Gebhart to Deliver Minter Lecture on Business Oct. 4

September 30, 2021

Jim Gebhart, community president of Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City, will deliver OBU’s Minter Lecture Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. in the Tulsa Royalties Auditorium in Bailey Business Center. His lecture is titled “What Animals Can Teach Us About Leadership.” In his lecture, he will discuss 10 different elements of animal behavior that help us as leaders, referencing photographs he has taken around the world.

The annual Minter Lecture series began in 1991 and was underwritten by 1940 OBU graduate Lloyd G. Minter of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Minter earned his degree at the University of Oklahoma and served as counsel for Boone, Smith, Davis and Hurst of Tulsa. He built a successful career with Phillips Petroleum, rising to the position of senior vice president and general counsel before retiring in 1978, after a 35-year career. Minter served five terms as an OBU trustee and two terms as a trustee of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary before his death in 2013 at age 94.

The Minter Lectureship in Business was established out of Minter’s desire to help OBU students expand their knowledge of the business world. The Lectureship is designed to provide training specifically for ministry students in the history of the American economic system as well as to help all students understand and appreciate the business and professional community. The Minter Lectureship promotes proper management of personal finances, as well as better business knowledge for the institutions where they will one day lead and serve.

Gebhart is an OBU alumnus and has served as president of Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City since July 2009, overseeing Mercy hospitals in Oklahoma City and northern Oklahoma. During his tenure, Mercy has been recognized four consecutive years as an IBM Watson Top 15 Health System in the country, been recognized as an IBM Watson Top 100 Hospital five times and was an Everest Award winner in 2018. For seven consecutive reporting periods, Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City has received an A grade for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group. In 2020, Mercy was the only Oklahoma hospital to be named as a Best Maternity Hospital by Newsweek magazine.

Gebhart earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from OBU and master’s degree in healthcare administration from the University of Dallas Graduate School of Management. He and his wife of 36 years, Karen, have two married sons, three granddaughters and three grandsons. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater OKC United Way, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, State Chamber of Oklahoma and Lake Arcadia Commission. He recently completed service on the American Hospital Association’s Region 5 Policy Board. He is a former member of the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), Oklahoma Hospital Association, Oklahoma March of Dimes, Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce and OBU boards. He has been a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives since 2007. He is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City (XXIX) and Leadership Oklahoma (XXVIII). He is a graduate of the 2017 Tinker Air Force Base Honorary Commanders Program. He was named the 2015 Oklahoma Academy of Physicians “Patient Advocate of the Year” and has used his experience and knowledge to assist health systems in Africa and Asia, specifically Rwanda, Singapore and China.

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