Speakers

Philip Abode and his wife, Rondalyn, have been passionate about helping people grow in their relationship with the Lord ever since they committed their lives to Him during their college years at the University of Tulsa. Shortly after graduating with a degree in applied mathematics, Mr. Abode moved to Dallas, TX with his wife, Rondalyn, to attend Dallas Theological Seminary in preparation to help start Crossover Bible Church, where he has served as Lead Pastor since 2009.

After Mr. Abode completed a masters in Christian education, he and Ms. Abode moved to north Tulsa to start the work that God had called them to. Mr. Abode always wanted to serve at a church whose impact in the community went beyond Sunday mornings. Mr. Abode began to see how that might become a reality the first season he coached a third-grade tackle football team in 2008. Being able to connect with the families and help the kids deal with areas of need in their lives opened Mr. Abode’s eyes to the huge access that youth sports gave him into families’ lives in his community. This eye-opening experience transformed Philip’s perspective on what it would take to truly make an impact in his community.

That experience led to the formation of Crossover Community Impact, Inc. (CCI). CCI serves its community through youth sports (Crossover Sports Association), health care (Crossover Health Services), housing and economic development (Crossover Development Company). Mr. and Ms. Abode are excited to be a part of CCI’s effort to serve its community educationally through Crossover Preparatory Academy.

Tyrance Billingsley II is a born-and-raised Tulsa entrepreneur, ecosystem builder, and community leader with a background in politics and community organizing. For the past three years he has worked to seed the narrative of the rebirth of Black Wall Street as the world’s premiere Black Innovation Economy under the new moniker “Black Tech Street” and founded the Black Tech Street organization to achieve that goal.

Mr. Billingsley is an inaugural For(bes) The Culture 50 champion, has given a TEDx Talk on “How the Opportunity of the Tech Industry, Powered by the Story of Black Wall Street, Can Transform Black America,” and has chaired various statewide boards, worked with startups and venture capitalists, and brokered partnerships with fortune 100 companies.

G. T. Bynum was sworn in as the 40th Mayor of Tulsa in 2016 and overwhelmingly reelected by Tulsans in 2020. He has focused on bringing people together to build a globally competitive, world-class city through fiscal responsibility, data and innovation, public safety, infrastructure, and equality of opportunity for all Tulsans. Under Tulsa’s form of government, Mayor Bynum serves as the CEO of an organization with 4,000 employees and an annual budget of nearly one billion dollars.

Mayor Bynum has made equality of opportunity a cornerstone of his administration. He established the Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Equity to implement the Resilient Tulsa Strategy, the city’s first strategic plan to address issues of racial disparity. Mayor Bynum also has launched the New Tulsans Initiative, which is focused on making Tulsa a beacon of freedom and opportunity for immigrants from around the world.

Prior to his election as mayor, Bynum served for eight years on the Tulsa City Council. During that time, he was elected as the youngest city council chairman in Tulsa history. During his time as a city councilor, he led the successful effort to enact the largest streets improvement package in the city’s history, authored the first city sales tax cut in Tulsa history, doubled the number of police academies to increase manpower, authored legislation creating the first municipal rainy-day fund in Oklahoma and coordinated efforts to establish the first municipal veterans’ treatment court in the United States. Before his tenure in elected office, Mayor Bynum also worked in the United States Senate for Senators Don Nickles and Tom Coburn.

Mayor Bynum comes from a family dedicated to public service. He is the fourth member of his family to serve Tulsa as mayor. He and his wife, Susan, are the proud parents of Robert and Annabel—the sixth generation of Bynums to call Tulsa home.

Abbey Davis serves as an executive director at AAON, an innovator in the commercial HVAC industry, leading the human resources, learning and development, and change management teams across four states supporting over 4,000 employees. Dr. Davis’ corporate tenure in the energy and manufacturing sectors has focused in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development, compensation design, and talent management. Dr. Davis’ academic contributions as a former director at the Spears School of Business and a professor of practice at Oklahoma State University reflect a deep commitment to shaping the future of work. Holding a PhD in business, Dr. Davis’ researches the dynamics of workforce development, economic mobility, and the changing landscape of work.

Robert Doar is the president of the American Enterprise Institute.

Mr. Doar became AEI’s 12th president in July 2019, leading one of the nation’s oldest and most respected public policy think tanks. Since becoming president of AEI, Mr. Doar has recruited dozens of leading scholars and fellows across multiple issue areas and launched a new research division focused on Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies.

By supporting the extensive work of AEI scholars in areas including foreign and defense policy, education, the reform of key institutions, the US economy, and in opportunity and mobility studies, Mr. Doar has helped to solidify AEI’s position as a leading voice on the major issues facing the United States.

Libby Ediger is CEO of Atlas School, a cutting-edge software engineering school that is dedicated to providing its students a unique hands-on education and training experience for in-demand computer science careers while creating an accessible learning environment that helps transform their lives and add value to their communities. Under Ms. Ediger’s leadership, Atlas School is poised to create the next-generation talent pipeline for Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma.

Before launching Atlas School, Ms. Ediger spent five years with Quorum, a B2B SaaS company in Washington, DC, where she was on the founding team and helped lead business development and marketing growth. Libby was honored with the “40 Under 40” award by Oklahoma Magazine.

Damon Gardenhire is the founder of Linchpin Resources, a strategic communications, philanthropic impact, and policy and public affairs consultancy. Previously, he worked with the Walton Family Foundation and the Walton Family Personal Philanthropy Group as a senior program officer, focusing on K–12 philanthropic investments in Oklahoma. He is a former television reporter and anchor who covered the Oklahoma City bombing and its aftermath, including for the Fox News Channel nationally. Mr. Gardenhire has held a variety of strategic communications and public policy positions in the corporate, healthcare, legal, and state government sectors. His reporting has been published in the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, National Journal, and Oklahoma Today magazine. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma.

Rebecca Good is the Managing Director of Outreach at the American Enterprise Institute, where she oversees AEI’s engagement outside of Washington. This includes AEI’s college and university programming, state and local coalition activity, inclusive of AEI’s Leadership Network and FREE Initiative, and outreach to minority communities. In 2022, she served as AEI’s Director of Special Projects, supporting priority initiatives. In 2016, Rebecca co-founded, and subsequently led, The Augustine Academy, a classical Christian liberal arts K–8 school just west of Milwaukee, WI. She previously served as director of advancement for the Trinity Forum, and, prior to that, worked as a management consultant with McKinsey and Co. She’s also served as a student chaplain at Harvard University. She holds a BBA/Finance from Texas A&M University, a master’s degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a post-graduate certificate from Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford.

Jennifer Hankins serves as managing director of Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL), a tech-led economic development organization responsible for catalyzing the Tulsa region’s leadership in advanced industries. TIL was pioneered by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and believes that building a world-class tech hub in America’s heartland unlocks opportunity for all.

Ms. Hankins joined the founding TIL team in January 2020 and brings more than 10 years of direct economic development experience to the team. Working to convene myriad stakeholders across multiple industries, she is responsible for setting TIL’s strategic direction and organizational mission and, most importantly, leading a dynamic and high-performing team and the broad portfolio of work currently underway. Most recently, Ms. Hankins successfully led a regional coalition to secure a $38.2 million investment from the US Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge for the Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility Cluster and to secure a Tech Hubs Designation for the Tulsa Hub for Equitable and Trustworthy Autonomy (THETA).

She is a native of Kansas City, Missouri, and holds a bachelor of political science degree from Oklahoma State University.

Prior to joining TIL, Ms. Hankins served as vice president of entrepreneurship and small business in the economic development division of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, where she was responsible for working with area partners to help grow the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and managing the Chamber’s business incubator for high-growth startups. Ms. Hankins also served as manager of business retention and expansion on the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce’s economic development team. Prior to her time in Oklahoma, Ms. Hankins worked in the Kansas City region for the Wyandotte Economic Development Council as investor relations coordinator and for Catholic Charities of Kansas City–St. Joseph as development manager.

Dr. Ebony Johnson is the Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, the largest school district in the State of Oklahoma serving nearly 34,000 students at 77 schools. She is a proud graduate of Tulsa Public Schools and attended Walt Whitman Elementary, Gilcrease Middle School, and McLain High School (class of 1994).

Dr. Johnson is a lifelong educator and transformational leader who started her career at Tulsa Public Schools as a classroom teacher at Monroe Middle School in 1999. She then served as a school leader at Academy Central Elementary, Central Junior High, Central High School, and McLain High School where she implemented strategies and best practices that resulted in school turnaround. In 2017, she stepped into the role of Executive Director of Student and Family Support Services and oversaw key initiatives resulting in a 27% decrease in out-of-school suspensions systemwide, district-wide adoption of SEL-integrated instruction, and the implementation of restorative practices as part of the district’s behavioral interventions.

In 2020, she was named as Tulsa Public Schools’ Chief Academic Officer providing strategic oversight for special education, multilingual learning, services to immigrant and refugee learners and families, curriculum and instruction, early childhood education, and student and family support services including mental, social, and emotional health. Dr. Johnson also serves as an adjunct professor in the College of Education at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Johnson was selected by the Council of Great City Schools as a candidate in the Michael Casserly Aspiring Superintendent’s cohort.

Dr. Johnson received a bachelor’s degree in English Education, a master’s of arts degree in Educational Leadership from Northeastern State University, and earned her doctoral degree in Education at the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a 4.0 GPA. She currently serves on the advisory board of directors of the University of Tulsa’s Schweitzer Foundation and the board of directors for The Pencil Box. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and takes pride in serving her community.

Dr. Johnson has been recognized by Tulsa World in 2015 as one of the Top Ten Tulsans to Watch, the United States Department of Education for Tulsa Public School’s outstanding work during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In addition, Dr. Johnson received the Hall of Honor in Community Service award in 2014 from 100 Black Men of Tulsa; Madam President award from the League of Women Voters of Tulsa in 2022; and the NSU Centurion Award in 2022, among many others.

Dr. Johnson is the proud mother of a Rogers High School graduate and an aspiring Booker T. Washington graduate. She has been married for 23 years to her husband, a Central High School counselor and graduate.

James Lankford serves Oklahomans. He served four years in the US House of Representatives for central Oklahoma, until he was overwhelmingly elected to the US Senate in 2014.

Before his service in Congress, James served students and families for more than 20 years in ministry, including 15 years as the Director of Student Ministry for the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma and Director of the Falls Creek Youth Camp, the largest youth camp in the United States, with more than 51,000 individuals attending each summer.

James and his staff enjoy serving people from all backgrounds across Oklahoma. As Ranking Member of the Government Operations and Border Management Subcommittee, which covers border security, management, and operations; regulatory reform; and the federal workforce. He demands we have a secure, more fiscally responsible, and transparent federal government, and our nation remains the world leader. He believes that the federal government has an important role in our nation, but empowered families, individual people, and private businesses grow our economy and pass down our values.

James was recognized as the Senate’s top-ranked “Taxpayers Friend” by the National Taxpayers Union for his strong record in support of lower taxes, limited government, and economic freedom. His annual Federal Fumbles report is a must-read in Washington, DC, because of its commonsense solutions to the problems our federal government faces. He has also been recognized by many other organizations for his work toward increased personal freedom, economic growth, and religious liberty.

James lives in Oklahoma City with his wife Cindy. They have been married more than 30 years and have two daughters, Hannah and Jordan. He enjoys spending time with his family, working in his yard, and reading.

Nat Malkus is a senior fellow and the deputy director of education policy at AEI, where he specializes in empirical research on K–12 schooling. He is a national expert on a range of educational issues that affect students across the country—including career and technical education, school choice, advanced placement, standardized testing, and how the nation’s schools responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before joining AEI, Dr. Malkus was a senior researcher at the American Institutes for Research, where he led research teams analyzing national education data on topics including how many college students take remedial courses, the comparisons between charter and traditional public schools, and student achievement and graduation rates in schools undergoing turnaround reforms. Earlier, he spent four years as a middle school teacher in Maryland.

Dr. Malkus has a PhD in education policy and leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a BA in historical studies from Covenant College.

Katie Milligan previously served as the chief of staff for Start Co., a venture development organization based in Memphis, Tennessee and as the director of small business and entrepreneurship for the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), a federal agency that works to improve regional economic opportunity in the eight-state Delta region. While at the DRA, Ms. Milligan launched the Delta Entrepreneurship Network, a competitive fellowship program to identify entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship support organizations in the Delta.

Ms. Milligan has served as a US delegate at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress and is currently serving as the Board Chair for the Clinton School of Public Service Alumni Board. Ms. Milligan has a BA in political science from the University of Mississippi and a MPS from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

Through her robust knowledge of public policy, Ms. Milligan has been selected as the first cohort of 100 emerging changemakers selected to participate in the Obama Foundation’s inaugural Leaders USA program. Ms. Milligan is ready to keep on building her skills and learn how she can expand her impact across public, private and nonprofit sectors.

Elyse Newbert is the director of coalitions at AEI. She is responsible for developing strategic partnerships and finding opportunities for collaboration between AEI and individuals and organizations in DC and around the country. Ms. Newbert also works to bring the research of AEI’s scholars to a broader audience through events, conferences, and the AEI Leadership Network. Prior to joining AEI, Ms. Newbert worked for almost a decade in Canadian politics. She resides in Washington, DC, with her husband and two sons.

Dr. Megan Oftedal is a results-driven data leader with over a decade of experience in both the public and private sectors. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (OEQA) where she is leading its transformation into a data and analytics hub.

Prior to serving OEQA, Dr. Oftedal led data science teams at Meta and American Fidelity. She also has an extensive background in educational policy and research, including tenure at the RAND Corporation where her work focused on aligning educational funding with quality outcomes and fostering innovation in K-12 education.

Dr. Oftedal holds a PhD in Policy Analysis from the RAND Pardee Graduate School and BA in Economics from Loyola University Chicago. She was also a Strategic Data Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Educational Policy.

Brent Orrell is a senior fellow at AEI, specializing in job training and workforce development with a special focus on disconnected and disadvantaged populations, including youth, justice-involved persons, veterans, and neurodivergent persons. His recent work has focused on the workforce opportunities and challenges resulting from generative AI and automation, as well as strategies for improving economic mobility in rural, redeveloping, and nonmetropolitan areas throughout America. In collaboration with the Brookings Institution and the Harvard Kennedy School, Mr. Orrell has spearheaded AEI’s involvement with the Workforce Futures Initiative, which has produced multiple reports, working group sessions, and interest from communities across the US.

He has written, coauthored, and edited multiple reports for AEI, and frequently contributes to the popular press, including The Bulwark, Deseret News, The Dispatch, Law & Liberty, The Hill and RealClearPolicy.

Matt Pinnell was elected as the 17th Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma on November 6, 2018. Pinnell is President of the Oklahoma State Senate and serves on multiple constitutional boards and commissions, including serving as Chairman of the Oklahoma Tourism Commission and Route 66 Centennial Commission. He has set his Lt. Governor agenda focused on workforce and economic development issues.

Pinnell is the chief marketer of Oklahoma and spends much of his time promoting Oklahoma. In partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, he launched a talent recruitment campaign targeting the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. He also works to retain and attract companies to the state by hosting events throughout the year, including the annual Lt. Governor’s Turkey Hunt, a two-week event that showcases Oklahoma to prospective out-of-state companies and site selection representatives.

As an entrepreneur himself, Pinnell champions small business growth. He advises the Oklahoma Department of Commerce on small business growth, entrepreneurship, and workforce development. In 2022, he launched ‘A Look at Oklahoma CareerTech,’ a video interview series that showcases the education and employment opportunities the state’s CareerTech system provides.

Pinnell launched a statewide rebrand in 2020, a campaign that has streamlined state agency processes and saved taxpayer dollars.

Matt has an advertising degree from Oral Roberts University. He lives in Tulsa with his wife of 22 years and their four children.

Ian Rowe is a senior fellow at AEI and the founder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a new International Baccalaureate high school in the Bronx. In addition to serving 10 years as CEO of Public Prep, he held leadership positions at Teach for America, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the White House, and MTV, where he earned two public service Emmys. With his recent book Agency, Mr. Rowe seeks to inspire young people of all races to build strong families, overcome the victimhood narrative, and become masters of their own destiny. Mr. Rowe is chairman of the board of Spence-Chapin. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, a bachelor of science degree from Cornell University’s College of Engineering, and his high school diploma from Brooklyn Tech as part of a K–12 New York City public education. Mr. Rowe is a recipient of many honors, including the Harvard Business School Bert King Service Award and most recently the George A. Sutherland Award.

Governor Kevin Stitt is leading Oklahoma with a vision to become Top Ten in job growth, infrastructure, education and more.

He is an entrepreneur who founded Gateway in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2000. Starting with only $1,000 and a computer, he grew Gateway into a nationwide mortgage company operating in 42 states and servicing more than $20 billion in residential mortgages. In 2018, he led Gateway through a merger and established Gateway First Bank, which today is one of Oklahoma’s 10 largest banks by assets with over $2 billion in assets, 166 mortgage centers across the U.S., and more than 1,600 employees.

Oklahomans spoke in record numbers that they wanted Stitt to use his business acumen to transform the state. In 2018, he received more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in state history in his first bid for elected office of any kind.

Governor Stitt has taken a groundbreaking approach to his administration by appointing the most female cabinet secretaries in state history and tapping expert advisors from the private sector, including the first chief operating officer in state history.

He is committed to delivering taxpayers more for their money, and his fiscally conservative leadership helped the state build its largest savings account in history, which proved to be prophetic in the face of an oil and gas downturn.

Stitt is a fourth-generation Oklahoman and a graduate of Oklahoma State University. He and his wife, Sarah, have been married for 25 years and they have six children.

Brianne Webb is the Director of Corporate Work Study at Cristo Rey OKC Catholic High School. Having served as a volunteer on the board for the school previously, and more recently as Major Gifts Officer, she’s passionate about the unique opportunity Cristo Rey provides to students from families whose economic reality restricts their access to a quality college and career preparatory education. Previously, Brianne worked at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. She has also worked in advertising for the statewide business journal, The Journal Record, as well as having worked in the publishing industry in New York City.

Brianne is an active volunteer with several nonprofits. She currently serves as Mission Committee chair for the American Red Cross of Central Southwest Oklahoma, current member and past president of Downtown Club, Event Planning Committee member and emcee for Willow Pregnancy Support, and board member for Santa’s Cause, a nonprofit established in 1984 that provides anonymous, last-minute response to children’s letters to Santa. She’s a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City’s Signature Program and Giant Worldwide’s XCore Leadership Program, is a past Planning and Zoning Commissioner for the City of the Village, a past organizer for TEDxOklahoma City, and is active at Christ the King Catholic Church.

Brianne received a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in political science from the University of Oklahoma. She’s a member of Chi Omega, graduated with distinction, and worked for the Oklahoma Daily newspaper throughout college.

In her free time, she enjoys cooking, swimming, and tackling DIY projects with her four-year-old son, Theo. She also enjoys playing golf and the violin, but not at the same time, and only when no one is around to witness how pitiful she is at both.

Dr. Scott Williams is the Deputy Superintendent and Chief Operating Officer.

In this role he uses a research driven data informed approach to lead and apprise the district’s strategic decisions. His interests include maximizing Return on Investment and Economic Impact of the district’s three delivery arms in pursuit of student and stakeholder success.

Previously Dr. Williams was Associate Superintendent and Chief Instruction Officer at Tulsa Tech. He was Chief Workforce Officer, Dean of Academic Affairs, and Dean of the Albert Lea Campus at Riverland Community College in Minnesota. Prior to that, he served as the District Director for Workforce Development at Indian Capital Technology Center, as well as a campus administrator at Connors State College.

Dr. Williams holds a Ph.D. in Occupational Studies from Oklahoma State University, where his dissertation won the National Outstanding Dissertation Award from the University Council for Workforce and Human Resource Education, an M.B.A. in Business Administration, and a B.B.A. in Management from Northeastern State University. He is also a fellow with the Strategic Data Project for Postsecondary CTE (SDP-CTE), sponsored by the ECMC Foundation, a program of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University. Scott has numerous publications, presented at several national conferences, and won various research awards.