The OU Board of Regents appointed Eric Stevenson as its new chair Tuesday, succeeding Regent Natalie Shirley.
Stevenson graduated from OU with a bachelor’s of business administration in finance in 1985, a year before former Regent Sylvia Lewis became the first Black OU Board of Regents member.
When Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Stevenson to the OU Board of Regents in 2019, he was the first Black OU regent since 1999. Former Regents Melvin Hall and Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher were appointed to the board on the same day in April 1992. Hall later became the first Black chair of the OU Board of Regents.
Stevenson is currently president of Nationwide Retirement Solutions, and is credited with managing a team responsible for helping the company’s retirement plans operation grow to over $175 billion in assets. He previously served as senior vice president of Nationwide retirement plans distribution and as vice president of Nationwide retirement plans marketing for the public and private sector. He has been with the company since 2006 and currently lives in Ohio.
OU Price College of Business Dean Corey Phelps said Monday that the college was hosting the regents meeting as an honor to Stevenson and to have him in-house as a graduate.
The OU Board of Regents also appointed Regent Anita Holloway as its vice chair Tuesday.
Holloway, who was appointed to the Board of Regents by Stitt in 2020, has spent her career in public accounting in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and was named as Ernst & Young LLP’s Tulsa office’s managing partner.
Holloway graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from East Central University in Ada in 1992. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Stevenson and Holloway will serve a one-year term as chair and vice chair, respectively. Stevenson’s term as a regent will end in 2026, and Holloway’s term as a regent will end in 2027.
This story was edited by Ismael Lele and Anusha Fathepure. Mary Ann Livingood and Nikkie Aisha copy edited this story.
