Kari Watkins - Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum

Kari Watkins, a third-generation journalist, became the Oklahoma City National Memorial's first staff member as the Communications Director in March 1996. She was named Executive Director in 1999. Today, she oversees the operations of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum; one of Oklahoma’s most visited sites and is Race Director for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

 

Kari guided 2020’s signature educational/outreach/training program for the 25th Anniversary – Better Conversations. Through online and in-person programs, visitors experience a safe space to have candid conversations about tough subjects including racial reconciliation, collective memory, and uniting and moving a city forward.

 

Locally, she has been recognized with several awards including the 2000 Women in Communications Byliner Award, 2005 Journal Record Woman of the Year, 2006 Stanley Draper Award for Community Excellence, 2011 University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism Distinguished Alumni Award, 2016 Lee Allan Smith Oklahoma Legacy Award, and the 2017 John F. Kennedy Community Service Award.

 

Kari serves on the board of directors for the OKC Convention and Visitors Bureau, MAPS3 Park Sub-Committee, Board of Visitors for the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism & Mass Communications and is an elder at Crossings Community Church.

 

She and her husband Hardy have two children, Ford and Caroline.

 

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