photo courtesy of Robert S. Cross/Tulsa World

Ray Thomas, president and CEO of TPi Billing Solutions,
named Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce
2005 Small Business Person of the Year

- excerpt from Tulsa World, May 18, 2005
Ray Thomas gained his business expertise away from the billing services business that his father and brother founded in the mid-1960's.  Since joining the firm in 1991, Ray has guided the company into what is today a diversified outsourcing firm with multiple divisions that include billing, customer support and collections.  TPi has grown to employ almost 80 people and has additional offices in Atlanta and Austin.  The company has twice been ranked by Inc. Magazine as one of the nation's top 500 fastest-growing private enterprises.

Originally published by Urban Tulsa Weekly, October 16, 2003

Making Cents in Life
by Monica White

Ray Thomas normally is a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. But since the gargantuan growth of his Tulsa-based company, this accountant turned CEO has been given center stage.

With the boom of TPi Billing Solutions, this easy going Tulsa man who is accustomed to dealing with a handshake, now is signing contracts on both coasts and with mega giants such as ATT.

On newsstands this week, Inc. Magazine, a national publication for small and medium sized businesses, lists TPi Billing Solutions as number 20 of the 500 fastest growing U.S. private companies. According to the magazine’s sales calculations, in the past five years, TPi has grown a seemingly illogical 5,197 percent. 

"Isn't that stupid?!” laughs Thomas. “I don’t know what it all means. The number just sounds too crazy to believe."  But the numbers are lucid. The magazine figured the percentage through several factors such as total assets total sales and number of employees.

In the last five years, sales have jumped from $200,000 to $50 million and the staff of ten has grown to 70. TPi has diversified from a local outsource provider of invoice production, into customer service and collections fields nationwide working with cellular and long distance companies in 41 states.

During a period of economic downsizing, when everyone from recent college grads to art teachers are settling for less than what they hoped for, TPi Billing, a family owned and operated company, is a phenomenal success.

Glossy magazine recognition aside, Thomas doesn’t let the numbers get to him. "I'm always focused on what we are going to do tomorrow. What happened last week is always important."  Yet the transition from successful business to booming enterprise doesn’t come without a slew of challenges.

"Being a small business guy from Oklahoma" and working with multi-billion dollar companies he says, "You never really know who is making the buying decisions. It's hard to know when you've won the contract because there are just so many people on their side. You just can't do business with a handshake."

And how does a large corporation like TPi Billing maintain a home, not a headache, for employees?   "I'm very focused on what is important to the employees. I find the work but they make the business. I'm really proud of them so keeping them happy is my appreciation to them," he says.

Thomas has contracts with companies east, west, north and south. But he says the character of Tulsans is what makes this city a good place to be in business.

“People that I hire here are so much easier to work with.  Even if they come from elsewhere, it’s a different mindset and focus. There is a spirit and a work ethic unique to this area that makes it a much more fun environment."

As a graduate of Nathan Hale, now with a son and daughter, he says, “I’ve always been a Tulsa person. People here have a lot of concern about their families and their home life."

Inheriting a gold mine isn’t exactly how Thomas and his father foresaw the present when the company planted roots decades ago.  His father, Roy E. Thomas, started working for telephone companies in small towns in the mid ‘60s. Back then “computers were these great big monsters that filled entire rooms,” Thomas said. “Smaller companies wanted computers but couldn’t afford to buy them.”

Roy Thomas senior learned how to handle these contraptions and began preparing billing for rural telephone companies. And soon enough, TPi was founded by Thomas’s father and brother, Don Thomas.

Thomas worked at his dad’s company weekends and nights then left for the military after high-school. With his CPA, Thomas’ livelihood became business accounting until 1991. That year his father turned 72, and wanting to transition out, “he asked me to help him. It was something I knew very well so it was an easy decision,” said Thomas.

The 1990’s was a period when larger companies began outsourcing as an effective way to minimize corporate costs. TPi branched out to meet the fluctuating needs of the telecommunications industry.

As to being recognized in Inc. magazine, the incident happened through casual conversation. When Tulsa People magazine recognized TPi in 2002 as fourth in the listing of Green Country’s 25 fastest-growing companies, “some people in conversation asked if we had looked into the Inc. 500 magazine,” says Thomas. And voila, the numbers made the grade.

"We just had rapid growth,” he says. “Although, it’s exciting for Tulsa to get some press."

When jokingly asked about the slogan- Ultimate statement of service- posted on the TPi website, Ray laughs. "It's just catchy,” while commending his director of communications. “You have to be a little colorful in public relations.”

So while the business continues to expand to fit the communications need, TPi’s future is rooted in Tulsa. "This is the place where we're going to be," he says.

The TPi staff has been involved with United Way and The Red Cross and has also created projects for Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Tulsa Zoo. “I encourage our managers to take some time, even time off work, to be involved in the Tulsa community because it's important," he says.

So while the heavy load of dollars and cents make the business wheel grind, Thomas leaves time to calculate the ways through which the people in his community thrive. And for that, TPi Billing merits a second sort of better business award.

Dr. Moody completes Forensics Degree

As Yogi Berra said, it will be déjà vu all over again when J. Michael Moody, D.O.,’82, returns to the OSU campus in May to receive a Master of Forensic Sciences Administration (M.F.S.A.) degree.

Moody receives an M.F.S.A. degree from the OSU graduate program in Forensic Sciences. The program, established in 2001, also offers an M.S. in Forensic Science and a graduate course of academic study in the forensic examination of questioned documents. The programs are offered through the OSU Center for Health Sciences.

Moody says he has finished degree requirements almost entirely online. “The only non-Web course I took was a week-long disaster management seminar on the OSU campus.” He plans to attend commencement ceremonies, bringing back memories of the ceremony that conferred his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree.

A county medical examiner for two decades, Moody had a handle on forensics, but wanted to learn more. He says courses like questioned documents and forensic engineering added to his expertise. Studying management, budgets and human resources taught him about administration, and all the courses gave him more in-depth knowledge. When it comes to putting the degree to work, he is free to explore his options, having recently sold his private practice in Oklahoma City.

Moody is past president of the alumni association executive committee and current president of the board of the Oklahoma Education Foundation for Osteopathic Medicine (OEFOM). He also serves on the credentials committee and the grievance committee for the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association. In 2004, he was awarded a fellowship to the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians for his paper, Forensic Science of Ballistics.

~article & photo courtesy of  the OSU Center for Health Sciences Newsletter, March, 2005

~photo & article courtesy of NARO Press Archive, Nov '99

The Academy of Western Artists nominated John T. Wills and the Sons of Swing for 4 awards - Song of the Year, Best Album, Best Male Vocalist, and Rising Star.  Tulsa World's Spot Music Awards listed their album as one of the best local albums of the year.

photo courtesy of www.johntwills.com

Following graduation and an extended backpack tour of Europe, she returned to Tulsa and opened a graphic design studio.  This set her on a career path of working for design studios in Texas and Colorado.

After spending nearly 20 years in the advertising and graphic design business, Barbara elected, in 1994, to try and fulfill a life-long dream.  With a portfolio of her illustrations under her arm, she flew from her home in Denver to New York, to make the rounds of major publishers of children's book.  One of the publishing houses she visited was Dutton, a member of Penguin Putnam, Inc. and publisher of the celebrated Winnie the Pooh books.  Button's editors invited her to submit illustrations for a new children's book they were planning to publish.

The request resulted in a contract to illustrate Adventures on Klickitat Island by Hilary Hippely.  The book, which emphasizes the power of team work and the importance of sharing, reached bookstores all across the US and Canada in May of 1998. It was subsequently republished in both Great Britain and South Korea.

Following the market success of that book, she illustrated a second book for Dutton.  This recently released edition is a revival of a children's classic by Wilhelmina Harper, titled The Gunniwolf.

Barbara now lives in Easton, PA with her husband, Jack Wright, a professional musician.  Her three siblings - Pam, Marti and Brian - are also Hale graduates.

NATHAN HALE SCHOOL LIBRARY EXPANSION

The Nathan Hale school library will be expanded and completely remodeled during the summer of 2004.  They would like to set aside an area in the new library for Hale alumni memorabilia.  We would like to have all the class group photos (dating back to the 1960's) reframed.

We are looking for ideas for raising the funds to pay for the photo framing.  Please contact the Alumni Foundation if you have any suggestions or know someone in the framing business who would be able to help us accomplish this.