Tumultuous changes in life as we know it this spring have been deftly guided by thoughtful and skilled leaders including the men selected for this year’s Movers & Shakers. They include Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce Sean P. Kouplen, Tulsa Health Department Executive Director Bruce Dart, veteran and manufacturing entrepreneur Terry Hill, and nonprofit development expert Tom A. Taylor.
Sean P. Kouplen
Sean Kouplen is the chairman & CEO of Regent Bank and serves as the secretary of commerce and workforce development for the State of Oklahoma. “I have an amazing team at the bank which gives me the flexibility to spend time on my role with the state.” Kouplen said.
In his state cabinet position, Kouplen manages economic development, workforce development and community development. His overall goal is to develop creative strategies for making Oklahoma a Top 10 state for economy, workforce and community development. But, for now during the COVID-19 crisis, his full attention is being given to helping Oklahoma businesses survive.
Kouplen grew up on a cattle ranch in Beggs, Oklahoma and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture economics and an MBA. He started his career in banking in Oklahoma City and moved to Tulsa to work for Citizens Security Bank. “I have lived a very blessed life and have been surrounded by amazing teams. Some of my proudest accomplishments include raising three amazing kids and being married to Angela, serving as co-founder of Bixby Outreach Center and SouthPoint Church, and authoring three books including Twelve Life Lessons Every Graduate Should Know, The Priority Promise, and the best-seller, The Abundance Mentality,” said Kouplen. In 2019, he earned his black belt in Taekwondo - something he said was one of the hardest things he’s ever done.
Community work is important to Kouplen who continues to serve on the boards of Hospitality House of Tulsa, Hillcrest South Hospital, Young President’s Organization and Tulsa Community College Foundation.
“I am driven to do community and volunteer work and feel God is leading me to impact as many people as possible. As secretary of commerce, I hope to lead our business community out of the COVID-19 crisis and lead us to becoming one of the best states for economic growth.”
Bruce Dart
Bruce Dart is the executive director of the Tulsa City/County Health Department and serves in leadership roles for the National Association of County and City Health Officials, Public Health Accreditation Board and the Public Health Foundation. He is also a visiting associate professor at the Oklahoma University College of Public Health.
Dart grew up as a “military brat” in cities across the U.S. and Europe. He graduated from high school in Honolulu, Hawaii, and then moved to Missouri to attend Drury University where he received his undergraduate degree. After earning a graduate degree in Health Service Administration from Central Michigan University and a PhD. in Health Services from Walden University, Dart managed health departments in several states before moving to Tulsa to lead the charge at the Tulsa City/County Health Department.
“In Tulsa we have risen to the challenge time after time from managing the country’s first Hepatitis C infection at a dental office to our current challenge with COVID-19,” Dart said. Dart hopes to continue the upward trajectory of Tulsa County’s health ranking but is first tackling the Coronavirus.
“In the last 10 years, we have helped Tulsa county improve its health outcomes from 27th to 12th healthiest county in the state. We’re trending in the right direction.”
“My role at the health department is to support our COVID-19 incident command structure and provide city and county leaders with epidemiological investigation of all positive cases and recommendations for next steps.” Dart’s organization functions in a collaborative way with state and local partners to contain and mitigate the spreads of the disease. “By June I hope to see less spread of the virus, our “curve” flattening, and more importantly, the beginning of defining what our new normal as a community and as a state should be."
Dart’s involvement in Tulsa’s well-being extends beyond the health department where he serves on the boards of the Child Abuse Network, MyHealth, Morton Comprehensive Health Services and is a member of the Impact Tulsa Leadership Council.
Terry Hill
Terry Hill is the CEO and co-founder of Rapid Application Group (RAG), an advanced manufacturing company that centers its efforts around engineering and 3D printing for aerospace, defense, and oil and gas companies. A sampling of clients includes the Department of Defense, U.S. Army, Space X, American Airlines and the U.S. Airforce.
Most recently, RAG has temporarily redirected its attention from aerospace and defense to designing and producing personal protection equipment to help medical professionals who are fighting the Coronavirus.
“When we understood how the medical supply chains were affected by the crisis, we quickly transformed a part of the company to develop needed medical supplies and are now leading the nation in designing and producing FDA approved reusable 3D printed face shields, 3D printed replaceable filter masks, and 3D printed ear savers."
Hill says RAG is also working on developing additional 3D printed items including adapters for hand sanitizer pumps, COVID-19 testing swabs and ventilator splitters.
Hill grew up in Kellyville and attended Northeastern State University joining the U.S. Army as an officer. He then earned his MBS through Grantham University. During his time in the Army, Hill served as a UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation and maintenance test pilot and conducted 750 rescue and combat missions in Afghanistan.
Hill continues his support of veterans through the RAG Friday Foundation, a nonprofit that he and RAG co-founder, Jason Dickman, founded to provide training and direct placement for manufacturing jobs. Hill serves as board president and hopes to see the organization grow in order to improve the quality of the lives of veterans and their families.
Tom A. Taylor
Tom A. Taylor is the chief development officer for Family & Children’s Services (F&CS), a leading provider of behavioral health care and family services for people of all ages in Tulsa and surrounding communities. Taylor is also an adjunct professor for The University of Tulsa and teaches not-for-profit management and marketing.
Taylor and his team recently completed a successful capital campaign to build a dedicated center for children’s mental health and trauma services from child abuse. “With the tutelage of CEO Gail Lapidus, we achieved the capital campaign in just under six months due to the generosity of Tulsans, foundations and our board,” Taylor said.
F&CS will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2021. “Due to the COVID-19 virus, I believe fundraising will change for years to come. My hope is to encourage those philanthropic givers in our community that our work is not done, and that our services are needed and in fact will be utilized even more in recovering from isolation, stress, fear and even some with PTSD. We raise funds through awareness, but also through our events such as Brainiac Ball, White Party and Care Card – and I want those to all thrive like they have in the past, but in what we recreate in our new normal,” Taylor said.
Taylor grew up in Enid and attended Phillips University studying abroad in Sweden for one year. He went on to earn an MBA from Oklahoma City University and moved to Tulsa to take the helm as executive director of Emergency Infant Services, his role prior to F&CS.
“Working in the nonprofit arena has its own rewards as well as it challenges. My goal is to help spread awareness of these needs and continue to breakdown the stigma surrounding mental health. It should be as important as physical health.”
Taylor serves as a program committee member for Leadership Tulsa and is a member and former board member/president of the Tulsa chapter of the Association for Fundraising Professionals. He also represents F&CS as an advisory board member of the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce.
