Collins College of Business recognizes outstanding alumni and students

Congratulations to all those honored at the Spring 2023 Graduation Reception and Awards Ceremony.

This year’s Outstanding Alumni honoree is Dax Craig (BSBA ’91), co-founder and president of Pie Insurance. Craig oversees Pie's sales, business development, engineering, underwriting, product and analytics functions. Prior to Pie, Craig was co-founder and CEO of Valen Analytics, where he oversaw the company’s growth and 2017 sale to Insurity. During his time as a graduate student, he founded Xertex Technologies, ultimately selling to Centurion Wireless. Craig serves as a member of the Collins College of Business Advisory Board. He is a proud long-term member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.

The 2023 Fast Track Alumni honoree is Thomas Porter (BSBA ’14), who began his career with ConocoPhillips in Houston. Porter now works as a land negotiator advisor for Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) in Denver, where he leads contract negotiations and manages mineral rights for the development of oil and gas wells in Colorado’s premier DJ Basin. In 2021, Thomas was appointed to Oxy’s global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee. A past president of the TU Alumni Association’s Houston Chapter, Porter is also an inaugural member of TU’s Black Alumni Leadership Council and president-elect for the National Alumni Association Board of Directors. He is a member of the American Association of Professional landmen, a registered professional landmen and past president of the Denver Association of Professional Landmen. Chosen by our faculty, the following undergraduate students were honored this spring as David R. Lawson Outstanding Seniors for distinguishing themselves in their coursework, as well as leadership and service to the college:

• Mans Ingvarson (Economics)

• Kaitlyn Short (International Business)

• Shyam Subramanian (Computer Information Systems)

Also chosen by the faculty of each major discipline, the following undergraduate students were recognized as Outstanding Seniors by discipline for their exceptional work in their major area of study:

• Stephanie Ayala (Accounting)

• Blake Chrismer (Business and Law)

• Sean Williams (Computer Information Systems)

• Alexandra Lesner (Energy Management)

• Andrew Wyper (Finance)

• Meadow Waleska (International Business)

• Robert Kullberg (Management)

• Carly Sivils (Marketing)

The 2023 Tulsa Energy Management Student Association award recipients were:

• Outstanding Senior: Christopher Klimek

• Outstanding Academic Achievement: Brett Bowman

• Michael “Dex” Brown Energy Management Scholarship: Jonathan Fisher

Thomas Porter