Like many other alumni of the Dr. Cornell A. Bell Business Opportunity Program (BOP), Law Burks’ involvement began with the program’s longtime director and namesake.
“Dr. Bell called me at home and said there was a program that would let me start school early and get a really good job,” says Burks, the president of IDEX Energy and 2024 recipient of the Daniels School’s Distinguished Alumni Award. “That was my introduction to BOP.”
Born and raised in the Chicago area, Burks attended Purdue on an Air Force ROTC scholarship and was active in student organizations including the Society of Minority Managers and Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity. “I enjoyed both the coursework and the comradery,” he says. “It was a wonderful combination of academics and social life.”
Burks went on to earn a BS in Industrial Management (now Integrated Business and Engineering) from Purdue’s School of Business in 1989 and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2000. He has also completed executive education courses at Harvard Business School.
“I've always enjoyed leadership and been a technical person, so the BSIM degree was a nice combination of engineering and the business side of things,” he says. “And I was lucky enough to have internships at General Motors and Procter and Gamble. Those experiences solidified for me that I wanted to focus on leading manufacturing businesses.”
Burks’ professional career began with five years of service as a manufacturing officer in the U.S. Air Force, which he describes as a “real-life leadership laboratory. You have the opportunity to work on high-technology programs with really talented men and women. It was a great foundation for success.”
“Those to whom much is given have an obligation to give back, so I'm passionate about giving my time and personal resources to support BOP and the business school.”
Following his time in the military, Burks went on to increasingly responsible manufacturing, business-to-business strategy, sales and marketing, and general management positions at Avon Products, Alcan Packaging, Cardinal Health, Illinois Tool Works, and BrandSafway.
In 2020, Burks joined IDEX, where he served as president of Banjo Corporation before being promoted to president of Agriculture Technology. In 2023, he was promoted to president of the IDEX Energy Platform, where he has full P&L responsibility for growing five global business units and leads a team of general managers, sales, marketing, engineering, operations and staff functions. “Leaders who have a technology background understand how to connect processes to people,” Burks says. “I learned that at Purdue.”
He credits BOP for much of his career success. “BOP was special because we all started together in the summer program and are still friends to this day,” he says. “I wouldn't have become a president at a global corporation without Dr. Bell’s mentorship, my BOP cohort, and all the alumni who came before me.”
Today, Burks is sharing his success with the program and school that made it possible. “Those to whom much is given have an obligation to give back, so I'm passionate about giving my time and personal resources to support BOP and the business school,” he says. “We also use corporate resources to sponsor students in the summer program, as well as to provide internships.”
In addition, Burks has returned to campus to speak at the Executive Forum and in MGMT 243, Contemporary Thought of Minorities in Management, which is now taught by BOP’s current director, Darren Henry. “I learned a lot in that course when I was an undergrad, so to have an opportunity to come back to the classroom and share my career story was very rewarding,” he says.
Burks remains humbled by his success and the honor given to him by the Daniels School. “I encourage other alumni to reengage with the school, give of their time and treasure, and hire graduates,” he says. “Those relationships and connections have a great return-on-investment and really make a difference.”
