Chairman | Murphy Oil Corporation
Claiborne Deming is an educated man. He graduated with honors from Tulane University, a well-respected private university in New Orleans, in 1976. He earned his law degree from Tulane Law School in 1979.
But his legacy won’t be his own academic pursuits. It will be those of students in the town of El Dorado, Arkansas, – home to Murphy Oil Corporation – through a program Claiborne dreamed up and named The El Dorado Promise.
Claiborne Payne Deming was born in 1954 in Alexandria, Louisiana, to John and Bertie Murphy Deming, a doctor and homemaker respectively. Claiborne’s mother was the sister of Charles H. Murphy Jr., the long-time president and chairman of Murphy Oil Corporation. Murphy Oil was started by Charles H. Murphy Sr., who was a banker, timberland owner and oilman in South Arkansas. Charles H. Murphy Jr. took over his father’s business after World War II and built it into a fully integrated, multi-national oil and gas business. Charles managed the business on behalf of his sisters: Theodosia Nolan, Caroline (Polly) Keller and Claiborne’s mother (Bertie).
It was natural for Claiborne to go to work at Murphy Oil as a staff attorney after receiving his law degree. After all, it was a family-owned company before its public stock offering in 1956. Still, it was the scale of the business and the risk-taking in oil exploration that ultimately attracted him to Murphy Oil.
In his second year of law school, Claiborne met Elaine Robinson through a shared friend. They married and raised four independent-minded children: Claiborne Jr., Katherine, Wilson and Jefferson.
Murphy Oil
Working as a corporate lawyer, Claiborne’s first boss was Jerry Watkins, Murphy Oil’s longtime general counsel. Claiborne learned a lot about law and business from Watkins, who served on the board of directors, held senior leadership positions in the company and was a master negotiator.
Claiborne served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer at Murphy Oil before becoming the president and chief executive officer on October 1, 1994, when Jack W. McNutt retired. McNutt had been Claiborne’s boss and another mentor. Jack was demanding and strongly believed in accountability.
Claiborne restructured many aspects of the company. In 1996, Murphy Oil spun off its Deltic Farm & Timber subsidiary in order to concentrate on its oil and gas assets. Importantly, in 1996 Murphy began a business relationship with Walmart whereby Murphy built and owned gasoline stations and small convenience stores on Supercenter parking lots. The business grew very quickly and is now a separate, publicly traded company with over 1400 sites across the South and Midwest.
Deming expanded the company internationally. Murphy Oil acquired three oil concessions off the coast of Malaysia. In 2002, Murphy discovered the 500 million barrel Kikeh field off the coast of the island of Borneo in Malaysian waters. It resulted in the single largest reserve-add and source of production in the history of the company. In fact, during Deming’s tenure as CEO, the company tripled its production and oil and gas reserves.
Murphy Oil Corporation has five additional offices worldwide – Houston, Texas; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Perth, Western Australia and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – but has always retained its headquarters in El Dorado, Arkansas.
On August 23, 2005, disaster struck Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina swept into the Gulf Coast, displacing 1.5 million people. The storm trapped more than 80 people in Murphy Oil’s New Orleans office when levees broke, the city flooded and emergency services were suspended.
Deming had Murphy Oil immediately set up call centers to check on employees, hired a security firm to rescue its trapped employees and their families, and secured a facility to serve as a temporary shelter. On the Friday after the Monday storm the company rescued 83 people out of its flooded office when New Orleans was considered its most “lawless.” Murphy’s nearby refinery provided free fuel for emergency response vehicles in St. Bernard Parrish. After making sure employees were safe and sound, Murphy Oil then donated $5 million to the St. Bernard Parish community and gave bonuses – an extra month’s salary – to employees recovering from the storm.
On Dec. 31, 2008, Deming retired and became chairman of the board’s executive committee for Murphy Oil Corporation. He is currently also the Chairman of the Board.
The El Dorado Promise
In December 2006, Deming had an idea that would transform the South Arkansas city that is home to the headquarters of Murphy Oil.
He approached the company’s board of directors with a $50 million proposal to create an educational scholarship for students graduating from El Dorado High School and a foundation to support and improve academics.
The board quickly approved the proposal and in January 2007 announced the program. The El Dorado Promise awards all graduates of El Dorado High School – provided they have attended El Dorado schools since ninth grade – a scholarship equal to in-state tuition and mandatory fees for bachelor or associate college degrees.
The Promise scholarship has changed the academic culture of El Dorado, shifting conversations from if kids are going to college to where kids are going to college. High school students, teachers and parents requested more Advanced Placement classes, increasing offerings from three classes to 19 and increasing annual participation from 100 to 400 students. College students return home to share tips for successful college experiences with high school students. In 2016, 84 percent of Promise-eligible students in El Dorado attended college.
The Promise scholarship has provided funding to 2,025 students over the 10 years since it was established. It has improved the college enrollment rates, revitalized the schools and contributed to the economic development of El Dorado.
Community
Currently, Claiborne serves on the board of Murphy Oil Corporation and Murphy USA. He also serves on the boards of several private companies including Laurel Mountain Energy, an oil and gas company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Elaine support El Dorado Festivals & Events, the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Board, Vanderbilt University and historic Stratford Hall in Virginia.
See more of the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.
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