The President and CEO of the Avedis Foundation Dr. Kathy Laster will be the featured speaker at the Seminole Chamber of Commerce monthly forum meeting on Thursday, May 8, 2025. The luncheon meeting will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in the Haney Center at Seminole State College.

The Avedis Foundation is a private foundation established in Shawnee, Oklahoma in 2012 that serves as a catalyst for positive change and a vision to measurably improve the health, wellness and quality of life for the people of Pottawatomie County and its surrounding communities.

In addition, the organization is committed to improving the quality of the nonprofit sector’s ability to address community health outcomes.

Dr. Laster brings four decades of business management, board leadership, professional consulting, and clinical practice experience to her leadership role as Avedis Foundation’s president and CEO. She served as a founding member of the Avedis board of directors, and as past chairperson and 18-year member of the local community hospital board.

Prior to taking the helm for Avedis in 2018, Dr. Laster founded and led a successful executive leadership coaching and organizational consulting business the decade before. As a licensed psychologist, she previously maintained a 13-year private psychology practice in Shawnee. Earlier, she held corporate management positions with AT&T and Southwestern Bell for 15 years.

Dr. Laster is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and holds an MBA from Oklahoma City University. She also has strong Oklahoma State roots, having graduated with two degrees, a Master’s degree in Community Counseling and an undergraduate degree in Communication Consultancy.

She is a past president of the National Board of the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association. Dr. Laster currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and the Seminole State College Educational Foundation. She and her husband, former state senator Charlie Laster, have two adult children, Kara and Luke.

Thursday’s forum luncheon meeting of local civic clubs is open to the public. Cost for the meal is $15 per person.

For more information about the forum program, contact the Chamber of Commerce office at 405382-3640.