Management

Pierce H. Norton II is president and chief executive officer of ONE Gas, Inc. and serves as a member of the ONE Gas board. Prior to ONE Gas becoming a standalone publicly traded company separated from ONEOK Inc. in January 2014, he served as executive vice president, commercial, of ONEOK and ONEOK Partners.

Previously, Mr. Norton served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of ONEOK and ONEOK Partners. Prior to that, Mr. Norton was president of then ONEOK Distribution Companies – Oklahoma Natural Gas, Kansas Gas Service and Texas Gas Service. Also while at ONEOK, he held the position of executive vice president of natural gas, which included responsibility for all natural gas pipelines and the natural gas gathering and processing businesses within ONEOK Partners.

He began his natural gas industry career in 1982 at Delhi Gas Pipeline, a subsidiary of Texas Oil and Gas Corporation. He later worked for American Oil and Gas with operational responsibilities for natural gas gathering and processing, and for intrastate and interstate pipelines. He then worked for KN Energy as vice president and general manager of the Heartland Region, before moving to Bear Paw Energy as vice president of business development. In 2002, he was named president of Bear Paw Energy, now ONEOK Rockies Midstream, a subsidiary of ONEOK Partners.

Mr. Norton is a member of the American Gas Association’s board of directors and serves as its 2017 chairman. He currently serves as a board member of the Tulsa Community College Foundation, the Tulsa Community Foundation and the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice. He is a past board member of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the Texas Pipeline Association, the North Dakota Petroleum Council and the Western Energy Alliance, formerly known as the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States.

An Alabama native, Mr. Norton earned a Bachelor Degree of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He also is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Caron Lawhorn is senior vice president, chief financial officer, of ONE Gas.

At ONE Gas’s separation from ONEOK, Inc. into a standalone, publicly traded company, Lawhorn was named senior vice president, commercial, responsible for commercial activities of ONE Gas’s three natural gas distribution utilities – Oklahoma Natural Gas Company, Kansas Gas Service and Texas Gas Service. In early 2014, Lawhorn served in the same role at ONEOK, Inc., prior to ONE Gas becoming a stand-alone, publicly traded company. Prior to that, she was president of ONEOK’s natural gas distribution segment. From July 2009 until March 2011, she was senior vice president, corporate planning and development of ONEOK and ONEOK Partners, responsible for business development, strategic and long-range planning and capital investment.

She became senior vice president and chief accounting officer of ONEOK in 2007, adding responsibility for ONEOK Partners in 2008. Prior to that, she was senior vice president of financial services and treasurer of ONEOK. She joined ONEOK in 1998, after serving as a senior manager at KPMG and chief financial officer of Emergency Medical Services Authority in Tulsa.

In January 2019, Lawhorn was appointed to the board of directors of AAON (NASDAQ-AAON), a manufacturer of heating and air conditioning equipment headquartered in Tulsa. She is a member of the board of regents of Tulsa Community College, a member of the board of directors of the Tulsa Area United Way and served as immediate past chair of the board of directors for the Southern Gas Association. She is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma – Class 21 and Leadership Tulsa – Class 32.

Lawhorn earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Tulsa, where she was named a Distinguished Alumna of the university and an Outstanding Alumna in the College of Business. She also is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Joe McCormick is senior vice president, general counsel and assistant secretary of ONE Gas, responsible for legal matters of its three natural gas distribution utilities – Oklahoma Natural Gas, Kansas Gas Service and Texas Gas Service.

Prior to ONE Gas becoming a standalone publicly traded company separate from ONEOK Inc., he served as vice president and associate general counsel of ONEOK in a similar capacity.

McCormick joined ONEOK in 2003 as the managing attorney of Oklahoma Natural Gas. Prior to that, he served as an assistant attorney general with the Oklahoma attorney general’s office and as an assistant general counsel with the Oklahoma Insurance Department.

McCormick is a graduate of Leadership Tulsa – Class 46. He also has served as a board member of the Oklahoma Individual Self-Insured Guaranty Fund, the Oklahoma Academy, the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Lawyers for Children, the Lyric Theatre and the Oklahoma Huntington Disease Society. McCormick is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League and the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy.

A native of California, McCormick earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in public administration in 1984 from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond and a Juris Doctorate in 1987 from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in Norman.

Curtis L. Dinan is senior vice president, commercial, of ONE Gas, responsible for commercial activities of its three natural gas distribution utilities – Oklahoma Natural Gas Company, Kansas Gas Service and Texas Gas Service.

At ONE Gas’s separation from ONEOK, Inc. into a standalone, publicly traded company, Dinan was named senior vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to the separation from ONEOK, he served as president, natural gas, of ONEOK Partners, responsible for the commercial activities in its natural gas gathering and processing and natural gas pipelines segments. Before that, Dinan was senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of ONEOK and ONEOK Partners from 2007-2011. He served on the ONEOK Partners Board of Directors from October 2007 to March 2011.

He joined ONEOK in 2004 as vice president and chief accounting officer, after being an audit partner with both Arthur Andersen LLP and Grant Thornton LLP.

Dinan is a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of Paul Mueller Company (OTC-MUEL), a manufacturer of equipment and components for the food, dairy, beverage, chemical and pharmaceutical industries headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. He is a member of the board of trustees for Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. He is also a past chair of the finance committee for the American Gas Association and has served on the boards of directors for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the Texas Pipeline Association. He is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma – Class 20 and Leadership Tulsa – Class 24.

Dinan earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in accounting and business administration in 1989 from Drury University, where he was named a Distinguished Alumnus for Career Achievement. He also is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Sid McAnnally is senior vice president, Operations, of ONE Gas. He is responsible for operations of its three natural gas utilities – Oklahoma Natural Gas Company, Kansas Gas Service and Texas Gas Service.

Prior to joining ONE Gas, McAnnally served as senior vice president of customer service and marketing for Alabama Gas Corporation, where he was responsible for all customer-facing activities of the company. Before joining Alabama Gas, McAnnally practiced law, representing utility, financial and corporate clients.

McAnnally is a member of the Leadership Council of the American Gas Association, serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees for the American Gas Foundation and is active in a number of other industry associations. In the community, he serves as co-chair of the Tulsa Regional Economic Development Committee, is a member of the executive committee of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, and with his wife, April, has chaired fundraising efforts for the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and the Alzheimer’s Association of Oklahoma.

McAnnally holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Auburn University.

Mark Bender is senior vice president, administration and chief information officer, of ONE Gas. Bender joined ONE Gas in 2014 as vice president and chief information officer.

Prior to ONE Gas, Bender was vice president of business systems for Chesapeake Energy in Oklahoma City, where he also served as vice president of information technology operations. There, he was responsible for managing traditional infrastructure services and creating innovative technology solutions. Bender also has been chief information officer at both Oral Roberts University and Williams Communications.

He began his career in the natural gas industry in 1987 in the information technology group for Source Gas, a natural gas distribution company in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He then joined Ernst & Young as a management consultant specializing in the energy and insurance markets before returning to his hometown of Tulsa to join The Williams Companies in 1993.

Bender currently serves on the University of Oklahoma’s Computer Science Board of Advisors. Additionally, he recently joined the Board of Directors for A New Leaf, a non-profit organization. He previously served on the Hewlett Board of Advisors and the City of Tulsa Information Technology Advisory Council.

A Tulsa native, Bender earned a Bachelor of Science degree in management information systems in 1987 from the University of Tulsa.

Julie White is vice president of Communications, Public Affairs and Inclusion and Diversity. White is responsible for internal and external communications as well as for ONE Gas’ inclusion and diversity program

Before joining ONE Gas in 2018, she served as vice president, corporate communications for Berkshire Hathaway Energy, an Iowa-based company consisting of several locally managed energy businesses with more than 21,000 employees. In that position, she reported to the president and CEO and directed the communications strategy, provided counsel to the top leaders and was responsible for developing all internal and external communications activities that drove stakeholder understanding, acceptance, perception and trust.

She was a member of the Senior Energy Communicators Group and a committee member of Edison Electric Institute Executive Advisory, USTelecom Public Affairs and Iowa Telecommunications Association Marketing.

White holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing from Iowa State University, where she graduated with distinction.