Empowering Innovators:

About Damon Gardenhire

With more than two decades of experience, I have cultivated a unique expertise in bridging strategic communications, policy development, public affairs and philanthropy. My career is defined by a deep understanding of the crucial interplay between powerful storytelling, effective policy and impactful philanthropic investments, consistently driving tangible results across various sectors.

Transforming Education in Oklahoma

As a Senior Program Officer at the Walton Family Foundation & Walton Personal Philanthropy Group for 12 years, I spearheaded initiatives that helped to reshape Oklahoma's educational landscape.

On my watch charter school enrollment surged from 7,053 children in 2012 to nearly 60,000 today.

During more than a decade of service as a grant officer, Oklahoma’s conditions for educational improvement and robust educational options for all families advanced dramatically. Key milestones:

• A new tax credit grants program benefiting traditional public schools statewide

• Launching a Cristo Rey high school in Oklahoma City, now in its sixth year (2024)

• Support for successful rural charter school embraced by the community

• A significant open enrollment win, allowing thousands of children to transfer in its first year (2022)

• Creation of an "edupreneurship" certificate program at Oklahoma State University (2015)

• A new education urban champion launched and supported in Oklahoma City (2024).

• Introduction of a new universal tax credit school choice program (2024):

  • Benefited 27,800 kids in its first year

  • Two-thirds of beneficiaries from lower-income families

  • Now the third-largest choice program in the U.S., behind only Arizona and Florida

Journalistic Achievements & Crisis Communications

My earlier career includes notable achievements in journalism and communications. I reported extensively on the Oklahoma City bombing, from on the scene moments after the deadly explosion to the widespread tragic aftermath across the nation for three years, including Timothy McVeigh’s federal trial for the FOX News Channel. Early in my career, my investigative reporting for the Houston Chronicle broke news on the U.S. House check bouncing scandal in 1992.

Highlights:

• Broke news on the U.S. House check bouncing scandal for the Houston Chronicle (1992)

• Conducted rare interviews with key witnesses in high-profile cases. This included interviews with central witnesses to the events leading up to the Murrah Building bombing, and one of the rare interviews with the proprietor of the Dreamland Motel in Junction City, Kansas — the motel where McVeigh lodged the night before he drove the Ryder truck bomb to Oklahoma City.

• Uncovered dangerous conditions at a horse racing track, leading to safety reforms

As chief spokesman for INTEGRIS Health for nearly a decade, I managed complex medical issues and led crisis communications efforts, notably:

• Coordinating the response to the devastating May 3, 1999, tornado in Oklahoma City

• Developing media and communications strategies for prominent INTEGRIS service lines, including:

  • Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Center

  • Paul Silverstein Burn Center

  • Cancer Center

  • Heart Center at INTEGRIS Baptist

Shaping Policy & Public Discourse

My experience extends to the highest levels of state government, where I drove communications and policy development for two Oklahoma Speakers of the House and served as chief communications and policy advisor for Oklahoma's State Superintendent.

While in these roles, I wrote and edited the book, literally, on policy advancement for Oklahoma’s future, called 100 Ideas: Innovation for the Second Century. Since the book was published in 2007, many of its recommendations have found their way into state policy reforms.

Throughout my career, I've consistently demonstrated an ability to navigate complex issues, communicate effectively across diverse audiences, and drive meaningful change through strategic thinking and decisive action.

About the Name: Linchpin Resources

Linch-pin:

noun

• a person or thing vital to an enterprise or organization.

• a pin passed through the end of an axle to keep a wheel in position.

Through my years in corporate America, I was subjected to several psychological experiments in the form of personality tests (I kid, but only slightly). If an HR manager or team leader is looking for a team building exercise, they often turn to personality tests. So many personality tests, I’ve lost count. But they can be fruitful and productive tools. Various personality tests have always said the same thing consistently about me, essentially that I am:

• An entrepreneurial thinker and a creative.

• A doer and self-starter

• Comfortable working in challenging environments requiring rapid decision-making and forward movement.

• Someone who easily cycles between extroversion and introversion as the task at hand requires.

• A people person and a skilled networker who is good at helping people find their purpose.

• Passionate and able to quickly articulate complex subjects.

• A natural autodidact, intellectually curious and a quick study.

In other words, the personality tests were saying, I’m a linchpin. After a number of years of people also telling me the same thing — “hey, do you understand you’re a linchpin?” — I started realizing they were right. I’m also humble enough (humble brag) to know when I’m not the right person for a job or when I need help, which is why I became an adept networker in the first place. I need other people.

I enjoy helping people envision tangible action, bold strategy and big dreams. And I would be excited about the opportunity to help you.