GTR’s Ten To Watch in 2011

At the beginning of each year the Greater Tulsa Reporter Newspapers spotlights ten people to watch in the coming year. The people are chosen for various reasons, such as being a new leader to a company or organization, offering potentially creative and innovative projects or setting impressive local or national records.

This Year’s Ten People to Watch include Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan, Bixby Mayor Ray Bowen, Chef Remmi Smith, hotelier Jeff Kelly, Rep. Dan Sullivan, OU-Tulsa President Dr. Gerard Clancy, Skunk Whisperer Ned Bruha, Entrepreneur Mike Callaway, Tulsa Air and Space Museum Executive Director Glenn Wright and TU football player Damaris Johnson.

Appointed as the 39th Chief of the Tulsa Police Department Nov. 12, 2010, Chuck Jordan has already made an impact in his new position.

Jordan has a successful 32-year history with the Tulsa Police Department, where he served as one of the original Team members. His responsibilities will include directing all patrol, investigative and administrative operations of the Tulsa Police Department.

Jordan earned a bachelor of arts in criminal Justice from the University of Phoenix and attended The University of Tulsa.

With the goal of building a trustworthy department, Jordan created an anonymous tip line for citizens. This will enable individuals to provide information to the police without revealing their identity. Jordan hopes to continue to bring opportunities for the community to work with the department in solving crimes.

RAY BOWEN

The city of Bixby has continued its amazing growth even through the recent recessionary times, and one important person behind this success is Mayor Ray Bowen who has served for the past five years.

A few of his accomplishments include the establishment of the Bentley Park Sports Complex, the North Fire Station, improvements to downtown drainage, intersection revamping, and acquiring 25 additional acres of cemetery land for residents.

In the New Year, Bowen says he will work for new commercial retail developments, improve the quality of life, expand residential areas, strive for the construction of a new bridge and encourage Arkansas River development as well as the completion of a low water dam Bowen was inducted into the Bixby Spartan Hall of Fame in 2006 and has received many other civic awards.

Remmi Smith created a challenge for children in the Tulsa area to learn about and adopt a healthy lifestyle through nutrition and exercise. At only ten years old, a website was launched and a show called Cooking With Remmi was filmed beginning in April 2009.

The whirlwind increased for Smith when the luxury appliance brand Thermador recently requested a partnership. The company is set to sponsor a new television series called The Culinary Kid. The show will still be based on the original challenge of maintaining a healthy lifestyle but will have a slightly different format. Smith will attend the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology’s Culinary Arts Program. She will study, practice and develop her culinary knowledge and demonstrate what she has learned to others. The series will premiere Jan. 5, 2011 on Channel 3 and will reach Tulsa and surrounding areas.

Downtown Tulsa has undergone a great transition during the past decade with the Center and ONEOK Field as well as upgrades to the Brady and Blue Dome Districts. In the heart of the burgeoning downtown area is the excellent hotel property at 100 East Second Street, the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which on January 1 became the Hyatt Regency Tulsa.

Leading the transition to the Hyatt Regency is General Manager Jeff Keeley, a highly respected hotelier who is overseeing over $5 million in improvements to the property, which over the past few years has seen an additional $25 million in upgrades.

Keeley, who attended James Madison University, is an outstanding leader with extensive, practical knowledge of the hospitality industry, both nationally and in Tulsa. Very active in civic and professional groups, Keeley is an excellent choice to lead the important downtown hotel.

Dan Sullivan has become one of the most influential legislators in the state.
He was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2004 to represent House District 71 of Tulsa, where he was selected as Majority Floor Leader. He was reelected in 2006 and 2008.

Sullivan has been honored recently with the 2010 Legislator of the Year award by the Oklahomans for Responsible Government.

He has driven legislation concerning lawsuit reform, public safety and water supply for the Tulsa area and has authored a total of 28 successful House Bills. Additionally, he authored 62 Senate bills that also became law in Oklahoma.

He was again asked to be Majority Floor Leader of the House Nov. 18, 2010. The New Year will bring about more accomplishments and leadership opportunities for Sullivan.

He holds a juris doctorate from the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Gerard Clancy, M.D. is one of the most distinguished citizens in greater Tulsa. He is prominent as a physician, educational leader and also as a civic leader. As president of the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, he has led a growing OU-Tulsa campus while involving the university with the city and region. Active in civic affairs, he is the chair-elect of the Tulsa Metro Chamber for 2011.

Clancy also serves as a professor of psychiatry at OU-Tulsa as well as being the Dean of the OU College of Medicine-Tulsa.

A distinguished psychiatrist, his research interests include the delivery of psychiatric services to the seriously mentally ill and disease management in behavioral health. He has won numerous awards for his work, including seven teacher-of-the-year awards. He should make an interesting and effective chair of the Tulsa Metro Chamber.

Ned Bruha founded The Skunk Whisperer with a very unique mission. He removes unwelcomed animals from houses in a way that is both safe and humane.

Bruha patiently and creatively finds the animals, makes sure that they are healthy and then takes them away from residential areas in order to be released back into the wild.

Bruha has been awarded for his efforts in a number of ways including through earning a third place Tulsa Spirit Award.

Having been sprayed by skunks, bitten by raccoons, and chased by geese, producers with Animal Planet recently took note of his mission and personality that is an ideal storyline for a series. The network recently announced the plans and the filming has already begun. The series will be a part of Animal Planet’s 2011 season, but an actual premiere date has yet to be announced.

Entrepreneur Mike Callaway, owner of Cal-Tech , is the 4th Annual SpiritBank/Tulsa Community College Entrepre-neurial Spirit Award winner after competing with over 100 candidates for six months of pitching, coaching and judging.

Callaway received the $30,000 check from SpiritBank and one year of free office space in the Tulsa Collaboratorium from Kanbar Properties as the grand prize winner of the 2010 Spirit Award. Cal-Tech, has developed the next generation hydrogen sulfide removal compound, “Sulfabate,” for treating sour natural gas, sewer gas, and landfill gas.

Callaway, whose background is in the oil and gas industry, makes a product called Sulfabate through his Sapulpa-based company. He compares his product to a filter that removes hazardous compounds from water. Sulfabate does the same thing for natural gas producers.

The Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium has announced Glenn Wright as the new Executive Director. Wright is a native Tulsan and well known in the community for his involvement in the oil and gas business and the aviation industry. Wright was a founding board member of in the 1990s and served as the board president. He was the director of the Tulsa Centennial Airshow in 1997 that featured the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration team. Wright has continued to be a great supporter of since those early days.

Wright brings a wealth of business knowledge in aviation sales and marketing plus he has extensive experience working with nonprofits in the local community. Wright owned and operated Major Controls for over 20 years in Tulsa. As a businessman he flew his own airplanes so that he could travel more efficiently.