Councilor Lori Decter Wright is a dedicated, creative and results-oriented leader possessing an entrepreneurial spirit and more than twenty-five years of experience as a small-business owner and nonprofit executive. She has a gift for building consensus, achieving strategic goals, and collaborating to accomplish successful outcomes. She has a proven track record of being innovative and pragmatic when recognizing opportunities and resolving challenges. She brings her fresh perspective and energetic enthusiasm to Tulsa City Hall as your City Councilor in District 7. 

Councilor Decter Wright was elected to her first two-year term on November 6, 2018, re-elected to a second term on November 10, 2020 and third term on November 8, 2022. Councilor Decter Wright has established herself as a leader who actively listens, creates coalitions, and takes action. She was named Chair of the City Council for 2022 by unanimous vote of her Council colleagues. Councilor Decter Wright also currently co-chairs the Tulsa City Council's Public Works Committee Meetings and the Small Budget Working Group, the Mayor's Federal Infrastructure Task Force, Mayor's Housing, Homelessness and Mental Health Task Force, the Council's Tribal Nations Relations Committee. Councilor Decter Wright convened and serves on the Pre-Hospital Community Healthcare Working Group and the Residential Habitability Working Group. Prior to becoming General Director & CEO of Tulsa Opera in November 2023, Councilor Decter Wright also represented the City of Tulsa on the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust and the Vision Arts Grant Review Committee . She holds town hall and constituent meetings in District 7, attends neighborhood meetings, visits with community stakeholders, and represents District 7 and the City of Tulsa at various events across the city, county, state and nation.

In addition to her work as a Tulsa City Councilor, Lori also serves as the General Director and CEO of Tulsa Opera, the oldest performing arts organization in Oklahoma and the 12th oldest opera company in the nation. Tulsa Opera is celebrating 77 years of enriching audiences through musical education, community engagement and theatrical entertainment. Prior to leading Tulsa Opera, Lori was the Executive Director of Kendall Whittier Incorporated (KWI) from 2015-2023. KWI is a community-based nonprofit organization founded in 1968 that is focused on food insecurity in Tulsa's Kendall Whittier, The Pearl, and Crutchfield neighborhoods. KWI operates the only emergency food pantry in the area that delivers groceries to doors five days a week, 52 weeks a year. KWI also sponsors three organic community gardens. Through her work, Lori has built solid relationships with charitable foundations, corporate sponsors, and individual donors across the city and state earning her an excellent reputation for getting things done and creating partnerships that allow individuals and groups to work toward achieving shared goals and positive outcomes for all.

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Before joining the staff at Kendall Whittier Incorporated, Lori served as Director of Education and Membership for Sweet Adelines International, a nonprofit association for women founded in Tulsa in 1948 and headquartered in South Tulsa. During her seven years as a member of the Executive Management Team, Lori helped lead the multi-million dollar organization to innovate new methods for delivering education, programming, and member benefits to its 23,000 members world-wide. She also strengthened its youth outreach programs and assisted communities across the globe with empowering young women through music education.

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Lori lives in District 7 with her multi-generational family in Shadow Ridge Neighborhood where she actively works to improve the quality of life for her neighbors. Lori has organized community and charitable giving events such as pantry food donations, winter coat drives, and collecting furniture to help families in need. Lori also is a mentor for local youth as they prepare for college as well as for young professionals considering future candidacy for public service.

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A Tulsan by choice, Lori has lived here for 16 years, including 13 in District 7. Prior to choosing Tulsa as the place to settle down and raise a family, Lori and her husband were professional opera singers based in the Silicon Valley. Lori is an award winning singer, performing with world-class opera companies and symphonies across the United States and overseas. Tulsa's own excellent cultural offerings were a major factor in the Wrights choosing to build their lives here rather than other cities in the region. In recent years, she has returned to the stage as a hobby, directing local musical theatre productions, performing around town, and singing the National Anthem for local events. Joseph is a professor of nursing studies at Tulsa Community College and an Oncology Nurse at St. Francis Hospital. They are members of College Hill Presbyterian Church and Lori regularly shares her musical gifts with the congregation as well as will other local churches and community performance groups. The Wright’s have a multigenerational household in Shadow Ridge Neighborhood where they have lived since 2011.