onte McNutt was born in McAlester, OK, in 1961 and lived most of his young life on an 8,000-acre cattle ranch near the town of Stuart. Monte graduated in 1979 from Stuart High School with a class of just 25 students.

Monte attended East Central University in Ada, OK, but left college early to seek his fortune in the oil field business, until the oil business dropped in the early 1980s. Monte went back to school and got a degree in electronic engineering from Oklahoma Junior College. He started his copier career in 1984 as a service technician for American Duplicating Systems. In 1986, Mirex Corporation, which is now IKON Office Solutions, bought ADS and soon after, Monte moved from service into sales.

After a few successful years in sales, Monte left Tulsa in 1993 to become the sales manager for an independent Canon copier and fax machine dealership in Bentonville, AR. After four years in northwest Arkansas, IKON wanted Monte back in Tulsa. Monte is currently a major account executive with IKON, where he has worked for more than 20 years.

Monte is a Paul Harris Fellow and has served the club as the Vocational Service Director and Community Service Director.

Monte has three daughters: Whitney, 20, a junior at The University of Tennessee, and Hannah, 11, and Sarah, 9, both at Union Public Schools. Monte likes hanging out with his daughters, golf and anything that’s outdoors.

Monte, thank you for arranging today’s program.

This Week’s Program

John M. O’Connor

ur speaker today is John M. O’Connor. John was born in Tulsa on December 5, 1954. He was admitted to the bar in 1980. He serves as general counsel to several leading Tulsa businesses and organizations.

With more than 25 years of experience growing businesses, John brings a direct, results-oriented approach to solving the challenges business leaders face. As president and then board chair of the law firm and having served as an officer and director of several businesses and organizations, John knows firsthand the demands on a CEO to provide direction and produce results.

John has effectively organized and served successful businesses and charitable organizations, negotiated and closed multimillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions, and structured complex bank loan transactions. John also has a proven track record of winning trials and resolving commercial disputes. In addition to his commercial practice, John has become one of the leading adoption advocates and litigators in the State of Oklahoma.

John received a B.A. in political science from Oklahoma State University in 1977 and a law degree in 1980 from the University of Tulsa College of Law, where he was recognized with a Claude H. Rosenstein Scholarship and a Villard Martin Scholarship. He was alsoawarded a Graduate Fellowship from the International Rotary Foundation. He studied law at the Friedreich Wilhelm Rheinische Universitat in Bonn, Germany.

John is a past president of the Rotary Club of Tulsa. John served two terms as president of the Tulsa Ronald McDonald House and just completed a term as director of the Tulsa County Bar Association.

John and his wife, Lucia, have four children and are long-time supporters of Bishop Kelley and their church, Christ the King. John has been a director of the Day Center for the Homeless and volunteers at the Tulsa-area Catholic Charities organization as an advisory director to their adoption program.

John, thank you for being with us today. Welcome to the Rotary Club of Southside Tulsa!

Southsider Quick Notes

Last week…
- The ROD last week was Ben Estes and the program was given by the Southside Foundation.

- Medhi and Don are working on getting a better microphone. Hurray!

- Happy birthday to John Slater!

- Nobody won the $50 Ti Amo gift card for the “Rotarian” magazine question. We’ll have a chance again next month!

- A big “thank you” to Tom and Laura Wilson for opening their home to us and to everybody else who made Scotch and Cigar Night a great success. It was a lot of fun!

This was also the first year (or so I heard) that women were allowed at Scotch and Cigar Night. We certainly held our own with the guys!

Yes, Scotch and Cigar Night was a rousing success!

- The first annual Run for the Roses will be Saturday, Oct. 11 at Centennial Park. Registration is at 7 a.m. and the 3K race starts at 8 a.m. The entry fee is $15, and cash or checks will be accepted. Make checks payable to the City of Tulsa. There will be no on-site registration, and entry fees will not be accepted after Thursday, Oct. 9. Also, anybody who wants to run in the race will be allowed. Entries can be dropped off or mailed to:

The Broadmoor Retirement Community
8205 E. 22nd St. Tulsa, OK 74129

- Keith and Don gave us an update on the district conference last month. Some of the projects discussed included Vision Quest, which allows you to make eyeglasses for 50 cents a pair, and the Rotary Literacy Project, which grew from our dictionary project.

- Rotary District 5910 was hit very heavy by Hurricane Ike, as the district contains Texas City , Galveston, Port Arthur, Beaumont and Orange along the south all the way north to Palestine. They have a fund if anybody would like to donate to help out those hurt by Hurricane Ike. Checks should be made to: Texas Area Fund Foundation, Inc. for credit to Rotary District 5910 Donor Advised Fund. Please mail to: PDG-5910 A. Hugh Summers, District 5910 Emergency Response Chairman, P O Box 1399, Palestine, TX 75802-1399 .

All donations to this 501c3 foundation are tax-deductible and a receipt will be sent to the donor. The district governors in the affected parts of Texas are accountable for expenditures made by this non-profit foundation.

- Here are the football scores for this week:

• TU vs. Rice
  Bob’s pick, 41-38, TU. The real score: 63-28, TU.
• Arkansas vs. Florida
  Bob’s pick: 45-14, Florida. The real score: 38-7, Florida.
• OSU vs. Texas A&M
  Bob’s pick: 49-10, OSU. The real score: 56-28, OSU.
• OU vs. Baylor
  Bob’s pick, 48-17, OU. The real score: 49-17, OU. (Oooh, off by one point!)