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Nowell to Speak at Business Forum

February 7, 2013

"The OBU College of Business is pleased to have Mark Nowell, CEO of Kerr Pumps, serve as our Business Forum Speaker," said Dr. David Houghton, dean of the College of Business. "Mark's story of how God guided him to Kerr Pumps, how the company has grown under his leadership and his message of positive, ethical leadership will resonate with the OBU community."

Nowell has 23 years of experience as a practitioner of corporate operations reengineering and turnarounds. He a bachelor's degree in finance and a master's of business administration degree from Texas Tech University.

From 1989-97, he served as a senior consultant and project manager with the APQC Consulting Group, a subsidiary of the American Productivity and Quality Center, of Houston, Texas. During that time, he assisted a wide variety of organizations throughout the United States, Canada and Latin America with the planning and implementation of process improvement, redesign, reengineering and corporate turnarounds.

He played a key role in developing and deploying Total Quality Improvement (TQI) in the nation's largest healthcare system, where one of his sites was the winner of both the Carey Award and Al Gore's Silver Hammer Award.

Nowell is considered an expert in the use of technology to aid in strategic business decision-making and strategic planning. He has used his technical expertise to assist a number of Fortune 500 companies and has been cited as a subject matter expert in numerous articles written on the topic.

In April 1997, he left his position with the APQC Consulting Group to join his father in the purchase of Kerr Pump Corporation. Since 1997, a team has been developed to grow the 12,000-square-foot facility with six Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) machines into one of the largest manufacturing companies in Oklahoma. The manufacturing plant is now five acres under roof, with more than 150 state-of-the-art CNC machines. Kerr Pump Corporation has grown to be one the largest reciprocating pump manufactures in North America.

In 2007, Kerr Pump Corporation started a new company called FlowValve, a manufacture of well service high-pressure piping and valves. FlowValve has earned a reputation for product service and quality, and it is among the top manufactures of well fracturing iron in the United States. FlowValve has developed and patented a process for producing one of the best performing well service products in the industry.

In December 2012, Nowell purchased all outstanding shares of Kerr Pump Corporation and FlowValve. He continues to operate both companies with his team in Sulphur, Okla.

Nowell lives in Ardmore, Okla., with his wife, Missy. The couple has three children: Danielle, 20, Brandon, 18, and Blake, 11. Nowell is a member of First Baptist Church in Ardmore, and he is active with youth and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Kerr Pumps was founded in Ada, Okla., in 1946 to supply the thriving oil and gas industry with dependable, well-engineered, high performance pumps. In 1992, the facility was relocated to Sulphur to enable growth and improve accessibility to major transportation arteries. Visit Kerr Pumps website for more information.