President  & CEO
Oklahoma Bioscience Association – OKBio

Board member since: 2006

Sheri Stickley is currently President & CEO of the Oklahoma Bioscience Association, a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the growth of Oklahoma’s bioscience industry. She is a tech-based economic development professional with over 30 years’ leadership experience developing and implementing nationally recognized public/private initiatives to spur growth of an innovation economy.  

Prior to coming to OKBio, Ms. Stickley was Deputy Director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce with responsibility for Strategic Planning and Initiatives.  In this role, she developed and directed initiatives – including Project Boomerang – to grow Oklahoma’s knowledge-based businesses, encourage entrepreneurship, and build the knowledge-based workforce.

Before accepting the position with Commerce, Ms. Stickley was Vice President at SSTI (State Science and Technology Institute), the national association for the tech-based economic development community.  Among other responsibilities, she contributed to publications, including analyses of entrepreneurship and capital programs nationwide for SSTI’s industry benchmark report “A Resource Guide for Technology-based Economic Development,” and Battelle’s  bi-annual report for BIO, “Growing The Nation’s Biotech Sector: A Regional Perspective.”

Prior to joining SSTI, Ms. Stickley was Interim Executive Director of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), the State’s technology-based economic development agency.  With OCAST from its founding in 1987, as Director of Technology Development Programs she conceived, planned and oversaw multiple, nationally-recognized initiatives to promote start-up and growth of research and technology-based businesses, including: OCAST’s SBIR-related programs; the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center and Technology Business Finance Program, managed by i2E; and the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, Oklahoma’s affiliate in the national NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership program.

Ms. Stickley has served on the Governor’s Council on Science and Technology, national-level peer review panels and advisory committees, the boards of directors of SSTI, i2E, the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, Oklahoma EPSCoR, the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals and other public and private boards and committees.