Kari Watkins

Kari Watkins, a third-generation journalist, became the Oklahoma City National Memorial's first staff member as Communications Director in March 1996. She was named Executive Director in 1999. Today, as President and CEO, she oversees the operations of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum and is Race Director for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from Oklahoma City University.

Kari Watkins oversaw the design competition for the Outdoor Symbolic Memorial and the building of the Memorial Museum in Oklahoma City, commemorating the loss of 168 lives in the domestic terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.  Thirteen years after its opening, Watkins led a team of board, staff, consultants, and construction teams through a two-year process to update and enhance today’s award-winning Museum.

FEATURED WORK & CORE COMPETENCIES

Conceptualization and implementation of memorial projects, including:

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

Management of memorial design competitions

Innovative educational programming in memorial museums

Operating memorial institutions

Watkins has guided the development of innovative educational programming for middle- and high-school students integrating STEM concepts as well as the “Better Conversations” initiative in which visitors experience a safe space to have candid conversations about tough subjects including racial reconciliation, collective memory, and uniting and moving a city forward.

She is the co-author of Looking Back. Thinking Forward, which chronicles the journey from tragedy to hope, as the world witnessed Oklahoma City respond to the bombing with courage, compassion, and unity.

Watkins has been recognized with several awards including the 2005 Journal Record Woman of the Year, 2006 Stanley Draper Award for Community Excellence, 2016 Lee Allan Smith Oklahoma Legacy Award, and the 2017 John F. Kennedy Community Service Award.