J. Clifford Hudson

Last updated
Clifford Hudson
J. Clifford Hudson.jpg
Born1954 (age 69–70)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Education University of Oklahoma (BA)
Georgetown University (JD)
Occupation(s)Former Chairman, President and CEO of Sonic Corp.
SpouseLeslie Hudson

J. Clifford Hudson (born 1954, Dallas) is an American business executive best known for serving as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Oklahoma City-based Sonic Corp. He also served as a trustee of the Ford Foundation and is a past chairman of the board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Contents

Personal life

Hudson is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and Georgetown University Law Center. [1] He is married to Leslie Hudson, a public health professional and former associate professor at the University of Oklahoma, with whom he has two sons. [2] In his spare time, he has been a member of the Sonic Tones, an eight-member band made up of senior executives of the Sonic Corporation, which competed in the 2003 Battle of the Corporate Bands at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. [3]

Career

After graduating from law school and several years as a practicing attorney, he was hired as the head of the legal department for Sonic Corp in 1984. [4] He became president and chief executive officer in 1995, and was named chairman in January 2000. [4] During his tenure, the company grew from a nationwide total of 1,428 locations in 1995 [4] to more than 3,500 today, [5] with locations in 45 of the 50 US states. [6] In addition, average drive-in sales have increased by 65% and system-wide sales from $880 million to $4.5 billion. The company's enterprise value grew from approximately $200 million to more than $2.3 billion, when it was acquired by Inspire Brands in 2018.

Master of None

Since his departure from Sonic Corp. in early 2019, Cliff has been sharing his philosophy on becoming a “Master of None”. In February 2019, he was the James R. Wilson annual guest lecturer at The College of Wooster (Ohio) where he unveiled plans to release a book on the topic. Over the last two years, he has been working on this, his first book, entitled Master of None - How a Jack-of-All-Trades Can Still Reach the Top. This personal story of his lifelong development of leadership skills challenges established thinking, offering counter-intuitive career advice essential to professionals at all levels, for the person just starting out or in the middle of their career. Publishing house HarperCollins is set to release Master of None in October 2020.

Master of None offers a different way forward, to help businesses and professionals thrive at all levels. One key take-away is that it's okay to embrace life as a master of none, being comfortable with potentiality and variety, allowing yourself to thrive in unfamiliar environments, and seizing opportunities that you didn't see coming. Above all, Master of None calls the reader to appreciate that flexibility and adaptation is the foundation for success in work and in life.

Philanthropy

Hudson was a member of the board of trustees of the Ford Foundation from 2005 to 2017 and is a past chairman of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is past chairman of Georgetown University Law Center's Board of Visitors and has served as chairman of the Oklahoma City Public School Board of Education. [7] In 1994, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as chairman of the Board of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, and served until 2001. In addition to this he has served on numerous boards related to Oklahoma City including MAPS for Kids—a $700 million school revitalization program. [8] In 2015, Leslie and Clifford Hudson endowed the Hudson Fellows scholarship fund for select Ph.D. students at the University of Oklahoma College of Public Health. By 2018, the Hudsons increased their scholarship gifts to $5 million and the OU Board of Regents named the (now) Hudson College of Public Health in their honor. [9]

Awards and honors

Hudson received the 2004 Silver Plate - Foodservice Operator of the Year Award from International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, and the 2000 Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators (MUFSO) Golden Chain Award from Nation's Restaurant News. He has been a guest on various national business programs including CNBC's Mad Money, Squawkbox and Power Lunch, as well as various Bloomberg news programs. [10] In 2009, he was placed on the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools Hall of Fame for his longstanding service. [7] In 2001 Hudson received the University's Regent's Alumni Award from the University of Oklahoma and, in 2011, the University of Oklahoma conferred to him an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters as a “civic leader and supporter of education”. [11] The Georgetown University Alumni Association has also awarded him its highest honor, the John Carroll Award, in 2014.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonic Drive-In</span> American fast food chain

Sonic Corporation, founded as Sonic Drive-In and more commonly known as Sonic, is an American drive-in fast-food chain owned by Inspire Brands, the parent company of Arby's, Dunkin' Donuts and Buffalo Wild Wings. Sonic, founded by Troy N. Smith, Sr., opened its first location in 1953, under the name Top Hat Drive-In. Originally a walk-up root beer stand outside a log-cabin steakhouse selling soda, hamburgers, and hotdogs, Sonic currently has 3,545 locations in the United States. Sonic is known for its use of carhops on roller skates, and hosts an annual competition to determine the top skating carhop in the company. The company's core products include the "Chili Cheese Coney", "Sonic Cheeseburger Combo", "Sonic Blasts", "Master Shakes", and "Wacky Pack Kids Meals".

Lester Lowry Mays was an American businessman. He was the founder and chairman of Clear Channel Communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Williams</span> American businessperson

Ronald Allen Williams is an American businessman and board director on corporate, public sector and non-profit boards. Williams is the author of Learning to Lead: The Journey to Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading an Organization, which appeared on The Wall Street Journal's best seller list. He is founder, chairman and CEO of RW2 Enterprises, LLC. Williams is the former chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Aetna Inc.. Aetna is now part of CVS Health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education</span>

The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education is an agency of the state of Oklahoma located in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Boren</span> American lawyer and politician (born 1941)

David Lyle Boren is a retired American lawyer and politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1994. A conservative Democrat, to date, he is the last in his party to have served as U.S. Senator from Oklahoma. He was the 13th and second-longest serving president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 to 2018. He was the longest serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On September 20, 2017, Boren officially announced his retirement as president of the University of Oklahoma, effective June 30, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Noski</span> American business executive

Charles H. Noski was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wells Fargo & Company from March 2020 to August 2021. He previously held a variety of positions, including the position of CFO at AT&T, Bank of America, and Northrop Grumman, as well as the positions of director and chairman of the audit committee of Microsoft.

Howard Hendrick is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Hendrick was serving as the Oklahoma Secretary of Human Services, having been appointed by Democratic Governor of Oklahoma Brad Henry in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Classen High School</span> High school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Northwest Classen High School is a public high school serving students in grades 9–12 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Clayton Ike Bennett is an American businessman and chairman of the Professional Basketball Club LLC, the ownership group of the Oklahoma City Thunder, an NBA franchise formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics. Bennett is the chairman of Oklahoma City-based Dorchester Capital Corporation, as well as the chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Heritage Association and served as chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma from 2011–2019.

Glen D. Johnson Jr. is the former Oklahoma Speaker of the House of Representatives and former Chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education, succeeded by Allison Garrett a state system of colleges and universities in Oklahoma. In 1996, Johnson was the Democratic party nominee for US Congress in the Second Congressional District of Oklahoma, defeated by Tom Coburn.

Robert J. (Bob) Ross is Chairman and CEO of Inasmuch Foundation. Founded in 1982 by Edith Kinney Gaylord, Inasmuch Foundation awards $25 million plus in grants each fiscal year to nonprofits supporting initiatives in community and civic engagement, education, human services, and journalism.

E. Dean Werries (1926–2012) was an American businessman from Oklahoma. Werries previously served as the Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce under Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating from 1995 to 1997. Prior to his service as Secretary, Werries served as chairman of Sonic and as chairman and chief executive officer of the Fleming Companies, Inc.

Robert Steven "Steve" Hicks is an American businessman, who is most closely associated with the radio business, pioneering the concept of local marketing agreement and was the Vice-Chairman of AMFM, Inc, a predecessor of radio station company Clear Channel Communications. He is chairman of medial medical products firm HealthTronics and chairman of private investment firm Capstar Partners LLC, of which he is the principal owner. He is on the University of Texas System board of regents.

Richard Alan Baker is an American business executive. He is the Governor, CEO, and Executive Chairman of Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and executive chairman of each of HBC's eight portfolio companies. He is also the owner of National Realty and Development Corp. (NRDC), a US-based private real estate development and investment company, and is the Chairman of the Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (ROIC), a public real estate company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph R. Swedish</span> American businessman (born 1951)

Joseph Robert Swedish is an American healthcare executive and leader. He is a former senior adviser to the board of directors at Anthem, Inc., a Fortune 29 company, and was the CEO of Anthem, Inc. from 2013 to 2017. For 12 years in a row Swedish was named Modern Healthcare’s one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.

Joe Anna Hibler is an American educator. Much of her career was spent teaching business at the university level. Retired from active teaching, she is the former president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), an inductee into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, and currently a regent of the Regional University System of Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Leslie (public relations executive)</span> American public relations executive & political consultant

John W. Leslie, Jr., commonly known as Jack Leslie, is an American public relations executive, political consultant and international development activist. He is former chairman of Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm, a role from which he retired in March 2022. President George W. Bush appointed him to the board of the U.S. African Development Foundation in 2003. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him chairman.

Joy Culbreath is an American former educator and advocate of education enhancement. Culbreath worked with Upward Bound students during her twenty-seven year career with alma mater, Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She later worked for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, establishing an adult education program and later becoming the executive director of all education. Culbreath established a Choctaw language education and preservation department that has since allowed the language to be state certified and taught in public schools, on college campuses for credit, and on the internet. She served the Choctaw Nation for twenty-two years until retirement. In 2010 she was appointed by President Obama to serve on the No Child Left Behind Negotiated Rulemaking Committee and was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame the following year.

Opaline Deveraux Wadkins (1912–2000) organized the first school to train black nurses in Oklahoma City, fought for desegregation of the College of Nursing at the University of Oklahoma and founded the School of Nursing at Langston University. She was the first African American nurse to earn a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma. She was honored in 1987 by the Oklahoma Public Health Association and inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

The Hudson College of Public Health is one of the seven colleges of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center--the health sciences branch of the University of Oklahoma.

References

  1. ↑ "J. Clifford Hudson". Ford Foundation. Archived from the original on June 20, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  2. ↑ "USAO Regent Leslie Hudson". The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. Retrieved February 29, 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ Dina Berta (Nov 10, 2003). "Sonic execs create tones of harmony". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 "Sonic Corp". Funding Universe. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Executive Bios". Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  6. ↑ Daniel P. Smith (August 2011). "A Sonic Rebound". QSR. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Wall of Fame Class of 2009". The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Wall of Fame Class of 2011". The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  9. ↑ "University of Oklahoma unveils name Hudson College of Public Health to honor donors". Oklahoman. September 19, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  10. ↑ "J. Clifford Hudson Management Overview" . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Five Outstanding Individuals to Receive Honorary Degrees at OU Commencement". University of Oklahoma Faculty of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.