Robert “Todd” Slawson, president of Slawson Companies, earned a degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Kansas. He started his career in North Dakota, where the Slawson Companies helped pioneer development of the huge Bakken Shale oil field. Todd lives in Denver, overseeing the company’s oil and gas, real estate and hospitality operations, about 950 employees and three regional offices. He is the youngest son of company founder Don Slawson and his wife, Judy.
Steve Slawson, vice president of operations for Slawson Companies, graduated from Duke University with a double major in mechanical engineering and economics. He worked for Gulf Oil and a consulting firm before going to work for Slawson Companies in 1983, working as a reservoir engineer and operations manager before assuming his current role. Steve and his wife, Linda, a former Mrs. Oklahoma, are the parents of three children. A resident of Oklahoma City, Steve has served on several state boards and commissions and helped raise funds for Head Start and Alzheimer’s research.
Don Slawson started the Slawson Companies in 1957 with not much more than a college degree, a fascination with maps and willingness to take well-calculated risks. Today that enterprise is one of the country’s busiest oil and gas exploration companies, as well as a major developer of real estate in Slawson’s hometown of Wichita, KS.
Slawson graduated from East High in Wichita. He followed his father to the University of Kansas, joining the same fraternity (Delta Upsilon) and playing basketball his freshman year. He majored in political science, thinking he’d also follow his father into the insurance business. However, he took several geology classes along the way and that became his passion, in the form of the oil and gas business.
Of course, Don would have said geology was his second biggest discovery at KU. The school is where he met his wife, Judy. They were married for 59 years. The couple had three sons – Steve, Craig and Todd, all of whom followed their father into the oil business, and five grandchildren. Read More