Former Blue Bell Ice Cream CEO Ricky Dickson - 405 Magazine

Former Blue Bell Ice Cream CEO Ricky Dickson

Life by the Scoop

Former Blue Bell Ice Cream CEO Ricky Dickson talks about his up coming book, "One scoop at a time."

Ricky Dickson, the former CEO and president of Blue Bell Ice Cream, knows that ice cream isn’t just a favorite dessert during warm summer months: “People celebrate the best events in their lives with ice cream. People have a terrible day and ice cream comforts them. I learned early the impact that it has on lives.” 

In college at Baylor University, where he majored in marketing and journalism, Dickson wrote a paper on the Blue Bell company and was impressed by its culture—so impressed that he began his career there as territory manager immediately after his college graduation in 1981, and remained with the company for 43 years. 

“To open new accounts, all I needed was a pint of our vanilla ice cream and a spoon,” he said. Through the years, he worked in Texas as well as Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Broken Arrow. In 2010, he was promoted to vice president of sales and marketing and appointed to serve as a director on the Blue Bell Board of Directors. In 2017, he was promoted to president, and in 2019, he was elected CEO and president of the company. After retiring in 2023, Dickson received the International Dairy Foods Association Laureate Award for his significant contributions to the development and growth of dairy.

At the awards ceremony, newly named Blue Bell president Jimmy Lawhorn said Dickson also had a profound effect on many people over the years. “He is a man of great kindness, integrity, intelligence and humility,” Lawhorn said of Dickson. “He invests so much of his time to help mentor others, and we are thankful for it. The company has benefited greatly under his direction. We would not be the Blue Bell we are today without his servant leadership and uplifting guidance.”

His new memoir released this July, One Scoop at a Time, recounts some of Dickson’s favorite stories about his life and work with Blue Bell and his family. “My career began with a paper and I thought it would be right to end it with a book,” he said. “It’s about trying to find peace in the middle of storms by placing faith and trust in God.”

Dickson was excited to mention the two chapters in the book that detailed letters the company received from their consumers. Several are from children, and he noted that in the audiobook, his 12-year-old granddaughter reads these. These chapters contain a silly ransom note that threatens to hold up the company cows until a favorite flavor is brought back, as well as a very serious request to provide ice cream at the funeral of a woman dying of cancer. This last-minute request was honored in a moving way that underscores Dickson’s belief: Ice cream connects people in meaningful ways.

Since retiring in 2023, Dickson and his wife, Anita, have decided to make Oklahoma their forever home in retirement. “Oklahoma is roots. Oklahoma is home. We have two of our five children and four of our eight grandchildren in Oklahoma City. In our family, we have college graduates from UCO, OU, Central State, OBU,” he said. “We really believe that this is where God wants us to be. It’s less retiring and more refiring.” 

In warm weather or in cold, in celebration or in sorrow, ice cream is a dessert that never goes out of style. Ricky Dickson will be sharing lots of ice cream with his loved ones in the years ahead. As will the rest of Oklahoma.

To order the book or for speaking engagement information:
onescoopatatime.com
rickydickson.com