The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.

Rep. Sue Tibbs (R-Tulsa)

Born and raised in Tulsa

Attended Tulsa Junior College

Married to Milton Tibbs for 55 years, has two daughters, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren

Before becoming a state representative Sue worked in the insurance field as an audit analyst, underwriter and supervisor.  Before that she was a Coordinator/Counselor for a Tulsa senior job training and placement program

She has been a House member from 2001 – present where she Chairs the Public Safety Committee and serves on the A & B Subcommittee for Human Services and the General Government Committee

Sue has been appointed to:  Energy & Technology Committee, The Energy Council and Alzheimer’s Research Advisory Council

Rep. Pam Peterson (R-Tulsa)

Paterson was born on June 28, 1955, in New York City. She received a bachelor;s degree in communication from Oral Roberts University in 1977. She has been employed as a television spokesperson as well as an associate television producer.

She served as a Tulsa County Republican chairman, as the Republican Party’s First Congressional District vice chairman, and as a national delegate to the Republican Convention.

Peterson won the election to the Oklahoma House of Representatives from District 67 in January 2004. She was appointed commissioner for the Oklahoma Commissions on the Status of Women , and serves as the chair of the Task Force to Stop Sexual Violence (2006). She continues active participation in ALEC, Alliance to the Tulsa Medical Society, and MEND Pregnancy Resource Center.

Peterson and her husband, Paul, have two grown children. Peterson’s hobbies include tennis.

Rep. Anastasia Pittman (D-Oklahoma City)

Anastasia was born in Miami, Florida. She has resided in Oklahoma for over 30 years. Her parents are Maye B. Pittman and C. Anthony Pittman. She is the granddaughter of the late Jazz Hall of Famer C.E. Pittman, Juanita Pittman, Mary Lee Thurman-Taylor, and Seminole Freedman Rayfield (Tom) Barkus. Anastasia has one daughter and one foster son.

She has a B.A. in Journalism/Public Relations from the University of Oklahoma. She also has a M.Ed. in Urban Education & Behavioral Science from Langston University.

She is an educator, works in the communications field & Case Management.

She is a board member of the YWCA, Metropolitan Better Living Center, Aids Walk of Oklahoma, former board member of BLAC, Inc. and the Association of Concerned Citizens for HIV Awareness. She is a former mentor/tutor of the National Weed and Seed Program and the Oklahoma Public School System, U.S. Department of Justice Western District, and the PTA President of  K.I.P.P. College Preparatory School. She is also the founder of the Magic Star Foundation, Inc.

ORGANIZATIONS: Northeast Church of Christ
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc.
Urban League Young Professionals
Life Member of NAACP
A. Philip Randolph Institute
Metro Federation Democratic Women’s Club
Eastside Capitol Gateway
State & Community Organizations Promoting Education (S.C.O.P.E.)

HONORS: Outstanding Community Service Recognition for Magic Star Foundation, Inc., former president William Jefferson Clinton
Cooperative Extension-Outreach Service and Leadership Award,
Langston University
Unity in the Community State Award, Oklahoma Federal Executive Board
Lecia D. Swain/Theodis Payne Media Award, OKC Branch NAACP
Outstanding Black Woman’s Award, Girl Scout Honor Troop 18
Media Advocacy Award, Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence
and Sexual Assault
Oklahoma Achiever’s Award, Metropolitan Better Living Center

LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: House of Representatives, 51st Legislature

Sen. Susan Paddack

Susan Paddack received a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Colorado and a Master of Education Degree in Secondary Education from East Central University.  She earned a Certificate of Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Susan was elected in November 2004 as the State Senator for District 13, which includes Pontotoc, Hughes, portions of Garvin and Coal Counties.  She serves as a Democratic Whip and Co-Chair of the Judiciary Committee. In addition, she serves on the full Appropriations Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, the Education Committee, and the Tourism and Wildlife Committee.  She represents Oklahoma as a board member on the Southern Regional Education Board, a member of the Annual Meeting Committee for the Council of State Governments, a board member of the Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust, a board member on the Healthcare Workforce Resources Center Board, and serves on the Governor’s Elimination of Health Disparities Task Force, the Task Force on Achieving Classroom Excellence, the State Coverage Initiative to reform healthcare in Oklahoma, and the Governor’s Catastrophic Health Emergency Planning Task Force.

With a passion to promote both education and healthcare in Oklahoma, Senator Paddack has successfully authored numerous pieces of landmark legislation in these areas, resulting in multiple honors for her efforts.  Susan was the principal author of the 2005 legislation, Rx Oklahoma, which expands the Prescription Assistance Program to make it available statewide.  That same year, she also authored legislation creating a physician assistant scholarship program aimed at helping ensure rural communities have greater access to medical care.  She was also instrumental in passing legislation to create the Health Care Workforce Resource Center to help identify shortages in nursing and allied health as well as developing strategies to address those gaps.   In addition, she authored laws to ensure that schools provide information about meningococcal meningitis to parents of students in the sixth through twelfth grades and to require vision screenings for elementary students. She also authored a bill which gives lawsuit protection to healthcare providers who provide charitable medical services to medically indigent persons in a free medical clinic setting.

Susan’s honors for her legislation include being named the 2005 Oklahoma Academy of Family Physicians Patient Advocate of the Year as well as 2006 Legislator of the Year for the Rural Health Association of Oklahoma.   She was also named the Legislative Newcomer award recipient in 2005 by the Higher Education Alumni Council of Oklahoma.   In 2006, Susan was awarded the Oklahoma Nurses Association Friend of Nursing award and the Legislative award from the Oklahoma State School Boards Association.  In 2007, she was awarded the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine Alumni Association “Amicus Medicinae Award, and the Higher Education Alumni Council of Oklahoma Friend of Higher Education Award. Also in 2007, she received the Metropolitan Environmental Trust Legislator of the Year and the Oklahoma Professional Economic Development Council Legislative Advocate of the Year.  In 2008, she received the Oklahoma Academy Exceptional Commitment Award and was inducted into the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy’s Child Advocate Hall of Fame.  The Oklahoma Academy of Family Physicians awarded her the 2008 Legislator of the Year. She also received the 2008 Distinguished Service Award from the Oklahoma Association of Career and Technology Education, 2008 Legislator of the Year from the Oklahoma State Troopers Association-District 13, 2008 Honoree for the Journal Record’s 50 Making a Difference/Woman of the Year.  In 2009 she received the Outstanding Member of a State Legislature, Dr. Nathan Davis Award, from the American Medical Association and the Partners in Conservation Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior.  She also received the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association’s Legislative Award of Appreciation and the Friend of Retired Educators from the Oklahoma Retired Educators Association.

Prior to her election to the Senate, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence employed Susan for nine years as their Director of Local Education Foundation Outreach.  She traveled the state working with LEF boards and tailored presentations and workshops based on each foundation’s specific need.  During this tenure, the number of local education foundations grew by 31% and over $22 million was awarded to schools by their LEFs since their formation in the early 1980s.  She also consulted with LEFs in states such as Missouri, Indiana, and Arkansas.  She was employed as a secondary science teacher in middle and junior high schools in Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma.  She also served as an adjunct faculty member for East Central University’s Education Department.

Susan serves in various capacities in local, state, and national volunteer organizations.  She served as the 2000-2001 president of the American Medical Association Alliance, and traveled to 32 states as a part of their Speakers’ Bureau.  Susan served as a representative from the AMAA to the Commission for the Prevention of Youth Violence, which was a call to action from medicine, nursing, and public health to address the epidemic of youth violence in the nation.  On the state level, she is a board member for the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum, a board member for the Oklahoma Academy, a board member for the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence where she was presented with an Honorary Circle of Excellence in 2003, and a board member of the Oklahoma Arts Institute. Susan was a member of the Leadership Oklahoma Class XVI. She was named among the 2004 and 2008 honorees for The Journal Record’s 50 Women Making a Difference.  She also was a board member of the Oklahoma Institute of Child Advocacy, having served as Vice-president of Development and Vice-president of Trustees, was a board member of the Center for Nonprofit Management and was on the advisory board of governors for the Communities Foundation of Oklahoma.  Susan served as the 1991-92 president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association Alliance.

On the local level, Susan served on the board of the Ada City Schools Foundation where she was previously president, vice-president, and was grant review chair for ten years.  She has also served as: president for the Pontotoc County Medical Alliance, board member for the City of Ada’s Board of Adjustments, board member of the Kiwanis Club of Ada and chairman of Young Children – Priority One, parent representative on the Ada City Schools Professional Staff Development Committee, vice-president for the Ada Arts and Humanities Council, the 1992 United Way fund drive chair and board president in 1993, a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Task Force and steering committee on Economic Development, and a member of the 1991 Leadership Ada class.  She was named the Ada Education Association’s 1992 Friend of Education.  Susan is an elder of First Presbyterian Church of Ada.  She is married to Gary, an internal medicine physician.

Sen. Debbe Leftwich

Debbe Leftwich, State Senator from District 44 in South Oklahoma City, was elected in a special election December 9, 2003 to fill the vacancy left by her husband, Senator Keith Leftwich who died of cancer in September that year.  She was re-elected in 2006.

She authored the Breast & Cervical Cancer Treatment bill, the Quality Investment Act, the Graduated Driver’s License Program and major Nursing Home Reforms, along with bills that increased fines and punishments for crimes of Domestic Violence, increased statute of limitations for sex crimes against children, expanded the Victims Impact Panel’s DUI programs, enhanced penalties for negligent homicide and created Oklahoma’s Elevator Safety Act.  She’s pushed freezing property taxes for seniors and tax cuts for retirees and veterans.  She’s supported raising teacher’s pay to the regional average, additional funding and accountability to our schools as well as performance audits for state government.

Debbe serves on Business & Labor, Transportation, Retirement & Insurance and General Appropriations committees.  In addition to the legislative committees she serves on, Debbe has been appointed to various boards, committees and commissions.

She currently serves as:

• Chair of the Oklahoma Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Advisory Committee
• Co-Chair of Oklahoma Women’s Legislative Caucus
• Co-Chair of Oklahoma’s Cancer Caucus
• Member of Oklahoma Women’s Coalition
• Member of YMCA Youth & Government Advisory Board

Debbe also served on the Attorney General’s Task Force to improve End-of-Life Care as well as a Governor’s appointee to the Oklahoma Health Information Security & Privacy Collaboration Steering Committee.  She is also a member of the Commission on the Status of Women (and past Chair), Youth Services SKIL Board, the American Legion Auxiliary, South OKC Rotary and the South OKC Chamber of Commerce.

Her efforts have earned Leftwich special recognition from the Oklahoma Nurses Association, Oklahoma Unified Chiropractic Association, AARP, Oklahoma Association of Marriage and Family, Oklahoma Safe Kids Coalition, AARP and Oklahoma Aging Partnership. She also has received an Action Award from the American Cancer Society and in 2008 was inducted into the Oklahoma Institute of Child Advocacy’s Hall of Fame.  In 2009, she was honored by Oklahoma State Home Builders Association with their “Champions of the Industry” Award and was selected as one of the Oklahoma Journal Record’s “50 Making a Difference”.

Debbe has worked in both the private and public sectors.  She has held management, supervisory and administrative positions for Globe Life, Aetna, Kerr McGee and the OSU Extension Center.  She was Division Administrator and then later Director of Administration and Personnel for the Chief Medical Examiner’s office.  She’s had training and experience in Strategic Planning, Government Purchasing and Administrative Law.  Debbe has conducted training sessions in Strategic Planning, Grassroots Campaigning and Group Advocacy.  She served as a member of the Office of Personnel Management’s Advisory Council and the Employee Benefit Coordinator’s Association.

Debbe is also a past president of her hometown Alumni Association, a past PTA Vice-Chair, former Sunday school teacher and assistant little league coach.  She is a member of Southern Hills United Methodist Church.  She was born in Chandler, grew up in Wellston, Oklahoma, and graduated from Wellston High School, and attended Oklahoma Baptist University and the University of Central Oklahoma.   Debbe has two sons, Kevin and Kurt.