Deb, a native of Independence, MO, has a varied career path, having worked in medical, manufacturing, software development and natural gas industry as well as being a small business owner before entering the community development arena in 2001. She served six years as Bixby Chamber of Commerce President and four years as VP of Economic Development for the Broken Arrow Economic Development Corp.

 

In 2006, she was named Oklahoma’s Chamber Executive of the Year. She completed the Institute of Organization Management (IOM) and holds a number of chamber and economic development certificates, including Heartland Economic Development Course, Business Retention and Expansion course (IEDC), Fundamentals of Chamber of Commerce Excellence and Advanced Studies of Chamber Managements. 

 

In 2011,she took a professional sabbatical to do humanitarian service work in Tanzania East Africa for nearly eight years, working on projects involving women’s groups, micro loans, water drilling, schools and orphanages throughout Tanzania. In late 2018, she returned to the US to live and has returned to community and economic development work, making her home in Okmulgee since June 2019.