George B. Kaiser
George B. Kaiser is President, CEO and owner of GBK Corporation, parent of Kaiser-Francis Oil Company, which he has managed for approximately 50 years. He is Chairman of the Board and majority shareholder of BOK Financial Corporation, the 23rd largest U.S. bank holding company, and controlling shareholder of several oil and gas, manufacturing and technology companies. Excelerate Energy, which he founded, originated the floating LNG regasification business and still has the largest number of ships and terminals. Through Argonaut Private Equity, he has significant interests in more than 50 companies in various industries in the U.S., India, Australia and elsewhere.
Kaiser has been engaged in a number of civic activities. He founded Tulsa Community Foundation and Tulsa Educare, Inc. In education, he chaired the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and was a Trustee at The University of Tulsa and a National Elected Director of the Harvard Alumni Association. In healthcare, he chaired the Board of Trustees of Hillcrest Medical Center and was a member of the boards of the Tulsa Psychiatric Center and the Tulsa Medical Education Foundation. The George Kaiser Family Foundation, Oklahoma’s largest, is focused on 1) equal opportunity for children born into poverty, 2) public health and wellbeing and 3) civic enhancement.
Kaiser attended Tulsa public schools and earned a BA degree from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Chair of the Day
John Higginbotham has served as the Oklahoma City CEO for Bank of Oklahoma for the past three years. Prior to this, John was President of the market and held various management roles during his 31 years with BOK. John is heavily invested in the community through his service on the boards of United Way, the OKC Chamber, Allied Arts, City Rescue Mission, Downtown OKC, Inc., RIED and the OK Health Center Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Governors with the OSU Foundation. John previously served as President for OKC Philharmonic and Canterbury Voices boards. He co-chaired the 2014 and 2015 OKC Chamber TRDC Campaign and was recognized as one of Journal Record’s Most Admired CEOS for the past three years. John is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. He and his wife, Julie, reside in Edmond and have two adult children, Lauren and Stephen and daughter-in-law, Sarah. They are active members of First Presbyterian Church of Edmond.