AAON, Inc., announced that its Board of Directors has increased the size of the Board from seven to eight members and appointed Caron A. Lawhorn as an independent director to fill the vacancy created by the increase in size.
Norman H. Asbjornson, CEO, stated, “I am very pleased to welcome Caron Lawhorn as a new member of AAON’s Board of Directors. Our Governance Committee conducted a very thorough search over the last several months to add an independent director with the skills and experience to further strengthen and complement our existing Board."
Caron was Senior Vice President, Corporate Planning and Development of ONEOK
"Caron brings decades of accounting and leadership experience through the numerous senior-level positions she has held over the course of her career, including at KPMG, Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA), ONEOK, Inc., ONEOK Partners and ONE Gas, Inc. Caron’s accounting expertise and significant senior leadership experience at multiple large publicly traded companies will strengthen AAON’s Board and assist with our ongoing efforts to advance our accounting and corporate governance practices.”
Responsible for ONE Gas’s commercial activities
Ms. Lawhorn is a certified public accountant, and currently serves as Senior Vice President, Commercial, of ONE Gas, Inc., a standalone one hundred percent regulated publicly traded natural gas utility. In her current role, Caron is responsible for commercial activities of ONE Gas’s 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 separated from ONEOK Inc. in early 2014, she served in the same position at ONEOK from March 2011. From July 2009 until March 2011, Caron 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, as well as ONEOK Partners in 2008. Prior to that, she was Senior Vice President of Financial Services and Treasurer of ONEOK.
Senior Manager at KPMG
She is a past president of Ronald McDonald House Charities of TulsaPrior to joining ONEOK in 1998, Caron was Chief Financial Officer of Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) in Tulsa and before that was a Senior Manager at KPMG. Ms. Lawhorn is a member of the board of directors of the Southern Gas Association and the Tulsa Area United Way, where she chairs the steering committee for the Women’s Leadership Council.
She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as the American Gas Association Leadership Council and is a former chair of the Executive Advisory Board of the University Of Tulsa Collins College Of Business and a past president of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tulsa.
Ms. Lawhorn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Tulsa, where she was named an Outstanding Alumna in the College of Business. In addition, she is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.