Five New Members to Join Northwest Classen Hall of Fame for 2026
Oklahoma City, OK – A world-renowned horticulturalist, an internationally-known pharma executive, and the longest-serving Police Chief in Oklahoma City history are just three of the five outstanding alumni to be inducted into the Northwest Classen High School Hall of Fame for their exceptional lifetime achievements and contributions to society.
The eighth annual Hall of Fame banquet and formal presentation of this years’ ‘Order of the Round Table’ Class is set for Friday, November 6th in Oklahoma City and will take place at the school, located at 2801 Northwest 27th at May Avenue. For information regarding ticket sales, reserving your tickets and the evenings’ order of events, go to http://nwcfriends.org and click on ‘Hall of Fame’.
This year’s Hall of Fame honorees are Vivian Vahlberg, Dr. Tim Love, Cuong Do, Bill Citty and Rodd Moesel, Brief biographies of each of the five honorees are included.
Directing the annual Hall of Fame selection and induction is The Friends of Northwest Classen High School Foundation and Alumni, a 501(c)3 group and the official alumni organization of the school. Established in 2006, the non-profits’ sole purpose is to raise funds and assist students and faculty of the school in a variety of ways.
Designating a Hall of Fame Selection Committee, this Committee has invested several months and hundreds of hours soliciting nominations of notable alumni, identified the most qualified candidates from more than 50 different nominees, then vetted each one individually to select the Hall of Fame Class for 2026.
“Every year I’m amazed at the caliber of people who have graduated from Northwest Classen,” said Tom Cheatham, President of the Friends of Northwest Classen High School Foundation. “The 2026 Order of the Round Table inductees are yet another example of students from modest
beginnings who dreamed of making themselves the best they could be and in turn made the world a better place to be. What an example they’ve set for our current student population! But they all share one major advantage: they’re Northwest Classen Knights. I hope every student and teacher here understands that such a high standard has been set and they strive to continue this tradition. And I’m sure they will.”
Tickets and table reservations to the Hall of Fame presentation dinner and program are limited to just 300 attendees. As such, those interested in attending this prestigious event are encouraged to make their reservations as early as possible.
For more information about the Northwest Classen Hall of Fame, to nominate someone for the Hall of Fame, or to learn more about the Friends of Northwest Classen Alumni Group, visit the website at http://nwcfriends.org or email [email protected].
Vivian Vahlberg
With her dream of being a journalist and a head start as a writer/editor of the Taft Junior High newspaper, joining the staff of the Shield newspaper at Northwest was a logical next-step in Vivian’s dream. Graduating with honors in 1966, it was off to Rice University where she earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology then spent six months pursuing Masters coursework in Journalism at Northwestern University until landing her dream job with the Oklahoma-based Gaylord Publishing empire as a Washington D.C. correspondent for The Daily Oklahoman, The Oklahoma City Times and the Colorado Springs Sun newspapers. There she covered the Oklahoma and Colorado Congressional delegations, national, state and local stories, including energy, farm and military policy, campaign finance and Native American issues that affected either state.
One of her first assignments in 1971 was to cover the all-male National Press Club’s vote that finally allowed female members of the press to become part of this venerable organization. Within months, Vivian was a member herself and 11 years later, she became the club’s first woman president; a milestone so important that President Ronald Reagan inducted her as the new president.
Vivian not only presided over the Press Club’s luncheon programs but personally interviewed each of their high-profile guests during a live broadcast. These included heads-of-state such as India’s Indira Gandhi and the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos, media giants like Dan Rather and even entertainment greats like Francis Ford Coppola. It was through this involvement with the Press Club that Vivian gained valuable insight into the impact that nonprofit organizations make within the wider realm of professional journalism. So when she and her family moved to Chicago in the 1980’s, her career focus shifted into this area and it continues today.
Vivian has served as executive director of the Society of Professional Journalists and as managing director of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University. She also led foundation investment in journalism-related initiatives as director of Journalism Programs at McCormick Tribune Foundation, and as manager of the Community News Matters program at The Chicago Community Trust. She’s conducted research on community news needs and Internet news usage, and has taken on a wide variety of consulting opportunities along the way.
Vivian is proud to have been inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 1983, and to have received the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2010. Most recently, she has served as a consultant to Oklahoma City’s Inasmuch Foundation, helping build its program of journalism grants to new investigative reporting news start-ups around the nation.
Tim Love, MD
Plenty of students have graduated from Northwest Classen giving no hint whatsoever that they might achieve anything of real significance at some time in the future. But then there are others – like Dr. Tim Love – who early on displayed hints of their future success.
In Tim’s case, he achieved both academic and athletic success at Northwest, graduating in 1975 then moving on to Oklahoma State University to earn his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. Graduating from OSU with high honors, he was accepted into the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and earned membership in the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.
Dr. Love then completed his residency in Plastic Surgery at Emory University in Atlanta, then spent time as a surgical cardiovascular research fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, resulting in his extensive general, vascular, cardiac, and plastic surgery training.
Today, Dr. Love is board certified in General and Vascular Surgery as well as Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and has performed thousands of procedures across multiple surgical disciplines during the past 40 years. Dr. Love also worked closely with Dr. O’Tar Norwood, a pioneer in hair transplant procedures, and is a member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery as well as the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery and the Lipoplasty Society of North America.
Dr. Love is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS), which requires a rigorous evaluation of his professional qualifications, surgical abilities, education, and medical conduct. He has also functioned as a principal or participating investigator in five FDA-sanctioned device studies and is recognized as an innovator in minimally invasive surgical techniques for the face, breasts and body.
Closer to home, the surgical practice of Dr. Love has received more than 30 “Best Of” community awards recognizing his expertise and commitment to excellence in cosmetic surgery and the genuine satisfaction and trust he has earned from his patients.
Cuong Do
It was April of 1975 near the end of the Vietnam War when eight-year-old Cuong Do and his family boarded one of the last C-130 flights out of Saigon to begin a new life several thousand miles away in a place called Oklahoma. Arriving with little more than a change of clothes, a few dollars and no ability to speak English, Cuong Do and his family immersed themselves into American culture and quickly adapted to life in their new home.
A very bright student, Cuong excelled in his schoolwork, displaying a keen interest in the study of immunology which provided him with an apprenticeship of sorts at the O.U. Health Sciences Center working in a medical laboratory at age 14. Do’s academic exceptionalism was apparent during his four years at Northwest and he graduated with Highest Honors as Valedictorian of the Class of 1984 with several prestigious universities competing for his academic future. He chose Dartmouth for its intimate size and exceptional reputation, pursuing a double major in biochemistry and economics, then stayed another year to earn his MBA.
Upon graduation, Do joined McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, to provide strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, marketing, organizational design and operational strategies. Beginning as just one of a few dozen employees in the firm’s newly launched Health Care Practice, when Do departed as a senior partner in 2006, McKinsey’s health care practice had grown to become one of the largest and most respected health care consultancies in the world.
Over the next decade, Do would serve as Chief Strategy Officer for major international corporations such as Lenovo, Tyco Electronics, and Merck before joining Samsung in 2015 to lead their Global Strategy Group. While at Merck, Do was instrumental in putting additional resources behind a virtually unknown and underdeveloped research program that ultimately produced Keytruda, now the highest-selling oncology drug of all time.
In 2021, while serving on the board of BioVie, a biopharma company, Do led the company’s acquisition of a drug that he believed could be the ultimate game-changer for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s patients. The final condition of the acquisition deal was that Do had to step into the role of CEO and lead the clinical development of the drug for the company, which he continues to do at the present time.
Do is also an active entrepreneur, starting companies himself, coaching startup CEO’s, and serving on startup boards. He established a biotech company working in rare diseases that has since been acquired by Amicus Therapeutics, as well as several therapeutics companies tasked with developing gene and enzyme replacement therapies for rare diseases.
When not actively involved in business, Do is interested in philanthropic pursuits, particularly in autism, having established several different autism-related foundations; one to help teens with autism identify and use their abilities to make the transition to adulthood; and another to train clinicians and parents on how to work with children with autism. He’s also served on the board of Autism Speaks, as well as its Executive, Strategy, Science and Family Services committees.
Bill Citty
A mild mannered student, hard-working teammate and fiercely loyal friend, Bill Citty is a 1971 Northwest graduate who, like so many 18-year olds before him, had no firm idea what his life’s calling might be. But, having the opportunity to attend Oklahoma State University, Bill diligently applied himself, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and set a course for a lifetime of effective and dedicated service to the community and citizens of Oklahoma City.
Answering the call to public service, Bill applied to the Oklahoma City Police Department in 1977 and was accepted as a recruit to their 12-week Police Academy, graduating with Honors and after a brief orientation period, received his first assignment as a Patrol Officer on the streets of Oklahoma City. In the early 1980’s he was promoted to the Department’s Narcotics Division, followed by a succession of moves into Homicide, Campus Resources and the Tactical Unit.
As Bill’s star continued to rise within the Department, he was assigned to a critical position within the Department’s Public Information Office. It was at this post that Bill’s name became very well-known as he coordinated media relations during the response to the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in 1995.
On October 24th, 2003, Bill was named Oklahoma City’s 48th Chief of Police, beginning a span of 16 remarkable years of growth, innovation and improvement. Bill invested great time and effort into his position to become a graduate of the FBI National Academy, Federal Emergency Management Institute, Harvard Senior Management Institute for Police and the FBI National Executive Institute. He was also then-Governor Mary Fallin’s appointee to the Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training.
Taking on an even larger role with the OCPD, Citty was instrumental in developing and supporting legislation relating to sex offenders, sexual assault victims rights, domestic violence, human trafficking, body worn cameras, alcohol and firearms – law enforcement statues to protect the rights of all people living in our community by expanding the punishment of criminals. As a result, he has received accolades from the United States Department of Justice, Neighborhood Alliance, NAACP, Governor’s Council on Latin American and Hispanic Affairs, Oklahoma Center for Non-Profits, United Way and the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation to name a few.
In 2015, Chief Citty championed the effort to improve the process by which victims of domestic violence were provided protective services. At that time, Oklahoma City sent victims from location to location for services which were often overwhelming and confusing for victims and their children and inadvertently hindered their safety and healing. Bringing together a coalition of community leaders who agreed that a more coordinated response was needed, Chief Citty and staff brought in national consultants to conduct a needs assessment for the development of a domestic violence Family Justice Center. Chief Citty’s staff then wrote a $1.3 million Victims of Crime Act grant to build a facility for addressing domestic violence issues, placing the city, supporting agencies, the community and nonprofits into a public/private partnership to maintain the facility’s long-term sustainability. He also provided a major in-kind match of staff, IT support and equipment, training, office supplies, printing, and public relations assistance, which allowed Palomar, Oklahoma City’s Family Justice Center, to open in February of 2017.
After more than four decades of dedicated service, Chief Citty retired in 2019, but not before touching much of Oklahoma City through his involvement with many community based non-profits including the Red Cross, Leadership OKC, Youth Leadership Exchange, Boys & Girls Club, ReMerge, the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Neighborhood Alliance, City Rescue Mission, Oklahoma Special Olympics, Fields and Futures, First Serve, and Palomar.
Rodd Moesel
This former student council president and high-achieving academic is a 1972 Northwest grad who as a senior earned the honor of serving as Youth Affairs Advisor to President Richard Nixon and helped lead the 1972 Presidential Youth Inaugural Staff in Washington, DC. But Rodd Moesel’s roots were always firmly planted in our Oklahoma soil. His family’s business, Moesel’s Hort Haven, was a highly-respected nursery, greenhouse and garden center that gave Rodd plenty of opportunity to grow his horticultural skills. While still a teenager in 1974, Rodd used a $500 Oklahoma 4-H Club Scholarship, to establish American Plant Products and Services, Inc., a wholesale company that today sells greenhouse structures, equipment, and supplies, as well as nursery, garden center, and landscaper supplies across the central U.S. with more than 30 employees.
Dedicating his entire career to the agricultural industry, Moesel studied horticulture and political science at Oklahoma State University, fostering a long-standing relationship with the school and leading to the establishment of 15 USDA Research greenhouses in Stillwater, more than 20 different research projects at that campus, as well as a half-dozen Teaching Greenhouses at the university’s Oklahoma City and Okmulgee campuses. He has also been directly responsible for establishing similar teaching greenhouses at over 150 other universities, vo-techs, and academic institutions nationwide as well as numerous commercial and estate greenhouse projects.
Throughout his career, Rodd has actively been sowing the seeds of agrarian advocacy in many, many other areas across the state and nation. These include being a long-time member and Past President of the National Board of North American Horticulture Supply Association; a member of the Oklahoma Small Business Administration Advisory Board and formerly one of three Oklahoma Representatives on the United States SBA Advisory Board; a former board member and Executive Committee member of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology; and the first Chairman of the Oklahoma Horticulture Industry Council consortium, which is comprised of the Oklahoma Nurserymen’s Association, the Oklahoma Florists Association and the Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers Association.
Moesel also just completed 16 years on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau State Board, serving as State President the past eight years. During that time he also served on the National Farm Bureau Board and served on a variety of Farm Bureau committees. He also led efforts to start an Oklahoma Rural Venture Fund and helped establish annual accelerators for both agricultural and rural-based entrepreneurs. Most recently, Rodd considers himself blessed to have had the opportunity to help provide relief services and agricultural advisory assistance in Azerbaijan and in war-torn Ukraine as an emissary of the United Nations.
Closer to home, Moesel has served as President of the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation, helping to establish the Oklahoma Capitol Camp for 4-H & FFA members at the State Capitol, as well as initiating a Washington DC internship program that hosted 11 Ag Youth on Capitol Hill this year. He is also a former President of the Myriad Gardens Conservatory, a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program, and is currently serving on the City’s MAPS IV Venues Committee.
