Back row from left: Governor Bill Anoatubby, Chickasaw Foundation Chief Executive Officer Johnna Walker, Chickasaw Foundation Trustees Kirk Perry, Jay Keel, John Fryrear, Wayne Scribner, Jerry Jones Front Row from left: Holly Johnson, Jalinda Kelley, Robyn Elliott, Debra Gee, Jenny Trett. Not pictured: Matt Chestnut.
Ms. Elliott is the secretary of the Chickasaw Nation’s Department of Communications and Community Development. She and her team work to promote cultural pride among Chickasaw citizens by sharing timely and important information using outlets such as print and digital media and film.
Ms. Elliott received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from East Central University in 2002 and her MBA in 2016 from Oklahoma State University. She is involved in several organizations, including the Chickasaw Nation Small Business Development Center, the Oklahoma Heritage Association, the Public Relations Society of America and Leadership Oklahoma. She is also a board member of Creative Oklahoma, Ada Jobs Foundation, Ada Chamber of Commerce, Ada Arts District, East Central Alumni Association and Oklahoma Women’s Coalition and is on the Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma Regional Advisory Committee.
Ms. Jalinda Kelley serves as Vice Chairman for the Chickasaw Foundation Board of Trustees. As the secretary for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Interior Services, Ms. Kelley oversees many internal operations for the tribe, such as human resources for headquarters, health, housing and commerce, benefits, compensation, the legal division, self-determination, training and career development, and organizational planning and support.
Ms. Kelley received a bachelor's degree from East Central University and is certified as a professional of human resources (PHR). Ms. Kelley is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management, the Chickasaw Nation Head Start Advisory Board and Landmark Bank's Ada Community Board.
Ms. Jenny Trett serves as secretary for the Chickasaw Foundation. Ms. Trett is the executive officer of Internal Audit for the Chickasaw Nation. She was appointed to the position in December 2017, and oversees internal audit activities for Chickasaw Nation departments, programs and business activities. She began her career with the Chickasaw Nation in 1997 as a tribal accountant. In 2000, Ms. Trett accepted the position as director, health system finance, and after serving five years in that role, she moved into the position of administrator for the division of Treasury. Since 2012, she has served in executive officer positions for the division of organizational planning and support and the division of tribal health. Prior to her employment with the Chickasaw Nation, Ms. Trett was employed by Samson Resources Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Ms. Trett graduated from East Central University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. In 2009, she completed an MBA from Oklahoma State University. She is a certified public accountant (CPA) with memberships in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants and Institute of Internal Auditors. Ms. Trett is a member of Leadership Oklahoma (class 22), Leadership Murray County, and has served on the Chickasaw Nation Boys and Girls Club executive board. Currently, she is a member of the Sulphur School board and chairperson for the People’s Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees.
Mr. Jerry Jones serves as treasurer for the Chickasaw Foundation. He began working for the Chickasaw Nation Jan. 8, 1996, as an internal auditor. In March 1996, he became the finance director for headquarters. In August 1998, he was asked to create a new internal audit department and became the director of quality performance. In September 2014, he was promoted to senior advisor and executive officer of audit and financial reporting.
Prior to working for the tribe, Mr. Jones worked for Horne & Company, P.C., a local accounting firm, where he produced an independent audit of the Chickasaw Nation for seven years. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from East Central University in December 1988. He is a certified public accountant (CPA).
Mr. Jones has served the Chickasaw Foundation for a number of years as the assistant treasurer or assistant secretary.
Mr. Matt Chesnut serves as assistant treasurer for the Chickasaw Foundation and has served on the board since February 2016. He is a senior new business development and private investments manager for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Commerce. He began working for the Department of commerce in 2014 where he has since worked in the office of corporate development.
Mr. Chesnut received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arkansas (’09) and his MBA from Harvard Business School (’14), where he served as chief financial officer of the school’s Student Administration. In addition to serving on the board of trustees for the Chickasaw Foundation, he also serves on the board of directors for the Central Oklahoma Humane Society. He and his wife Chesna reside in Oklahoma City with their two dogs, Shep and Birdie.
Mr. Fryrear has served on the Chickasaw Foundation board since 2007.
Fryrear is the owner of a full service broker-dealer, Investment Securities of Oklahoma LLC. He has been in the investment banking/securities business for more than 30 years.
He is a board trustee and co-chairman of Vizavance (formerly known as Prevent Blindness of Oklahoma), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing children’s education through vision. He is also a member of the Native American Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Fryrear and his wife reside in Norman with their son, Gavin.
Ms. Debra Gee serves as a trustee for the Chickasaw Foundation. She also serves as General Counsel and Executive Officer for the Chickasaw Nation Legal Division. Prior to employment with Chickasaw Nation, Ms. Gee worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where she served as deputy director of the Office of Tribal Justice and Tribal Legal Counsel for the Violence Against Women Office, Office of Justice Programs.
She is a graduate of Arizona State University College of Law and Smith College where she earned a juris doctorate and Bachelor of Arts, respectively. Ms. Gee holds bar memberships in the tribal courts of the Chickasaw Nation, Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Navajo Nation and in the states of Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Ms. Holly Johnson serves as trustee for the Chickasaw Foundation. In 2003, she was elected to the Chickasaw Nation Legislature. In 2010, she was named administrator of the division of planning and organizational development, and in 2012, she was appointed to the position of secretary of the department of treasury.
Ms. Johnson received her bachelor's degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University. She is a certified public accountant (CPA), a member of the Oklahoma Society of CPAs, a member of the board of directors at Citizens Bank, an independent director for the Federal Home Loan Bank – Topeka and an appointed Ethics Commissioner for the State of Oklahoma. She is a former member of the National IRS Advisory Committee of Tax Exempt and Governmental Entities representing Indian Tribal Governments and a past board member of the Ada City Schools Foundation. Ms. Johnson is also an active member of the Native American Finance Officers Association and a member and trustee of the First Christian Church in Ada, Oklahoma.
Mr. Keel serves as a trustee for the Chickasaw Foundation. He is the Secretary for the Department of Family Services. This department operates family therapy and enrichment programs that contribute to the overall well-being of Chickasaw families. Mr. Keel is an ordained Baptist minister, received a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from East Central University and attended graduate school at Southwest Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He is a board member of the Family Crisis Center in Ada, McCall’s Chapel School, National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Chickasaw Nation Head Start, Children of Incarcerated Parents Task Force and advisory board member to the Southeast Oklahoma Fellowship of Christian Athletes and OCU Addiction Prevention Program.
Mr. Kirk Perry has served on the board since April 2001. He is the executive officer for the Chickasaw Nation Historic Preservation Division. His Chickasaw parents are Johnson and Sophia Perry. His education in general business and mathematics at East Central University has helped his professional career.
During the 1970s, while the deputy director of the Chickasaw Housing Authority during its infancy, he helped establish new housing programs, working with many federal agencies and local governments. Although the Chickasaws were a smaller tribe, he helped lead the housing programs to become the second-largest Indian Housing Authority in the United States. The Chickasaw’s successful programs became recognized nationally as best examples of management and development of Indian Housing. He helped establish both the Oklahoma Indian Housing Authority and the National American Indian Housing Council, while serving both organizations as an officer and board member. Knowing the drastic need for Indian housing training on standards and advocacy, he served on national housing coalitions and professional organizations. He helped establish needed nationwide Indian management programs for counseling, a new project-based budgeting study, development practices, housing management training and certification programs and professional certification for Indian housing managers.
For more than 25 years, Mr. Perry has worked in land survey, highway contract administration, architectural planning and consulting. He successfully operated businesses in oil and gas land leasing, commercial and residential building inspection and construction as a general construction contractor before accepting an opportunity to work for the Chickasaw Nation in 1997, where he served to administer several new and growing programs, such as historic preservation and repatriation.
Learning the value of respect for others, seeking education and the warrior spirit given him by growing up as a Chickasaw has made Mr. Perry’s participation especially rewarding when working with Chickasaw people to help others achieve their own life goals.
Mr. Wayne Scribner is a trustee and has served as a general member of the Chickasaw Foundation since February 2015, and was the chair of the Building Committee in 2016.
Mr. Scribner is the Cabinet Secretary for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Community Services which consist for eight divisions; the divisions of housing, aging, social services, youth services, education, construction and support services, project development and review and Chickasaw employment access. More than 100 programs and services offered by the Chickasaw Nation are administered through these divisions.
Mr. Scribner also serves as Executive Director of the Chickasaw Housing Authority; a position he has held since 2004. He has been employed by the Chickasaw Nation for more than 35 years.
Throughout Mr. Scribner’s tenure he has had the privilege to serve as a board member for the Southern Plains Indian Housing Association, the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act Formula Rulemaking Committee, and he was a former board member for Region IV AMERIND Risk Management Corporation. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors for the Arkansas Riverbed Authority, and is an active member of the Leadership Oklahoma (class 32).
Mr. Scribner is a traditional Chickasaw bow maker and is passionate about keeping the Chickasaw culture alive. He devotes his time to teaching and mentoring the art of bow making so the tradition will not be lost. Through his mentorship, apprentices have learned the process of bow making from the harvesting of the wood to the completion of a bow. He has been instrumental in reviving the tradition of cornstalk shooting for the Chickasaw Nation. He is an active member of the Chickasaw Cornstalk Bow Shooter Society traveling across the state to compete in cornstalk tournaments.