Dr. and Mrs. Frank Wicks
An Alumnus of OSU, Frank completed his Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology in 1975, and a Biochemistry Ph.D. in 1978. Upon graduation, Frank and Elvesta moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to teach part- time at the University of Colorado, and to work for the Navigators at the United States Air Force Academy. The following year they moved to Boulder, Colorado, to work full time for the Navigators at the University of Colorado in campus ministry.
Dr. Wicks started in 1982 for the Sigma-Aldrich Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri, as an R&D chemist. He moved quickly through the ranks to become President of the Sigma Chemical division in 1994. Sigma-Aldrich was a publicly traded life science company with 10,000 employees in over 40 countries and the premier provider of research chemicals with over 200,000 different chemicals used by universities, pharmaceutical and industrial companies. Wicks assumed a brief role in 1998 as Vice President of worldwide operations. The following year he went through the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School. After his return, he and the company’s COO developed a strategy that was the basis for revenue tripling to almost $3 billion by 2015.
He was particularly known as the company’s culture leader, with a focus on the value of the individual and a core value of respect and dignity. He led multiple acquisitions and integrations over his career, and launched major marketing and rebranding campaigns. He hired and developed seven of the 15 key leadership team members, and developed and implemented database marketing and pricing systems.
In addition to his career at Sigma-Aldrich, Wicks served as a member of the Advisory Board of Chemical & Engineering News, was an Advisory Board member of the International School of Business at St. Louis University, and is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Covenant Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America and serves on the Board of Directors of CASS Information Systems (NASDAQ:CASS).
Wicks’ wife of 45 years, Elvesta, is also a native of Oklahoma. They currently reside in Chesterfield, Missouri. They have three daughters and 12 grandchildren.
Recipientsof the Frank and Elvestra Wicks Scholarship