Mr. Jay Keel serves as chairman for the Chickasaw Foundation. Mr. Keel is cabinet secretary of the Chickasaw Nation Department of Family Services. He was appointed director of youth services in 1993, administrator of the youth and family services division in 1995 and cabinet secretary of family services in 2013. The family services department operates family therapy and provides Human Services programs that contribute to the overall well-being of Chickasaw families.
Mr. Keel is an ordained Baptist minister. He received a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from East Central University and attended graduate school at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He serves on the board of Mercy Hospital Ada, is a member of the board of governors for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and also serves as the Oklahoma City area representative for the National Tribal Advisory Committee on Behavioral Health.
Mr. Keel has also served on various local and state boards and committees including Ada Area Chamber of Commerce, Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, Oklahoma’s Children of Incarcerated Parents Task Force, Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy and Oklahoma’s subcommittee on human services policies. For more than 35 years, he has been committed to ministry through multiple organizations including World Vision, Global Outreach and the Southeast Oklahoma Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Through the local church, he has developed a lifelong passion for leadership. He and his wife Donna have three children, Wyatt, Allison and Natalie.
Ms. Leta Burwell serves as vice chairperson for the Chickasaw Foundation. She has worked for the Chickasaw Nation for 30 years, and serves as Secretary of Administration. She is a member of Abba’s House Worship Center and currently serves as the children’s church director.
Ms. Burwell has one daughter, Savannah, also employed with the Chickasaw Nation. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, shopping, reading and serving the church in various capacities. She is honored to serve on the board and support the mission of the Chickasaw Foundation.
Mr. John Fryrear serves as secretary for the Chickasaw Foundation. He is the owner of a full service broker-dealer, Investment Securities of Oklahoma, LLC, and has been in the investment banking/securities business for more than 30 years.
Mr. Jerry D. Jones serves as treasurer for the Chickasaw Foundation. He began working for the Chickasaw Nation in January 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 adviser and executive officer of audit and financial reporting.
Ms. Jenny Trett serves as the immediate past chair 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 of health system finance. After serving five years in that role, she moved into the administrator position for the treasury division. Since 2012, she has served in executive officer positions for the organizational planning and support division and the tribal health division. Before 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 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 XXII, Leadership Murray County, and has served on the Chickasaw Nation Boys and Girls Club executive board. Currently, she is a member of the Sulphur Kiwanis Club, Sulphur Public Schools Board of Education and the chairperson for the People’s Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees.
Mr. Matt Chesnut serves as a trustee for the Chickasaw Foundation. Mr. Chesnut is an Executive Officer for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Treasury. He began working for the Chickasaw Nation in 2014.
Mr. Chesnut received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arkansas in 2009 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2014 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 as chairman of the board of directors for the Oklahoma Humane Society, SSM Health St. Anthony Foundation and Freedom School OKC. He and his wife Chesna reside in Oklahoma City with their four dogs, Birdie, Lilly, Russell, and Luna.
Ms. Debra Gee serves as a trustee for the Chickasaw Foundation. She also serves as chief counsel for the Chickasaw Nation Office of Tribal Justice Administration. Prior to employment with the 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.
Mr. Thomas John has served as a general member of the Chickasaw Foundation since February 2016, and now begins his second term as a trustee. Mr. John has a Bachelor of Science degree in public relations from Syracuse University. He earned a certificate in public health and a master’s of public health degree, both from the University of Oklahoma, Health Sciences Center, College of Public Health.
Mr. John has worked with First American tribes his entire professional career, including positions in the areas of tribal administration, education, youth services, health systems, law enforcement, gaming and parks and recreation.
Mr. John is an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians and was raised on the Allegany Reservation of his tribe, in upstate New York. He belongs to the turtle clan and is also a member of his traditional longhouse.
Ms. Holly Johnson serves as a trustee for the Chickasaw Foundation. Ms. Johnson is a consultant and principal/owner of Ayukpa Apelachi, LLC. In 1997, she served as controller for Chickasaw Enterprises and in 2003, she was elected to the Chickasaw Nation Legislature. In 2010, she was named administrator of the planning and organizational development division, and in 2012, she was appointed to the position of cabinet secretary of the department of treasury where she served until 2020.
Ms. Johnson received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University. She is a certified public accountant, a member of the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants, an independent director for the Federal Home Loan Bank-Topeka, an advisory board member for the OSU School of Accounting and a former ethics commissioner for the state of Oklahoma. She is also a former member of the National IRS Advisory Committee of Tax Exempt and Governmental Entities representing Native American tribal governments and a past board member of the Ada City Schools Foundation, Ada Chamber of Commerce and Citizens Bank of Ada.
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 maintains bar memberships in the tribal courts of the Chickasaw Nation, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Navajo Nation and the state of Oklahoma.
Ms. Jalinda Kelley serves as a trustee for the Chickasaw Foundation Board of Trustees. Ms. Kelley is the cabinet secretary for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Interior Services. Ms. Kelley oversees many internal operations for the tribe including human resources, benefits, compensation, the legal division, self-governance, Lighthorse police, emergency management and training and career development.
Ms. Kelley received a bachelor’s degree from East Central University and is certified as a professional of human resources. She is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management, Leadership Oklahoma Class XXIX and Simmons Bank’s Ada Community Board.
Mr. Wayne Scribner serves as a trustee for the Chickasaw Foundation. Mr. Scribner has been employed by the Chickasaw Nation for more than 35 years, and serves as the cabinet secretary for the department of community services. The department consists of eight divisions: Chickasaw Employment Access, housing, aging, social services, youth services, education, construction and support services and project development and review. More than 100 programs and services offered by the Chickasaw Nation are administered through these divisions.
Mr. Scribner has served as executive director of the Chickasaw Housing Authority since 2004. Throughout his tenure, he has also had the privilege to serve as a board member for the Southern Plains Indian Housing Association and the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act Formula Rulemaking Committee. He is a former board member for Region IV AMERIND Risk Management Corporation. He currently serves as a member of the Arkansas Riverbed Authority board of directors and is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma Class XXXII.
Mr. Scribner is a traditional Chickasaw bow maker and 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 creative process 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 Shooters Society and travels across the state to compete in cornstalk tournaments.