Board of Directors

Chairman, Chickasaw Nation

Brian D. Gabbard serves as Chairman for Oklahoma City Indian Clinic board of directors and previously served as the Chairperson for the Finance Committee. He sees the clinic’s biggest accomplishment as its expansion and ability to serve more Native Americans.

Brian D. Gabbard, President of Gabbard & Company, has years of professional accounting and consulting experience, including a position with one of the top four international accounting firms, KPMG. Mr. Gabbard’s career is based on helping individuals, businesses, and government entities identify and achieve their goals in an efficient, creative, well-thought manner. He is also an innovative teacher, having created and taught financial management courses and business improvement workshops. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank2-Oklahoma City, chartered in 2002 by the Chickasaw Nation. He holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from the University of Oklahoma, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Vice Chairman, Cherokee Nation

David Thomas is a member of the Cherokee Nation. He has been a member of the Board since 2009 and presently serves as Vice Chairman of the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic.

A graduate of Kansas State University with a BS in Business Administration, Thomas brings a wealth of business experience to the Clinic’s Leadership Team. He has worked most recently to provide consulting, strategic planning, economic and business development, master planning, project financing, in addition to co-founding a company providing solutions to water quality for personal, agriculture and industrial use. He has served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer of three different business organizations. His work history includes management of health care and retirement communities for senior citizens. He has also worked in the energy industry, retail, and alternative energy sectors.

Thomas became involved in the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic because he wanted to bring his business expertise and passion for health care together in a way that would help Indian people. His ultimate goal is to develop the clinic so it is the primary source of all health care services and programs for urban Indians so they can receive the benefits of this specialized care.

Secretary, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Gena Timberman is a member of the Choctaw Nation. Since 1999, Timberman has committed her professional career to the pursuit of making the dream to build an American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in Oklahoma a reality. She has been mentored by some of the state’s top leaders; and, she has worked closely with city, state, county, federal and tribal governments in varied matters of site and project development. As the leader of a state agency, the Native American Cultural and Educational Authority, and Director of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum, Gena lead the development of a nearly 300-acre site on the Oklahoma River envisioned to be the future home of a world-class cultural destination, a landscaped and programmed park and trails system, commercial development and visitor welcome center. She understands the issues in advancing project vision while managing the operational, institutional, and legal issues of challenging and complex projects.

In 1996, Gena graduated from Oklahoma State University with a B.A. in English. She received the Outstanding Contribution to the Native American Community award and is the founding President of the Oklahoma State University American Indian Alumni Association. She was a member of Golden Key National Honor Society and Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society. In addition, she facilitated programs for United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) Native Youth Leadership Development Initiative and Wings of America, a program sponsored by Nike to promote national health and wellness in Indian Country. 

In 1999, Timberman graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. While in law school, she was an intern in the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., Office of Tribal Justice and the Environment & Natural Resources Division, Indian Law Section. In addition, she attended the Oxford Summer Law Seminar at The Queen’s College, Oxford, England. Timberman served as Special Features Editor of the American Indian Law Review and was the President of the Native American Law Student Association. She was honored as a Sequoyah Scholar, the Joseph F. Rarick Indian Scholar, and a Mueller Law Scholar. In addition, she was a member of the National Native American Law Student Association Moot Court Team.

In 1996, Timberman began her legal internship with Holloway, Dobson, Hudson, Bachman, Alden and Jennings in Oklahoma City where she subsequently became an associate attorney. Her practice focused primarily on insurance defense, product liability, commercial law, federal Indian law, and tribal economic development. Timberman currently serves Of Counsel at the law firm, Odom, Sparks & Jones, PLLC, a business boutique firm in Norman, Ok where she focuses her practice on Indian Country business development and legal issues in cultural projects and museum administration. 

Over the years, Timberman has provided a multitude of local, statewide, national and international public keynote speeches, presentations and lectures on project development and management, as well as Oklahoma tribal cultures, cultural tourism, and economic development in Indian Country.

Her notable awards include: Journal Record’s OKC Business 40 Under 40, Oklahoma Magazine 40 Under 40, Native American 40 Under 40 presented by National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development and The National Indian Gaming Association, Native American Woman of the Year, State of Oklahoma Native American Service Award, and selection as a Native Daughter by University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

In addition to serving as Secretary for OKCIC Board of Directors, Timberman currently serves as a member of the YMCA of Greater OKC Board of Directors, MAPS Citizens Advisory Committee/River Subcommittee, Oklahoma City Rotary Club 29, Oklahoma Health Center Foundation Board of Trustees, Cultural Development Corporation of Central Ok Board, Creative Oklahoma Board of Directors; and, she is the immediate past President of the Oklahoma Museums Association. 

Timberman grew up in Mustang and now lives in Oklahoma City. In 2013, Timberman formed Luksi Group, LLC, a consulting business that provides cultural direction for creative design. From cultural destinations to events, Timberman draws from her talents and experience to plan successful and sustainable projects in Indian Country…projects that uplift relationships and reflect the diverse and beautiful values of our Native cultures.

Treasurer, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma

John Daugherty Jr., Eastern Shawnee, joined the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic Board of Directors in 2012.  He serves as the Board Treasurer and Chairperson for the Finance Committee and previously served on the Governance Committee.

Daugherty has 30 years of experience in health administration and currently works part-time as a health management consultant for the Osage Nation of Oklahoma. He retired from his position as the area director for the Oklahoma area with the Indian Health Service in April 2008. He completed the Executive Leadership Development Program and many other leadership courses during his career with the Indian Health Service.

Daugherty graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration and social science from Northeastern State University. He also studied ambulatory health administration with the University of Minnesota Independent Study Program.

Crow Nation

Tara Dawkins, DPT, joined OKCIC’s board of directors in January of 2022. She resides in Edmond, Oklahoma, representing the Crow Nation, Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, Sioux Nation and Chickasaw Nation. 

Dawkins graduated from Oklahoma City University in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications, Broadcasting and a minor in Sports Management. She has worked for the New Orleans/OKC Hornets; ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut; and the Oklahoma City Thunder as a Manager of Digital Media Production where she was the only Native female in her position league-wide. She grew up in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference as a member of Norman First American United Methodist Church, and along with her family served in various leadership roles from the local to national level.

Dawkins left the media world to return to school to pursue another calling – physical therapy. She obtained her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Oklahoma University Health Science Center in May 2018 and is practicing physical therapy in the Oklahoma City metro area.  

In her free time, Dawkins loves spending time with her husband, Will; their three children Trey, Journee, and newborn Rylee; and their Australian Shepherd dog, Render. She also loves traveling, eating sweets, crafting and playing escape room games.  

Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma

Rev. Alvin Deer has been a member of the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic Board of Directors since 2013. 

Prior to ministry, he served many Native American tribes and urban groups in financial management, community planning and business development. He served as Tribal Administrator for the Kiowa Tribe from 1974-1977. He was a Fiscal Controller for the Native American Center in 1979-1984; and the Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes from 1995-1996. He was Conference Treasurer for the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference from 1984-1995. He has also worked as an auditor in the banking industry in Southern California and worked with Frank Oberly, CPA, doing Dept. of Labor audits for Oklahoma Indian tribes in 1977-1979. Over many years, he has also served as a consultant in Accounting and Financial management.

He currently serves on the board of the Native American International Caucus of The United Methodist Church and on the board of the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic.

He has been in ministry since 1981; he has served as pastor to 6 native congregations throughout Oklahoma. He also has been an evangelist not only ministering throughout all of Oklahoma but from Yuma, Arizona to the Mohawk reservation in Upper state New York, from the Yakama Reservation in Washington State to the Native people of North Carolina. He also served as Executive Director for a Native American ministry group advocating for Native people within the Church as well as the social and economic needs of Native communities.

Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma

James Kennedye, MD, MPH, FACEP, a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, grew up in Midwest City, Oklahoma. He is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and has been elected Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.  He has served as Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine in Tulsa and is Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences.  Dr. Kennedye is the 2016-2018 Oklahoma College of Emergency Physicians (OCEP) Vice-President and serves on the American College of Emergency Physician’s (ACEP) National Council as well as its State Legislative & Regulatory Committee.  He is an active member of the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP), the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the Edmond Chamber of Commerce, where he was elected class MVP of Leadership Edmond, Class XXVIII.

A 14 year U.S. Navy veteran, he completed medical school at the University of Oklahoma in 1998, his residency in Emergency Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital in 2002 and the Mongan/Commonwealth Fund Health Policy Fellowship and Masters Degree in Public Health at Harvard University in 2012.  He rotated as a medical student at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic.  His wife, Samantha, is a Professor of Nursing at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Oklahoma.  His son, Patrick, is an Indian Health Service (IHS) Scholar physician completing his residency at the Great Plains Family Practice Residency.  His daughter, Jacqueline, is a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy and will graduate and commence Naval Aviation training in 2016.  In his free time, Dr. Kennedye likes to travel, camp, play sports, follow college football, and is an avid motorcycle enthusiast.

Muscogee (Creek) Nation

Mashell Sourjohn, MJIL, currently serves as AARP’s Associate State Director of Community Outreach Director of Oklahoma where her focus is enhancing the quality of life for all Oklahomans in areas of Native American outreach, caregiving, hunger, livable communities, financial asset protection, fraud prevention, digital equity, voter engagement and encore entrepreneurship.

She is a current board member of Oklahoma City Indian Clinic and member of the Native American Journalist Association. Sourjohn previously served on the Pottawatomie County Community Market Food Resource Center Board and the Oklahoma’s REI Women’s Business Center Advisory Board.  She formerly served on the National American Diabetes Association’s Awakening the Spirit Native American Committee, the Oklahoma Federation of Indian Women Committee, and the New Mexico Shared Strategic Plan for Prevention and Control of Chronic Disease 2012-2016. 

Sourjohn graduated from University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in Administrative Leadership and holds a Master of Jurisprudence in Indian Law from the University of Tulsa College of Law. She also holds a Diversity and Inclusion for Human Resources Management Certificate from Cornell University, and she is a Certified Aging in Place Specialist accredited by the National Home Builders Association.

She is a graduate of the 2019 American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Oklahoma’s Leadership Native Oklahoma and is an alumna of the Oklahoma Public Health Leadership Institute. In 2021, Sourjohn was honored with the Oklahoma State University Extension Services Friend of the Extension Award. In 2018, she was awarded the Metropolitan Better Living Center’s Community Service Impact Award. In 2017, Sourjohn was awarded the national AARP Sherrie Gordon Award for Excellence in Multicultural Leadership.  

Sourjohn is a proud citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and is of Cherokee Nation heritage. With a matching employee giving program from AARP, she proudly established the Kenneth Sourjohn, Sr. Memorial Scholarship fund via the Muscogee Creek Nation Scholarship Foundation to assist any citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation in their own purpose driven journey and higher education attainment goals.

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Bp. David Wilson serves as a board member and is Chairperson for the Governance Committee at Oklahoma City Indian Clinic. He is currently serving as the Conference Superintendent of The Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference of The United Methodist Church. The conference includes 87 Indian Methodist churches in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. He is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church and has served pastorates in Norman, OKC and Tahlequah, Oklahoma. 

A native of Okay, Oklahoma, Rev. Wilson graduated from Oklahoma City University with a degree in Mass Communication. He also received his Masters in Divinity from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa where he graduated with honors. He also was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bacone College. Wilson also sits on the board of Trustees for Oklahoma City University, is an adjunct professor at Oklahoma City University and the Southern Methodist University Perkin’s School of Theology, and offers training programs for ministers in local churches through the South Central Jurisdiction of the UMC.

Bp. Wilson has a proud Indian heritage in his family. His grandfather, Calvin Wilson, was one of the Choctaw Code-Talkers from World War I.