Four OPEA members were chosen by the OPEA Board of Directors to fill vacant seats. The action was taken during the board’s January meeting in Oklahoma City. These vacancies occurred due to retirements. The selections were done in accordance with OPEA bylaws concerning unfilled seats. They will be sworn in at the next board meeting in March.
Regional Directors are OPEA leaders especially in their areas of the state and are key to organizing OPEA members on a local level.
Jennifer Goff, a long-time member from Department of Tourism will serve as a Region Four (Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Coal, Johnston, Love, Marshall, Murray, Pontotoc and Seminole Counties) Director. She works at the Lake Murray State Park as a Housekeeping Supervisor and believes that the state “should be more competitive in wages for employees” and “would also like to see more done for retirees”.
Wally Ogunoiki and Larry Meilleur are the new Region Six (Cleveland, Garvin, McClain and Pottawatomie Counties) Directors. Wally works for the Office of Juvenile Affairs at the Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center (COJC) in Tecumseh and Larry works for the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission and previously worked for the Department of Corrections. Both are longtime OPEA members.
Wally has been very active at the now-closed Rader Juvenile Center and has been key to the re-energizing the COJC chapter. He has also been very active in recruiting new members and bringing them to the annual convention.
Larry has been active in his local chapter and has participated in regional meetings and the annual convention. His goals as a director are to work for “equal and fair treatment for all employees and improve retirement.
Greg Stockton was selected as the new Region Ten (Haskell, Hughes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Okmulgee and Sequoyah) director. Greg has worked for the Department of Corrections since 2,000 and believes his “understanding of the needs of the 24-hour facilities with their unique services and hours should help me represent not only correctional employees but all of these employees”. He says that he “recognizes the needs to represent the intersts of our retirees and work to protect their benefits as well as the benefits of active state employees.” He has participated in the annual convention and lobby days.
OPEA welcomes these outstanding members to their new roles as regional directors.If you want to be more involved with your association, please get to know your region’s directors. They need to hear from you about what is important to you as an OPEA member. If you need more information about your region contact Candice Scarpitti.
