Rebranding Oklahoma -- Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell

Welcome to Tulsa Talks presented by Tulsa Regional Chamber. I’m your host Tim Landes. The person you just heard is Matt Pinnell, the Lt. Governor of Oklahoma. Since he announced his 2018 campaign to run for office, Matt has been going nonstop. It’s like he took a brief break to be sworn in and then kept on bouncing around the state. It seems like every day he’s in a different Oklahoma community, celebrating a reason for people to visit. In early November he stopped by our office to chat about his job that is more than turning dirt and cutting ribbons as a dignitary.

Matt is the Secretary of Tourism and Branding. It’s a new cabinet position created by Gov. Kevin Stitt to allow Matt to do what he does best, sales and marketing. Our state is extremely dependent on sales tax dollars and tourism creates tremendous opportunities for Oklahoma. As you’ll hear when the conversation kicks off, Matt and his team started working in January and have already seen returns on investments. We discuss the new TravelOK phone app, the new fishing trail and how important Route 66 is to Tulsa and our state’s economy.

From there we discuss how he’s working to help make our state the Hollywood of the central US. Following those topics we chat about his career and how he got to where he is today. At 29, the Republican was the youngest state party chair in the country and helped transform Oklahoma’s political landscape. He then worked for the Republican National Committee during the 2014 and 2016 election cycles before returning home and running for office. He reflects on that work and how it’s led him to where he and we are today. Matt shares what he considers the most pressing issues for the administration going into 2020, and we chat about his good friend Mayor G.T. Bynum. Turns out they go way back. 

Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time following Matt around to groundbreakings, grand openings and chatted with him in his office at the state Capitol. He is full of energy, loves his hometown and the state he resides in and is confident we’ll continue to see the positive results of his work in changing our state’s image. If you’d like to learn more, I wrote about he and Stitt’s first year in office for the December issue that is now available across Tulsa and online at TulsaPeople.com.   

Following my conversation with the Lt. Governor, City Editor Morgan Phillips reflects on her experience taking part in Black Friday shopping at a major retailer and how it contrasts to doing more shopping at Amaranth Collection on Small Business Saturday.

For more on Amaranth:
Follow Amaranth Collection on Facebook (facebook.com/amaranthcollection) and Instagram @shopamaranth
Sign up for emails about new arrivals and exclusive sales: amaranthcollection.com
Join the shop’s weekly flash sales: facebook.com/groups/myacstyleinnercircle
Sign up to receive additional coupons through its text program: Text ACSTYLE to 57838

Closing out the episode is new music from Jacob Dement.