The executive director of the state Department of Commerce said Thursday that he and his staff can’t create jobs in Oklahoma.

“That’s not something we can do,” Brent Kisling told Kingfisher Lions Club members as guest speaker last Thursday.

“What we want to do is create an environment in Oklahoma where businesses will create jobs.”

Kisling was named executive director in January 2019 by then-incoming Gov. Kevin Stitt.

When speaking with Lions, he saw a lot of familiar faces.

Kisling had attended several Lions Club meetings when he served as field director for U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe from 1995-2001.

He worked with several PioneerTelephoneCooperative employees - including Lions Club members Toni Pickle (now retired) and Cindy Gore - on multiple projects during his stints as the executive director of USDA Rural Development (2001-2009) and the executive director of Enid Regional Development Alliance (2009-2019).

A guest at Thursday’s meeting was State Sen. Darcy Jech of Kingfisher, who is the chairman of the appropriations committee for Kisling’s department.

“We couldn’t have a better chairman,” said Kisling, who is a Burlington native.

During his talk, Kisling said “this is a fun time to do economic development for the state.”

“That has a lot to do with the way we catapulted coming out of the pandemic,” he said.

Programs to aid and support Oklahoma businesses have been expanded post-pandemic, he said, and have shown exemplary results.

But, said Kisling, population is key. “The biggest economic indicator right now that a lot of people don’t talk about but my department really concentrates on is that Oklahoma has the 11th fastest growing population since the pandemic,” he added.

The state has shown a net increase of more than 30,000 people which he said is key.

“We have a lot more jobs right in Oklahoma than people,” he said.

His department has focused on attracting people - not businesses - to the state to fill positions in fields such as energy and aerospace.

The department instituted targeted advertising in some states - with yet more to come - to try to attract people to Oklahoma.

One included putting up billboards in California that said “Leave the coast. Find the most.”

Kisling noted some figures that shows Oklahoma has a positive net migration

[See Lions, Page 12] with 33 states (more people coming to Oklahoma from those states than are leaving for those states).

California is No. 1 on that list with a positive migration of more than 8,500 people.

Texas is second and Colorado third on that list.

Other positives for the state?

Rural areas are growing. While Kisling said the greatest gains are on the eastern half of the state, northwest Oklahoma has also shown growth in numbers.

There’s also been a big reversal in the out-migration of college graduates.

There was a big “brain drain” from 2013-2020, but Kisling said that has become a positive number in the last two years.

Kisling said his department’s plan of attack is very similar to when he was working on more local economic development in the Enid area.

There, he had five points to his plan: 1. Know what you’re selling 2. Take care of your own first - He said that was a big point of emphasis, especially during the pandemic, when the state purchased almost all of its PPE equipment from vendors in Oklahoma 3. Have targeted recruitment - Aerospace is now the state’s second-largest employer behind energy and continues to grow, so that has been a point of emphasis 4. Have a strong workforce - Kisling said this is the biggest issue right now and it’s not limited to Oklahoma 5. Support entrepreneurship Since moving to the state level, he’s added a sixth element: “Every community has to be aggressively trying to grow,” he said.

And that, he said, is where he wants his department to help. “I truly believe this is the best state in America to make something happen. We want people to imagine. If you can imagine it, you can make it happen in Oklahoma,” he said.

“And we want to help. We’re not going to give it to you. You’re going to have to work for it, but you can make it happen.”

Kisling was introduced by Pickle, who made the invitation for him to speak.

“When Toni Pickle calls, you answer the phone,” Kisling said, before directing a comment to Pickle.

“And I must say, retirement looks good on you.”