Page 15 - LOKMC2Program

Dr. Cara Cowan Watts
Cara oversees drilling services which generally includes turn-key installa- tion of slurry, cased, and other vertical piers for new foundations on bridg- es,
substations, transmission lines, large residential homes, commercial and industrial buildings, plus tie backs, micropiles and other drilled holes. She manages a team of approximately 20 full-time and part-time employees as well as a fleet of commercial trucks and drill rigs, estimates and bids
contracts, business development and strategy, controls job costs, monitors safety standards, over- sees legal and accounting operations and human resources needs for their privately-owned small business. Tulsa Pier Drilling (TPD) was created in 1998 by Cara’s husband, Doug Watts. TPD has been under Cara’s leadership since 2015.
Cara is the founder and owner of Cherokee Star DBA. Cherokee Star has provided facilitation, project management, communication planning, innovative education solutions, presentation development needs and much more in Indian Country for more than ten years.
Cara served as the elected Tribal legislator for portions of Tulsa and Rogers Counties, Oklahoma where she resides for 12 years from 2003 to 2015.
She has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from OSU – Stillwater and a Master of Sci- ence in Telecommunications Management from OSU – Tulsa with more than six years in industry until focusing full-time on public office until her return to private industry in 2015.
Cara successfully defended her PhD in Biosystems Engineering at Oklahoma State University in the Fall of 2015.