The legendary oil and gas entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens will be the speaker at Missouri Western State University’s Convocation on Critical Issues at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 4, 2012 in the Looney Complex. The Convocation is free and open to the public. Pickens will also participate in a question-and-answer session at a special Convocation Luncheon following the speech. Ticket information for the luncheon will be announced at a later date.

“Pickens is outspoken on the United States’ energy policies, energy options for the future and leadership,” said Dan Nicoson, vice president for university advancement and executive director of the MWSU Foundation.

“The Missouri Western Foundation is proud to bring nationally prominent speakers to Missouri Western and the St. Joseph area,” Nicoson said in a news release. “It is uncommon for a university and community of this size to regularly hear from leading experts of national fame.”

Pickens will be the 19th speaker in the annual Convocation on Critical Issues series funded and hosted by the MWSU Foundation that began in 1993. The convocation exposes students at the university, as well as area high school students and members of the community, to some of the leading thinkers in the nation.

Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president, has some personal knowledge of Pickens and enthusiastically endorsed his selection as the next convocation speaker.

“Mr. Pickens was the chair of the Board when I was hired at West Texas A&M University nearly 25 years ago, so I have seen him in action ‘up close’ and from afar,” Dr. Vartabedian said. “I know that he will be an interesting, informative, and colorful addition to our prestigious annual Convocation on Critical Issues.”

A folk hero in global business for his tenacity in the rough-and-tumble world of mergers and acquisitions, Pickens’ career has staggering breadth. He first build and led one of the largest independent natural gas and oil companies. Then, at a time in his life when many of his peers retired to the golf course, he reinvented himself by establishing one of the nation’s most successful energy-related investment funds.

He chronicled the lessons he learned during his journey in his best selling 2008 autobiography titled “The First Billion is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America’s Energy Future.”

His speech at Missouri Western will be titled “Leadership and Getting Things Done: Reflections on a Lifetime of Comebacks and America’s Energy Future.”

Ranked by Forbes as one of the world’s richest people, Pickens serves as the chairman of BP Capital Management. He is a noted energy activist who is also an innovative, committed philanthropist who has donated nearly $1 billion to charity. His impact on American culture reflects his many interests and passions, including an unyielding belief in the entrepreneurial spirit, leadership and corporate fitness, the need for alternative fuel development, and prudent stewardship of American lands.