Senate advances tourism director nomination, confirms multiple board nominees in unanimous votes

The Oklahoma State Senate advanced the nomination of Sterling Zirley for executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation and later confirmed multiple tier 2 nominations in unanimous roll calls on April 7, 2025.

Senator Stanley moved that the Senate “advise and consent” to the nomination of Sterling R. Zirley of Choctaw as executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation; the clerk reported the nomination had received 38 ayes and 0 nays and the president declared the nomination to have advanced.

The Senate then considered a group of tier 2 nominations and, after a roll call, the president announced: “Having received 40 aye votes and 0 nay votes, I declare the executive nominations to have been confirmed by the Senate.” Confirmations announced on the floor included:

- Kevin J. Gross to the Board of Regents of Tulsa Community College (unexpired term ending 06/30/2026), moved by Senator Rader. - Rick Scott to the Board of Trustees of the University Center at Ponca City (term ending 06/30/2034), moved by Senator Coleman. - Carrie Leonard to the Oklahoma Arts Council (three-year term ending 06/30/2028), moved by Senator Hines. - Michael L. Willis to the Board of Trustees for Oklahoma State University-Tulsa (seven-year term ending 06/30/2032), moved by Senator Rader. - Andrew Eubank to the Board of Regents of Northern Oklahoma College (term and end date read aloud as 06/30/2020 in the nomination), moved by Senator Petersen; the date as read appears inconsistent with typical forward-looking term dates. - Mandy D. Hinkle to the Board of Regents for Oklahoma City Community College (seven-year term ending April 2032), moved by Senator Weaver.

The floor record shows the clerk opened and closed the roll for each recorded vote; where a specific roll tally was read for an individual nomination (Sterling Zirley), it was 38 ayes and 0 nays; the grouped executive nominations were confirmed by a subsequent roll call reading 40 ayes and 0 nays.

These confirmations are advice-and-consent actions; individual appointees will serve terms as read into the record or until the end dates specified on the floor. One nomination included a term date read in the transcript that appears to be a prior year (06/30/2020); the Senate record may provide corrected term information in the official journal.