Rick Bayless

Renowned culinary expert, chef, restaurateur, best-selling author and television host, 1971 Northwest Classen grad Rick Bayless has crafted an international reputation for the authentic regional Mexican cuisine he has shared through his restaurants and recipes. Founder and proprietor of the landmark Frontera Grill in Chicago (1987), Bayless has garnered Daytime Emmy Award nominations for his Public Television series Mexico: One Plate at a Time, has authored nine cookbooks, expanded his highly acclaimed style of cooking through an award-winning brand of salsas, chips and cooking sauces through his restaurants in multiple states. Bayless won the first season of Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters and holds seven James Beard Foundation awards, including prizes for the country’s Best Chef and Best Restaurant. More than simply a celebrity chef, over the past 45 years Bayless has made a profound contribution to community as a founding member of Chefs Collaborative for a Sustainable Future, as a founder of Chicago’s Green City Market, the Frontera Farmer Foundation (providing over $3.5M in capital improvement grants to small Midwest family farms), and the Bayless Family Foundation in support of education and the arts.

Dr. Jeffrey Cohen

A 1969 Northwest grad, Jeffrey Cohen attended Tulane University in New Orleans for his undergraduate degree then earned his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 1977. After completing his residency in Neurology and Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in 1981, Cohen completed fellowships at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Clinical Neurophysiology and at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in Peripheral Nerve Disease. After holding academic positions at the Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Dr. Cohen joined the faculty at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in 2000, rising to the Chair of the Department of Neurology in 2010. He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, The Board of Overseers of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and on the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Advisory Panel of the FDA. He established and leads the ALS Certified Clinic at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

Cohen now serves as Professor Emeritus of Neurology at the Geisel Medical School at Dartmouth and its affiliated neurological facilities. He is still actively seeing patients with the neurology residents, teaching medical students, and leading the ALS Clinic.

Gary Marrs

Gary Marrs was born to be a fireman – he just didn’t know it until somewhat later in life. A 1965 Northwest graduate, Gary attended Oklahoma State University never really intending to be a firefighter. But his college plans were interrupted by a military commitment, serving four years in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. Upon his return, Gary’s mindset had completely changed and in 1972, he became a rookie firefighter, following his father and grandfather as a member of the Oklahoma City Fire Department. Twenty years later, he was named Fire Chief, but his legacy was truly forged during the tumultuous days of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building. As Incident Commander, he courageously helped coordinate disaster emergency response and rescue operations for the bombing and demonstrated to the nation and the world how a Fire Chief responds to one of the nation’s deadliest domestic terrorist disasters. After a 30-year firefighting career, Marrs has only continued his public service as both a City Councilman and as Chairman of the OKC Riverfront Redevelopment Authority.

Anne McNatt Roberts

Graduating in 1972, Anne displayed a diverse variety of academic and artistic talents at Northwest Classen, including four years with the schools’ renowned Cry-Slurs vocal group. Obtaining both Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees in Vocal Music from the University of Oklahoma, Anne studied opera in Europe and has enjoyed a long and fulfilling career as an accomplished singer of opera, musical theater and more. But her career calling has been split as a lifelong advocate for the health and well-being of children and youth, serving 20 years as CEO for the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy. In 2000, she was named National Child Advocate of the Year by Voices for America’s Children. She then spent ten years at INTEGRIS Health as Director of Legislative Affairs, serving as a registered lobbyist while working with both state and national policymakers to advance positive outcomes for Oklahoma families. Now retired, Anne continues to perform musically while also providing consulting services to a number of non-profit children- and youth-related services organizations.

Joe Stettheimer

A true rags-to-riches story has unfolded with this distinguished Northwest Classen grad. Joe Stettheimer was a 15-year-old sophomore in 1959 when invited by Northwest track coach Rex Irwin to run for the Knights’ team. What began as a promising track career his junior year ended abruptly when a series of events ended up leaving Joe homeless, forcing him to quit school and seek employment to support himself. As a result, he had to repeat his junior year at Northwest, losing one year of high school track eligibility and ultimately, missing out on a college track scholarship, graduating in 1962. Undaunted, Joe began work in earnest and, years later, received a full college scholarship to obtain seminary degrees from two Christian colleges, and going on to attend the graduate School of Business at the University of Texas. Joe served as Senior Pastor to multiple churches in three states, and went on to establish the International School of Evangelism, all while authoring 40 major biblical studies. Seeking to make his mark in the business world, Joe became a decorated homebuilder and land developer in the Lubbock, Texas market, ultimately building more than 2,000 new homes in his career, winning a National Homebuilder award and honored with the only Lifetime Achievement Award.  In retirement, Joe is active in a variety of charitable and philanthropic endeavors throughout the Lubbock and West Texas areas.