Biography

I grew up in the small, central Texas town of Brady in a farming and ranching family. My hometown is famous for a couple of reasons: it’s just a few miles away from the geographic center of Texas, making Brady the true heart of Texas, and it’s the annual host of the World Championship BBQ Goat Cookoff. I spent my coming-of-age years working on the farm, playing tennis, and being way too nerdy (for a young teenager) about my academic pursuits.

In 1996, I left Brady to attend Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I majored in Finance at ORU and spent most of my spare time participating in student government and playing intramurals. I graduated magna cum laude in 2000 and went to work as an analyst in the wholesale dispute resolutions department at MCI WorldCom. I married my wife, Sara, in 2005 and we picked up and moved to College Station, Texas, so I could pursue my master’s degree in Public Administration at Texas A&M.

After graduating with my master’s degree in 2007, we moved back to Tulsa and I worked for a business consulting firm for a couple years before transitioning into politics. I worked for a firm that trained political candidates for awhile and then joined Mary Fallin’s campaign for governor in 2010. After the campaign, we moved to Oklahoma City, so I could join President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman’s staff as his legislative director and policy advisor in the Oklahoma State Senate.

I spent four years working for Pro Tem Bingman, reading every piece of legislation that came through the Senate and learning the ins and outs of the legislative process. During that time, I became passionate about preserving the Oklahoma State Capitol when I was appointed to the State Capitol Preservation Commission and worked diligently, along with many others, to build support for the building’s complete restoration. After a bond issue was passed in 2014, I moved over to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to serve as project manager on the capitol restoration project.

I spent the next six and a half years guiding the project, advocating for full funding (which was achieved in 2016), coordinating the logistics of the massive construction project, monitoring the $280 million budget, and working with the various stakeholders in the building to ensure the project could be completed on time and on budget. The project will be completed in 2022 and it will always be one of the things I am most proud of in my career.

I was working myself out of job on the capitol restoration project, so when I learned that Dr. Bob Blackburn was retiring as executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, I was excited to apply for the position. I have been passionate about history my entire life and I had worked with many of the great folks at OHS during my career in state government. In November 2020, I was incredibly honored to be selected as Dr. Blackburn’s successor by a unanimous vote of the OHS Board of Directors. Since January 2021, I have enjoyed the opportunity to lead a state agency whose mission is to collect, preserve, and share Oklahoma’s unique and fascinating history.

I live in Edmond, Oklahoma, with my wife, Sara, and our two children, Cale and Lilah. I am a member of the Downtown OKC Rotary Club and New Covenant United Methodist Church. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, kayaking, hiking, smoking meats on my off-set wood smoker, and traveling at home and abroad to explore new places and meet new people.

Columns and Research

National Register of Historic Places Nomination

In 2019, Trait was successful in getting the former Oklahoma City Public Schools Administration Building on the National Register of Historic Places. Click here to read the nomination.

Oklahoman Editorial

In 2014, Trait wrote an editorial, which was published in the Oklahoman newspaper, to kick off the start of the capitol restoration project. Click here to read the editorial.

Preservation Oklahoma News

Trait wrote a column in the October 2014 issue of Preservation Oklahoma News to discuss progress on the just-approved restoration of the Oklahoma State Capitol. Click here to read the column.

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