METRO MEN OF INFLUENCE
Last month, we featured City Lifestyle’s Women of Influence. This month, we honor six of our community’s outstanding male leaders as our Men of Influence. Here, they share their personal philosophies on the importance of giving back to the community and leadership. Some were expansive in their responses, some more succinct, but all expressed a strong desire to serve and pay it forward for what the community has given them.
DAVID L. BOECK
Associate Professor, Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, The University of Oklahoma
“For me, being an architect puts me in the center of creating the environments that make up the communities, like Norman, to grow in a healthy, supportive place to live. I have participated in many of the community’s activities to identify and structure elements of the community that will support this growth. Being a faculty member in the College of Architecture at OU, I see the importance of educating the students to not only be able to design buildings, but to be able to work in the communities where those buildings are placed, understanding the context of this placement, and seeing beyond the building and its function to its connection with the community. Citizens need to serve on various city commissions and committees to make this all happen.”
ANTHONY BONNER
Oklahoma County District Judge
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" This quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. encapsulates my attitude and approach to leadership. True leadership embodies the ability to inspire others through lending a helping hand, serving as a perpetual resource to the community, and being an example to all. There is no greater way to impact your community than by humbly serving your neighbor. This type of leadership is transformative because it’s embedded and driven by love.”
LARRY HEIKKILA
Norman Mayor
“Retirement afforded me the opportunity to reinvest my life skills and formal education back into my community. As the mayor of Norman, I can apply the practical skills learned and honed during a lifetime of leadership and problem solving. By my nature, I am a builder of systems to attain desired outcomes, and an innovator. Norman voters selected me to lead a transformation of our community, so this transformation must be pragmatic, productive and visionary. I stand humbled and blessed to be charged with this responsibility. I am excited to exceed the voters' expectations as we redefine Norman into a city of excellence.”
MIKE HOANG
Founder and current President, Asian District Cultural Association; Owner, KM Communities
“I believe we are placed in this world to make a difference in the lives of those around us. Our families should be better, our friendships, and our community. At the end of my life, I want it to be said, ‘Because Mike Hoang lived, the world is a better place.’”
ALEXANDER JONES
Urologist, Norman Urology Associates
“I view giving back to the community as a way of paying it forward. I wouldn't be where I am today without the countless family members, mentors, teachers and coaches who generously poured their time and effort into my development. Now that I can stand on my own two feet, I'm hoping to give that same gift to people I come into contact with, whether it be patients or coworkers at Norman Urology Associates, friends and family, or people I meet volunteering with my family. In my little experience, I've learned that giving not only helps others, but it has also brought a sense of joy and purpose to our household that we wouldn't have without it. I want to help make the world a better place for our kids' generations, and I think that can start by doing what we can here in our own communities.”
H. E. “GENE” RAINBOLT
Longtime Oklahoma Banking Leader
Noting that if there is a single driving ambition and philosophy in his life, it would be “the establishment of an Oklahoma in which every child has the opportunity to become all he or she can be,” he added his personal philosophy on giving back to one’s community: "Have a vision for the future with a commitment to action, as opposed to having just words."
INTRODUCING OUR 2022 MEN OF INFLUENCE
DAVID L. BOECK
As an associate professor of architecture at the University of Oklahoma, David L. Boeck focuses on housing issues, including aging in place and creating age-friendly and intergenerational communities. He has integrated Universal Design Principles into all studio projects, along with the concepts of sustainability.
He brings a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to project development in his studio organization and project development, and his research has focused on the development of multidisciplinary tools for evaluating communities in terms of their age-friendliness. This process has included organizing community exhibits that incorporate multidisciplinary participatory action research, as well as dissemination methods.
He is currently working to develop infill age-friendly and affordable housing units in Norman and has been appointed to various ad hoc citizen committees to oversee updates to the city’s ADA Transition Plan and to help develop an accessible housing policy in Norman.
Dave has served on the Historic District Commission, the Planning Commission, the Mayor’s Environmental Concerns Committee, the Norman Senior Association and Union, as well as the Housing Authority and various long-range planning committees.
He earned his bachelor of environmental design, bachelor of architecture and master of architecture degrees from the University of Oklahoma.
JUDGE ANTHONY BONNER
Oklahoma County District Judge Anthony Bonner didn’t originally aim to be a lawyer, but he attended law school after one of his closest cousins went through the criminal justice system. Today, he serves as a district judge in Oklahoma County as well as a civil litigator and trial lawyer with hundreds of cases under his belt.
After graduating OU Law, Anthony volunteered with the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office and interned with a private law firm. He has also served as State Farm in-house counsel with Angela D. Ailles & Associates, Allstate in-house counsel with the Law office of Steve Crittenden, and as an associate attorney with Cathcart & Dooley.
In his mission to help those who struggle, Anthony served as staff counsel with Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, where he provided legal services to the indigent community in the greater Oklahoma City area, including assistance with VPOs, family and domestic disputes, landlord-tenant disputes, and social security benefits. He also fought for maintaining suitable housing for single mothers, obtaining VPOs for domestic violence victims, helping individuals secure Social Security benefits who had no other source of income, and working to increase equal access to justice to Oklahoma courts for everyone, but especially the disenfranchised.
He is also involved with the Douglas High School Academy of Law & Public Safety, Guide Right/Kappa League, Youth Builders Inc., Oklahoma Inner City Youth League and as an Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation little league coach.
LARRY HEIKKILA
Norman Mayor
Larry Heikkila, who will be sworn in as Norman’s new mayor next month, worked for the City of Norman for 17 years, where he was employed as a street supervisor, personnel analyst and safety manager. He served for 26 years in the U.S. Navy, where he achieved the rank of E-9 and supervised and trained over 4,000 personnel. He spent four years in the Submarine Force and 22 years in the Naval Construction Force (SEABEES), eight of those as command master chief. He also worked for eight years in the University of Oklahoma Physical Plant.
He and his wife of 45 years, Janet, have lived in Norman since 1978, and owned a small business on Main Street for four years. They have two grown children.
Larry has given back to the community in a variety of ways, including as a chaplain and volunteer with Mission Norman and as an Oklahoma Jail and Prison Ministries chaplain reporting to the Cleveland County Detention Center. He has been a member of the American Legion Post 77 for 19 years, is an ordained deacon and Sunday school teacher at Bethel Baptist Church, and serves as treasurer for Gideons International, Norman camp.
MIKE HOANG
Mike Hoang is a founder and current president of the Asian District Cultural Association in Oklahoma City and owner of KM Communities, a social enterprise merging residential real estate investment and
community development. He was recognized as among the top up and coming leaders in Oklahoma City under 30 years old, becoming financially independent at the age of 31.
After the Communist takeover of South Vietnam, Mike’s father led a perilous expedition of 70 people to escape the country. As refugees in a new world, they were not a stranger to poverty. Through sheer grit and hard work, Mike’s family thrived in the United States.
As a keynote speaker, Mike uses his experience in business and his family’s journey as immigrants to the United States as a platform to influence and inspire others. He has been invited to speak around the country and has spoken to crowds upward of 25,000 people.
Mike accounts his drive to succeed in business and leadership to his family’s Vietnamese heritage and his faith.
ALEXANDER JONES
Dr. Alexander B. Jones is a board-certified urologist. He completed his undergraduate years at Oklahoma State University in 2010 and medical school at the OU College of Medicine in 2014. He then went on to complete his general surgery internship and residency in urologic surgery at the University of Missouri - Columbia in 2019 and moved to Norman to join Norman Urology Associates shortly thereafter.
Alexander lives in Norman with his wife and high school sweetheart, Blair, and their children: daughter, Liv, 4; son, Rory, 1, and two Australian shepherds, Benson and Beau. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, biking and spending time outdoors.
Currently, the couple is involved with a new nonprofit called Doing What I Can, whose mission is to enrich the lives of neighbors experiencing homelessness by sharing a meal, some basic supplies and the love of Christ while meeting the neighbors where they are. Currently, DWIC serves 150-200 lunches to homeless neighbors every Sunday afternoon. While Alex and Blair help pack lunches, their children are decorate the lunch sacks.
H.E. GENE RAINBOLT
In 1962, Gene Rainbolt acquired his first bank, the First American Bank in Purcell. In 1965 he acquired Federal National Bank in Shawnee, and in 1967 he and a group of investors commenced acquiring banks in Oklahoma, which led in 1985 to the formation of United Community Corp., the state’s first multi-bank holding company. In 1989, BancFirst was founded; it is now the largest state-chartered bank in Oklahoma, with assets of $9.6 billion and offices in 59 communities in Oklahoma, and Pegasus Bank, with three banking locations in Dallas.
In 1999, Gene was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. He has received honorary doctorates from Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma City University and Oklahoma Christian University. He has served in numerous civic, economic development, chamber of commerce, youth, medical, zoological, arts and banking organizations. One of his most recent projects is enhancing the entrepreneurial classes and entrepreneurial activities at universities in Oklahoma.
Gene has served as president of the Oklahoma Bankers Association and chairman of the Academy for State Goals and the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce, and he is a former director of Leadership Oklahoma and the Great Expectations Foundation. He was a founding director of Calm Waters and has served on many other charitable boards.
He also is a member of the Leadership Council of the OU Health Charles and Peggy Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center and recently served on the Board of Visitors of M.D. Anderson Foundation. He and his family are committed supporters of OU, the OU Health Sciences Center and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.