OFE News Release
Bert Mackie Named President of Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence
September 21, 2004
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Bert H. Mackie, an Enid civic leader and president
of Security National Bank of Enid, has been named president of the Oklahoma
Foundation for Excellence.
 Bert Mackie (left), new president of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, is congratulated by foundation founder and chairman David L. Boren (center) of Norman and immediate past president Tony Zahn of Oklahoma City. Mackie officially assumed his new duties as president at the foundation’s recent Board of Trustees’ meeting in Oklahoma City. |
The foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization that recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma's public schools. Mackie joined the foundation as one of its founding trustees in 1985.
"Our future, as people and as a society, depends on fresh ideas from strong minds,” Mackie said. “The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence helps encourage some of our best and brightest young minds to continue the development of their promising futures, in turn helping build a stronger Oklahoma. I believe in our state, our teachers and our children. For these reasons I am proud to serve as the president of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.”
Through its Academic Awards Program, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence provides $199,000 in scholarships and cash awards annually to honor outstanding graduating seniors and top educators. It provides technical support and training to local education foundations across the state and sponsors the annual Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations, held each October on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus.
Among its other initiatives, the Foundation for Excellence coordinates a program to send Oklahoma teachers to the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute each summer and provides scholarships for schools to receive Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips, bringing history to life in the classroom. The foundation also awards Teacher Scholarships for Professional Development and administers the Schusterman Mentor Program, which pairs Academic All-State alumni with under-achieving elementary school students in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Stillwater, Norman and Weatherford.
Many Enid-area students and educators have benefited from Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence programs, including 14 Academic All-Staters and seven participants in the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute. In 1998, the Lincoln Alternative School received the foundation’s Oklahoma Medal for Excellence in Alternative Education. The Enid Public School Foundation is also an active participant in OFE’s local education foundation outreach activities.
Mackie is both president and director of Security National Bank of Enid, where he has served since 1962 in all facets of banking commerce. He is a licensed securities dealer and licensed to do business in real estate and insurance. Since 1989, he has served on the board of directors of ONEOK, a $6 billion diversified energy company. He is former chairman of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service and past chairman of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
Mackie has served as an officer or director for several educational and business organizations, including the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals, the Oklahoma Banking Association and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center. He is chairman of the Enid Economic Coalition and serves as chair of the Northwestern Oklahoma State University/Northern Oklahoma College Advisory Board.
An active community leader, Mackie was recently named the first recipient of the Pillar of the Plains Award. The award, presented by several Enid-area businesses, recognized Mackie for his community service and for his contributions to education and economic development throughout the state.
CONTACT:
Brenda Wheelock,
OFE Communications Director
(405) 236-0006; e-mail bwheelock@ofe.org