CapitolBeatOK Staff Report

Published: 09-Nov-2010

Oklahoma Governor-elect Mary Fallin has announced the selection of the two co-chairs of her transition team, Devon Executive Chairman and former Oklahoma State Chamber Chairman Larry Nichols and Oklahoma State Senator Glenn Coffee. Nichols and Coffee will be responsible for managing Fallin’s transition into the governor’s office and working alongside Fallin to make key hires.

“My administration will bring together the most qualified individuals from the public and private sector, and that starts with the transition team,” said Fallin. “Larry Nichols is one of the most innovative and successful executives in the business world, and Senator Glenn Coffee has an excellent record of leadership in the Oklahoma State Senate. I’ve tasked them with getting my office ready to pursue an agenda of job creation and fiscal discipline, and I know they’re up to the challenge.”

J. Larry Nichols is a co-founder of Devon and was elected executive chairman in June 2010. He previously held the position of chairman and chief executive officer from 1980 to 2010. Nichols served as law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice Tom Clark of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1967 to 1968. He then served as special assistant to Assistant Attorney General William Rehnquist in the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

A leader in the energy industry, Nichols serves as chairman of the American Petroleum Institute and is on the executive committee of the board of directors for America’s Natural Gas Alliance. From 2005 to 2006, Nichols served as the chairman of the Oklahoma State Chamber. He is on the board of the Business Industry Political Action Committee in Washington, D.C. and is the former chairman and a current director of the American Exploration & Production Council.

Glenn Coffee is a businessman and an attorney who is the first Republican in history to serve as President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate. First elected to office in 1998, he served in a variety of State Senate leadership posts, including Republican Caucus Chairman (2000-2002), Assistant Minority Floor Leader (2002-2004) and Minority Floor Leader (2004-2006).

Senator Coffee served as Senate Co-President Pro Tempore (2007-2008) after Republicans won a historic tie in the Oklahoma State Senate in the 2006 elections. Coffee was among the legislature’s leading proponents of legal reform, government accountability, crime victims’ rights, workers compensation reform and education reform.

Coffee was named a “legislator of the year” in 2010 by the American Legislative Exchange Council.