Team

David W. Osburn was named General Manager effective August 1, 2013.  Mr. Osburn joined the Authority as of January 15, 2007, and previously held the title of Assistant General Manager.  Mr. Osburn previously served as General Manager and CEO of Richmond Power & Light in Richmond, Indiana for 10 years.  Mr. Osburn currently serves on the Board of the American Public Power Association, the Members’ Committee of the Southwest Power Pool (“SPP”), and the Executive Committee of the Transmission Access Policy Study Group (“TAPS”). Mr. Osburn has previously served on the Board of the Electric Power Research Institute (“EPRI”), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) Members Representative Committee, NERC Reliability Issues Steering Committee, as well as Commissioner and Vice Chairman of the Indiana Municipal Power Agency.  Mr. Osburn holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Indiana Wesleyan University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.

Jennifer Rogers Smith is the Assistant General Manager and Director of Member Services. She has been with OMPA since 2008 and serves on a number of industry-related boards, including the Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments (DEED) and Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma (MESO).  Prior to her position as Assistant General Manager, she served the Authority as Director of Member Services, Government Relations Representative, Media Specialist, and Member Services Representative. Ms. Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Central Oklahoma.

Ellen C. Edwards has been the General Counsel for the Authority since February 2020.  Mrs. Edwards earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981 from the Colorado College, followed by a Juris Doctorate degree in 1985 from the University of Oklahoma.  In October 1985 she was licensed by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.  She is also licensed to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Western, and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma.  Mrs. Edwards has been in private practice, served as a judge on the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice (Torts Branch) and the Oklahoma Insurance Department, and as General Counsel for the Grand River Dam Authority.

John M. Vansant joined the Authority January 6, 2014 and holds the position of Director of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer.  Mr. Vansant previously served as Director of Fiscal Affairs for the Water, Gas & Light Commission of Albany, Georgia for 13 years.  Mr. Vansant is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University.  Prior to working for the Water, Gas & Light Commission he held a number of different executive level positions in both public accounting and private industry.

Natasha Brown is the Director of Operations. She has more than 16 years of experience in the industry and is a NERC Certified System Operator. She originally started at OMPA in the Operations Department in 2006, before holding positions as a Senior Operations Analyst at Southwest Power Pool in Little Rock, AR and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative in Anadarko, OK.

Jim McAvoy was promoted in March 2016 to the position of Director of Engineering Services after having served previously as Manager of Engineering Services and Chief Engineer for nine years.  Before joining the Authority he worked in engineering and operations at KG&E/Westar in Kansas and OG&E.  He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Business Administration degree from Oklahoma Christian University.  Mr. McAvoy currently serves on the Transmission Working Group of the SPP.  He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the states of Oklahoma and Kansas.