Oklahoma City, Ok., USA - June 11, 2012, Oklahoma City, Ok., USA - Chesapeake Energy Corporation announced that its directors V. Burns Hargis and Richard K. Davidson have tendered their resignations.
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Mr. Davidson has been a member of Chesapeake Energy's Board of Directors since March 2006. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Union Pacific Corporation from 1997 until February 2007 and as its Chief Executive Officer from 1997 until February 2006.
Mr. Davidson started his railroad career in 1960 with Missouri Pacific Railroad and held various positions of increasing authority before being named Vice President of Operations in 1976.
In 1982, Union Pacific merged with the Missouri Pacific and Western Pacific railroads, and in 1986, Mr. Davidson was promoted to Vice President of Operations of the combined railroads.
Mr. Davidson was promoted to Executive Vice President in 1989 and became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Union Pacific Railroad in 1991. He was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Union Pacific Corporation in 1997.
Mr. Davidson is currently a member of the board of advisors of Thayer/Hidden Creek, and past member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.
Mr. Davidson formerly served on the board of the Association of American Railroads, as chairman of the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council, and as a director and trustee of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards Foundation.
Mr. Davidson graduated from Washburn University in 1966 and has completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard University.
Mr. Hargis has been a member of Chesapeake Energy's Board of Directors since September 2008. He has been the President of Oklahoma State University since March 2008.
Before being named OSU President, he was Vice Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation from 1997 to 2008 and is currently a director of BOK, a financial holding company.
Before joining BOK, Mr. Hargis practiced law in Oklahoma City for 28 years, most recently with the firm of McAfee & Taft.
In 1967, he entered the United States Army as a Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Military Intelligence, and was honorably discharged as a Captain, U.S. Army Reserves, Finance Corps in 1977.
Mr. Hargis is a former President of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, former President of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Mr. Hargis previously served as Vice-Chairman of the Oklahoma State Election Board, the Oklahoma Constitutional Revision Commission, Chairman of the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services, Chairman of the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges of Oklahoma State University and a member of the Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. ■