A Conversation with T. Boone Pickens

September 5, 2008
ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center

The 2008 Friends Dinner features T. Boone Pickens, whose latest book, The First Billion is the Hardest: How Believing It's Still Early in the Game Can Lead to Life's Greatest Comebacks, will be released Sept. 2. The evening begins with a book sale and signing reception. The dinner program is A Conversation with Boone Pickens; interviewer will be OSU President Burns Hargis.

Tickets are $100; half of ticket cost is tax-deductable. All proceeds support the Friends of the OSU Library. Call (405) 744-7901 or visit www.osugiving.com/friends-dinner/ for reservations.

RSVP deadline is Aug. 27.

Event Details

6:15 Book Sale & Signing Reception
Pickens' latest book, The First Billion is the Hardest, will be available for purchase. Guests are welcome to bring personal copies to be signed.

7:30 Dinner
The after-dinner program is A Conversation with T. Boone Pickens. Interviewer will be OSU President Burns Hargis.

Reservations will be held at the door. Dress is business attire. Guests can park in the Student Union Parking Garage off University Avenue.

Ticket Information

About T. Boone Pickens

The breadth of T. Boone Pickens' career is staggering. He built the largest independent oil company in the United States and flourished as an entrepreneur after leaving it, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. Among his lengthy accolades, Financial World named him CEO of the Decade in 1989 and the Oil and Gas Investor listed him as one of the "100 Most Influential People of the Petroleum Century.

During the span of his career, Pickens has made hundreds of millions of dollars-for others as well as himself-and he isn't timid about spreading it around. The breadth of his philanthropy-more than $600 million-includes medical research, athletics and academic projects. The T. Boone Pickens Foundation is focused on improving lives through grants supporting educational programs, health and medical research and services, athletics and corporate wellness, the entrepreneurial process, at-risk youth, and conservation and wildlife initiatives.

His impact on American culture reflects his many interests and passions, including his unyielding belief in the entrepreneurial spirit, his leadership in corporate fitness, the need for alternative fuel development and his prudent stewardship of American lands. Pickens, a proud alumnus of OSU (it was operating as Oklahoma A&M when he graduated), has donated the gist of his professional papers to his alma mater.

About The First Billion is the Hardest

For years, Boone Pickens led one of the world's largest independent oil companies, along the way earning a Time magazine cover and ushering in a wave of shareholder reforms that today affects anyone investing in stocks. He was one of business's most revered figures until at age 68 an untimely bet on the price of natural gas caused his fortunes to spiral downward. Entering his seventh decade at the helm of a small startup company and mired in a prolonged divorce, Pickens lost nearly all his capital, and he fought deep depression. What followed was a near miracle as the "Oracle of Oil" executed a series of trading maneuvers that turned $24 million into a $5 billion profit. In The First Billion is the Hardest , Pickens reveals the many lessons he's learned, including how to keep believing in who you are-even when others suspect you no longer "have it."