Tulsa Press Club Honors Headliners
HEADLINERS: This year’s Tulsa Press Club Headliners are all smiles as they display their drawings by cartoonist Bruce Plante. From left are Mark Graham, Shaniqua Ray, Dr. Deborah Gist and Tony Moore.
This year’s Tulsa Press Club Headliners were honored Sept. 20 at the Helmerich Center for American Research at Gilcrease Museum. The honorees are Mark Graham, retired president and of the Tulsa Area United Way; Tulsa Teachers, with Superintendent Dr. Deborah Gist and 2018 Tulsa Teacher of the Year Shaniqua Ray; and Tony Moore, park director of Gathering Place and Guthrie Green.
With Graham’s 10-year tenure at its helm, the Tulsa Area United Way raised more than $252 million, which is one-third of the total the raised over 90 years. He also helped start the Women’s Leadership Council and the Emerging Leaders Society to ensure Tulsa’s under-represented perspectives were at the United Way table.
Moore officially began his role as Park Director for the Gathering Place in August 2016 and has led a team to complete the $465-million public park. Moore’s experience from Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando has been instrumental in preparing Gathering Place for its global debut last month.
His background working in the entertainment park industry spans more than 30 years and began with his first job as a part-time operations employee at Sea World. He went on to work in various roles, including marketing, environmental health and safety, and culinary operations, at a number of Orlando-area entertainment parks. Most recently, Moore served as Chief Operating Officer at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, one of the most visited zoos in the southeast U.S.
Tulsa teachers have made headlines for their perseverance, their leadership in the April 2018 walk-out and for helping advocate for a statewide teacher pay-raise. Long underfunded, Tulsa schools have led the conversation about the connection between quality education and economic development and quality of life.
Presenting sponsor for the event was a partnership among Bank of Oklahoma, Frederic Dorwart Lawyers and Tulsa Community Foundation.
Publisher-level sponsors included Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation Businesses and George Kaiser Family Foundation.
Editor-level sponsors were the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation, Samson Energy and Tulsa Regional Chamber.
Reporter-level sponsors were Crossland Construction Company, Greater Tulsa Reporter Newspapers, Enterprises, Mabrey Bank, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Schnake Turnbo Frank, Federal Credit Union and Tulsa Drillers-Tulsa Roughnecks FC.
The event was hosted by the University of Tulsa.
The Tulsa Press Club is located in the first floor of the Atlas Life Building at 415 S. Boston Ave., and awards journalism scholarships and recognizes radio, television and press icons.
In addition to the Headliners, the Tulsa Press Club also hosts the Legislative Reception, First Draft, Page One Luncheons, Great Plains Journalism Awards and the Newsie Awards.
Updated 10-15-2018
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