Sheryl Lovelady is director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at the University of Oklahoma.
She began her career as a professional photographer before entering the political and government sectors. She served on the executive staffs of the Oklahoma Senate Appropriations Chairman and Senate President Pro Tempore for seven years working on appropriations and policy issues.
She was named Executive Director of the Senate Democratic Caucus in 2002. In this capacity she provided oversight of fundraising, campaign and policy strategies for majority members of the Oklahoma Senate. She also worked with clientele throughout the United States as a strategic consultant, with a Washington DC and Florida based public opinion research firm.
Most recently, she served as Communications Director for the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Senior Advisor to the Mayor. She is a graduate of Leadership Tulsa Class 37. In 2009, she joined a group of national opinion leaders from across the United States in a leadership program operated by the US Department of Defense. In this capacity, she was embedded with the United States military at installations throughout Central America, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Curacao, Panama, and Columbia.
Lovelady is President of the Gordon Cooper Technical Center Foundation which provides scholarships to students in need. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum and on the Advisory Board of the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women.
Lovelady is President of Lovelady & Associates LLC, a communications and public policy consulting firm. She works with public and private sector clientele and chooses those who strive to make a positive difference.
