DA V ID H .
Batchelder David H. Batchelder, of San Diego, graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He grew up in Bartlesville, Okla., and is a founder and principal of Relational Investors LLC. Batchelder has more than 30 years of financial management, mergers and acquisitions experience. While at OSU, Batchelder was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and received numerous awards for outstanding scholarship. In 1971, he began his career as an audit manager and certified public accountant for Deloitte & Touche LLP. From 1978 to 1988, Batchelder held several executive positions with Mesa Petroleum Co. and was named president and chief operating officer in 1986. He was responsible for Mesa’s investments, acquisitions and financing activities and was a member of the company’s board of directors. In 1996, Batchelder co-founded Relational Investors, an activist investment fund with $6 billion under management and serving some of the largest pension funds in the world. The firm engages the management, boards of directors and shareholders of portfolio companies to build consensus for change designed to improve shareholder value. Batchelder has served as a director of Allwaste, Apria Healthcare Group, ConAgra Foods, Intuit, Home Depot, ICN Pharmaceuticals, Mac Frugal’s, Mesa, Nuevo Energy Co., Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corp. and Washington Group International. Five of these public companies were in the Fortune 500 during his service. In 2005, Batchelder was the featured speaker at the Spears School of Business CEO Day. He endowed the David H. Batchelder President’s Distinguished Scholarship and served as a 2003 Homecoming judge. Batchelder and his family donated to the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center, and the fireplace in Traditions Hall is named after his father. He is a horse-racing enthusiast and serves on the board of directors for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in California. The OSU School of Accounting named Batchelder a Distinguished Alumni in 2009, and he was inducted into the Spears School of Business Hall of Fame in 2011. Batchelder is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association. Batchelder and his wife, Sylvia, reside in San Diego. He has three children and three grandchildren.
Scan this QR code on your mobile device or go to gopok.es/osuhof13 to view the induction videos of this year’s honorees.
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