Jerome Loughridge

Jerome Loughridge is senior vice president and chief of staff of Oklahoma State University.  He joined the OSU executive team in September of 2021, following a 16-year career in the energy sector. 

 

Loughridge previously served as Oklahoma Secretary of Health and Mental Health. As secretary, he was responsible for 54 agencies, boards and commissions, including the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, Department of Health and Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.  In his cabinet role, he also helped lead the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force responsible for the state’s response to the global coronavirus pandemic.

A native of Duncan, Oklahoma, Loughridge earned a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude from Baylor University as a University Scholar. A recipient of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, he earned his Master of Public Policy from Harvard University as the school’s first Fellow in Business and Government. Following a tenure as an energy derivatives trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange, in 2000, Loughridge returned to Baylor University as Chief of Staff, serving on the executive committee and helping in the development of the university’s 10-year vision.

 

Loughridge was appointed as one of 12 members of the 2003-2004 class of White House Fellows, where he was assigned as special assistant to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In that capacity, he worked on post-war Iraqi reconstruction, splitting time between the West Wing, the Pentagon and Baghdad.

 

Loughridge and his family make their home in northeast Oklahoma City. A Spanish speaker, Loughridge maintains an ongoing commitment to mission and humanitarian activity, traveling to Central America and East Africa, where he has taught in universities and rural villages. 

In returning to the university, Loughridge teaches a seminar in the OSU Honors College entitled, “Public Policy During Times of Crisis.”  It is the most enjoyable hour of his week. Last September, he matriculated at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, and began a graduate program in Practical Ethics. He now travels to England every three months to study in residence through the faculty of Philosophy at the University of Oxford.