The state’s historic 13th state auditor and inspector will be the featured speaker at Kingfisher County Republican Women’s monthly luncheon at noon, Wednesday, March 20.

Cindy Byrd made history last November, not only as the first woman elected as state auditor but also as the only statewide candidate in Oklahoma’s history to garner more than 800,000 votes.

Byrd’s talk Wednesday will focus on the challenges she overcame as a female candidate and how she maintained a positive campaign in what became a hotly contentious race.

A certified public accountant, Byrd earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting from East Central University in Ada and brought more than 20 years of governmental auditing experience to her elected position.

Her experience included planning and conducting routine audits of counties, district attorneys’ offices and emergency medical service districts, as well as investigative audits.

She served the last six years as deputy state auditor and inspector for local government services, following a stint as director of the county audit division.

Byrd developed and implemented training programs to assist county officials in their preparation of annual financial statements, schedules of expenditures of federal funds and in identifying weaknesses in a county’s system of checks and balances that could result in fraud, waste or abuse of taxpayer funds.

She also played a significant role in eliminating the five-year backlog of county audits.

Byrd has been at the heart of identifying more than $10 million in waste of public funds through investigative audits.

A lunch will be served prior to Byrd’s presentation, and first-time guests and any public office holders are invited to dine free as guests of KCRW, Christine Reid, club president, said.

“Cindy’s presentation will be encouraging and informative for anyone who has run or is considering running for public office at any level, but particularly for women,” Reid said.

“We encourage all female elected officials, or those considering running for office, to attend.”