When Dr. Tom Fletcher, the Selection Committee Chairman, told Bruce Hamaker he had been chosen as Chemical Engineering Alumnus of the Year, his reaction was, "This is such a great honor, but are you sure you called the right person?" Fletcher assured him there was no mistake, and Hamaker replied, "I'm shocked, surprised, and very humbled to think that I would even be considered for such a recognition."

Hamaker graduated from BYU in the middle of 1974, with a masters degree in chemical engineering.  Initially, he went to work for Exxon Co., USA at their giant 50,000-barrel-per-day Baytown, Texas Refinery as a process engineer. For the next three years, Hamaker worked as a process engineer, refining engineer, and finally as a senior engineer before being promoted to his first supervisory position. Since then, he has taken a variety of supervisory responsibilities. He supervised plant process engineering support for two years, supervised plant computer applications and process control for two years, supervised Refinery Operations for three years, and supervised refinery economics/coordination and planning for two years.  Hamaker then accepted a three year assignment to Exxon Co., USA Headquarters in Houston, Texas, in Long Range Planning and Business Analysis. Remaining at Headquarters, Hamaker accepted a loan assignment to the Marketing Department to coordinate the U. S. Distillate Fuels Marketing for two years. For the past seven years, Hamaker has been on the commercial side of Exxon's downstream business. He was the lead negotiator for Exxon USA's long-term commercial contracts for two years and then moved into spot commercial trading.

Currently, Hamaker trades feedstocks and products for Exxon Co., USA. "There's never a dull moment in a job like the one I hold now," says Hamaker. "With constantly changing international economic and political situations, you can imagine how critical it is to react quickly and decisively in the oil trading business. While my current responsibilities may seem far afield from my BYU chemical engineering background, I assure you that is not true. The way I was taught to analyze, think and work in chemical engineering is fundamental to the skills I use every day."

In addition to his normal work assignments, for the last twenty years, Hamaker has recruited at BYU on the behalf of Exxon Corporation. During that time, Exxon has hired hundreds of top engineers from BYU. "I'm always proud of the BYU engineers that I help Exxon hire," says Hamaker. "They are a tribute to the philosophy of the University to develop the 'whole person', as well as a tribute to the BYU engineering faculty."

Since hiring on with Exxon, Hamaker has been a permanent resident of the Houston suburb of Baytown, Texas. Hamaker is married to Janie Hamaker, an LSU graduate and a native Baytownian. They have five sons and one daughter, ranging in age from 23 to 9. Currently, two of his returned missionary sons are at BYU, majoring in chemical engineering. Two more sons are currently serving full-time missions in Spain.

Active in both church and civic affairs, Hamaker has served as a bishop, three times on the Stake High Council, in two stake presidencies, and for the past nine years, has served as first counselor to three full-time mission presidents. As a returned missionary from Bolivia, Hamaker became heavily involved in the development of the Church among the Spanish people in the Houston area, from the establishment of the area's first all-Spanish Ward to the current all-Spanish Stake. Hamaker has also served on several local school board committees, including the steering committee for the school district's Gifted and Talented Education program and the high school mathematics textbook review committee. All "spare" time is devoted to helping coach community youth baseball, basketball, and soccer and to generally supporting his family.