Tom Whitehurst

Brain drain is a state of mind

Sunday, September 10, 2000

The recent promotion and transfer of Bank of America president Tom Shirley caused me to consider this concept of brain drain from a new perspective.
   Brain drain is a term often used to describe the migration of Corpus Christi's best and brightest to other places. It has been applied to promising new high school graduates who go to college elsewhere, then find employment elsewhere after graduation. And it has been applied to local professionals who leave Corpus Christi for greener pastures.
   It's a negative spin on a situation fraught with positives.
   Let's take Shirley as an example. He's a local boy who came home and made good, after going off to college. He was the Corpus Christi president of a big bank. Now, at 41, he's Bank of America's top guy for Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. He doesn't want to leave town, but an opportunity was thrust before him and he couldn't say no.
   Local big boys
   Likewise, the No. 2 official in the electric utility giant American Electric Power is a Corpus Christi boy. Thomas Shockley - a name that always made me wonder whether his professional life was predestined - used to run Central Power and Light from headquarters here. AEP exerts power - pun intended - and influence in Washington, D.C., many state capitals and in foreign nations.
   The progress of Shockley's career gives Corpus Christi a lot of juice.
   And along with juice, it helps to have a bit of grease. Terry Koonce, valedictorian of the Ray High School Class of 1956, is president of ExxonMobil Production Co. and a vice president of ExxonMobil Corp. Before that, he was the kingpin of Exxon's exploration and production in the former Soviet Union.
   Natives' contribution
   Here's an Information Age measure of Koonce's importance: An Internet search of his name alone with the AltaVista engine yielded 37 Web pages. But then I got really serious with my research. I called my mom, one of his Ray classmates, and had her look him up in her yearbook.
   Another Terry from the Ray Class of '56 wields powerful influence in another field. That, of course, is Terrence McNally, the playwright.
   But I was struck recently by another Corpus Christi native's contribution to the arts that is much fresher on my mind. Recently, I saw the film "Judy Berlin," noteworthy for being Madeline Kahn's last film before her death. Kahn's performance was indeed powerful, but this was one of those great little independent films filled with inspired performances. And the most impressive, in my humble opinion, was that of Barbara Barrie, a graduate of Miller High School.
   Growing new talent
   As we consider the influence of former residents on hearts and minds, as well as industry, let's not forget that native son Steve Sullivan, immediate past publisher of the Caller-Times, is now vice president of operations for E.W. Scripps Co.'s newspaper division. What that means is a guy who has held leadership positions with our Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corp., United Way and Christus Spohn Health System, to name only a few, who grew up here, whose mother was a local radio and television celebrity, and who really likes it here, now oversees the day-to-day operations of 19 newspapers, including this one.
   Now, Bank of America and the Caller-Times can do what companies generally do in this situation, for their own and the city's benefit, and that is, develop new talent to replace the friends we have in high places.
   Local economics professor Bob McMinn recently told me that he doesn't buy this concept of brain drain, and I'm starting to understand why.
  
  

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