Former CEO and Chairman of Oryx Energy Co. to Speak During UMR Commencement

April 29, 2002Contact: Claire FaucettPhone: 573-341-4328[email protected]

FORMER CEO AND CHAIRMAN OF ORYX ENERGY CO. TO SPEAK DURING UMR COMMENCEMENT

Robert L. Keiser of Dallas, Texas, retired chief executive officer and chairman of Oryx Energy Co. (now Kerr McGee Corp.) and a 1965 University of Missouri-Rolla graduate, will deliver the commencement address during UMR's Annual Commencement Saturday, May 18.

About 700 degrees will be awarded during commencement, which begins at 11 a.m. in UMR's Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building, 10th Street and Bishop Avenue.

After graduating from UMR, Keiser began a 26-year career with Sun Co. Inc., holding various titles. In 1988 Keiser became vice president of Oryx Energy Co., then was named director of international operations in Middlesex, England, in 1989. Later that same year Keiser became the president and chief operating officer of Oryx in London. It was in 1991 that Keiser returned to the United States as president of Oryx and in 1995 he was promoted to CEO and chairman of the company. He retired from Oryx at the merger of the company and Kerr McGee Corp. in 1999.

Keiser is a member of the UMR Academy of Mines and Metallurgy and the UMR Order of the Golden Shillelagh. He was a Chancellor's Leadership Speaker in 1997 and received an Alumni Achievement Award from the MSM-UMR Alumni Association in 1996.

Keiser received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from UMR in 1965. He received a certification in professional management development from Harvard University in 1981.

-30-