Regional University System of Oklahoma

Amy Anne Ford is a Managing Partner at EMBLEM Strategies, LLC. She is a seasoned
entrepreneur and policy expert, with a proven track record of success in working to build and grow corporations, non-profit associations and stakeholder groups. Amy has developed extensive expertise in the complex arenas of economic development, project management and administration, health care management, education policy and water resources policy
development and implementation.

Amy works with a number of organizations to help them understand that they must continue to build and maintain a strong grassroots coalition of support before their objectives can be successfully achieved. She is superbly skilled in building these coalitions and putting them to work for clients, communicating the benefits of their programs and objectives to other stakeholders. These partners may include entities across a broad spectrum of the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

Amy has been a strong water policy advocate in Oklahoma for over two decades, serving as the President of the Board of Directors for the Citizens for the Protection of the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer. Providing leadership on a number of local, statewide, and national water policy issues, Amy has been actively involved in the development and enactment of a number of key pieces of federal and state water policy legislation, as well as the promulgation of rules by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, and other state agencies with oversight of water policy implementation and enforcement. Amy was appointed in 2012 to serve on the Oklahoma Public/Private Water Task Force by Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby, and Choctaw Nation Chief Gregory Pyle. This task force was created to facilitate meaningful dialogue about Oklahoma’s current water management policies and challenges. In 2021, Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall
appointed Amy to the Opinion Leader Advisory Network, which is an integral component of the Socially Sustainable Solutions for Water, Carbon, and Infrastructure Resilience in Oklahoma research project, funded by the National Science Foundation.

Appointed by Governor Mary Fallin, Amy is a member of the Board of Regents for the Regional University System of Oklahoma, Oklahoma’s largest four-year university system, comprising six universities with more than 3,000 faculty and staff members and serving over 50,000 students. Prior to her service as a regent, Amy was appointed by Governor Fallin to represent Congressional District 2 on the Oklahoma State Board of Education and the Oklahoma State Board of Career and Technology, and also served as Chairman of the Oklahoma Standards Setting Steering Committee during her tenure. She is a strong advocate for the protection of children in our schools.
 

Deeply involved in community and civic activities, Amy dedicates her energies to a number of philanthropic endeavors focused on issues including economic development, education, and sustainable water policy. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center’s State Advisory Board, and was recently selected to serve on the Board of Directors for the South Central and Southeast Oklahoma
Chapter of the American Red Cross. A graduate of Leadership Oklahoma’s Class XXVIII, Amy previously served on the LOK Board of Directors. Her prior service also includes the Boards of Directors for the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals, Durant Partners in Education, and the Durant Crisis Control Center, as well as serving as a CASA volunteer. She was selected as a member of the Journal Record’s Fifty Making a Difference and a finalist for Woman of the Year in 2015 and again in 2017 and was also named in 2015 as a Broken Arrow High School Outstanding Graduate.
 

Amy graduated from Broken Arrow High School and attended Oklahoma State University. She is currently pursuing coursework toward a Grants Management Certificate from Management Concepts in Washington, DC. She and her husband, Dr. Jim Ford, also own and operate a cow-calf operation and have called Durant home for over 30 years. Their daughter, Erin, is a physician’s assistant in Oklahoma City. Amy previously owned and operated NEON, Inc., an emergency physician staffing company, for nearly 20 years, employing over 100 physicians with operations in Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas.