Sovereignty Speaks #37
Leadership Message for 2021 Graduates
Terri Parton
President, Wichita and Affiliated Tribes
Terri Parton is the President of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, located in Anadarko, Oklahoma. She is an enrolled member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and is also of Caddo descent. She has worked for the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes for twenty-one years, serving as President since 2012.
As President, she prioritizes her responsibility to her people with a strong emphasis on children/youth and elders. President Parton is an advocate of mentorship to cultivate the next generation of leaders.
In her first four years of presidency, the tribe grew its casino, expanded its land holdings, purchased and renovated a hotel, started a tribal member health plan, completed stalled renovations on a community building, and erected the Wichita Travel Plaza, among other achievements.
Under President Parton’s leadership, the tribe was awarded a $2 million zero-suicide grant and a $3 million housing grant in 2021.
President Parton earned a Master of Jurisprudence in Indian Law from the University of Tulsa, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Southern Nazarene University.