Kent Taylor

Kent was born and raised in Bartlesville, where his parents worked for Phillips 66. He graduated from Bartlesville’s Sooner High School in 1981.

Kent next attended the University of Oklahoma. He graduated with a business degree and played trumpet in the OU marching band and jazz band. Kent later earned a Master of Business Administration at Oklahoma City University focused in Finance.

Kent spent his first seven years out of college with the Bank of Oklahoma, where he managed three bank locations. For nearly 15 years, he served as an executive with Helmerich and Payne (“H&P”). He garnered significant international business experience, working as the financial controller for two of H&P’s South American units (including H&P’s largest international office managing a $250 million annual budget). He finished his time with H&P at the Tulsa headquarters, where, with his Six Sigma certification from Purdue, he was a special projects manager and leadership developer. His expertise in efficiency and process management led to tens of millions of dollars in savings for the company, expertise he’ll  bring to public service in the state Senate.

After early retirement from H&P, Kent spent time overseeing the financial and support functions at the Tulsa Children’s Museum. During this time, the museum expanded from a 10,000 square foot facility with 20 employees to a 60,000 square foot facility with 80 employees. Most recently, Kent served as the Director of Finance for the BOK Center and Arvest Convention Center, contributing to the re-vitalization of downtown Tulsa.

A fluent Spanish speaker, Kent spent four years between his time working for BOK and H&P serving with a Christian medical ministry in Honduras. Feeling called to serve, he and his wife sold their house and most of their possessions to move to Catacamas, Honduras. Their ministry offered healthcare, rehabilitation, agricultural and animal husbandry education for Hondurans living in the mountains around Catacamas.  Deeply committed to his faith, Kent has also done short term missionary work in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.

Kent and his wife, Jamie (a Catoosa native), met as students in the OU band. They’ve been married for 40 years and have lived in Owasso since 2014. Kent and Jamie do more than just talk about the pro-life message – they’ve lived it. In addition to their son, adopted at birth while living in Honduras, they provided a home for three other Honduran siblings as foster parents and two additional young  children of other family members.