EDMOND — A pair of Oklahoma Christian administrators have become finalists as the process to name the next OC president continues, officials announced Tuesday.

The 10-member OC Presidential Search Committee unanimously approved forwarding the finalists to its Board of Trustees with a recommendation to advance the process to the next stage — involving campus interaction with faculty, staff and students.

During a special meeting Monday evening, the board accepted the committee’s recommendation of the two finalists: John deSteiguer, OC’s senior vice president for advancement, and Allison Garrett, OC’s senior vice president for academic affairs.

Michelle Stephens, search committee chair, said the panel had some outstanding candidates with the skills needed to serve as president of the exceptional university. The decision comes after six months of consideration and deliberation.

“We were impressed with the quality and quantity of candidates who applied for the position,” Stephens said.

Stephens said the committee identified “two truly exceptional candidates who demonstrated great enthusiasm for OC and its future.”

The 35-member OC Board of Trustees also unanimously accepted the recommendations of the two finalists submitted by the search committee.

Don Millican, Board of Trustees chair, said OC experienced solid leadership under President Mike O’Neal, who became OC’s fifth president in 2002. He will retire in 2012. Call for nominations was officially under way in July 2011.

Millican said OC must select an individual who is capable and ready to move the university forward. He said the candidates are not only qualified from an experience standpoint, but both of them also reflect the strong Christian character OC seeks in its president.

DeSteiguer was recruited to the OC campus in 2002 as part of O’Neal’s new administration. At the time, he was a senior development officer at Northeastern Oklahoma State University in Tahlequah. He helped the university raise gifts topping $100 million.

A highlight of deSteiguer’s tenure at OC was the $60 million Higher Learning~Higher Calling fundraising campaign completed nearly two years ahead of schedule in 2007. It included $7.5 million for the Science Facility Initiative, the new Lawson Commons, four new endowed chairs and more than 60 new or enhanced scholarship, operating and maintenance endowments.

Before coming to OC, deSteiguer practiced law in the Dallas-based firm of Haynes and Boone. He also served as a youth minister and campus minister in his hometown of Tahlequah.

Locally, he is a member of civic organizations including the Edmond Chamber of Commerce’s executive committee, the Oklahoma Planned Giving Council, the Edmond Rotary Club and the Oklahoma Bar Association.

Allison Garrett, a 1982 undergraduate student, graduated from OC in just two years and then earned law degrees at the University of Tulsa and Georgetown University. She is a member of both the Oklahoma and Arkansas bars.

Her professional experience includes a decade working for Walmart at Bentonville, Ark., where she served as vice president of benefits compliance and planning, vice president and general counsel, corporate division and assistant secretary. She oversaw large staffs and had budgetary responsibility for more than $550 million.

Her early career included time as a staff attorney for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission in Washington, and as an associate attorney for Pray, Walker, Jackman, Williamson & Marlar in Tulsa.

She was named to the OC Board of Trustees in 2003, at which time she also departed the corporate world for academia as an associate professor of law at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala.

In 2007, Garrett was named OC’s vice president for academic affairs. In her current role as senior vice president for academic affairs, she oversees the faculty, supervises three colleges and graduate studies and related academic functions. She led a revision of OC’s core curriculum, and facilitated growth in graduate programs, international recruiting and the honors program. She also teaches business law.

She co-chairs the board of the Dallas-based National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, and is active with the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce Advisory Board. She is a published author on a variety of international, corporate governance and pharmacy law topics.

The Board of Trustees will conduct interviews with each nominee and will hold town hall-type gatherings for faculty, staff, students and alumni before a new president is named.

Millican said the board expects to name a new president at its February board meeting.

Established in 1950 as Central Christian College with an enrollment of 97, OC has grown into a comprehensive university serving more than 2,100 students. OC’s 200-plus acre campus is on Memorial Road just south of Edmond.



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