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.