DAVID ROBERTS

Founder - Former President & CEO

David D. Roberts is an American politician, bureaucrat, economic development official, author, entrepreneur and historian from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Roberts founded Sooner Strategies in January of 2020 and served as the chief executive until the Fall of 2022. Submitting his resignation in September 2022, he officially accepted a formal role with the Oklahoma Democratic Party serving as the Director of External Relations. With an extremely vibrant background in politics and government, he marks the journeys start at 9 years old, passing out campaign literature for Oklahoma state senator Gene Stipe, Oklahoma's longest serving elected official. Roberts' family were longtime supporters of state senator Stipe sparking his early interest in politics.  In 2003 he was elected as the National President of Business Professionals of America (BPA) following his state election to Oklahoma's precursor organization, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) .  Roberts began to gain notoriety as a political operative serving on high profile political campaigns including U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Congressman Mark Critz, and then-United States Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for President of the United States, the committee Obama for America. Roberts has become less active in politics following his grandmother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia, prompting his return to Oklahoma where he served as her caregiver and attempted to manage one more political campaign, state Senator Constance Johnson, in her bid for the United States Senate, the seat currently occupied by U.S. Senator James Lankford.

​

Born in Poteau, Oklahoma, in 1985, Roberts was raised in rural McCurtain, Haskell County, Oklahoma. He graduated from McCurtain High School in McCurtain, Oklahoma winning the full academic scholarship, the Charles L. Ford Scholarship to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. At NSU, Roberts excelled both inside the classroom and in the university's extracurricular organizations. As a student of Political Science, Roberts served on a wide-range of boards and organizations including serving on the Northeastern Student Activities Board, the Model United Nations, the Interfraternity Council (IFC), President of the NSU College Democrats, and President of his fraternity, the historic Phi Lambda Chi Fraternity's Beta Chapter. Roberts has received numerous awards and citations that include servings as Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry's student-host at his inaugural ball, an Oklahoma State House of Representative Citation for Leadership, and the George W. Bush Volunteer Service Award. Roberts is a National Merit Scholar, an Oklahoma Interscholastic Press Association award recipient for Feature Journalism and Opinion Commentary. He has been involved in activism and government in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, Montana, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. He has personally written and acquired more than $1.5 million in state and federal funding for local government organizations and rural communities.

​

Sooner State Strategies began as only an Oklahoma limited liability company operating at lowest-level operations cost attempting to also provide free, or significantly reduced, client rates for those in poverty, on limited incomes, or with limited resources. It was only after Sooner State Strategies had successfully researched, written, and administered numerous grants and started expanding that the non-profit motivation initialized.  The company, consisting of our founder and one or two additional part-time personal assistants, responsibly performed all or parts of both Grant and Public Administrative services projects to improve drinking water quality, to replace local government water lines, to treat town's drinking water, wastewater treatment, community beautification projects, acquisition of historic property, transportation, and the list continued, as well as continuing to expand.