K. Michael Ingram

Michael "Mike" Ingram was born in 1944 in Roswell, New Mexico. "My father's father died when my dad was 15, and he went to live with an uncle in Clovis, New Mexico," explains Mike. "It was there that he met and married my mother, Maude, when she was only 16. Neither of my parents graduated high school. They were just two young kids trying to make a start."

Shortly before Mike was born, his parents left the family farm and moved to Roswell. They purchased an old motel, which they refurbished and opened for business. Mike felt fortunate that in his parents' line of work, they were always home. He grew up tagging along with his father wherever he went and in quick order learned the hospitality and motel business.

Mike's parents were deeply religious, and they raised their son in the nearby Christian church. "If the church doors were open, the Ingram family was sitting in the pews," he says. "My father was a very jovial person whom everybody loved. He served on the church board, and both he and my mother were very involved in all the programs there."

Whenever they could, the family enjoyed driving to Yellowstone National Park. By the time Mike was 14, his family had visited the park 18 times. He fell in love with the wide-open spaces of Montana and Wyoming and the ranches he could see from the road. In school, when given the assignment of writing a report on his future career, Mike wrote that he wanted to be a rancher. "That was always my lifelong dream," he says.

In 1955, when Mike was 11, his father tore down their tourist court and rebuilt it into a modern 34-unit motel with a pool. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 1958. "My father was my best friend, and his death was a real shock to me," says Mike. "We did everything together, so it was a tremendous loss."

Mike's father had no health insurance, and his three years of medical treatments left his wife and son deep in debt. "I could see the fear in my mother's eyes that we would lose everything," says Mike. "We worked hard to keep our business. There was always something to do: handling the switchboard and taking down reservations, unclogging toilets, replacing television tubes, cleaning the pool, laundry, room cleaning, landscaping. I don't think we ever had a meal that wasn't interrupted with the needs of one of our guests or because the switchboard went off. In those days, if a guest wanted to make a long-distance call, we had to connect the call through the switchboard. It was all pretty exhausting, but I learned at an early age that if there is a job that has to be done, complaining about it doesn't get it done."

Mike's mother always encouraged him to go to college. He enjoyed school and agreed with his mother that he should attain higher education. He was the captain of his high school swim team, which earned him offers of athletic scholarships to schools in New Mexico, but his mother wanted him to attend a Christian school. Two of his cousins had attended Pasadena Nazarene College in California, and that is where she wanted her son to go. Fortunately, the school was in the process of forming a swim team, and they offered Mike a scholarship.

When Mike arrived in California, he felt he was living the dream. "My friends and I had a lot of fun," he says, "too much fun." The swim team at his school never materialized, putting his scholarship in jeopardy. Academically, he was making very little effort and had earned straight Cs by the end of his freshman year. That's when his college dean called him into his office. He told Mike that he felt he had a great deal of ability, but that he was wasting his time at this particular school. The dean had gone to the trouble of sending away for a college catalog to Texas Tech, which offered a major in agribusiness. "He told me that my aptitude testing showed I should pursue business and in particular agriculture economics. I didn't even know such a thing existed."

Mike spent his sophomore year at Texas Tech. At that point, Mike needed in-state tuition to be able to continue his education. After his sophomore year, Mike moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he cobbled together several part-time jobs to make ends meet, while attending the New Mexico State University. He worked the switchboard at the Holiday Inn, baled hale, did chores at a nearby farm, and was a car mechanic in the evenings for university vehicles.

He attended three schools in four years, but by the time he graduated in 1966, he had fully focused his attention on his studies. He was granted entry into Alpha Zeta in the School of Agriculture, a national honors fraternity, and completed his college education making straight A's.

Mike's first job after graduation was with a meat packing plant. He supplemented his income by working at night and on the weekends selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door. That job demonstrated his innate salesmanship; two years later, he joined Merck Pharmaceuticals as a salesman. He was named Rookie of the Year and continued for four straight years as one of Merck's top producers.

In 1972, Mike left Merck to head up a new company, Tufts & Son of Oklahoma, Inc. He served as the president and only salesman of the wholesale distribution company. Over time, he grew the company into two other distribution companies: Western Vet and Sunwest Lawn and Garden. He had a sales staff of 100 and more than $100 million in annual sales.

Unfortunately, the oil crisis in 1984, when oil went from $40 per barrel to $8, caused more than 60 banks in Oklahoma to go bankrupt. That situation had a domino effect on the economy, and soon Tufts & Son was in trouble. At the same time, Mike discovered that his chief financial officer had embezzled several hundred thousand dollars. Rather than going bankrupt, Mike sold his company for 17 cents on the dollar compared to what had been offered two years previously. He paid off his debts, and he and Sheila moved with their six children to Arizona, where they planned to make a fresh start. Mike had always dreamed of owning a ranch, and he made that dream come true when he bought the El Dorado Ranch in Maricopa, Arizona, which had been previously owned by actor John Wayne.

Once he established El Dorado Holdings, Inc., a Phoenix-based land and development company with partner Monty Ortman, Mike began to purchase additional properties to expand his portfolio. The town of Maricopa soared from 500 residents in 2000 to more than 43,000 by 2010, setting the stage for commercial development for retail, entertainment, health care, and educational providers. Today, El Dorado Holdings is one of the region's largest private land-holding companies with assets exceeding $1 billion.

"When I was forced to sell Tufts & Son, I couldn't understand why everything I had worked so hard to build was crashing down around me," says Mike. "But that failure was a true blessing in disguise. My new career in land development has been very rewarding, beyond my wildest dreams. Today, the wholesale distributor business has drastically changed due to manufacturers dealing directly with retailers. Eventually, I would have floundered in that industry. Today, I love the real estate business, and I love the ranches I own, but my real passion is in the cattle and horses I raise."

Mike is quick to point out that his achievements were not earned without support and counsel along the way. He has counted on the encouragement and love he has received from his wife, Sheila, and their six children, 21 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. He has also had several friends and mentors who have greatly influenced his life. Over the years, he has developed a philosophy about how to live and conduct business, and he shares those ideas in his book, The Master Plan.

When addressing young people, Mike emphasizes to them the importance of delivering on promises made. "When you do that," he says, "you build your reputation. People come to believe in you and take you at your word. That is something you need in your personal life with your friends and family, and also in your business life."

Mike has a plaque in his office that describes how he tries to live his daily life. The inscription, by author James A. Michener, says, "The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both."

Honored by his Horatio Alger Award, Mike says he is anxious to be a part in supporting the Scholars' aspirations to attain higher education. A true believer in the importance of giving back, Mike says, "I learned about giving at an early age from my parents, but also from my uncle who was a farmer. People thought he was a rich man because as soon as he made money on something, he gave it away. Material wealth didn't matter to him. He was one of the happiest people I ever met. He lived to be 90 years old, giving to others until the end. I believe that if you are not actively giving back as part of your master plan, you are missing out on one of the true joys of life."