Trusting Gut Instincts By: Noelle Bartl Alumnus Burk Ellison (BBA 80) has trusted his gut instincts for years and it has served him well. While in high school in Albuquerque, Burk’s parents encouraged him to go to UNM, however, his gut instinct told him to go to ENMU with his friend Steve Hodge (attended). This big decision opened a path that led Burk to his current position as the president of DistributionNOW’s (ticker symbol DNOW) Supply Chain Services in Houston, and in meeting his wife Kathy.
could really connect with his professors, Burk stated, “One in particular, Dr. Finical, took me under his wing and provided guidance as I navigated my courses.” With help from Dr. Finical and his other professors, Burk graduated cum laude and went on to a 37-year career in the oil and gas supply industry. It opened doors for him to travel the world, meet fascinating people and even be a part of ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
During his first semester at ENMU, a couple of friends, Steve Wells (BS 78) and Phil Demmel (MBA 80), encouraged Burk to join the PIKE fraternity and try out for the basketball team. So he did, and he made the team! He played under Coach Sterling Gibson (MA 62) and with some of ENMU’s great players, Bob Kirkley (BS 78), Reggie Hawkins, Dana Altman (BBA 80) and Doug Gibson (BS 80). He was also blessed to meet his wife Kathy (Wendland) (attended) who was a fellow athlete playing on the Zia volleyball (1978-80) and basketball teams (1978-79). The couple would like people to believe that their love story began when they met in the Greyhound Arena training room, when in actuality they met at a PIKE fraternity party … a tale as old as time.
DistributionNOW currently has over 300 locations in 20 countries and more than 4,500 employees. Burk described the company for us non-oil-industry folks as the “Walmart of the oil and gas industry, providing oilfield equipment, services and supplies for the upstream, midstream and downstream markets all over the world.” Burk has traveled to 33 countries; places like Angola, Egypt, Malaysia, the Middle East, Scotland and Russia. He has enjoyed traveling to most but claimed his favorites were Australia and the United Arab Emirates ... except when temperatures reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I loved Portales and ENMU was awesome,” remembers the 1980 Marketing Student of the Year. When recalling how he
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Green & Silver | December 2017
“I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of smart people who have taken DNOW from a business segment of National Oilwell Varco (NOV), to its own publicly traded company in 2014,” Burk acknowledges. “The DNOW team are my second family. It is important to me to make sure my ‘family’ is taken care of,” stated Burk, who arrives at work every day by 5 a.m.
