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Our Staff

Meet the Downtown Tulsa Partnership team!

Brian Kurtz
President & CEO

From trips with his grandma to the original Kauffman’s department store during the holidays to taking the bus to work with his dad in Downtown Pittsburgh, Brian has always had a special affinity for downtowns. While he will always love the view from the tops of the tallest buildings in any place, the street level — the intersection of people and place in the most planned, yet random environment — is where the magic and activity happen. He loves food, from cooking at home with his family and friends to trying Tulsa’s newest and mainstay restaurants. But what he loves most about food is its ability bring people together around a table to share time and stories with one another. Brian’s been working to enhance downtowns and urban areas for 13 years and has the fortune of leading a passionate team working toward a Downtown Tulsa that is welcoming and thriving for all.

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Debra Edwards
Office & Finance Administrator

Debra appreciates the simplicity of life, good food, friends, and family. She spends her spare time crafting projects for others, sewing, and reviving old furniture to give it new life. She is learning to navigate through the correct ways of staining and painting projects (YouTube makes it look so much easier). In the midst of storms, celebrating with her six grandchildren makes life brighter each day, and their joy fills her heart. She’s looking forward to learning woodworking and building her first table.

Morgan Phillips
Director of Marketing & Experience

Morgan loves a good theme, and her costume closet is a testament to that. She loves to talk Enneagram (she's a 1w2), try new things, and plan her next vacation. Her background in community journalism informs her work communicating about the programs and initiatives that make Downtown Tulsa the best place to be. She enjoys working in the Deco District a block from where her grandfather sold women's shoes in the 1950s. Morgan is a proud Tulsa Rumblers baseball wife and mother of two girls. Her next personal goal: Watch enough YouTube videos to learn how to braid their hair.

Emily Scott
Director of Planning & Vitality

Emily’s an adventurer — evident through her mosaic job history, including traveling sales, a childbirth assistant, accounting, and owning her own food cart. Her travels and military family upbringing keep her rooted in her passion of Urban Planning, where Emily loves working to support the places and spaces we call home. Her career in planning includes a focus on neighborhood revitalization, housing, and community development, and she is passionate about the ways city systems can unlock economic opportunity and feed the entrepreneurial spirit. In her free time, she digs into her own business ideas, works on her home with her partner, Jess, and cuddles with her spoiled-rotten dog, Churchill.

Sophia Ton
Data & Programs Coordinator

Sophia is a lover of good food, traveling, and live music. Formerly from Kansas City, she has had the opportunity to join the DTP team as a fellow through the Tulsa Service Year program, which places recent college graduates at local non-profit organizations. In her free time, she enjoys collecting and selling vintage clothing. Additionally, as a former barista, she frequents every coffee shop within walking distance of DTP’s offices. Her next personal goal is to learn how to crochet so that she can make personalized gifts for her friends and family. 

Jacob Gatlin
Operations Manager

Learn more about Jacob soon!

Cassandra Williams
Marketing & Events Coordinator

Learn more about Cassie soon!

Daniel Jackson
Tulsa Service Year Fellow, Community Engagement

Learn more about Daniel soon!