Board of Directors

With the people of Eastern Shawnee Companies around the nation, our leadership is committed to serving its stakeholders. Like generations of leaders before them, they understand that by creating fewer obstacles and limits, will help people to move forward and upward.

Our Board

Audrey Gardner – Chair

Audrey received a BS in Political Science from Portland State University, a Juris Doctorate from Willamette University College of Law, and a Master of Laws in International Indigenous and American Indian Law from the University of Tulsa. Audrey is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and currently serves as their In-house counsel. Audrey also serves on the Board of Directors for the People’s Bank of Seneca, as Chair of the Eastern Shawnee Tribal Enterprises Board of Directors, as Chair for the Woodlands Management Board of Directors, and as an Advisor on the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma’s Family Violence Prevention Board. In her free time, Audrey enjoys spending time with her children, traveling, cooking, and being outdoors with her dogs.

Chad Kelly

Chad, Business Committee Chief of Staff – Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, studied Business Administration at Missouri State University before moving through several management roles with Walmart Inc. Since then, he has served in various roles throughout his 16-year tenure with the Eastern Shawnee Tribe. Chad is particularly proud of the roles he played in the completion of more than $12mm of HUD ICDBG projects and over $40mm of Tribal funded commercial and restoration projects. In his spare time, Chad enjoys spending time with his wife of 15 years and their three children. Aside from restoring classic cars, his hobbies primarily involve being outdoors and include coaching Little League Baseball among other youth recreational sports.

Karen Allen

Karen has a BS in Education with an emphasis on finance and accounting and brings 35 years of accounting experience to the Board. As CFO of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Karen provides financial oversight of an annual tribal budget of $23M. In addition, she provides financial oversight of $45M of federal awards with various agencies to include US Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service, various Departments of Transportation, US Department of Energy, US Department of Commerce, US Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and US Department of the Treasury. Over Karen’s 13-year tenure with the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the required annual single audits have been unmodified with only one minor finding over the past 10 years.

Robert Bluejacket

Robert is a U.S. Veteran who is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. He received BA degrees in both History and Political Science and a Juris Doctorate from the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. Robert purchased United Systems of Arkansas, Inc., in 2019 and oversees all daily activities of the company.

Skylar Wallace

Skylar has worked in the lending space for over 15 years. Most recently, he has been focused exclusively as a mortgage lender building out a team called the Level Up Lenders. Over the past 4 years, Level Up has grown to a team of 23 employees with 8 loan officers and have funded over 2,000 units. 2024 will finally be the year they cross the 1,000-unit mark for the first time in a single year.

In addition to that, Skylar founded a coaching platform called Level Up Guides where he coaches his methodology to other loan officers that are interested in building real businesses within the mortgage industry. He focuses on team building, process improvement, and scale.

Personally, Skylar is married and has 2 boys. In addition to serving on the Eastern Shawnee Companies Board of Directors, he also serves on boards for the local chamber of commerce. He holds an EMBA from the Walton College at the University of Arkansas, and still actively volunteers time consulting and judging with the entrepreneur program in the business school.