Meet Lori Bowman

Lori Neal Bowman is running for Chair of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education in the upcoming special election. She has represented District 2 on the board since 2021 and has served as Vice Chair for two and a half years. As an OKCPS parent and an active member of her children’s PTSA, Lori brings both a policymaker’s perspective and a parent’s day-to-day understanding of what students, families and teachers need to succeed.

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Lori is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City’s Signature Program, Class 40, previously served on the Mercy Foundation Board and in several leadership roles at her church. She has spent her career working at the intersection of public policy, community relationships and nonprofit leadership. Today she works as a nonprofit consultant, helping organizations achieve their missions. Before that, she spent five years as Development and Community Relations Officer for the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center at the University of Oklahoma. There she generated financial resources for the center’s programs, raised awareness about diabetes and the center’s work, and built relationships across the community.

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Lori previously spent 10 years in Washington D.C. She served as Director of Federal Government Affairs for Hospira, a Chicago-based generic pharmaceutical manufacturer. Before that, she worked with Venn Strategies, a boutique lobbying firm, advising clients on health policy matters. She began her Washington D.C. career as a health policy advisor to former U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

Lori earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma and her master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Originally from Lawton, where she attended public school, she lives in Oklahoma City with her husband, Jeffrey. Their two children attend Oklahoma City Public Schools.