Eastern Foundation Director Awarded 'Woman Of The Year'
(Press Release 07-31-07)
Hank Mooney, Office of Public Information

Eastern Oklahoma State College Development Foundation Director Ann Owens was recently selected as one of The Journal Record’s 2007 “50 Making a Difference.”

The Journal Record’s Woman of the Year awards banquet will be held Sept. 20. The Oklahoma City newspaper has been recognizing Oklahoma female business and community leaders for 27 years.

The 50 honorees come from all career fields including educational and health care as well as entrepreneurs, politicians and civic volunteers.

Owens came to Eastern as Development Foundation Director in July from McAlester Regional Health Center Foundation where she had been working since 2001.

She said she began her development foundation career with McAlester Regional Hospital.

“The hospital CEO asked me to come to work for the hospital and my job would be to establish the MRHC Foundation.

“The foundation over the last six years raised money for scholarships which went to students majoring in a healthcare field, waiting room renovations and for patients who needed assistance with healthcare needs,” Owens said.

She began her professional career with Southwestern Bell Telephone (now AT&T) in 1973 as a service representative in McAlester.

She spent most of her career, except for two years in St. Louis, working in Tulsa. In 1995 she moved back to McAlester as External Affairs Manager responsible for 22 communities around McAlester until her retirement from the company in 2000.

She is a 1969 McAlester High School graduate, received her Associate in Science from Tulsa Junior College, Bachelor of Human Resources from Southern Nazarene University and her Masters in Management from Southern Nazarene in 1999.

She and her husband Larry live in McAlester and have three children, Brent, 36; Eric, 34 and Ryan 29 and four grandchildren.