JOE HARROZ LEAVING POST AS VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL COUNSEL OF OU;
ANIL GOLLAHALLI TO BE NAMED INTERIM GENERAL COUNSEL

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jc/6-25-08

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Catherine Bishop, (405) 325-1701, or cbishop@ou.edu

     ARDMORE – University Vice President Joe Harroz, who also has served as University of Oklahoma general counsel since spring 1996 – the longest-serving general counsel in the history of the university – is leaving to become president of a publicly traded health care company in Oklahoma City.

     “Joe Harroz will be greatly missed at the University of Oklahoma. In my opinion, he is the most talented and effective general counsel at any university in the country. He has made an enormous contribution during his 14 years at the University of Oklahoma through his service as vice president and general counsel of OU, Rogers State University and Cameron University,” said OU President David L. Boren. “It has been my personal privilege to work with him for almost 20 years. He first worked with me as a student intern from OU in the U.S. Senate and rose to the position of legislative director of my Senate staff. Joe joined me upon my arrival at OU, and he has been instrumental in helping to achieve much of the success at the university since that time. Joe will remain an important part of the university family, continuing to be active with the university, including his more than decade-long service as a volunteer adjunct professor at the law school.”

     During his term as vice president of OU and general counsel to the OU Board of Regents, governing OU, Cameron University and Rogers State University, Harroz has been intimately involved in a major expansion of the faculty; the creation and advancement of the research campus; numerous reorganizations of administrative areas, including athletics compliance programs; and has led new initiatives that have brought millions of dollars to enhance academic and student programs.

     OU alumnus Anil Gollahalli, who has served as university vice president for technology development and assistant general counsel at OU since January 2007, will serve as interim general counsel.

     “Anil Gollahalli will assume the position of interim general counsel in addition to his current duties,” Boren said. “He will bring his valuable experience of associate general counsel to the position. After graduating from OU, he completed his law degree at the University of Chicago and practiced law in Dallas until he returned to the university two years ago. While he was practicing law in Dallas, he was recognized by Texas Monthly as one of the leading young lawyers in the state. We are very fortunate that he decided to return home to the University of Oklahoma.”

     Gollahalli earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering with special distinction from OU in 1997. As a student, he was a member of Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, named Gold Letzeiser Medalist as outstanding senior man and named to Pe-et honor society, which recognizes the top 10 seniors at the university. Gollahalli went on to earn his juris doctorate from the University of Chicago in 2000, after which he returned to Oklahoma to serve as a law clerk for the Honorable Lee R. West, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

     Gollahalli also has served OU as associate university vice president for technology development, assistant general counsel and Fellow for the Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth at OU.

     Prior to returning to OU, he practiced law in Dallas from 2001 to 2005, working extensively in the intellectual property fields of patents, copyright and trademark law. He is licensed to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and is active in the American Bar Association and American Intellectual Property Law Association.

     He has been honored with OKC Business’s “Forty under Forty” award in 2006, Texas Monthly Magazine’s “Texas Rising Star Super Lawyer” designation in 2004 and 2005 and the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers’ “Rising Star” designation in 2003.

     Gollahalli is active in the community, having served on the United Way of Norman’s Community Investment Committee; as an alumnus, trustee and selection committee member of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence; and on the Imagine Norman Board of Advocates.