Somerlyn Cothran is IW’s Senior Vice President for Development. Cothran has been running a national trade association management and fundraising company headquartered in Oklahoma for the past 16 years. Cothran founded that organization in 2001, and had then developed and managed hundreds of national and local fundraising efforts, national trade associations, nonprofits, and political action committees.

She was named a 2005 Rising Star in Politics by Campaigns and Elections magazine and was a co- founder and is the current President of the National Association of Political Fundraisers. She is an active member in the Association Management Company Institute, The American Society of Association Executives and is a certified administrator of the MBTI®. She is a regular guest speaker for state and national organizations on the topics of vision, keys to success, and women in business.

Somerlyn is also very involved in her community: She is the immediate past president and a board member of the Ada City Schools Foundation and serves on the boards of the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and Mama T’s Homeless Shelter. She was a member of Leadership Oklahoma Class XVII, named an “Oklahoma Achiever Under 40” in 2012 and was a 2014 and 2015 “Oklahoma Woman of the Year” finalist.

Cothran earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Tulsa and a master’s degree in human relations and organizational development from the University of Oklahoma. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and two children.