4-19-2022
Panel
Susan Winchester is owner and President of the Winchester Group; a business development organization working primarily with non-profits and is currently serving as Governor Kevin Stitt’s Secretary of Licensing and Regulation.
From 2017-2019, she served as Chief of Staff for Lt. Governor Todd Lamb. Prior to joining Lamb’s office, she served 8 years as President for the Research Institute for Economic Development, a pro-economic development growth company that worked to ensure Oklahoma’s legislative leaders worked toward progressive business ventures and policy initiatives.
From 1998 until 2008, Winchester was a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, serving as Oklahoma’s first female Speaker Pro-Tempore. In 2005, she was selected as one of 40 emerging state leaders from across the nation to participate in the Toll Fellowship Program sponsored by the Council of State Governments. Other legislative awards and honors include The Defender of Free Enterprise Award from the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce and the Distinguished Service Award from the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy as well as induction into the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy Hall of Fame.
Winchester is a member of numerous local and state organizations promoting leadership development. She currently sits on the Executive Board and has served as Board Chair for the Oklahoma City National Memorial, The Oklahoma Academy for State Goals and as President of the Regents of the Regional Universities System of Oklahoma. She is a member and former board member of Leadership Oklahoma.
In 2016, she was recognized as a National Mother of Achievement by the Washington D. C. based Association of American Mothers and in 2006 was recognized as the Oklahoma Woman of the Year by the Journal Record.
Before her career in politics, Winchester was a businesswoman in the agricultural industry. For more than ten years, she co-owned and operated American Dusting Company and Chickasha Flying Service.
She is married to Supreme Court Justice James Winchester. Together, they have a son, Davis.
Frank Keating An attorney by training and a former partner of Holland and Knight. Formerly, he was the president and CEO of the American Bankers Association. The ABA is a 140-year-old association that represents banks of all sizes and charters and is the voice for the nation’s $13 trillion banking industry and its two million employees. Keating became ABA’s president and CEO on January 1, 2011 and stayed through December 31, 2015, following seven years of service as the president and CEO of the American Council of Life
Insurers, and after serving two terms as Oklahoma’s 25th governor.
Born in St. Louis, Frank grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from the University of Oklahoma. His 30-year career in law enforcement and public service included service as an FBI agent; U.S. Attorney and state prosecutor; and Oklahoma House and Senate member, including service as a Republican senate leader.
He served Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in the Treasury, Justice, and Housing
departments. His Justice and Treasury service gave him responsibility for all federal criminal prosecutions in
the nation and oversight over agencies such as the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Marshals, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service
and all 94 U.S. Attorneys. As assistant secretary of Treasury and general counsel and acting deputy secretary
of HUD, Keating’s work included housing finance, lending practices, securitization and Bank Secrecy Act
issues.
In 1993 Keating returned to Oklahoma to run for Governor. He won a three-way race by a landslide and was
easily re-elected in 1998, becoming only the second governor in Oklahoma history to serve two consecutive
terms.
As the governor of Oklahoma, Keating won national acclaim in 1995 for his compassionate and professional
handling of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. In the aftermath of the
tragedy, he helped raise more than six million dollars to fund scholarships for the nearly 200 children left
with only one or no parents. His accomplishments as Governor include winning a successful public vote on
right-to-work, tort reform, tax cuts, and major road building and education reform.
Keating is the chairman emeritus of the Board of the Washington based Bipartisan Policy Center and served
on the Policy Center’s Debt Reduction Task Force, a group of former cabinet members, elected officials and
key stakeholders of both parties that recommended a series of tough measures to address the nation’s
fiscal challenges. He also served on the BPC’s Housing Commission. He was previously chairman of the
Advisory Board of Mt. Vernon and president of the Federal City Council. He also served on the boards of the
National Archives, the Jamestown Foundation and as chair of the National Catholic Review Board. He is
currently Chairman of the Board of Regents for the University of Oklahoma.
He is a Director of Hall Capital, Global Financial, Banc First Corporation and Citizens Life Insurance
Company.
Keating also is the author of five award-winning children’s books, biographies of Will Rogers, Theodore
Roosevelt, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Standing Bear, the Ponca Indian chief who argued Native
Americans deserve the same rights as white Americans and Alexander Hamilton. He is the recipient of six
honorary degrees.
He and his wife Cathy live in Oklahoma City, OK. They have three children and eleven grandchildren.
Terri Watkins is a native Oklahoman and spent nearly 30 years with radio and television stations covering Oklahoma. At the time of the 1995 bombing, Terri was with KOCO-TV. She spent years covering the investigation and the trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, as well as McVeigh’s execution. She also conducted a 30-minute interview with Timothy McVeigh while he was in the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution awaiting transfer and corresponded with him while he was awaiting trial in Colorado.
After graduation from the OU Journalism School, she worked for KAKS radio in Tulsa, then KNOR in Norman, KLUF in Lufkin, KOCY and KTOK in Oklahoma City. Her first TV job was with OETA. She joined KOCO-TV in 1982. She’s won many national honors including the Peabody Award twice for bringing respect to TV journalism. She hosted ABC’s Nightline during the Denver trial of Timothy McVeigh. She was the first woman in Oklahoma City Gridiron, and has been president of FOI, OK, and has been a member and officer of several national investigative organizations.
Chair of the Day
John Kennedy founded Irish Realty in 1978. He began his career in commercial real estate by working for John Kilpatrick as Vice President of Kilpatrick Investment.Kennedy received a bachelors degree from Oklahoma City University in History and Political Science and a masters degree from Harvard University in Public Administration. He received an Alumni Achievement award from Casady School. Kennedy was also honored with the Spirit Award from Harvard for helping establish a community service program. He received a Tulsa Community Service Council “Dreamcatcher Award” for his efforts in creating the Oklahoma Office of Volunteerism. Preservation Oklahoma recognized him for “Individual Contribution to Historic Preservation” for his work on the First National Center. Kennedy was a 2015 Heartline Festival of Hope Honoree.
Kennedy was appointed Oklahoma Secretary of State on January 14, 1991 and served for three years. He is the youngest to have held the office.
He was a member of the board and audit committee of MD Building Products. Kennedy served as a member of the five person State of Oklahoma Cash Management and Investment Oversight Commission. He was also a commissioner on the Oklahoma Commission for Teacher Preparation and the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. Kennedy serves on the Harvard University HKS Fund Executive Council. Active in the community, Kennedy serves on the boards of directors of Cristo Rey OKC and O.U. Fred Jones, Jr. Art Museum. He is current Chair of The Oklahoma National Memorial and Museum and is co-chair of the Clara Luper Sit-In Plaza. Kennedy is a past board chair of Heritage Hall, Westminster School, and deadCenter Film.
He coached little league baseball for 22 years. Kennedy has five sons.