CAS CONNECT 2018

jail in what became the largest public corruption scandal in U.S. history. The office was also involved when a former state senator was convicted of mail and tax fraud and sentenced to federal prison, and in forcing the powerful head of the state Department of Human Services to resign. This success earned Daxon the Republican nomination for governor in 1982, but he lost to incumbent George Nigh. In 1983, Daxon joined the Arthur Andersen Office of Federal Services in Washington, D.C. In 1994, Oklahoma Gov.-elect Frank Keating asked Daxon to join his administration as secretary of finance and revenue; Daxon accepted. But the next day Arthur Andersen sent Daxon to Orange County, California, to lead the effort to restore solvency in what was the largest public bankruptcy in the U.S. up to that time. He worked in Orange County for the next five months, flying to Oklahoma on many weekends to help Keating develop his fiscal policy and his first budget. By April 1995, his work in Orange County was done; the county was on the road to financial stability without a tax increase or cutting key services. Daxon returned to Oklahoma and stayed with the Keating administration for the next eight years. In 2003, Daxon went to work for the Oklahoma House of Representatives as budget liaison. In 2006, he was elected chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party. The following year, Daxon formed his own consulting firm to assist state and local governments with financial issues. Daxon has been a featured speaker at conferences and meetings all over the country and has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, Orange County Register as well as the TulsaWorld and The Daily Oklahoman. Additionally, he has been an adjunct professor of accounting at the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma City University. He recently retired and is living with his wife of 45 years, Linda, in Oklahoma City. The two were the first couple ever married in the Oklahoma State Student Union. They have two sons. O klahoma native TomDaxon earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1970 and a master’s in geography in 1978 from OSU. In between, he earned his CPA certificate. With these tools, Daxon became a nationally recognized expert in government finance. In 1978, Daxon put his master’s thesis — Spatial Allocation of Marketing Resources In A Political Campaign — to the test by running for the newly reorganized office of Oklahoma state auditor and inspector. He won, becoming the youngest person (age 30) to win statewide office in Oklahoma. When Daxon took over as state auditor, Oklahoma was about to lose federal revenue-sharing funds due to its poor audits. Daxon upgraded the office personnel from one to 26 CPAs at the same time he reduced its overall size and introduced generally accepted auditing standards into its audits, ending the federal threat. The office’s audits also played a key role in sending a number of county commissioners to TOM DAXON Expert in Government Finance B.A., Economics, 1970 M.S., Geography, 1978 Then-Dean Bret Danilowicz presents the Hall of Fame award to Tom Daxon. CAS HALL OF FAME 46 CONNECT 201 8