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Duane Wilson

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Distinguished Alumnus Duane Wilson (BS '62) was about to retire when one of the most interesting opportunities of his career as a chemical engineer came along.

After four decades with ConocoPhillips and a few years as the president and chief operating officer of a start-up company, Wilson was ready to dive into retirement when he was contacted about an opportunity to work with former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

Baker had been named chair of an independent review panel convened by British Petroleum to investigate safety practices and safety culture at its five U.S. refineries. The impetus for the review was a tragic accident: a BP refinery explosion in Texas City, Texas, in March 2005 that killed 15 people and injured 170 others.

In response to the accident, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board strongly recommended that BP convene an independent review board to examine safety practices at its refineries. BP complied and tapped Baker as chair. In turn, 10 board members were recruited with expertise in safety systems ranging from nuclear reactor systems to chemical plants to aeronautics and space.

Wilson was the board member who brought a chemical engineering background with years of experience in petroleum refining to the table.

"The board spent 14 intense months studying safety processes in BP's refineries in California, Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Washington," Wilson said. "I've visited dozens of refineries in the course of my career and worked in a number of ConocoPhillips refineries, but this was the first time I had focused exclusively on safety systems."

The findings of the review board were published in January 2007 and contained a number of recommendations for improvement. Among them was the hiring of an independent expert to monitor BP's progress in implementing the panel's recommendations. When BP approached Wilson about the position, he put retirement "on hold" again and took the job.

"The assignment offered a chance to build on everything I've learned in my career as a chemical engineer," Wilson said. "From my very first TU class with Professor Nelson, I've been fascinated by the complexity of petroleum refining. Here was the opportunity to apply that knowledge to the crucial issue of safety."

When he enrolled at TU in 1958, Wilson said he had no doubt what his major would be. "I studied chemistry in Central High School's advanced physical sciences program," he said. "I knew I was meant to become a chemical engineer."

Wilson worked all summer to pay for his first semester at TU, and his earnings paid dividends when the young scholar earned a 4.0 grade point average. For the remainder of his undergraduate years, he received a full scholarship.

"My TU education provided an extraordinary foundation," said Wilson, who studied under Professor Paul Buthod and with the legendary Wilbur L. Nelson, a pioneering scholar in chemical and petroleum refinery engineering who founded TU's Department of Chemical Engineering and authored a classic textbook in the field, "Petroleum Refinery Engineering."

As a protégé of Nelson's, Wilson had an abundance of job offers with major oil companies when he graduated in 1962. He accepted a position with Continental Oil Company (Conoco) working in the company's process engineering organization in Ponca City, Okla.

"In those days, Conoco gave new chemical engineers a copy of Dr. Nelson's book to read," Wilson said. "I had a bit of an advantage over the others because I'd not only read the book, I'd also studied under the author."

Across four decades with Conoco and ConocoPhillips, Wilson held a number of positions including process engineer, manager of process engineering, vice president of research and engineering, and vice president of refining, marketing, supply and transportation - technology. After retiring from the company in 2002, he took on a new challenge at the request of a friend, serving as chief operating officer of a start-up company specializing in Internet-based safety training for a variety of industries.

Wilson was about to retire for a second time when he received the offer to work with Baker. Now, out of the 10 panelists who served on the review panel, only Wilson remains actively involved in the monitoring effort. One year into his commitment to BP that could last up to five years, he continues to monitor safety improvements at the company's five U.S. refineries.

Luckily for TU, Wilson also remains committed to the advancement of his alma mater. As a member of the TU Board of Trustees and chair of the board's technology commercialization committee, Wilson is focused on transforming TU research into patents and products with the potential to generate income. His induction into the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences Hall of Fame in 1988 recognized both his professional success and his service to TU.

Wilson and his wife Helen are members of TU's Circle Society and generous donors to many university projects including a Trustee Scholarship, the W.L. Nelson Chemical Engineering Alumni Scholarship, the Annual Fund for Excellence, H.A. Chapman Stadium, Golden Hurricane Club and the new engineering building that is a centerpiece of TU's "Embrace the Future" campaign. The Wilsons currently serve as cochairs of fundraising for the engineering facility along with Chip (BS '85) and Sharon McElroy (BS '89).

"We believe in giving back to the university that has given so much to us," Wilson said. "We are committed to helping TU reach the top 50."

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The University of Tulsa | Office of Alumni Engagement

800 S. Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK, 74104 | (918) 631-2555 | tualumni@utulsa.edu