Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed QuikTrip senior environmental project manager Sarah Lepak to serve on the State Board of Education this afternoon. The appointment must be confirmed by the Oklahoma State Senate, where Lepak could face questions about being another Stitt appointee to the State Board of Education without a direct background as an educator, administrator or school board member.
“I’m honored to be nominated and look forward to serving on the Board,” Lepak said in Stitt’s press release announcing her appointment. “I am happy to give of my time and experience to help ensure Oklahoma kids are well prepared for the future.”
Lepak will fill the Congressional District 2 vacancy that was created when former board member William Flanagan resigned in November owing to health complications.
Flanagan had been appointed to the state board in 2015 by former Gov. Mary Fallin and was the only Fallin-appointed state board member to be reappointed by Stitt.
The six appointed members of the State Board of Education are selected by the governor. The board is chaired by the state superintendent of public instruction.
“I am pleased to nominate Sarah Lepak to serve on the State Board of Education,” Stitt said in a press release. “I am confident that she will put the needs of students first and strive to make Oklahoma top ten in education.”
Background of Sarah Lepak
Prior to joining QuikTrip, Lepak worked from 2012 to 2017 as a former assistant general counsel for Gateway Mortgage Group, Stitt’s mortgage company.
Lepak was one of seven applicants who applied to fill the Oklahoma Supreme Court District 1 vacancy in 2019, but she was not selected as one of three finalists in the appointment process. Her mother, Linda Lepak, served on the Judicial Nominating Commission at the time and recused herself from matters involving that particular Supreme Court vacancy.
Lepak is also the daughter of Rep. Mark Lepak (R-Claremore).
According to Stitt’s press release, Sarah Lepak graduated from Claremore Public Schools before earring an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma in 2002. She also received a law degree from the University of Kansas in 2005 and recently completed a master leadership program from Harvard Business Publishing. She has served on the OU Price College of Business Management/Entrepreneurship advisory board since 2010.
In her role with QuikTrip Corp., Lepak leads the company’s compliance department and manages all aspects of environmental regulatory compliance and due diligence for QuikTrip stores.
According to the press release, Lepak is an involved member of the Claremore community and spends her free time teaching classes to high school students at her church.
