Arthur Sapp

Arthur H. Sapp was born in Ravenna, Ohio. Following his graduation from Ohio Wesleyan University, he taught school in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; and Huntington, Indiana. He received his legal education at the University of Chicago and at the Indiana Law School, and began practicing law in Huntington in 1912, and served as district prosecuting attorney for three terms.

Mr. Sapp became a member of the Rotary Club of Huntington in 1917 and was President of that Club. He had served Rotary International as President (in 1927-28), First Vice-President, Director, District Governor and as committee chairman. Mr. Sapp had been a Trustee of DePauw University and Evansville College, President and Director of the Huntington Y.M.C.A., Chairman of the State School Aid Commission, and member of the State Highway Commission. He also had been President of the Rural Bankers Legion Life Insurance Company of South Bend, Indiana.

Herman Scott

Hermon Hosmer Scott was a pioneer in the Hi-Fi industry and founder of H.H. Scott, Inc.. Scott graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a doctorate from Lowell Institute. He later lectured at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business.

Scott’s inventions include the RC oscillator, the selectively tuned RC circuit, a number of RC filters, an improved sweep circuit, and the Dynaural Noise Suppressor. Scott held in excess of 100 patents in electronics. In 1957, the company moved to Maynard, MA. In 1985, the company was purchased by Emerson Electronics. Scott died April 13, 1975, in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

John Scovell

Scovell joined Hunt Oil Company’s real estate division in 1972, and he founded Woodbine with Dallas businessman Ray L. Hunt in October 1973. As president & CEO, Scovell leads the organizational support and direction on Woodbine’s building committee for all projects. Over the years, he championed many commercial real estate projects in downtown Dallas, most notably the Hyatt Regency Dallas with its landmark Reunion Tower, which Woodbine has managed since it opened in 1978. Prior to joining Woodbine, Scovell was a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co., and he worked in the area of commercial auditing, handling a number of accounts with real estate companies and financial institutions.

Scovell played quarterback at Texas Tech University from 1965-67 and graduated No. 1 in his class at Texas Tech’s College of Business in 1968. A former member of the U.S. Army Finance Corps, Scovell received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1970.

A native of Dallas, Scovell attended Hillcrest High School where he was the quarterback for the Panthers football team. John is the son of longtime Dallas ambassador and Cotton Bowl Classic team selection chairman, the late Field Scovell, for whom the Cotton Bowl Trophy is named. John himself served as chairman of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association from 1980-82, and he currently serves on its board of directors.

Scovell is a member of the Texas Tech University Foundation President’s Council, and he is a former member of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents and the school’s alumni association board of directors. He has served many organizations as a president, chairman, board member or trustee, including Children’s Medical Center, Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau Expansion Committee, DowntownDallas (the former Central Dallas Association), Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, JPMorgan Chase & Co., The Real Estate Council of Dallas Advisory Board and the State Fair of Texas.

In 2010, Scovell received the 81st annual Linz Award, one of the highest accolades bestowed in Dallas to an individual or married couple for community or humanitarian service. He is a member of the Texas Tech Athletics Hall of Fame, and he is a recipient of the Texas Tech University Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Scovell was awarded Harmon-Rice-Davis Trophy (scholar/athlete) in 1968 and the 1986 Gardner Award (distinguished alumnus), given by the Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity.

Alex Seropian

Alex Seropian is an American game developer. His first game, Gnop!, was self-published, selling around 2,500 copies. He then formed a partnership with former classmate, Jason Jones, to publish Jones’s nearly complete Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. In 1991, the two formed a partnership and founded their own video game company, Bungie, publishing Jones’s nearly complete Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. Seropian served as CEO as Bungie continued to be successful and published the titles Pathways into Darkness, Marathon, and Halo, which sold over 4 million copies.

In 2002, Seropian left Bungie and two years later founded his own studio called Wide load Games. Wide load produced two games, 2005’s Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse and 2008’s Hail to the Chimp. On September 8, 2009 Disney acquired Wide load. Seropian joined Disney to head its in-house game development team, Disney Interactive Studios. Yet again in 2012, Seropian left Disney and founded a studio named Industrial Toys. The company specializes in mobile games and released its first title, Midnight Star, in February 2015.

Pete Silas

Cecil J. “Pete” Silas retired in 1994 as chairman and chief executive officer of Phillips Petroleum Company which is involved in petroleum exploration and production, refining and marketing, and in the manufacture, distribution, and export of a wide variety of chemicals. He was elected chairman and chief executive officer in 1985 after serving for three years as president and chief operating officer. He began his Phillips career in 1953 as a plastics engineer in the chemicals department and progressed through the company’s ranks during his long and distinguished career.

Mr. Silas served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Phi Delta Theta Educational Foundation from 1995 through 2003 and was named a Trustee Emeritus in 2004. He served as chairman of “The Living Bond” campaign, the Foundation’s comprehensive $5 million capital fund-raising campaign. Silas also served as chairman of a $400 million capital campaign for his alma mater, Georgia Tech.

Silas is past chairman of the board of the American Petroleum Institute and the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. He served on the board of The Atlantic Council; the Frank Phillips Foundation; and the Reader’s Digest Lila Wallace and DeWitt Wallace Foundations. He also served as a member of the board of trustees of the Georgia Tech Foundation.

Pete and his wife, Theo, were instrumental in the creation of the the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Silas served as chairman of the board of National Junior Achievement and is past chairman and a current member of the board of the National Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He also served on the board of directors of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., and Halliburton Company. In addition, Silas was a member of The Council on Foreign Relations and The Business Council.

A former member of the Phillips 66ers basketball team, Silas played on the U.S. team that won the Pan-American games at Mexico City in 1955.

In 1976, the Norwegian government awarded Mr. Silas the Royal Norwegian St. Olav’s Order in the degree of Commander, recognizing his contribution to the development of Norway’s energy and allied industries. It is one of the highest awards bestowed by Norway.

Silas was a member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. He was awarded the American Petroleum Institute Gold Medal Award in 1995. Silas held an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma.

John Smale

John Smale graduated from Miami University in 1949 and joined Proctor & Gamble in 1952. Initially working for what was then called the toilet goods division, he quickly rose through the company. He became the president in charge of all US operations in 1974 and chief executive in 1981. He added the chairmanship in 1986. Under his leadership over his 43 year career, P&G entered 23 new countries, added 15 business categories, and doubled annual sales. He enjoyed his work at P&G and the company will reap the benefits of his leadership for years.

In 1982, while he was the president and chief executive officer of P&G, Smale joined the General Motors board of directors. In 1986 he was names chairman of the board of that company and held the post until his retirement in 1990. During his time at GM, Smale made remarkable changes in leadership, in management structure, and fiscally. He served on the GM board until 2002.

Roger Smith

Smith was the Chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation from 1981 to 1990, and is widely known as the main subject of Michael Moore’s 1989 documentary film Roger & Me. Propelled by industry and market conditions, Smith oversaw some of the most fundamental changes in GM’s history.

When Smith took over GM, it was reeling from its first annual loss since the early 1920s. Its reputation had been tarnished by lawsuits, persistent quality problems, bad labor relations, public protests over the installation of Chevrolet engines in Oldsmobile’s, and by a poorly designed diesel engine. GM was also losing market share to foreign automakers for the first time. Brother Smith passed away in 2007.

Charles Smithgall

Charles A. Smithgall, III was born in Atlanta, Georgia on July 19, 1942. When Charles was six years old, his family moved from Atlanta to Gainesville, Georgia where his dad started a radio station and newspaper. In 1961 Charles graduated from The Baylor School located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After graduating from high school, Charles attended Georgia Institute of Technology, which was also his father’s alma mater. In 1965, Charles graduated from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Industrial Management.

Before Charles’s life in franchising began, he worked in the construction business for Holder Construction until 1975, at which time he left the company to complete the program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. Charles also spent a few years in the media industry, ultimately overseeing cable TV and radio companies. In the mid-1990s, a college buddy who had become an investment banker approached him with a different kind of proposition; one in the franchise world. In 1995, Charles kick started his franchising career with one store in Louisville, KY.  Today, Charles is Chairman and CEO of SEI/Aaron’s, Inc., the largest Aaron’s multi-unit franchisee with 93 stores and annual revenue topping $135 million.

Ralph Sockman

Ralph Washington Sockman was the senior pastor of Christ Church in New York City from 1916 to 1961. He gained national prominence as the featured speaker on the weekly NBC radio program, National Radio Pulpit, which aired from 1928 to 1962.

In 1961, Time reported that Sockman was generally acknowledged as the best Protestant preacher in the U.S.” He was also an esteemed author. Some of his titles include : The Paradoxes of Jesus (1936), Live for Tomorrow (1943), Date With Destiny; A Preamble To Christian Culture (1944), The Lord’s Prayer (1947), and How to Believe, Answering the Questions that Challenge Man’s Faith (1953).

David Steiner

David Steiner is president and chief executive officer for Waste Management. Prior to being elected president and CEO in March 2004, Mr. Steiner was Waste Management’s chief financial officer. Mr. Steiner joined Waste Management in November 2000 as vice president and deputy general counsel and was appointed senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary in July 2001. In April 2003, he was elected CFO. He joined WM from Phelps Dunbar, a law firm in New Orleans, Louisiana. Prior to that, he was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in San Jose, California. Steiner currently serves as a director of Tyco Electronics Corporation and FedEx Corporation.

Waste Management is the largest environmental solutions provider in North America, serving more than 20 million customers in the U.S. and Canada. As part of their strategy, Waste Management is committed to developing new waste solutions that can help communities and organizations achieve their green goals, including zero waste. Waste Management is also a renewable energy provider, producing more than twice the amount of renewable electricity than the entire US solar industry.