Office of CaneCareers

Ron Walker, Ph.D., is recognized as an educational leader and consultant, an expert teacher, and an athletic trainer. His expertise in each of these areas has been continuously refined over 25 years of experience in leadership, education, mentorship, and providing care. These experiences result in a unique approach and skills set that are beneficial at the organizational and individual levels.

Walker is a clinical professor of Athletic Training, and is currently appointed as the Interim Executive Director of CaneCareers. He was the Founding Director of the University Center for Academic Advising and the founding director of both the Graduate AT Program at Tulsa and the Undergraduate AT Program at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Previously, he served as the Interim Dean of Health Sciences, and Associate Dean for Administration of Oxley College of Health & Natural Sciences. Ron is very active in service leadership at state, regional, & national levels. He has served as President & Treasurer of the Oklahoma AT Association; as the Treasurer of the Mid-America AT Association & chair of the finance committee, as Vice-Chair and Chair of the NATA District Secretary & Treasurer Committee, as an accreditation peer review chair for the Commission on Accreditation of AT Education, on the BOC Regulatory Conference advisory panel, and on the BOC International Committee. He is a 2015 recipient of the NATA’s Most Distinguished AT Award & the 2012 AT Service Award. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2017, the Mid-America Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2023, and was recognized in 2016 by The University of Tulsa as an Outstanding Teacher Recipient, the highest honor bestowed upon faculty.

Kelli comes to CaneCareers from Broken Arrow Public Schools where she was a biology and physical education instructor for 11 years.  From 2016-2019 she was also the varsity tennis coach for Broken Arrow.  In addition to her teaching and coaching responsibilities, Kelli was the head tennis professional at Forest Ridge Golf and Country Club in Broken Arrow from 2015-2018.  In 2012, Kelli was named the Liberty Elementary site teacher of the year and a finalist for the Broken Arrow district.  Additionally, Kelli was inducted into the Northeastern State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013 where she played tennis from 1993-1996.  Mrs. Collins graduated from NSU with a degree in education.  In her role as Experiential Learning Coordinator, Kelli will help students find and/or create learning experiences outside of their classroom through job shadowing, volunteering, micro internships, internships, externships and a variety of other avenues.

Taylor Richardson (Ms. Rich) joined the University of Tulsa (TU) Center for Career Development and Professional Engagement as a Career Coach for the Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences students in the summer of 2024.

Taylor grew up in Tishomingo, OK. She started her college journey at Murray State College and later graduated with a bachelor’s in Kinesiology from East Central University in Ada, OK. Upon graduation, Taylor moved to Anchorage, AK, for one year to travel. She settled in Tulsa, OK, and started her teaching career at Edison Preparatory – Tulsa Public Schools as a Pre-Algebra teacher in 2021-22. During that first year of teaching, her students proposed the question, “How can you expect us to follow our dreams if you have stopped chasing yours?” This led to Taylor getting a master’s in education – Sports Administration from East Central University in Ada, OK.

In August of 2022, Taylor took a job as a Physical Education Teacher at Barnsdall Public Schools.  “Coach Rich” was the head Varsity and JH basketball coach as well as the softball coach at Barnsdall Public Schools. She was promoted to a High School Special Education Teacher in her second year of teaching at Barnsdall. She has had experience working in education, athletics, chiropractic care, managing golf courses, and hospitality.

Taylor has always believed that you do not grow if you are comfortable – that is why she chose to become a career coach and help students step out of their comfort zones and chase their dreams. With three years of experience teaching and coaching, Taylor has helped countless students reach personal goals. She guides clients in boosting their confidence, developing their skills, and assisting students to take responsibility for their career choices. When she is not doing career coaching work, she is often outside. Taylor loves the outdoors and traveling. She enjoys kayaking, hiking, photography, and playing sports.

Tom Trimble joined The University of Tulsa’s CaneCareers as a Career Coach for the Collins College of Business students in November 2021.

Mr. Trimble earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The University of Tulsa. He also holds a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Information Systems Management. Additionally, Mr. Trimble has two Lean Six Sigma certifications and successfully completed the program to be a certified Master Gardener through Oklahoma State University.

Mr. Trimble has held highly challenging roles in both the public and private sectors. He retired from Tulsa County government after approximately 23 years of service where he served primarily as the Chief Information Officer. Recognized during this period as a digital technology leader, he was invited by the Chinese government to be the keynote speaker at the Global Economic Summit in Harbin, China, in 2011 and has spoken at the Pentagon to defend funding for cyber-security initiatives at the local government level.  Under his leadership, Tulsa County ranked from 2004-2014 among the top ten most technologically efficient counties in the U.S. among more than 3,000 counties nationwide. Further, their efforts were recognized nationally by the Sunshine Review Board with an A+ rating for transparency in government from 2009-2014.

In the private sector, Mr. Trimble’s roles have included Chief Technology Officer for a medical company, Managing Director of a consulting firm, and ICQA Manager for Amazon where he was responsible for leveraging technology to insure superior inventory control and quality assurance of all products sold at the TUL2 fulfillment center.

Mr. Trimble’s current passion is to be a resource for students to realize their full potential both throughout their careers and life. Empowering students to achieve their goals through supportive systems is his metric of success. Mr. Trimble considers his life experiences to be a resource of resilience toward his professional and personal mission to encourage similar success for future graduates at The University of Tulsa.

Outside of work, Mr. Trimble enjoys soccer, gardening, music, and playing competitive trivia with friends.  He sat on the Board of Directors of Volunteers of America from 2004-2016 and has been a lifelong volunteer for Junior Achievement with their Business Curriculum Education Program. Mr. Trimble has also been recognized for performing stand-up comedy for almost ten years over a four-state area during which time he was voted runner-up as Tulsa’s Funniest Comedian in 2018.

Chris Wong joined The University of Tulsa’s CaneCareers as a Career Coach for the students in the Engineering & Computer Science in September 2019.

Mr. Wong earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Petroleum Refining Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. He entered the petroleum refining industry as a Process Development and Field Services Engineer for Universal Oil Products and completed start-up and optimization engineering for eleven refineries in the United States and Europe.

In 1995, Chris and his family settled in Claremore, OK, and Chris managed capital projects for Allied Signal’s Catalyst Production Facility, where he had the opportunity to join and lead engineering teams that built new process lines in Shanghai, China; Florange, France; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; and Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  Next, he engineered modular process units for John Zink Company’s Fuel Vapor Control Division.  Mr. Wong also took an assignment as Senior Process Engineer for Orica USA, and their production of advanced explosives and detonation technologies for the mining industry.

In 2006, Mr. Wong earned the level of Black Belt in Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma, a rigorous statistics-and-design-tools training regimen for professionals in the manufacturing industry.  This honor allowed Chris to work as Continuous Improvement Engineer for steel and plastics manufacturing, as well as the production of ultra-high purity acids for the microelectronics industries. It was during this time that Chris found his calling to be a team motivator, mentor and technical coach.

Mr. Wong has taken to the country lifestyle on his small acreage in Claremore, where he and his family enjoy gardening, homebrewing, herbology for homeopathic remedies, equestrian activities, soapmaking, and other sustainable initiatives.

Siduri Purnell joined The University of Tulsa’s CaneCareers as the Events and Media Coordinator in August 2021.

Ms. Purnell is a Chicago native, new to the Tulsa area.  She earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Relations with a minor in Fashion from Ball State University in 2017. She’s also currently working on her Master’s in Human Resource Management from Capella University.

Before relocating to Tulsa, Ms. Purnell worked as the Director of Marketing for an events company, Poppin Events Company, located in Chicago.  As Marketing Director, Ms. Purnell created, planned and executed events, created marketing material, and managed social media.

Outside of work, Ms. Purnell lives in Broken Arrow, OK.  She enjoys traveling, attending concerts, shopping, and spending time with loved ones.