The Oklahoma Department of Commerce announced that Jennifer Springer, Director of International Trade & Foreign Investment, has been promoted to Director of Business Development, following the retirement of Charles Kimbrough. Springer has been with Commerce for 10 years. She became Director of International Trade & Foreign Investment in 2014. Prior to that, she served as an economist in the Research division specializing in international recruitment.
“Jennifer brings impressive expertise to this role. As we strive to grow Oklahoma’s economy out of the COVID-19 global crisis, she will be a great asset to leading our business development efforts,” said Sean Kouplen, Secretary of Commerce and Workforce Development.
Springer holds a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Oklahoma. In 2019, she was federally appointed to a two-year term as Vice-Chair to the Investment Advisory Council (IAC) by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
“As Commerce moves forward, we want to more closely align our business development efforts with our impressive research capacity,” said Brent Kisling, Commerce Executive Director. “With Jennifer’s background and thought leadership, I am confident that she will lead the team as we continue our work to take Oklahoma to the world and bring the world to Oklahoma.”
“I am honored to lead the business development efforts to expand and recruit business to the state. As Oklahoma recovers and emerges from the current crises, the economy will need to transition to new ways of recruiting based on supply chain and global connections,” said Springer. “I look forward to leading our team to help grow and diversify Oklahoma’s economy.”
