Barbara Kyser-Collier, Director of QTGA named 'Regulator of the Year'

QUAPAW, Okla. – Barbara Kyser-Collier received the Regulator of the Year Award at the OTGRA 2016 Spring Conference held April 10-13, 2016.  The Oklahoma Tribal Gaming Regulators Association (OTGRA) is made up of tribes in the state of Oklahoma.  There are few honors higher than that of being recognized by your peers.   

Barbara is a proud member of the Quapaw Tribe (the Downstream People) and is a descendant of the Beaver Clan, Musk??   nah  bonnéh   (white) Sun Coming.  Barbara’s career spans over forty (40) years, being a staunch and tireless defender of tribal sovereignty and economic self-sufficiency.  Her recent concentration in these efforts has been in the field of tribal gaming regulation.  She has served the Quapaw Tribe from the initial beginning of the tribe’s gaming operations.  In 2003 she was a Gaming Commissioner, then transferred to a compliance position on the Gaming Commission staff, and since 2004 up to this present time has held the position as Director of the Quapaw Tribal Gaming Agency.

In addition to being a founding member and first Chairwoman of the Oklahoma Tribal Gaming Regulators Association (OTGRA), following its inception in May 2006, continuing through the Fall of 2009.  Barbara has distinguished herself as an active participant in the National Indian Gaming Association and also the National Tribal Gaming Commissioners/Regulators Association, where she previously held the office of Secretary from April 2006 through November 2009.

Oklahoma tribes have benefited from Barbara’s years of experience and her willingness to tackle the tough issues.  She can be counted on to be wherever the pressing issues of the day are being discussed – at home or abroad.  Her voice has been heard across the country by tribal, state, and federal leadership, and is recognized as being a voice of reason and of passion.  Barbara has many other outstanding accomplishments concerning gaming, and other facets of Native American issues/concerns from office management to accounting, education, housing, environment, Tribal Administrator, and one of her greatest memories is to see the growth of the gaming industry from back in the “paper” bingo days in the mid 1980’s up to this present time of Class II and Class III gaming, not only for the Quapaw tribe but for all other tribes and their casino operations.  Barbara is always being proactive and interactive with all tribes, always striving for excellence to ensure the positive integrity of gaming regulation.