶹´«Ã½ County bar associations.
Shdeed was inducted into the state Higher Education Hall of Fame in 2010. He has been a member of the Rotary Club 29 since 1974, where he formerly served as director. He served in the Â鶹´«Ã½ Air National Guard from 1961 to 1967.
Shdeed is an advisory director of the UMB Â鶹´«Ã½ Bank board. He served on the State Board of Education. He has also served on the boards of the OKC Community Foundation and the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute, and is a past chairman of the Nichols Hills Board of Adjustment. He is the former chairman of the Baptist Medical Center Foundation, the Nichols Hills Planning Commission and YMCA Camp Classen.
Shdeed and his wife, Pamela, attend Nichols Hills United Methodist Church. Both hold degrees from Â鶹´«Ã½ City University. Bill Shdeed earned his bachelor’s degree in business in 1962, a juris doctor in 1965 and was awarded an honorary doctor of laws in 2005, all from Â鶹´«Ã½.
Jim Brown, Chairman's Award
Jim Brown is president and CEO of 7-Eleven Stores in Â鶹´«Ã½ City, a family-owned chain of convenience stores and neighborhood shopping centers that employs 1,400 central Â鶹´«Ã½ns in retail stores, a bakery, a commissary and distribution center.
Brown’s mother and father moved to Â鶹´«Ã½ City in 1952 to start the family business. Brown is one of eight children, and he and his wife Jill have two adult sons, John and James.
Brown graduated from Casady School and has a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Vanderbilt University.
7-Eleven Stores in Â鶹´«Ã½ is unique in that it has no relationship with the Japanese-based conglomerate that owns the trademark everywhere else in the world. 7-Eleven has been in the state since 1953, and considers it a responsibility to do what it can to support the community that supports its stores. The company has raised millions of dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in its stores and is a regular supporter of numerous local organizations that serve central Â鶹´«Ã½ including Great Expectations, YWCA, Catholic Charities, Regional Food Bank, Infant Crisis Services, Central Â鶹´«Ã½ Habitat for Humanity, United Way of Central Â鶹´«Ã½ and City Rescue Mission.
David Thompson, President’s Award
David Thompson is president and CEO of InvesTrust, N.A., and CEO of InvesTrust Wealth Management, LLC. Prior to joining InvesTrust in 2012, Thompson was president of OPUBCO Communications Group and publisher of The Â鶹´«Ã½n, the state’s largest newspaper.
Thompson is very active in the community and serves on the boards of INTEGRIS Health, The Greater Â鶹´«Ã½ City Chamber, United Way of Central Â鶹´«Ã½, YMCA of Greater Â鶹´«Ã½ City, Allied Arts and the Last Frontier Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
In his free time, Thompson enjoys golf, motorsports and spending time with his family.
