People / Government & civic life
Tulsa airport vice chair, GRDA director and foundation executive
A business and philanthropic executive with separate responsibilities in airport governance, public power and Tulsa’s cultural institutions.
Jeff Stava combines airport trusteeships and a Grand River Dam Authority board seat with leadership roles at Tulsa Community Foundation and George Kaiser Family Foundation. His documented work connects public infrastructure, charitable operations and the development of Gathering Place.
Graduated with a BBA in operations management.
Historical biography dates leadership and subsequent sale of Outdoor Innovations/Terminator Titanium Lures.
Institutional history dates his entry to the foundation.
Independent radio coverage identifies his role while the park was in development.
Official park history records the public opening.
Scheduled beginning stated on the current official roster.
Moves approval of the February adjustment; motion passes unanimously.
People, institutions and the relationships between them
Each step below represents a documented relationship. Dates and roles belong to the individual links; a path can span different periods.
A public trustee role with collective decision powers.
Executive responsibility within a supporting-organization arrangement.
A separate gubernatorial appointment, not an extension of foundation employment.
11 documented relationships · Historical and current roles remain distinct.
Airport trustee and vice chair
Current airport roster; city scheduled term expires April30,2027
End is scheduled term expiration, not a confirmed future departure. City reports2011 start for TAA/TAIT/TMAT and2017 for TIADT; avoid treating all four as one office.
Airport trustee and vice chair
Current airport roster; city scheduled term expires April30,2027
End is scheduled term expiration, not a confirmed future departure. City reports2011 start for TAA/TAIT/TMAT and2017 for TIADT; avoid treating all four as one office.
Airport trustee and vice chair
Current airport roster; city scheduled term expires April30,2027
End is scheduled term expiration, not a confirmed future departure. City reports2011 start for TAA/TAIT/TMAT and2017 for TIADT; avoid treating all four as one office.
Airport trustee and vice chair
Current airport roster; city scheduled term expires April30,2027
End is scheduled term expiration, not a confirmed future departure. City reports2011 start for TAA/TAIT/TMAT and2017 for TIADT; avoid treating all four as one office.
Chief operating officer
Joined TCF2008 per2019 history; current official staff roster
Role establishes the stated responsibility; no personal ownership or unilateral institutional control inferred.
$86,800 · 2024 Form990 PartVII p7 columnD reportable compensation from TCF only; filedNovember17,2025. Related and other compensation separately reported.
Chief program officer
Current official biography
Role establishes the stated responsibility; no personal ownership or unilateral institutional control inferred.
Executive director
Current TCF biography
Role establishes the stated responsibility; no personal ownership or unilateral institutional control inferred.
Supporting organization of TCF · Tulsa Community Foundation
Current institutional description
Role establishes the stated responsibility; no personal ownership or unilateral institutional control inferred.
Executive director and trustee
TCF biography and2019 institutional history
Role establishes the stated responsibility; no personal ownership or unilateral institutional control inferred.
Public utility director
Current roster: October14,2025–October13,2030
Scheduled term end; board role is separate from executive management and from airport or philanthropic offices.
BBA graduate, operations management
1991 graduation
Role establishes the stated responsibility; no personal ownership or unilateral institutional control inferred.
Dated public records
$86,800
Calendar 2024; filed November 17, 2025
USD; original Form990 PartVII PDFp7, row2 columnD. Related organizations columnE: $491,563; estimated other compensation columnF: $64,187. ScheduleJ PDFp178 details the components. Columns are not overlapping totals.
GRDA’s approved January 14, 2026 minutes record Stava moving approval of the February power-cost adjustment. The motion passed 7–0. The adjustment followed staff forecasts and discussion of fuel prices, generation and market conditions. The same meeting records his abstention on approval of October 9–10, 2025 meeting minutes, dates preceding the term start listed on the current roster; the minutes do not state his reason for abstaining. These records establish particular actions and outcomes, without supporting a broader claim about his motives or a permanent voting coalition.
A 2019 Museum of Tulsa History biography traces Stava’s early career through Lowrance Electronics in Tulsa and Johnson Outdoors in Wisconsin. It dates his return to Tulsa and presidency of Outdoor Innovations/Terminator Titanium Lures to 1996, and says he and his investors sold the business in 2006. The same account dates his entry into Tulsa Community Foundation to 2008. GKFF’s current biography identifies him as a 1991 Baylor University graduate with a business administration degree in operations management. These sources establish a transition from commercial management to civic philanthropy without supplying a complete employment chronology or the terms of the business sale.
Stava is chief operating officer of Tulsa Community Foundation and chief program officer at George Kaiser Family Foundation. TCF describes his work as setting strategy and overseeing operations serving donors and nonprofit agencies. GKFF assigns him leadership of its Vibrant and Inclusive Tulsa team, encompassing business and talent recruitment, neighborhood development, cultural activity and beautification. These positions connect charitable administration with decisions about which civic projects to develop and support. The foundations are institutions with their own governance; their assets and grants are not Stava’s personal wealth. His roles also differ from those of a donor or the founder of a foundation.
GKFF identifies Gathering Place, Guthrie Green, the Bob Dylan Center and Woody Guthrie Center among the institutions Stava oversees. TCF separately identifies him as executive director and trustee of Tulsa’s Gathering Place LLC. The park and its governing organization are related but distinct records. Public Radio Tulsa was describing him as the park’s project manager in June 2013, when the privately funded public park was still in development. The park’s official history records its subsequent September 2018 opening. This progression documents a role extending from project planning into institutional leadership. The promotional cost estimates in different biographies describe different snapshots; they are not treated here as audited final costs.
TCF’s staff biography also identifies Stava as executive director of Tulsa Beautification Foundation, a supporting organization of TCF. Its described work includes neighborhood improvements, downtown revitalization and beautification. The 2024 tax return provides another view of this institutional arrangement: Schedule O assigns Stava time across TCF, Tulsa Beautification and GKFF, and describes the latter two as related entities controlled by TCF. That is the filing’s organizational classification for the reporting period. It does not mean that Stava personally owns or controls the foundations.
TCF’s 2024 Form 990, filed November 17, 2025, lists Stava under William J. Stava, III. Part VII reports $86,800 from TCF, $491,563 from related organizations and $64,187 in estimated other compensation. These three columns describe different components; citing only the TCF column would omit most of the disclosed compensation. Schedule J separates base pay, incentive pay, other reportable pay, deferred compensation and benefits. The return is a calendar-2024 historical disclosure, not a current salary rate, take-home-pay calculation or complete statement of personal income. The latest public index reviewed lists a 2025 audit but no 2025 Form 990.
The Grand River Dam Authority’s current roster names Stava as a gubernatorial appointee for a term from October 14, 2025, through October 13, 2030. It lists him on the Assets and Fuel and Long-Range Planning committees. GRDA’s seven-member board sets policy through collective decisions, while executive management administers the authority. The appointment places him in a different public setting from airport governance: electricity, utility assets and the authority’s lake-area responsibilities. His foundation positions do not themselves confer GRDA authority; the public appointment does.
Check the record
Research checked 2026-10-31. Roles and financial figures retain their source dates. Sections appear only when supported material is available; an omitted section is not a finding that no such relationship exists.
Official roster and governing summary · Checked 2026-09-30
Audit Committee: purpose, composition and seat 02. Parks board: advisory purpose. Performing Arts Center Trust: purpose and mayor/designee seat 01. Public Facilities Authority: purpose and mayor/designee seat 01, with listed term expiration July 31, 2026; continued service not verified.
Primary source · Checked 2026-10-01
Phil Lakin biography; prior employment, current CEO; other affiliations are attributed, not assumed current from an undated biography.
Organization-hosted IRS return · Source date 2025-11-17 · Checked 2026-10-01
Calendar 2024, EIN 73-1554474. Part VII p.7 (PDF p.7), Lakin row, columns D/E/F; Schedule J Part II p.2 (PDF p.178, packet footer 180), row 1. Visually checked. USD. Filing date November 17, 2025 per IRS index; latest year found October 1, 2026.
IRS filing index via ProPublica · Checked 2026-10-01
2024 Form 990 filed November 17, 2025. No later year displayed at review; index warns amendments may not be reflected.
Primary institutional record · Checked 2026-10-02
TAIT five-member roster; checked October 2, 2026. Conflicts with City roster noted privately.
primary · Checked 2026-10-31
Current chief program officer; Vibrant and Inclusive Tulsa team, cultural oversight, TCF role and Baylor degree.
institutional-history · Source date 2019 · Checked 2026-10-31
Historical biography: outdoor-industry career, 1996 presidency, 2006 sale, 2008 TCF entry; do not treat old board titles as current.
primary · Checked 2026-10-31
Jeff Stava, governor appointment, October14,2025–October13,2030; Assets and Fuel/Long-Range Planning committees; seven-member board.
primary · Source date 2026-01-14 · Checked 2026-10-31
PDFp1 attendance; p4 consent vote and October2025 minutes abstention; p5 item8 Stava motion for February power-cost adjustment,7–0. Approved February11,2026.
primary · Checked 2026-10-31
Project led by GKFF; park history and September2018 opening.
reporting · Source date 2013-06-19 · Checked 2026-10-31
Rich Fisher interview introduction identifies Stava as GKFF senior program officer and project manager of privately funded public park.
primary · Checked 2026-10-31
2024 return is latest listed; reviewed alongside ProPublica IRS index, which lists2025 audit but no2025 Form990.
