A new slate of officers for FY 2013 has been elected to the Board of Directors of Red Earth, Inc, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization with a mission to promote American Indian arts and cultures through education, a premier festival, a museum and fine art markets. The officers will oversee the operations of the Red Earth Museum and the additional programs of the organization including the 27th annual Red Earth Festival scheduled June 7-9, 2013 in downtown Oklahoma City.
Elected to the Red Earth Board of Directors for FY 2013 are: Lou C. Kerr, chairman of the board; Janet Dyke, president: Leslie Blair, president-elect; G Calvin Sharpe, past president; Shannon Edwards, secretary; John Jameson, DDS, treasurer; and Kimber Shoop, member at large.
Oklahoma City civic and community leader Lou C. Kerr has been re-elected Chairman of the Board. She is a founder of the Red Earth Festival and was honored as the 2005 Red Earth Ambassador of the Year. As an active leader in the community and state she has committed her time and expertise to numerous organizations which correspond with her beliefs and expectations. She served as vice president of The Kerr Foundation since 1985. In 1999 she became president and in 2004 her title became president and chair.
Tuttle resident Janet Dyke, Associate Director of AT&T Business Solutions Project Management Office, is elected President of the Red Earth Board of directors. She will serve a two-year term. Dyke has worked in the communications industry more than 30 years. She has served as president of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Board of Directors and on the Redlands Council of the Girl Scouts.
Leslie Blair, a native of Frederick, OK, is elected President-Elect of the organization. She is currently Public Information Officer for the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department and previously served in the same capacity at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. She received her bachelor’s degree in communications from Cameron University and currently serves on the Board of the Directors for the Oklahoma County 4-H Foundation. She is a member of the Friends of Hackberry Flatt and the Junior League of Oklahoma City.
G. Calvin Sharpe, Oklahoma City, an attorney with Phillips Murrah PC Attorneys at Law, will serve a two-year term as Past-President of the Board of Directors. Sharpe is a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law, past chairman of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City Class XXIV, and a member of the Board of Directors for Infant Crisis Services.
Edmond resident Shannon Edwards is elected Secretary of the Board. She has an AB in History from the University of California, Berkeley and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. In 2006 she was elected to the First Osage Nation Congress, reelected in 2012, and currently is a member of the Third Congress. Since 2010 she has been an Appeals Magistrate for US Department of the Interior, Southern Plains Region. She maintains a law practice in Oklahoma City and has previously served on the Boards of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, the Oklahoma Zoological Society and the Community Literacy Centers.
Davis, OK resident John Jameson, DDS is elected Treasurer of the Board. He writes for numerous dental publications and provides research for manufacturers and marketing companies, as well as lecturing around the world on technology’s integration into the dental practice and leadership. He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and received his doctor of dental surgery degree from Creighton University School of Dentistry. He is past chairman of National Children’s Dental Health Month, recipient of the 1992 Alumni Merit Award from Creighton University School of Dentistry and the 1997 Thomas Jefferson Award for Citizenship from the ODA.
Kimber Shoop, Edmond, OK, is elected Member-at-Large. He has served as Senior Counsel for Oklahoma Gas & Electric for the past six years, and was Associate Attorney with Troutman Sanders LLP in Washington D.C. for four years prior to moving back to Oklahoma in 2006. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and has worked on various political campaigns.
Elected to the serve on the Red Earth Board of Directors are Leslie Diane Taylor, Ada, and Jay Scambler, Norman. Taylor is an attorney engaged in private practice at the Green Law Firm, P.C., in Ada. She is a member of the Delaware Nation and serves currently as elected Secretary in her second four-year term for the tribe. Scambler is currently a student at the University of Oklahoma Class of 2016. He is a member of the President’s Leadership Class and the University Scholars Program.
Named to the Red Earth Advisory Board are Cherokee Chief Bill John Baker, Seminole Principle Chief Leonard Harjo, Muscogee Creek Principle Chief George Tiger and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Forensic Artist and award-winning American Indian artist Harvey Pratt (Cheyenne).
Red Earth, Inc. is recognized as the region’s premier organization for advancing the understanding and continuation of Native American traditional and contemporary culture and arts. The Red Earth Museum hosts a diverse and changing schedule of art and historical exhibitions at its location in downtown Oklahoma City. The museum is custodian to a permanent collection of more than 1,400 items of fine art, pottery, basketry, textiles and beadwork.
