Oklahoma Historical Society Sites and Museums

Duke Ligon of Oklahoma City has spent decades as a leader in the oil and gas industry. He has excelled in roles such as owner and chief executive officer of Mekusukey Oil, Co., and senior vice president and general counsel of Devon Energy, Corp., in Oklahoma City. In 2018, Duke Ligon was appointed by Governor Mary Falin to the board of directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society.

The Oklahoma Historical Society’s History Center is a 215,000-square-foot facility that maintains a range of online and in-person educational resources for teachers and students. However, the facility is just one of many museums and historical sites under the organization’s aegis. Museums under the historical society’s stewardship include the Museum of the Western Prairie, which traces the state's origins back to the formation of the Wichita Mountains 300 million years ago, and the Cherokee Strip Museum and Rose Hill School, which features an authentic blacksmith's shop. The society is also responsible for the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center, a 150-acre preservation site along the Arkansas River.

Military sites managed by the society range from battlefields, such as Cabin Creek and Honey Springs, to numerous historic military installations, including Fort Gibson, Fort Supply, and Fort Towson. Finally, multiple historic properties belonging to important state figures are preserved by the historical society. A few of these homes include the A. J. Seay Mansion, established in 1892 by Governor Seay in attempts to position Kingfisher as the territory’s capital, and the home of Fred Drummond, who controlled one of the region’s most successful trading and ranching operations.

Merger and Acquisition Advising by PJ Solomon

Duke Ligon, an energy sector professional with more than five decades of experience, joined the Peter J. Solomon Company (PJ Solomon) as a senior advisor in 2017. In addition to his work as an advisor, Duke Ligon functions as principal owner and chief executive officer of the Mekusukey Oil Company.

A leading financial advisory firm and one of the nation’s first independent investment banks, Peter J. Solomon is active across a range of diverse business sectors, from energy to industrial technology and software. As an advisory firm, PJ Solomon is particularly experienced when it comes to providing creative solutions over the course of mergers and acquisition processes.

The banking team at PJ Solomon has an unrivaled track record when it comes to mergers and acquisitions across all active business sectors. Transactions are always supported with personalized tactics and solutions, though the overarching goal of each transaction is to provide the client and shareholders with optimal long-term value. Services provided by dedicated mergers and acquisition bankers include carrying out sales divestitures, performing extensive valuation analyses, and providing insight as to the ideal timing and structuring of a transaction.

Bankers at PJ Solomon also analyze financial and strategic alternatives that may result in increased shareholder value. To learn more about mergers and acquisitions, as well as other advisory services, please visit www.pjsolomon.com.

Peter J. Solomon Company Offers Special Committee for Objective Advice

Hailing from Oklahoma City, Duke Ligon serves as senior vice president of Mekusukey Oil Company, a private mineral investment firm. Outside of his business, Duke Ligon advises the Peter J. Solomon Company, a Houston-based energy practice.

When large businesses confront financial decisions involving a potential conflict of interest, the best route often can be appointing a special committee made up of independent advisors and external financial experts without a stake in the transaction. The Peter J. Solomon Company provides this professional service to its clients to ensure they have an objective financial advisor available to them who is free of conflicts.

Known as the firm’s Special Committee & Fairness Opinion Practice, this branch of Peter J. Solomon has advised companies on complex, high-stakes deals such as stock-for-stock mergers, joint ventures, cross-border acquisitions, leveraged recapitalizations, and more. The firm guarantees that it has no business or financial conflicts related to securities research, trading, or ownership.

New Client Engagement Process at Heritage Trust

Oklahoma City executive Duke Ligon possesses a diverse professional background with a history of leadership positions within several businesses and organizations. Drawing from over three decades of experience in corporate legal affairs, Duke Ligon serves on the board of directors for Heritage Trust. Heritage staff create customized engagement plans for new clients that accommodate their needs in relation to financial planning, trust administration, and investment, as well as real estate and oil and gas management. 

On their first day with Heritage, new clients work with a relationship manager to execute a trust or agency agreement. The manager will handle the transfer of assets and ensure the completion of all proper documentation. To govern matters going forward, discussions regarding the company’s risk tolerance questionnaire also take place at this point. Over the next two to four weeks, managers will develop and execute the plan as agreed on day one, as well as review account objectives and financial plans and invest in assets according to the plan. 

In addition, clients will receive regular communications from Heritage managers over the course of the agreement. Communications formats include monthly statements, quarterly performance reports, and periodic proactive communications. Clients also meet with managers for an annual review of their agreement which allows them to review the account’s performance and make necessary updates to objectives and financial plans.

Vantage Drilling Company Background

Duke Ligon of Oklahoma City is a senior energy executive with five decades of experience managing and providing counsel to large companies in the energy sector. The former senior vice president of Devon Energy in Oklahoma City, Duke Ligon is a respected advisor who sits on the boards of many notable corporations, including Vantage Drilling Company.

A Houston-based contractor with offshore sites in Malaysia, Congo, and Indonesia, Vantage Drilling Company supplies oil and gas to companies worldwide. According to Vantage Drilling's core values, the company is committed to quality, compliance, and environmentally conscious decision-making. 

Vantage Drilling Company was founded in 2007 and has a workforce of 440 employees around the globe. Besides its own fleet of drillships and jack-ups, Vantage Drilling manages and supervises the construction of rigs owned by other companies. 

Vantage Drilling Company’s chief executive officer, Ihab Toma, was appointed to the position in 2016. Vantage Drilling’s board of directors encompasses highly experienced professionals from the energy and financial sectors.

Blueknight Energy Partners’ Extensive Third-Party Services Portfolio

Based in Oklahoma City, Duke Ligon has an extensive background in corporate litigation and executive experience in the oil and gas and financial sectors. Additionally, Duke Ligon sits on the boards of a number of companies, including Blueknight Energy Partners, LP, headquartered in Oklahoma City.

A limited partnership formed in 2007, Blueknight Energy maintains a portfolio of midstream energy assets spanning services such as processing, terminalling and storage, and transportation. This includes storage capacity for 16.6 million barrels of oil and more than 200 crude oil transport vehicles, as well as liquid asphalt storage facilities and terminals in more than two dozen states. 

Blueknight Energy’s business strategy entails responsively meeting third-party requirements for quality, budget-conscious midstream services in the energy logistics sphere. The firm pursues organic expansion through increasing storage capacities and developing new terminal locations with the aim of boosting its overall revenue profile.

The Nature Conservancy's Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve

Based in Oklahoma City, Duke Ligon maintains a community presence that extends beyond his leadership in the oil and gas industry, financial services, and the law. Duke Ligon serves on the board of directors of the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum, and he is also an active member of the board of the Oklahoma branch of the Nature Conservancy.

One of the Nature Conservancy’s central projects is the nearly 40,000-acre Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, the largest intact remnant of a tallgrass prairie ecosystem that once spanned 14 states. Over the past 30 years, the land has been restored as a fully functioning habitat that sustains 2,500 free-ranging bison and has prescribed burning as part of its management ethos. 

This “patch-burn" strategy is one that is also presented by the Conservancy to ranchers who are seeking environmentally friendly ways of grazing, while ensuring that bottom-line concerns are met. The organization also offers conservation easement arrangements to ranchers seeking to preserve their land in perpetuity.

Panhandle Oil and Gas Names New Board Member

Duke Ligon is a longtime Oklahoma City business executive with a diverse background in oil, law, and finance. In August 2017, Duke Ligon was appointed to the board of directors of Panhandle Oil and Gas, Inc. 

In accepting board membership, Mr. Ligon took on a newly created position that will involve standing for election at the next annual shareholders meeting. Panhandle’s chairman of the board described a sense of enthusiasm at having the Oklahoma City business leader join the board, because in addition to being a longtime company shareholder, he offers a unique combination of Wall Street acumen and oil and gas business experience. 

Panhandle Oil and Gas is a company recognized for its results in the production and exploration of oil and natural gas. Established in Range, Texas County, Oklahoma, in 1926, Panhandle possesses 255,000 fee mineral acres and has royalty and working interests in approximately 6,200 wells. With more than 5,500 shareholders, it pays quarterly dividends on stocks.

UT Austin School of Law Earns Recognition for Value, Small Class Size

A legal and policy expert in the energy field, Oklahoma City resident Duke Ligon is the founder and manager of the Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC, and a senior advisor to the Peter J. Solomon Company. Before embarking on a career in the energy industry, Duke Ligon served in the U.S. Army and attended the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

The University of Texas at Austin School of Law has been ranked highly in recent law school ratings. The school ranks at number six on the U.S. News list of “10 Law Schools with Small Classes.” Texas Law offers nearly 300 upper-level courses with fewer than 25 students in a class.

In addition, a comparative review by the New York Times named Texas Law as one of the top 10 schools in terms of the “best salary-to-debt ratios” among graduates. Other law schools noted for their value included Harvard, Yale and Stanford.

Peter J. Solomon Company Provides Strategic Advisory Services

A respected executive with nearly five decades of experience in the energy sector, Duke Ligon serves as the principal owner and manager of Mekusukey Oil Company in Oklahoma City. Recently, the Peter J. Solomon Company (PJSC) appointed Duke Ligon as a senior advisor to its Energy Advisory Group in Houston, which has enabled the company to expand into the energy sector. 

An investment banking advisory firm, PJSC offers strategic advisory services to senior managers, boards of directors, and chief executive officers. Over the course of almost 30 years, the company has been providing a broad array of advisory services such as restructuring, capital markets solutions, acquisitions, and mergers. Seeking to provide strategic solutions that lead to shareholder value over the long term, the company has advised clients in numerous transactions. PJSC has represented a variety of clients ranging from small, rapidly growing firms to large multinational organizations in sectors such as energy, real estate, technology, and retail.

For the full press release, please visit http://www.pjsc.com/news-and-events/duke-r-ligon-former-devon-energy-executive-joins-peter-j-solomon-company.

Met’s World War I Exhibit Highlights a Harrowing Era

With decades at the helm of major oil, natural gas, and mineral companies in the Oklahoma City area, Duke Ligon is a prominent business executive, attorney, and patron of the arts. He has made significant contributions to local and national arts organizations, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Duke Ligon continues to serve on the museum’s Major Gifts Committee, assisting with long-range planning and development. 

Among the Met’s recent exhibits is one dealing with the artistic legacy of World War I. On view from summer 2017 through the first week of the New Year, “World War I and the Visual Arts” commemorates the Great War’s centenary by showcasing a chronological record of the ways artists came to grips with the war’s devastation of their societies.

The Met’s own collections supply most of the works in the exhibit, which encompasses book illustrations, patriotic posters and prints, photos, drawings, and other materials. The international group of artists included worked in a variety of media and responded to the war with a variety of attitudes, from enthusiastic support to deep pessimism. 

German Dada artist George Grosz, known for his biting social critiques, is among the best-known artists included in the exhibit. The European-born American photographer Edward Steichen, a major influence on photographers to this day, is another.

New Book Outlines the Growth of the Civil War Trust

The founder and CEO of Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Duke Ligon also holds board positions with other oil, mineral, and natural gas companies in the region. Outside of work, Duke Ligon sits on the board of directors for a number of charitable organizations, including the Civil War Trust in Washington, DC.

The Civil War Trust engages in the purchase and preservation of historically significant Civil War sites, and educates the public about the war’s legacy for all Americans. Thanks to its members and donors, the trust has been able to acquire more than 46,000 acres of land in 23 states.

In a new book, the trust memorializes its three decades of work to preserve this vital part of the country’s heritage. Entitled Fighting the Second Civil War: A History of Battlefield Preservation and the Emergence of the Civil War Trust, this 30th-anniversary commemorative volume outlines the growth of the trust, from its grassroots beginnings to its current status as the nation’s premier battlefield preservation organization.

Among the trust’s challenges and triumphs, the book outlines how the group fought the construction of a shopping mall on the site of the Battle of Bull Run and a casino at Gettysburg. The book is available through the trust’s website.

Met’s Simple Gifts Exhibit Spotlights Shaker Culture

Oklahoma City’s Duke Ligon, a strong supporter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, serves on the Major Gifts Committee of the museum’s board of directors. The broadly-experienced energy industry executive, who currently heads Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC, and sits on the board of Oklahoma-based Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P., also works to promote the interests of numerous arts and educational nonprofits. Thanks in part to the dedication of Duke Ligon, these organizations continue to offer major programs that benefit the national community.

In one recent exhibit, which ran from July 2016 to August 2017, the Met focused on the heritage of the Shakers. Through Simple Gifts: Shaker at the Met, museum-goers had the opportunity to learn more about this distinctive American culture and its traditions of heartfelt religious devotion and precision craftsmanship.

Numerous 20th and 21st century artists have absorbed influences from the Shakers, known for their minimalist approach to the construction of furniture, tableware, and household articles. For the exhibition, the museum assembled some of its most representative objects made by members of Shaker communities, which thrived in New York and New England, particularly in the early 1800s.

The Shakers, a dissident religious group focused on the values of peacefulness, communitarianism, work, and simplicity, inspired composer Aaron Copland to create a richly evocative arrangement of their hymn “Simple Gifts” for the 1944 Martha Graham ballet “Appalachian Spring.” The Met’s exhibition paired its Shaker pieces with video footage of the ballet.

The Purpose of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame

Based in Oklahoma City, Duke Ligon is an attorney and businessman with extensive experience in corporate litigation. The founder and the owner of Mekusukey Oil Company, Duke Ligon also serves on the board of directors of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum, located in Oklahoma City.

Founded in 1927, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame is a nonprofit organization created to honor the citizens of Oklahoma who have made an impact in their industry. To this end, it exhibits a showcase of many outstanding Oklahomans who have contributed to the state’s heritage. It also works to facilitate educational programming, including field trips for school-aged students and publications that detail the history of the state.

Essentially a private donation-funded organization, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame is governed by a primary board of directors. Moreover, there is also a teen board comprised of high school students that organize an annual fundraising program and a second century board consisting of young professionals who help to promote the organization in their respective networks. Together, the boards help preserve Oklahoma’s unique history for another generation.

Seurat’s Circus Side Show at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Duke Ligon is an experienced attorney and the current owner and manager of Mekusukey Oil Company near Oklahoma City. Experienced in issues involving energy policies, Duke Ligon previously served as senior vice president of Devon Energy Corporation in Oklahoma City. Outside of his professional work, he supports the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art as a member of the Major Gifts Committee.

Known as The Met, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art occupies three sites in New York, The Met Breuer, The Met Fifth Avenue, and The Met Cloisters. The combined sites showcase more than 5,000 pieces of art and host numerous exhibits throughout the year, such as the upcoming Seurat’s Circus Side Show scheduled for February 17 through May 29, 2017. The exhibit will focus on George Seurat’s work Parade de cirque, or Circus Sideshow, which was painted in 1888. It will also include several accompanying Seurat works as well as more than 100 paintings, drawings, prints, and posters that create the atmosphere of the time period.

Blueknight Energy Partners Demonstrates Community Responsibility

Since founding the Mekusukey Oil Company in 1970, Duke Ligon has become a respected authority on energy production. In addition to managing his own company, he also sits on the board of directors at Emerald Oil, PostRock Energy Corporation, and Panhandle Oil and Gas. In 2008, Duke Ligon took up the role of an independent director and chairman of the board at Blueknight Energy Partners of Oklahoma City, which maintains values of ethics and excellence that reflect his personal commitment to community service.

Blueknight refers to this service as the need to be a “responsible corporate citizen,” one of Blueknight’s core values. This responsibility is demonstrated by maintaining strict safety standards, preserving natural resources, and offering volunteer work and funds for charitable causes.

In 2015, Blueknight made a substantial donation to the Wounded Warrior Project of San Antonio while in the course of building a 160-mile oil pipeline from East Texas to the Houston Ship Channel. Blueknight also named the pipeline the “Knight Warrior” pipeline. 

In another charitable cause, in late 2016, Blueknight participated in a project with Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity. Habitat offers home purchasing options with zero-interest mortgages for low-income families, asking only for 300 hours of volunteer work on the part of the new homeowner, helping to build their own or others’ houses. In the case of this most-recent partnership, 50 employees of Blueknight assisted Habitat in building an addition for a family of first-time homeowners, adding a $10,000 donation to help them be comfortable in their new home.

How the KBH Energy Center Fulfills Its Mission

Based in Oklahoma City, Duke Ligon manages Mekusukey Oil Company, a private mineral investment firm that he founded in 1970. Prior to Mekusukey, he served as senior vice president and general counsel to Devon Energy, located in Oklahoma City. Outside of work, Duke Ligon co-chairs the executive council of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business (KBH Energy Center).

The KBH Energy Center was jointly founded by the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Law and McCombs School of Business in order to accomplish four main objectives: train leaders for the energy sector, produce objective research on issues related to energy, promote conversation, and analyze Latin America’s energy issues.

In order to fulfill its mission, the KBH Energy Center organizes lectures and conferences and publishes research. Topics the center has tackled include the regulation of Texas’ groundwater, the impact of the Endangered Species Act on energy projects, and petroleum development in Mexico. Moreover, classes in law, engineering, and marine sciences are offered through the UT Austin School of Law and McCombs School of Business to train the next generation of leaders on energy issues.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art Offers Dinner and A Movie Package

A former attorney for the Oklahoma-based Mekusukey Oil Company, Duke Ligon possesses more than four decades of experience in the energy and oil industry. Duke Ligon also serves on the board of several community organizations and serves as an officer on the board of trustees for the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA). The museum’s film program offers the Dinner & a Movie package. 

The Dinner & a Movie package invites guests to enjoy a two-course meal at the Museum Café, followed by a film of their choice from the museum’s current film lineup. Available Thursday through Saturday nights, the package guarantees a minimal wait at the Museum Café in the event that all guests order off the Prix-Fixe menu. Guests will also pick up their film tickets during dinner.

Dinner options include a cup of soup with choice of either a house or Caesar salad for the first course and a choice between three dishes for the main course. Main course options consist of a fish, chicken, or pasta dish. In order to ensure enough time to order and complete their meals, guests are recommended to make dinner reservations at least one hour prior to the showing of their selected film.

Dinner & a Movie packages cost $29 per person, not including tax or gratuity. To learn more about the package and currently showing films, visit www.okcmoa.com/dinner-a-movie.

The Civil War Trust – Battlefield Preservation

The former senior vice president of Devon Energy Corporation, Duke Ligon now owns and manages Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC. Mr. Ligon previously was the strategic advisor at Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, based in Oklahoma City. Duke Ligon sits on the board of trustees of the Civil War Trust, an organization dedicated to protecting the battlefields of the American Civil War.

The Civil War Trust notes that 20 percent of American Civil War battlefields have already been destroyed, often due to commercial projects and property development. Further, only 15 percent of the battlefields are part of national parks, leaving 65 percent unprotected.

The Civil War Trust aims to increase the number of protected battlefields and currently works toward saving acreage in Virginia and Mississippi. The trust preserves battlefields by either ensuring the current landowner retains possession of the land, purchasing the land itself, or obtaining a permanent conservation easement.

OKC Philharmonic Foundation Starts Students Young

As a board member for six nonprofit organizations in Oklahoma City, Duke Ligon’s charitable endeavours are wide ranging. Duke Ligon is an attorney with more than 35 years of experience in energy law, while his nonprofit efforts are heavily focused on arts and education, including his position with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation.

In addition to bringing highly-regarded musicians to perform in Oklahoma City’s Civic Center Music Hall, OKC Philharmonic partners with local schools to inspire and entertain students. Eight youth concerts are held each year free of charge for more than 17,000 students in Oklahoma in grades three through five. 

In-school programs and other educational opportunities are also offered for young students who are musically inclined. Sound Images, an art program and contest for students in grades three through eight, aims to foster students’ creativity through orchestral music. The We’ve Got Rhythm program, meanwhile, gives kids an introduction to the orchestra and includes an in-class performance from OKC Philharmonic musicians who are encouraged to engage with students. Various programs and internship opportunities are also offered for high school and college students.