OKLAHOMA CITY—The Dean McGee Eye Institute (DMEI) has announced leadership transitions in its Board of Trustees and Foundation Board as two of the Institute’s founders have retired from major leadership roles. David E. Rainbolt has been elected as the new Chair of the DMEI Board of Trustees following more than 40 years of Board service (and more than 20 years as Chair) by James R. Tolbert III, who now carries the title of Chair Emeritus of the Board. G. Rainey Williams, Jr. has assumed the role of Chair of the Dean McGee Eye Institute Foundation, succeeding Stanton L. Young, who formed the Foundation and was its Chair since 1992. Young also served on the DMEI Board of Trustees for 40 years.
“The Dean McGee Eye Institute has been extremely fortunate to grow under the longtime leadership of two legendary leaders in the Oklahoma business community for a remarkable four-plus decades,” said Dr. Gregory Skuta, President and CEO of the Dean McGee Eye Institute and Edward L. Gaylord Professor and Chair of the OU College of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology. “We are indebted to Mr. Tolbert and Mr. Young for their strategic vision and business acumen in leading an organization that has become one of the premier eye institutes in America. We are equally grateful for David Rainbolt and Rainey Williams’ continuing leadership in our state and community in assuming these vital roles.”
“It is a humbling but inspiring challenge to stand on the shoulders of giants as we seek to build on the extraordinary tradition of excellence built by Mr. Tolbert and Mr. Young,” said Rainbolt. “With the solid backbone of outstanding clinicians and research scientists, we are poised to accelerate that trajectory of success at Dean McGee Eye Institute well into the future.”
Rainbolt has served on the Dean McGee Eye Institute Board of Trustees since 1996. He is the Chief Executive Officer and President of BancFirst Corporation. He has been a Director of BancFirst Corp. since 1984, ZymeTx Inc. since 1996, and of Catalog.com Inc. since 2000. He also serves as a Director of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma. He earned a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Oklahoma in 1978 and an M.B.A from Tulane University in 1979.
Williams has been President of Marco Capital Group, a private investment partnership, and its predecessors since 1988. He is a member of the company’s Senior Trust Committee and was an advisory director from 2000 to 2003. In addition, he is a director of American Fidelity Dual Strategy Fund, Inc., a registered investment company.
About the Dean McGee Eye Institute
The Dean McGee Eye Institute is dedicated to serving all Oklahomans and the global community through excellence and leadership in patient care, education and vision research. It is one of the largest and most respected eye institutes in the United States and houses the Department of Ophthalmology for the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. Its research and training programs are among the most highly regarded in the country. Twenty of the Institute’s ophthalmologists are listed in the Best Doctors in America; its Director of Vision Research is a Past President of the International Society for Eye Research, Past Vice President of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and a recipient of ARVO’s prestigious Proctor Medal; two members of the faculty are recent or current directors of the American Board of Ophthalmology; three serve on the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology; one is Vice Chair of the Residency Review Committee in Ophthalmology for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; and one is President of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a Past President of the American Glaucoma Society. For more information, visit www.dmei.org.
About the Dean McGee Eye Institute Foundation
The Dean McGee Eye Institute Foundation was established in 1992 for the purpose of helping to secure the financial future of the Institute’s programs. The Foundation’s endowment is governed by a Board of Directors that oversees the investment policies and administration of the Foundation’s assets and the granting of its funds.
