Current source roster
Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity / PartnerTulsa
Senior vice president, economic and workforce development
Documented September2023 and current November2026
Exact start and end dates are not established.
People / Government & civic life
Michelle Barnett
Tulsa Global Alliance board chair; economic and workforce development executive
An engineer whose civic roles connect business development, international exchange and workforce education.
Michelle Barnett leads economic and workforce development for PartnerTulsa and chairs Tulsa Global Alliance’s 2026 board. Her work spans business support, development sites and workforce connections; her public record also includes advocacy for the Meta data-center project and reporting to the City’s sales-tax oversight committee.
Career & public service
- Before City service
Engineering management
Institutional biographies report civil-engineering degrees and engineering-firm operations experience.
- August 2019
City deputy chief
A dated environmental project document identifies her municipal role.
- 2021
Development-finance fellowship
CDFA Foundation names Barnett among the Franzini Fellows.
- September 2023
PartnerTulsa leadership
A dated employer interview documents her senior vice president position.
- April 2025
Polytechnic advisory appointment
OU names her to its inaugural advisory board.
- 2026
International nonprofit chair
TGA identifies her as board chair and Program Committee member.
People, institutions and the relationships between them
Following the connections
Each step below represents a documented relationship. Dates and roles belong to the individual links; a path can span different periods.
personMichelle Barnett
officeTAEO Senior Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development
authorityTulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity / PartnerTulsa
The person, staff office and public authority are separate records.
personMichelle Barnett
advisory boardUniversity of Oklahoma Polytechnic Institute Advisory Board
universityUniversity of Oklahoma
An advisory connection, not university governing authority.
Documented relationships
9 documented relationships · Historical and current roles remain distinct.
Current source roster
TAEO Senior Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development
Holds staff leadership office
Verified November2026
Exact start and end dates are not established.
Current source roster
TAEO Senior Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development
Staff office within TAEO / PartnerTulsa · Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity / PartnerTulsa
Verified November2026
Exact start and end dates are not established.
Current source roster
Tulsa Global Alliance
Board chair and Program Committee member
2026
Exact start and end dates are not established.
Historical record
City of Tulsa
Deputy chief of economic development
Documented August2019 and2021; before PartnerTulsa role
Exact start and end dates are not established.
Historical record
University of Oklahoma
Reported BS and MS in civil engineering
Dates not established
Exact start and end dates are not established.
Historical record
University of Oklahoma Polytechnic Institute Advisory Board
Named inaugural advisory board member
April2025
Exact start and end dates are not established.
Current source roster
University of Oklahoma Polytechnic Institute Advisory Board
Advisory board service
2025 appointment; self-reported current2026
Current continuation is self-reported; no precise term end established.
Current source roster
University of Oklahoma Polytechnic Institute Advisory Board
University advisory program · University of Oklahoma
2025
Advisory board is not the governing Board of Regents.
Explaining public loan funds
The City’s April 2026 Sales Tax Overview Committee packet records Barnett’s February 24 presentation on Vision revolving loans for small businesses. She said most pandemic loans had been repaid and repayments would return to project number four. The revised minutes record requests for corrections and state that a revised report was received and distributed. March 24 minutes also record deferral of the February minutes while a member sought the revised report. This shows a public reporting and correction process. It does not establish fraud, a personal financial benefit or a complete independent audit of loan performance.
What she can decide, and where authority stops
Barnett leads an economic-development staff portfolio. PartnerTulsa’s governance page places governing authority with the TAEO trustees and describes staff services to the separate Tulsa Development Authority board. Her staff title does not itself confer a trustee vote, power to enact zoning or unilateral control of city spending. At Tulsa Global Alliance, she holds a board leadership role; the organization separately identifies its executive director. The records establish these institutional boundaries, rather than a personal power to bind every organization with which she works.
Engineering before economic development
A Metro Tulsa Hotel and Lodging Association speaker biography reports bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Oklahoma. PartnerTulsa reports more than a decade of operations management in Tulsa engineering firms before her City service. In her 2023 employer interview, Barnett described engineering as directly relevant to preparing sites for development. The credentials and career description come from institutional biographies; they do not establish exact graduation dates or a complete sequence of private-sector employers.
From the mayor’s office to a development authority
Barnett previously served as deputy chief of economic development under G.T. Bynum. An August 2019 environmental project document independently places her in that City role, and the CDFA Foundation lists her among its 2021 Franzini Fellows with a City of Tulsa affiliation. By September 2023, PartnerTulsa’s dated interview identifies her in the senior vice president role. These records document a transition from municipal administration into the authority’s operating staff without assigning an unsupported exact appointment date.
Preparing places for businesses
In the 2023 interview, Barnett linked her team’s work to readying development sites, supporting existing companies and connecting smaller businesses with resources. She singled out Greenwood Entrepreneurship at Moton, the Kirkpatrick Heights-Greenwood Master Plan and an east Tulsa immigrant business incubator as projects she valued. Those statements document her priorities and institutional involvement. They do not make her the owner of those projects or establish that every proposed benefit was subsequently delivered.
Support for a contested data-center project
In April 2026, KJRH reported Barnett welcoming Meta as an anchor tenant at Fair Oaks Industrial Innovation Park. Its follow-up reported that she defended the economic agreement and anticipated benefits for nonprofits and neighborhood organizations. Councilor Laura Bellis criticized the company’s engagement with councilors and the public; Meta responded that it intended to work with local partners and address community needs. This was a documented disagreement about process and public benefit. KJRH reported that Project Anthem was excluded from the city’s data-center moratorium. Barnett’s support is evidence of her public position, not proof that she personally approved the incentive arrangement.
An advisory bridge to applied technology education
The University of Oklahoma named Barnett, identified with PartnerTulsa, to the Polytechnic Institute’s inaugural advisory board in April 2025. Its announcement describes an April 9 charter-signing event and a mandate for strategic guidance, industry insight and advocacy around workforce needs. That creates a documented connection between economic-development practice and applied-technology education on the OU-Tulsa campus. The advisory appointment is distinct from governing the university as a regent or directing its academic administration.
Interpretation
Why the institutional connections matter
Barnett’s documented influence comes principally through staff leadership, project preparation, public explanation and advisory relationships. Her international nonprofit chairmanship adds another forum for civic connections, while the education appointment gives industry concerns a route into program discussions. These overlapping roles help explain how ideas and contacts move among Tulsa institutions. They do not by themselves establish coordinated decisions, shared finances or a personal stake in a development project.
Check the record
Sources & corrections
Research checked 2026-11-03. 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.
- PartnerTulsa · Board of Trustees ↗
Primary source · Checked 2026-09-26
- PartnerTulsa: staff biographies ↗
primary institutional record · Checked 2026-11-03
Barnett entry: current portfolio; prior deputy chief role and engineering management.
- PartnerTulsa: Michelle Barnett interview ↗
primary institutional record · Source date 2023-09-12 · Checked 2026-11-03
Attributed answers on engineering, site readiness, existing businesses, Moton, Greenwood and east Tulsa projects.
- Tulsa Global Alliance: 2026 staff and board ↗
primary institutional record · Source date 2026 · Checked 2026-11-03
Named chair and Program Committee member; separate executive director; named portrait.
- Michelle Barnett professional profile ↗
attributed self-report · Checked 2026-11-03
Self-report joins PartnerTulsa, TGA chair and OU advisory roles; do not infer missing degrees or exact employment dates.
- Metro Tulsa Hotel and Lodging Association: February luncheon ↗
primary institutional record · Source date 2026 · Checked 2026-11-03
Named speaker biography: BS/MS civil engineering from OU, prior City position; institutional biography rather than registrar record.
- OU Polytechnic Institute installs inaugural advisory board ↗
primary institutional record · Source date 2025-04-28 · Checked 2026-11-03
April9 signing ceremony; Barnett identified with PartnerTulsa; advisory guidance and industry connections.
- CDFA Foundation: Franzini Fellowship ↗
primary institutional record · Checked 2026-11-03
2021 fellows list: Michelle Barnett, City of Tulsa. Award only; no dollar value claimed.
- KJRH: councilor critical of Meta announcement ↗
independent reporting · Source date 2026-04 · Checked 2026-11-03
Samson Tamijani: April21 announcement and April22 response; Bellis criticism, company response, Barnett support. Claims attributed; no incentive sums reproduced.
- KJRH: Meta data center announced for east Tulsa ↗
independent reporting · Source date 2026-04 · Checked 2026-11-03
Barnett welcomes anchor project; construction and future jobs distinguished; Project Anthem excluded from moratorium.
- City of Tulsa: April2026 Sales Tax Overview Committee packet ↗
primary institutional record · Source date 2026-04 · Checked 2026-11-03
PDF pp8–9 revised February24 minutes: revolving-loan explanation and corrected report received; p11 March24 minutes: approval deferred pending revised report. No finding of misconduct. No table amounts used.
- City of Tulsa: Air Force Plant3 asbestos-abatement project design ↗
primary institutional record · Source date 2019-08-06 · Checked 2026-11-03
Cover names Barnett as City deputy chief of economic development and PE; dated employment corroboration.