Waddell to Deliver Minter Lecture Nov. 5

October 31, 2018

Karen Vinyard Waddell, president and CEO of The Lynn Institutes, will deliver Oklahoma Baptist University’s 2018 Minter Lecture at 10 a.m., Monday, Nov. 5, in the Tulsa Royalties Auditorium of the Bailey Business Center on the OBU campus in Shawnee. The Lynn Institutes include the Lynn Institute for Healthcare Research, Inc., a non-profit working to improve the health of Northeast Oklahoma City, and its wholly-owned Lynn Health Science Institute, Inc., a for-profit medical research firm with locations in three states. Her lecture will center around the theme of, “Taking Life to the Next Level.”

Waddell graduated from the University of Oklahoma. She is a member of Leadership Oklahoma Class I; Leadership Oklahoma City, Class II; SALLT (Salt and Light Leadership Training), Class I; Esther Women; vice chair of the Board of the Ardmore Institutes of Health; and Oklahoma Kids Belong. She has been a finalist for Business Woman of the Year both in Tampa, Florida, and Oklahoma City; the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for her alma mater, Capitol Hill High School; and the 2018 recipient of the “Clapham Award” for leadership from the OKC SALLT program.   

Waddell has more than 40 years of experience in hospital administration and healthcare leadership. She specializes in organizational strategic planning and taking companies to their next level of greatness. She has served in leadership positions in various outlets in California, Florida and Oklahoma. She is a member of Quail Springs Baptist Church, co-captain of her USTA tennis team, but most importantly, is the proud mother of two children and grandmother to six grandchildren, ages 7-12.

The Minter Lectureship in Business, Leadership and Christian Ministry at Oklahoma Baptist University is intended to add a sound understanding of the business world to the educational experience of church ministry majors to broaden their ability to minister effectively. The Minter Lectureship was underwritten by 1940 OBU graduate Lloyd G. Minter of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The annual series began in 1991.

Minter built a successful 35-year career with Phillips Petroleum Co., rising to the position of senior vice president and general counsel before retiring in 1978. His desire to help OBU religious vocation students broaden their understanding of the business community led to establishing the innovative lecture series.

OBU annually has the largest number of religion majors among Southern Baptist four-year colleges and universities. The Minter Lectureship is designed to provide orientation and training for those students in the history and nature of the American economic system and to help the students understand and appreciate the business and professional community. In addition to equipping the students with business knowledge for the institutions they will lead, the Minter Lectureship promotes proper management of personal finances.

Minter, who earned a law degree at the University of Oklahoma, served as counsel for Boone, Smith, Davis and Hurst of Tulsa. He served five terms as an OBU trustee and two terms as a trustee of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Minter died Jan. 4, 2013, at age 94.