ONEOK and ONEOK Partners Announce Management Changes

TULSA, Okla., July 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE) and ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE: OKS) today announced a series of senior management changes that are effective immediately:

• Charles M. Kelley, senior vice president, ONEOK's energy services business, now will lead that business, replacing Patrick J. McDonie who retired and accepted a position with another company.  Kelley will report to Pierce H. Norton II, executive vice president and chief operating officer of ONEOK and ONEOK Partners;
• David E. Roth, senior vice president, administrative services, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners, will retire on Sept. 30, 2012, after 33 years with the company; and
• Dandridge L. Harrison becomes senior vice president, administrative services and corporate relations, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners, continuing to report to Terry K. Spencer, president, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners.  

In this new role, Harrison assumes Roth's responsibilities for human resources, information technology and corporate services, while continuing to lead the investor relations, communications, government relations and community investments functions. 

"David Roth's contributions to our company are immeasurable.  We will miss his steady hand, sound judgment and intellectual curiosity," said John W. Gibson, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners chairman and chief executive officer.

"Among his many career accomplishments, David successfully led the integration of new employees into our company following a series of acquisitions from 1997 to 2007, played an important role in our employee development and succession planning efforts, and led the company's introduction of 'consumerism' into employee health care plans, giving employees a choice of coverage while ensuring high-quality, efficient delivery of health care," Gibson said.

Other management changes announced today include:

• David R. Scharf becomes vice president, strategic planning, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners.  He was president, ONEOK Partners' natural gas gathering and processing business. Scharf will report to Robert S. Mareburger, senior vice president, corporate planning and development, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners; and
• Michael A. Fitzgibbons has been promoted to vice president, commercial, ONEOK Partners' natural gas gathering and processing business, reporting to Curtis L. Dinan, president, ONEOK Partners' natural gas business.  Fitzgibbons previously was director, natural gas supply acquisition, Rocky Mountain region, natural gas gathering and processing.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:

Chuck Kelley

Chuck Kelley is senior vice president and leader of ONEOK Energy Services Company, which supplies local distribution companies and industrial customers with reliable delivery of natural gas.  In his previous role, he was responsible for energy services' wholesale origination, business development, and transportation and storage activities.

He joined ONEOK in 2000 as manager, Midwest marketing, of ONEOK Energy Marketing & Trading Company and later served as director, marketing, and vice president, origination.  Prior to joining ONEOK, Kelley held executive positions at both Tartan Energy Resources and Panda Resources, Inc.  He also held various positions with Enron Corp.

Kelley is a member of the Midwest Energy Association where he has served as director of the energy management committee. He is a current member and past board member of the Natural Gas and Energy Association of Oklahoma. Kelley also is a member of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Aquarium Foundation and is a volunteer with Challenger League youth sports and Special Olympics Oklahoma.

A native of Illinois, Kelley earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance, with honors, in 1980 from DePaul University, College of Commerce, in Chicago.

David Roth

David Roth will retire on Sept. 30, 2012, as senior vice president, administrative services, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners, responsible for human resources, information technology and corporate services.

Roth was a human resources executive with Western Resources and joined ONEOK when it acquired Kansas Gas Service from Western in 1997.

Roth is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and formerly served on and chaired the Tulsa Area Human Resources Association. As a member of the Southern Gas Association, he has served on and chaired the human resources section managing committee.

He currently is serving as a director of the Foundation for Tulsa Public Schools.  Roth formerly served on the board of directors of the Jenks Public Schools Foundation, the board of trustees of the Tulsa Education Fund and as a member of the child care task force of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce.  He has also served as president and as a council member of the Tulsa chapter of the American Cancer Society.

A native of Illinois, Roth earned his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1979 from the University of Missouri in Columbia.  He completed the Utility Management Development Program of Stone & Webster Management Consultants and the Edison Electric Institute at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Dan Harrison

Dan Harrison is senior vice president, administrative services and corporate relations, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners. He previously was vice president, investor relations and public affairs, responsible for investor relations, corporate communications, government relations and community investments, including the ONEOK Foundation.  He also is president of the ONEOK Employee Political Action Committee.

He joined ONEOK in 2005, after holding senior management positions in corporate and financial communications, government relations and human resources with several Fortune 100 companies, including Honeywell International; Phillips Petroleum Co. and its natural gas subsidiary, GPM Gas Corp.; United Technologies Corp. and Whirlpool Corp.

In 2011, Harrison was named to the "All-America Executive Team: Best Investor Relations Professionals" by Institutional Investor magazine, tying for first place in the energy category, natural gas and master limited partnership sector.

He is co-chair of Visit Tulsa, serves as a trustee on the Tulsa Community Foundation, is a past director and a member of the executive committee of the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships, and is a past president of the Tulsa Press Club.  He was a founding board member of Leadership Oklahoma, served on the board of Tulsa Opera and was a member of the Oklahoma Commission on State Government Performance.

A native of Houston, Texas, Harrison is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communications, with honors, and served on the university's College of Communications Dean's Advisory Board for six years.

Dave Scharf

Dave Scharf is vice president, strategic planning, ONEOK and ONEOK Partners.  Previously, he was president, ONEOK Partners' natural gas gathering and processing business, and vice president, commercial, natural gas gathering and processing.

Scharf began his energy industry career at Phillips Petroleum Co. in 1978 in research and development, followed by various positions in Phillips' natural gas gathering and processing subsidiaries, mostly relating to natural gas supply. He then worked for KN Energy and Kinder Morgan as a director of business development in corporate and interstate pipeline roles.  He joined ONEOK in 2005 to manage operations, engineering and business development of natural gas gathering and processing.  

Scharf is a member of the North Dakota Petroleum Council and past president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Gas Processors Association.

A native of Illinois, Scharf earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering in 1978 from the University of Missouri at Rolla, now called Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Mike Fitzgibbons

Mike Fitzgibbons is vice president, commercial, ONEOK Partners' natural gas gathering and processing business.  He has been director, natural gas supply acquisition, Rocky Mountain region, since joining the partnership in 2007.

Fitzgibbons began his career with Phillips Petroleum Co. in 1981 and held various positions of increasing responsibility in natural gas gathering and processing.  In 2000, he became managing director of the New Mexico region of Duke Energy Field Services, which later became DCP Midstream.

A native of Illinois, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering in 1981 from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Editor's Note: Download photos of Kelley, Roth, Harrison, Scharf and Fitzgibbons.

ONEOK, Inc. (pronounced ONE-OAK) (NYSE: OKE) is a diversified energy company.  We are the general partner and own 43.4 percent of ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE: OKS), one of the largest publicly traded master limited partnerships, which is a leader in the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas in the U.S. and owns one of the nation's premier natural gas liquids (NGL) systems, connecting NGL supply in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions with key market centers.  ONEOK is among the largest natural gas distributors in the United States, serving more than 2 million customers in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.  Our energy services operation focuses primarily on marketing natural gas and related services throughout the U.S.  ONEOK is a FORTUNE 500 company and is included in Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Stock Index.

ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE: OKS) is one of the largest publicly traded master limited partnerships, and is a leader in the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas in the U.S. and owns one of the nation's premier natural gas liquids (NGL) systems, connecting NGL supply in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions with key market centers. Its general partner is a wholly owned subsidiary of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE), a diversified energy company, which owns 43.4 percent of the overall partnership interest. ONEOK is one of the largest natural gas distributors in the United States, and its energy services operation focuses primarily on marketing natural gas and related services throughout the U.S.  

For more information, visit the websites at www.oneok.com or www.oneokpartners.com.

For the latest news about ONEOK and ONEOK Partners, follow us on Twitter @ONEOKNews and @ONEOKPartners.

Some of the statements contained and incorporated in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act.  The forward-looking statements relate to our anticipated financial performance, management's plans and objectives for our future operations, our business prospects, the outcome of regulatory and legal proceedings, market conditions and other matters.  We make these forward-looking statements in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  The following discussion is intended to identify important factors that could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements include the items identified in the preceding paragraph, the information concerning possible or assumed future results of our operations and other statements contained or incorporated in this news release identified by words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," "should," "goal," "forecast," "guidance," "could," "may," "continue," "might," "potential," "scheduled" and other words and terms of similar meaning.

SOURCE ONEOK, Inc.; ONEOK Partners, L.P.