NEWS
Distinguished alumni to be honored at Alumni Awards Luncheon
Louisiana Tech University will honor distinguished alumni as part of Homecoming Week 2015 during the annual Alumni Awards Luncheon at noon Friday, Nov. 6 in the club level of the Davison Athletics Complex.
George Baldwin, a 1978 petroleum engineering graduate, has been named as the 2015 Louisiana Tech Alumnus of the Year; and Justin Bounds, a 2011 mechanical engineering graduate, and Joshua Gidlow, a 2011 mechanical engineering graduate, have been named the 2015 Young Alums of the Year. In addition to Baldwin, Bounds and Gidlow, five other Louisiana Tech graduates will be designated Distinguished Alumni in their respective colleges.
Tickets for the luncheon are $25 per person or $200 for a reserved table of eight. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Louisiana Tech Marbury Alumni Center at (318) 255-7950 or visiting www.latechalumni.org/2015alumniawards.
George A. Baldwin Jr. is a petroleum engineer and president and CEO of EnSight IV Energy Partners in Shreveport.
After graduation, Baldwin married his college sweetheart, Jean Anne Murphy and began his career in the oil and gas business as a petroleum engineer with Arkla Exploration Company. After two years with Arkla, he worked for a consulting firm in Dallas and independent energy companies in Shreveport and Houston. Baldwin returned to Shreveport with Arkla in 1986 and remained there until 1992.
Shortly thereafter, Baldwin joined Brammer Engineering in Shreveport and, together with principals of Brammer and Keystone Exploration, formed Brammer-Keystone Energy in 1994. He became president of Brammer-Keystone in 1997 and presided over the reorganization of the company as EnSight Resources and the sale of the company in 2001. Baldwin and his long-time business associate, friend and fellow Tech alumnus, Gregory K. Madden, then successfully built and sold EnSight Energy Partners and EnSight III Energy Partners. Following the sale of EnSight III in 2008, Baldwin and Madden formed Baldwin Madden Energy, an oil and gas acquisition, development and investment company. In June, Baldwin Madden launched EnSight IV Energy Partners to pursue oil and gas opportunities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Baldwin is a Registered Professional Engineer in Louisiana. He serves on the Boards of TDX Energy and CyberReef Solutions and on the Advisory Committee of the New Louisiana Angel Fund 1. He also serves on the Board of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and is a member of First United Methodist Church, where he is currently Chairman of the Church Council. Baldwin is a lifetime member of the Louisiana Tech Alumni Association, a director of the University Foundation and a past director and officer of the Engineering and Science Foundation.
Justin Bounds is employed at ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge as an engineering and inspection section supervisor. He is the supervisor over group of engineers and inspectors responsible for ensuring mechanical integrity and associated regulatory compliance of refinery equipment.
In August 2011, Bounds was mechanical contact engineer for the company, where he worked with an inspection group to ensure refinery piping and fixed equipment complied with all applicable codes, standards, and regulations. He responded to unexpected refinery equipment issues with engineered solutions that minimized business losses.
Bounds worked as lead night mechanical engineer on two major unit shutdown maintenance events. In December 2013, Bounds lead and managed a tank maintenance group for ExxonMobil. He managed a team of 12 employees and 120 contractors in the planning, scheduling, and execution of annual storage tank maintenance project, then in September of this year, he was moved to his current position.
Joshua Gidlow is a construction engineer and system owner for Banyu Urip Project, Mobil Cepu Limited, Indonesia, where he coordinates multi-discipline construction and commissioning of 27 critical utility sub-systems, identifying misalignment between materials, craft labor, construction sequencing to improve schedule. When assigned as system owner for two early production initiatives, Gidlow delivered on-time turnover of minimum scope for additional 50,000 barrels/day liquids production. He was also the project representative in operations early oil readiness review.
Gidlow leads review of subcontractor leak test plans, implementing risk-based change to allow testing through pumps. He has reduced test campaign duration and eliminated 108 witness joints in a sour service facility. Gidlow also provided oversight to pre-commission teams conducting pump cold alignments: tolerances, activity sequencing, methodology, and work prioritization per API RP 686 and mentored early career engineers on construction engineer / system owner role – use of project specifications, interpretation of P&IDs, best practices from PNG LNG project execution.
Wesley Madden is the College of Applied and Natural Sciences Distinguished Alumnus for 2015. A 1999 graduate in nursing, Madden started working with St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe as a surgical intensive care nurse. He was also involved in Electronic Health Initiatives as a super user and implementation team member. Madden began to see he still enjoyed working with technology and had the opportunity to effect change for all of the other clinicians in his area with improved documentation and work flow.
After transitioning to P & S Surgical hospital in Monroe, Madden was once again part of an electronic medical record initiative. He completed his bachelor’s degree in nursing as he transitioned to a full time position in the information technology department at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. While working at Jefferson, he had the opportunity to be involved with their medical device integration project. He witnessed an immediate positive impact to clinicians all over the hospital.
Using DeviceConX software, he and the clinicians were able to automate the flow of device data from all of the devices connect to their patients. He ultimately accepted a position with iSirona, a medical device integration software company that designed DeviceConX, as a Clinical Analyst and Clinical Design consultant. During this time he traveled the United States and implemented DeviceConX and continued to see the need for medical device integration in all aspects of care ranging from large research institutions down to rural clinics and hospitals. iSirona continued to grow and afforded him the opportunity to advance to become the vice president of Sales Support. Madden began to travel the world to sell DeviceConX. He has had the opportunity to see how healthcare is being practiced in many other countries including China, Denmark and Singapore. In 2014 iSirona was acquired by Nanthealth, a transformational health care company.
The College of Business will recognize Donald LeBlanc Jr., a 1979 accounting graduate, as its Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. LeBlanc is a member of the KPMG LLP Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Finance and Operations Committee of the firm’s Board. In addition, he is the Global Lead Partner for AT&T and CenturyLink and is a tax partner based in the Shreveport office and was elected to the Board in 2013. LeBlanc joined KPMG in 1979 in audit, transferred to tax in 1981 and became a partner in 1988.
LeBlanc is a member of the Louisiana Tech College of Business Advisory Board and past president of the Tech Accounting Advisory Board as well as a member of the LSUS Foundation. LeBlanc has been a guest lecture/teacher at colleges including Louisiana Tech University. He has attended and participated in executive education programs at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and the International Institute for Management Development Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.
LeBlanc holds a CPA license in the states of Louisiana and Texas and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as the Louisiana Society of Certified Public Accountants.
William Ware and Pamela Ware have been named the College of Education’s Distinguished Alumni for 2015. A 1962 English and speech education graduate, Pamela Ware resides in Gainesville, Georgia, and works full time at Gainesville High School and part time with Gainesville Parks and Recreation Department. Over the years, Ware has produced over 400 musicals and plays at Gainesville High School and in her role as director for Gainesville Parks and Recreation Summer Theater. She has also established two intensified summer workshop in musical theater for elementary children that culminates in a production for the public.
William Ware, a 1962 physical education graduate of Louisiana Tech, is a professor and dean emeritus at Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. After graduation, Ware was a general science, biology and physical education teacher and assistant coach at A.G. Parish High School in Selma, Alabama, until 1966. After, he became chairperson of the high school’s physical education department and head football and track coach. In 1968, Ware became the school’s counselor and two years became the assistant principal and director of guidance.
From 1972 to 1973, William Ware became the director of guidance for Brookstone School in Columbus, Georgia and later became the project director of ESEA Title III and counselor education project form Pioneer RESA in Cleveland, Georgia. He then became the principal of Fair Street Elementary School in Gainesville until 1978. Ware later became a professor and chairperson of Brenau College’s department of education until 1995, when he moved on to become the university’s School of Education dean.
Charles Spruell has been honored as the College of Engineering and Science’s Distinguished Alumnus for 2015. Spruell, a 1957 and 1964 petroleum engineering graduate, serves as a director of the Louisiana Tech University Foundation Board. In 1957, he started his career by planning and engineering assignments in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New York headquarter until 1976, where he became general manager for Energy Minerals until 1980. Spruell then became the chairman and president of Mobile North Sea, Ltd., in London until 1982.
In 1984, Spruell became vice president of Mobil International Producing Operations in New York until 1987, when he became the president and general manager of Mobil Exploration and Producing U.S. in Dallas until his retirement in 1994. He has also participated in various outside civic and oil industry activities, including serving as chairman from 1994-1995 of the Dallas Wildcat Committee, a prestigious limited membership group of energy executives.
Kenneth Rea, a 1966 history graduate, is the College of Liberal Arts’ 2015 Alumnus of the Year. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of Colorado in 1968 and 1970, respectively. Beginning his career at Louisiana Tech as an assistant professor of history, Rea held a number of positions in the College of Arts and Sciences under Dean Paul Pennington before being chosen by President Dan Reneau to serve as vice president for academic affairs, a post he held for 25 years until his retirement in 2012.
During Rea’s tenure as vice president, the university added doctoral programs in education, engineering, computational analysis, counseling psychology, audiology, industrial and organizational psychology, and molecular science and nanotechnology; the university also created 14 new masters and graduate certificate programs and established 14 academic and research centers. Rea also represented the university and the University of Louisiana System on numerous statewide committees, including two terms on the Louisiana Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission for Educational Excellence, Chair of the Louisiana Board of Regents’ Support Funding Planning Committee, Louisiana Library Network Commission, Regents’ Task Force on General Education, and Chair of the Regents’ Task Force on International Education.
Written by Frederdreia Willis
George Baldwin, a 1978 petroleum engineering graduate, has been named as the 2015 Louisiana Tech Alumnus of the Year; and Justin Bounds, a 2011 mechanical engineering graduate, and Joshua Gidlow, a 2011 mechanical engineering graduate, have been named the 2015 Young Alums of the Year. In addition to Baldwin, Bounds and Gidlow, five other Louisiana Tech graduates will be designated Distinguished Alumni in their respective colleges.
George Baldwin – 2015 Louisiana Tech Alumnus of the Year
Tickets for the luncheon are $25 per person or $200 for a reserved table of eight. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Louisiana Tech Marbury Alumni Center at (318) 255-7950 or visiting www.latechalumni.org/2015alumniawards.
George A. Baldwin Jr. is a petroleum engineer and president and CEO of EnSight IV Energy Partners in Shreveport.
After graduation, Baldwin married his college sweetheart, Jean Anne Murphy and began his career in the oil and gas business as a petroleum engineer with Arkla Exploration Company. After two years with Arkla, he worked for a consulting firm in Dallas and independent energy companies in Shreveport and Houston. Baldwin returned to Shreveport with Arkla in 1986 and remained there until 1992.
Shortly thereafter, Baldwin joined Brammer Engineering in Shreveport and, together with principals of Brammer and Keystone Exploration, formed Brammer-Keystone Energy in 1994. He became president of Brammer-Keystone in 1997 and presided over the reorganization of the company as EnSight Resources and the sale of the company in 2001. Baldwin and his long-time business associate, friend and fellow Tech alumnus, Gregory K. Madden, then successfully built and sold EnSight Energy Partners and EnSight III Energy Partners. Following the sale of EnSight III in 2008, Baldwin and Madden formed Baldwin Madden Energy, an oil and gas acquisition, development and investment company. In June, Baldwin Madden launched EnSight IV Energy Partners to pursue oil and gas opportunities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Baldwin is a Registered Professional Engineer in Louisiana. He serves on the Boards of TDX Energy and CyberReef Solutions and on the Advisory Committee of the New Louisiana Angel Fund 1. He also serves on the Board of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and is a member of First United Methodist Church, where he is currently Chairman of the Church Council. Baldwin is a lifetime member of the Louisiana Tech Alumni Association, a director of the University Foundation and a past director and officer of the Engineering and Science Foundation.
Justin Bounds is employed at ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge as an engineering and inspection section supervisor. He is the supervisor over group of engineers and inspectors responsible for ensuring mechanical integrity and associated regulatory compliance of refinery equipment.
In August 2011, Bounds was mechanical contact engineer for the company, where he worked with an inspection group to ensure refinery piping and fixed equipment complied with all applicable codes, standards, and regulations. He responded to unexpected refinery equipment issues with engineered solutions that minimized business losses.
Bounds worked as lead night mechanical engineer on two major unit shutdown maintenance events. In December 2013, Bounds lead and managed a tank maintenance group for ExxonMobil. He managed a team of 12 employees and 120 contractors in the planning, scheduling, and execution of annual storage tank maintenance project, then in September of this year, he was moved to his current position.
Joshua Gidlow is a construction engineer and system owner for Banyu Urip Project, Mobil Cepu Limited, Indonesia, where he coordinates multi-discipline construction and commissioning of 27 critical utility sub-systems, identifying misalignment between materials, craft labor, construction sequencing to improve schedule. When assigned as system owner for two early production initiatives, Gidlow delivered on-time turnover of minimum scope for additional 50,000 barrels/day liquids production. He was also the project representative in operations early oil readiness review.
Gidlow leads review of subcontractor leak test plans, implementing risk-based change to allow testing through pumps. He has reduced test campaign duration and eliminated 108 witness joints in a sour service facility. Gidlow also provided oversight to pre-commission teams conducting pump cold alignments: tolerances, activity sequencing, methodology, and work prioritization per API RP 686 and mentored early career engineers on construction engineer / system owner role – use of project specifications, interpretation of P&IDs, best practices from PNG LNG project execution.
Wesley Madden is the College of Applied and Natural Sciences Distinguished Alumnus for 2015. A 1999 graduate in nursing, Madden started working with St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe as a surgical intensive care nurse. He was also involved in Electronic Health Initiatives as a super user and implementation team member. Madden began to see he still enjoyed working with technology and had the opportunity to effect change for all of the other clinicians in his area with improved documentation and work flow.
After transitioning to P & S Surgical hospital in Monroe, Madden was once again part of an electronic medical record initiative. He completed his bachelor’s degree in nursing as he transitioned to a full time position in the information technology department at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. While working at Jefferson, he had the opportunity to be involved with their medical device integration project. He witnessed an immediate positive impact to clinicians all over the hospital.
Using DeviceConX software, he and the clinicians were able to automate the flow of device data from all of the devices connect to their patients. He ultimately accepted a position with iSirona, a medical device integration software company that designed DeviceConX, as a Clinical Analyst and Clinical Design consultant. During this time he traveled the United States and implemented DeviceConX and continued to see the need for medical device integration in all aspects of care ranging from large research institutions down to rural clinics and hospitals. iSirona continued to grow and afforded him the opportunity to advance to become the vice president of Sales Support. Madden began to travel the world to sell DeviceConX. He has had the opportunity to see how healthcare is being practiced in many other countries including China, Denmark and Singapore. In 2014 iSirona was acquired by Nanthealth, a transformational health care company.
The College of Business will recognize Donald LeBlanc Jr., a 1979 accounting graduate, as its Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. LeBlanc is a member of the KPMG LLP Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Finance and Operations Committee of the firm’s Board. In addition, he is the Global Lead Partner for AT&T and CenturyLink and is a tax partner based in the Shreveport office and was elected to the Board in 2013. LeBlanc joined KPMG in 1979 in audit, transferred to tax in 1981 and became a partner in 1988.
LeBlanc is a member of the Louisiana Tech College of Business Advisory Board and past president of the Tech Accounting Advisory Board as well as a member of the LSUS Foundation. LeBlanc has been a guest lecture/teacher at colleges including Louisiana Tech University. He has attended and participated in executive education programs at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and the International Institute for Management Development Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.
LeBlanc holds a CPA license in the states of Louisiana and Texas and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as the Louisiana Society of Certified Public Accountants.
William Ware and Pamela Ware have been named the College of Education’s Distinguished Alumni for 2015. A 1962 English and speech education graduate, Pamela Ware resides in Gainesville, Georgia, and works full time at Gainesville High School and part time with Gainesville Parks and Recreation Department. Over the years, Ware has produced over 400 musicals and plays at Gainesville High School and in her role as director for Gainesville Parks and Recreation Summer Theater. She has also established two intensified summer workshop in musical theater for elementary children that culminates in a production for the public.
William Ware, a 1962 physical education graduate of Louisiana Tech, is a professor and dean emeritus at Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. After graduation, Ware was a general science, biology and physical education teacher and assistant coach at A.G. Parish High School in Selma, Alabama, until 1966. After, he became chairperson of the high school’s physical education department and head football and track coach. In 1968, Ware became the school’s counselor and two years became the assistant principal and director of guidance.
From 1972 to 1973, William Ware became the director of guidance for Brookstone School in Columbus, Georgia and later became the project director of ESEA Title III and counselor education project form Pioneer RESA in Cleveland, Georgia. He then became the principal of Fair Street Elementary School in Gainesville until 1978. Ware later became a professor and chairperson of Brenau College’s department of education until 1995, when he moved on to become the university’s School of Education dean.
Charles Spruell has been honored as the College of Engineering and Science’s Distinguished Alumnus for 2015. Spruell, a 1957 and 1964 petroleum engineering graduate, serves as a director of the Louisiana Tech University Foundation Board. In 1957, he started his career by planning and engineering assignments in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New York headquarter until 1976, where he became general manager for Energy Minerals until 1980. Spruell then became the chairman and president of Mobile North Sea, Ltd., in London until 1982.
In 1984, Spruell became vice president of Mobil International Producing Operations in New York until 1987, when he became the president and general manager of Mobil Exploration and Producing U.S. in Dallas until his retirement in 1994. He has also participated in various outside civic and oil industry activities, including serving as chairman from 1994-1995 of the Dallas Wildcat Committee, a prestigious limited membership group of energy executives.
Kenneth Rea, a 1966 history graduate, is the College of Liberal Arts’ 2015 Alumnus of the Year. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of Colorado in 1968 and 1970, respectively. Beginning his career at Louisiana Tech as an assistant professor of history, Rea held a number of positions in the College of Arts and Sciences under Dean Paul Pennington before being chosen by President Dan Reneau to serve as vice president for academic affairs, a post he held for 25 years until his retirement in 2012.
During Rea’s tenure as vice president, the university added doctoral programs in education, engineering, computational analysis, counseling psychology, audiology, industrial and organizational psychology, and molecular science and nanotechnology; the university also created 14 new masters and graduate certificate programs and established 14 academic and research centers. Rea also represented the university and the University of Louisiana System on numerous statewide committees, including two terms on the Louisiana Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission for Educational Excellence, Chair of the Louisiana Board of Regents’ Support Funding Planning Committee, Louisiana Library Network Commission, Regents’ Task Force on General Education, and Chair of the Regents’ Task Force on International Education.
Written by Frederdreia Willis
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