Conna Dewart
Special to Edmond Way
Edmond’s Chamber of Commerce recently announced its officers for 2023 and named Leslie Buford as the new Chairwoman of its Board of Directors. The Edmond Way spoke with Ms. Buford to get to know her better and to introduce her to our readers.
Leslie Buford was born in Oklahoma City and moved to Amarillo, Texas as a baby. She returned to Oklahoma to attend OSU for her undergrad work. She then returned to Texas for a short while and finally returned to Oklahoma for good in 2002. She has degrees in Business Administration and in Journalism/Strategic Communications, and she has Masters Degrees in Public Relations and in Health Care Administration. For 16 years, now, Buford has been with OU Health, Edmond. She spent the last five of those years in Administration, and for the past year she has been the Chief Operations Officer of the hospital.
From about three weeks after she started her career at OU Health in 2007 until today, Buford has been involved with the Edmond Chamber. She took their Leadership Edmond class and just kept going, becoming part of the Women’s Council - as a founding member - for many years, then moving into the Board of Directors and on to the Executive Council for the past three years.
“The Chamber has been obviously very helpful for us at the hospital over the years,” said Buford. “We have worked very closely with them, especially when we merged with OU back in 2010. They were a great supporter of that merger.”
Buford credits Tayo Fichtl, a former CEO and mentor of hers, with setting her on the path towards hospital administration. Fichtl was the inspiration for the Chamber creating the Admin Young Professional of the Year Award when he passed away at only 43 years old.
“He was great, and we all loved him here,” remembers Buford. “He allowed me to take on more responsibility and be really involved with the more administrative side of things.”
Buford describes her administrative style as “collaborative.” She believes in involving everyone in the process and seeks the opinions of each member of a project.
“I’m the tail end of Generation X,” said Buford. “I started doing lots of group projects, and I love to be collaborative. I’m one of four kids, so I had to be collaborative. You have to cooperate with people. I like to make sure that everyone feels like they’re involved and that they’re important - that their voice has meaning.”
“I practice that here at the hospital,” Buford added. “From our housekeepers and food service staff on up to our doctors, I know the names of almost every single staff member that we have here, and they know that I have an open-door policy. They can stop by my office any time to talk about things or give me ideas or just kind of tell me what they see going on in their different departments. I certainly want to bring that to my Chamber Board year as well.”
Some of the Edmond Chamber projects Buford is most excited about are the revitalization efforts that are taking shape in Downtown Edmond through the City of Edmond and the Urban District Board’s exciting initiative to build a stronger downtown core.
The Chamber also announced its other 2023 officers: Shandy Belford, Chair-Elect; H.J. Reed, Immediate Past Chair; Sarah Clutts and Spencer Fane, Vice Chairs; Michelle Keylon; Jamey Mullin; and Kenneth Wohl.