Officers Elected to Lead State Regents

At their meeting yesterday, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education elected attorney Courtney Warmington of Edmond as chair of the board; real estate investor Mitch Adwon of Tulsa, vice chair; retired Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven W. Taylor of McAlester, secretary; and nonprofit executive Ken Levit of Tulsa, assistant secretary. The officer team will lead the nine-member board throughout the 2026-27 fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2027.

“It is my honor to serve a second term as board chair,” Warmington said. “Moving forward, public higher education will continue to focus on affordability, innovation and efficiency to ensure our colleges and universities are responsive to the changing needs of Oklahoma students, families, and employers.”

Warmington, appointed in 2021, is an attorney with the law firm of Fuller Tubb Bickford Warmington & Panach, PLLC. She is an experienced labor and employment attorney with over two decades of experience litigating employment matters in state and federal courts. Warmington also maintains an active employment mediation practice as a certified mediator, helping employers and employees resolve complex workplace disputes. Among other civic and professional organizations, Warmington is past president of the Oklahoma County Bar Association. She also previously served as an Administrative Law Judge with the Oklahoma Department of Labor. Warmington holds a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University and a Juris Doctorate from Oklahoma City University School of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude.

“Regent Warmington is an experienced leader, thoughtful decision-maker, and exceptional board chair,” said Chancellor Sean Burrage. “She understands the value of higher education for the students we serve and the crucial role of our public colleges and universities in building the educated workforce required for Oklahoma and Oklahomans to thrive.”

Appointed in 2023, Adwon is president of Adwon Properties, Inc., which specializes in providing brokerage and management services for commercial investment properties. He is also a managing member of Polly Properties, LLC, a commercial real estate investment holding company, and other related real estate investment entities with a multi-state focus. Adwon previously served on the Tulsa Community College Board of Regents, is a board member and past president of the Salvation Army Advisory Board of Directors, and serves on the Philbrook Museum Board of Trustees, Rogers State University Constitution Award Board of Governors, and The University of Tulsa’s Henry Kendall College of Arts & Sciences Visiting Committee. A member of the Cherokee Nation, he has served on the Cherokee Nation Businesses Board of Directors and on numerous other leadership and community service boards and commissions.

Taylor, appointed in 2019, is a retired Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He previously served as Associate District Judge and as Chief Judge of the 18th Judicial District. In over 20 years as a trial judge, Taylor presided over more than 500 jury trials, including the state trial of the Oklahoma City Bombing. He is a former mayor of McAlester and served in the United States Marine Corps as a prosecutor, defense counsel, and ultimately, as a Special Court Martial Judge. He became the youngest judge in the U.S. Armed Forces at the age of 28 and was later promoted to the rank of Major. Taylor is a board member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and serves on the board of directors of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. He serves as Chair of the Puterbaugh Foundation in McAlester and is a past Chair of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University and a law degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Appointed in 2024, Levit is Executive Director of the George Kaiser Family Foundation. He previously served as president of the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa; was Special Counsel to George Tenet, director of the Central Intelligence Agency; and practiced corporate law at the firm of Crowe and Dunlevy in Tulsa. Among other civic activities, Levit served on the Tulsa Regional Chamber Tulsa’s Future Steering Committee, led the board of the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, and was a board member of the Tulsa River Parks Authority. He chaired the state’s 2001 interim study on homeland security, was a founding member of the Oklahoma State University Medical Authority, and helped establish the state’s Economic Development Generating Excellence (EDGE) board. He is a graduate of Brown University and earned a law degree from Yale University.

The other State Regents comprising the board are Brian Beller of Goldsby, Dennis Casey of Morrison, Trevor S. Pemberton of Norman, Jack Sherry of Holdenville, and Michael C. Turpen of Oklahoma City.

The State Regents are the constitutional coordinating board for the 25 public colleges and universities of the Oklahoma state system of higher education. The State Regents prescribe academic standards of higher education; determine functions and courses of study at state colleges and universities; grant degrees; request appropriations on behalf of state system institutions; set tuition and fees; approve institutional allocations; upon review, provide final approval of institutional budgets following governing board approval and submission; and manage numerous scholarships and special programs. The nine citizens who comprise the board are appointed to nine-year terms by the Governor and confirmed by the state Senate.