Amy Walton is the Deputy Director for Business Development at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce where her role is to increase new domestic and international investment in the state of Oklahoma. Most recently she oversaw the largest new energy investment in the US since the passage of the Federal Inflation Reduction Act and is the single largest foreign direct investment for industry in Oklahoma’s history. With the announcement of 3Sun USA selecting Oklahoma for its 3.4 million square foot manufacturing facility. The project represents an initial investment of more than $2 Billion and will support the hiring of 1900 new high paying jobs for the state when operations begin in 2025.

Amy joined commerce following her position as Director of Government Relations and Strategic Initiatives, at the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology where she was an integral part of Oklahoma’s innovation ecosystem. Engaging with entrepreneurs from the idea to the marketplace through strategy and investment, she was the key strategic advisor to the executive director. Where their investments yielded significant returns in both disruptive technologies and financial gains to the state of Oklahoma.

Prior to receiving her master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma she oversaw medical professional recruitment and international workforce training programs in Central America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Most recently Amy was awarded Oklahoma’s Woman of the Year by the Journal Record and was recognized in the Power List as one of the Most Influential Oklahomans. Her accolades include the 2022 Innovator Advocate of the Year by 405 Business, the 2022 Journal Records Most Innovative Women and she was inducted into the Circle of Excellence for Women Leaders. In 2021, she was awarded Oklahoma’s Advocate of the Year from Clean Cities America for her work in alternative energy and transportation. Mrs. Walton has served on numerous statewide coalitions and boards. She is honored to represent her state as a member of the US Global Leadership Coalition addressing critical issues such as international trade and supply chain. Most recently she has dedicated her time to the HALO Executive Committee, which is a multi-state initiative to grow the hydrogen economy for Oklahoma’s energy portfolio, and the Energy Technology Advisory Council, and the Oklahoma Advanced Mobility Council. Her experience has enabled her to work with governmental dignitaries, universities, entrepreneurs, c-suite executives, and various stakeholders worldwide.

In November 2022, Susan became Consul General in Dallas, the senior representative of the Government in Canada, responsible for Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Her office, the Consulate General, covers economic, political, and public affairs, and provides consular and commercial services. The Consulate of Canada in Houston, which focuses on commercial issues, also reports to her office. In addition, these offices coordinate with several other key federal government departments, which focus on a range of issues including energy, environment, security and defence, as well as with Canadian provinces who are active in the territory.

Previously, Susan was Consul General in Miami (2016 to 2022), Canada’s Senior Arctic Official (2013 to 2016), and Director General in the trade policy area, covering policy, negotiations and regulatory issues (2009 to 2013). She was at the Embassy of Canada in Washington DC (2004 to 2009), where she became the Minister (Economic Affairs). In 2001 to 2004, she was Canada’s Ambassador in Montevideo, Uruguay. She previously held trade positions in Yaoundé, Paris and Buenos Aires.

Prior to joining the Government of Canada, Susan taught at both Cambrian College in Sudbury, and George Brown College in Toronto. She holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, at Western University, and an Honours BA in Math and English, from Queen’s University.

Ms. Harper has 2 children, who keep her diplomatic, financial and cross-border travel skills honed.

Mr. Brossy serves as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Native American Affairs, at the U.S. Small Business Administration. In this role, Mr. Brossy serves as a senior executive providing executive oversight, management, leadership, and championship of Native American entrepreneurship.

Before SBA, Mr. Brossy served as executive director for the Native CDFI Network, a 501(C)(3) advocacy group. Before that he headed the Navajo Nation Washington Office, the official intergovernmental affairs office for the largest tribe in the nation. An advocate of access to capital and technical assistance for Native entrepreneurs, Mr. Brossy also serves on the board of Prosperity Now, Change Labs, and the Federal Reserve Bank’s Center for the Indian Country Development Leadership Council.

He is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and attended Stanford University and Harvard University.

Santiago Almaraz, a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, is the Director, Office of Management Services (OMS) for the Indian Health Service (IHS).

The IHS, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, is the principal federal health care advocate and provider of health care services for American Indian and Alaska Natives.

As the OMS Director, Mr. Almaraz provides leadership and advisory services to the IHS Director and senior management staff in the areas of grants, acquisitions, management policy, regulatory affairs, asset management and administrative/emergency services.

Santiago was instrumental in the 2022 publication of the HHS Buy Indian Act final rule.

Mr. Long’s Federal services started in 1992 when he joined the United States Marine Corps and specialized in Administration. In 1996 Mr. Long continued his Federal career with the Department of the Navy at Cherry Point, North Carolina where he worked in Human Resources and Disbursing. In 1999 Mr. Long attended college and in 2004 he Graduated from Rogers State University with a Bachelors in Technology and an Associates in Aviation Management.

Prior to graduating college, Mr. Long joined Southwestern Power Administrations Division of Acquisition and Facilities to work in contracting. During his early tenure Mr. Long performed cradle to grave contracting for supplies and services, architect and engineering, support services and specialized in construction contracting. From 2008 to 2009 Mr. Long transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs to serve as a Contracting Officer with the Veterans Benefits Administration. In 2009, Mr. Long returned to the Southwestern Power Administration to serve as the Construction Contracting Officer and serve as Southwestern’s Small Business Program Manager where he worked with Southwestern’s Program Offices to develop the agencies Small Business forecast and goals each fiscal year and identified specific projects for the Small Business and 8(a) programs to meet Southwestern’s Small Business requirements. He also served as the programmatic manager for Southwestern’s Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI). In 2014, Mr. Long took the helm for the Division of Acquisition and Facilities Service where he served as the Chief Contracting Officer under 2018. Mr. Long was responsible for the agency’s contracting program where he served as the Procurement Director and was responsible for Southwestern’s Real Property program valued at over $200 million dollars and Southwestern’s personal property program valued at over $384 million dollars.

In 2018, Mr. Long transferred to Claremore Indian Hospital where he served as the Director of Acquisition and Facilities Services at the Claremore Indian Hospital and performed cradle to grave contracting. In April of 2023, Mr. Long took over at the Chief Contracting Officer for Oklahoma City Area office.

Jeffrey Johnston brings 18+ years of federal and non-profit experience serving American Indian/Alaska Native, rural, urban, and LGBTQIA+ communities. He is Acting Deputy Director, DAP and continues to serve as the IHS Bureau Acquisition Career Manager to manage and direct a wide variety of federal health care service contracts and agreements as a Senior Contracting Officer’s Representative and federal program/project manager. He employs his expertise of both the federal and non-profit sectors to increase access to health care, implement quality improvement initiatives, and strengthen the integrity and operational performance of federal programs. He provides program management oversight for the FAC-COR, FAC-P/PM and FAC-C certification programs. He applies supervisory, administrative, and exemplary management skills to train, mentor, and develop a dynamic and diverse workforce of approximately 800 certified Contracting Officer’s Representatives, 50 Program/Project Managers (P/PMs); and 150 contracting staff nationwide. As a senior COR Level III and FAC-P/PM, he is responsible for acquisition planning, monitoring FAR contracts, evaluating proposals, supporting negotiations, and evaluating performance for both small and large contracts, which have included awards valued at $10M-$25M; and ID/IQ ceilings up to $100M.

He is the recipient of the 2022 HHS SPE Excellence Awards Ceremony for the Project/Program Manager of the Year Award. In 2021, Jeffrey received multiple national IHS Director’s Awards for his accomplishments with HHS COVID-19 pandemic response efforts, which included managing the deployment of COVID-19 Critical Care Teams to federal and tribal hospitals that trained over 1,500 health care providers to care for critically ill COVID-19 patients; expanding telehealth services across IHS; and providing exemplary customer service.

Mr. Shannon Jackson was appointed as the Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) in November 2021. Mr. Jackson is responsible for implementing the Department’s small business procurement programs across the HHS portfolio valued at $9.4 billion in procurements, awarding contracts each year to small businesses.

Mr. Jackson joined HHS with a wealth of experience coming from the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) where he served in various roles to include Acting Director of OSBP, Deputy Director of OSBP, and Associate Director for the DoD Mentor Protégé Program and Senior Advisor to the Director of the DoD OSBP. Mr. Jackson has served over 29 years in the federal government and has held various leadership positions throughout his career, to include his military service retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. Mr. Jackson led a network of 700 full- and part-time small business professionals across the DoD. Noteworthy is that the work of DOD’s small business workforce results in more than $50 billion in prime contract spending on contracts to small businesses and over $40 billion in subcontract spending for small businesses annually.

Mr. Jackson began his acquisition career with the U.S. Army successfully. He holds both Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Program Manager Level III and Level II Contracting certifications. Mr. Jackson has successfully completed several executive level training courses in leadership throughout his career to include certifications from the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He holds an undergraduate degree in history from Virginia State University, a master’s degree in business administration from Nichols College and a master’s degree in procurement and acquisition from Webster University.

As Manager of Stakeholder Engagement for Enbridge, April Holdren leads Enbridge’s engagement team over a large portion of the central United States, including Oklahoma. She has 20 years of experience working with indigenous and non-indigenous communities across North America. Through her career as a leader in the energy and mining industries she has successfully built positive relationships with native communities that create mutually beneficial outcomes.