Court Newkirk

Executive Director

Court Newkirk has served as the Executive Director of the OADC since December 2017, but this is not his first development job in Okmulgee.  Shortly after Court started pursuing a career in economic development, he was hired by the Okmulgee Chamber of Commerce in 1991. Court served as President of the Chamber, but that also included oversight of the Okmulgee Main Street Program, Okmulgee Tourism, and Executive Director of Economic Development. Court moved on in his EcD career in 1994 and retired in 2010 from the Broken Arrow Economic Development Corp. 

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Court was born and raised in Enid, Oklahoma, and earned his Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism from Oklahoma State University in 1974.  He completed the Institute for Organization Management and the Economic Development Institute, both from the University of Oklahoma and has served on the board of directors for the Governor's Economic Development Team, the Oklahoma Economic Development Council, and the Northeast Oklahoma Economic Development Association. During Court's career, he has worked on development deals valued at over $500 million dollars. Court has been married to Rosalyn since 1983.They have four grown children and five grandchildren, with their first granddaughter born in February 2020.

court@chooseokmulgee.com 

O: 918-758-1131

C: 918-759-8676 

Deb Marshall

Assistant Director

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.

 

O: 918-758-1131

C: 816-433-1534