Oklahoma City's Long Game: Aerospace, Life Sciences and Four Decades of Diversification

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City's economy was built on oil and gas, and in plenty of ways it still runs on them. But the region now also has an $8.8 billion aerospace industry, a university recruiting 200 researchers and, as of last month, the largest gift in University of Oklahoma history aimed squarely at biomedical research.

Christy Gillenwater, president and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, says none of that happened by accident. The Chamber began a deliberate push to diversify beyond energy in the late 1980s and 1990s.

"Really, it has been several decades in the making, very intentional investments," she told Location Decision.

The momentum shows up well beyond the industrial base. The region welcomed a record 25 million visitors last year, Gillenwater said, and its 10-county area has added about 90,000 residents over the past five years. The Chamber's task now is turning those established strengths into the next round of private investment.

A 2025 aerospace assessment prepared for the Chamber by RegionTrack counts 338 aerospace establishments in Greater Oklahoma City employing 45,539 workers and generating about $8.8 billion in direct output. Counting indirect and induced activity, the industry supports an estimated 80,200 jobs and $15 billion in total output. Private companies account for nearly 12,000 of the direct jobs, up more than 1,100 since 2020, and average wages across the sector approach $87,000.

Tinker Air Force Base sits at the center. The base, the state's largest single-site employer and a major hub for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, employed about 27,000 people in the assessment. The FAA's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, where the agency trains air traffic controllers, adds roughly 5,100 more.

Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Pratt & Whitney all have a presence in the market, along with a long list of smaller contractors in sustainment, engineering, logistics and manufacturing.

Having both installations in one market is rare, Gillenwater said, and companies notice. She said the pairing is drawing serious interest from companies weighing expansions in the region.

The bigger advantage may be the people. Military and civilian personnel leaving Tinker and the FAA are often mid-career, with the technical training and security clearances that defense contractors otherwise spend months hunting for.

"A lot of times you'll be exiting the military, 20 years under your belt, and … what a great employee you'll be for … those 338 plus establishments in the ecosystem," Gillenwater said.

The pipeline starts well before that. K–12 schools, CareerTech centers and universities all run aviation and aerospace programs, and many workers add hands-on experience at Tinker before moving into private industry.

"Our workforce punches well above … what you might think because of … that experience that they've had throughout their career," she said.

KIHOMAC told us much the same thing. The veteran-owned defense contractor is expanding near Tinker largely to be close to its Air Force customers and the talent around the base. Read our KIHOMAC story here.

The Chamber also convenes state, local and federal officials around Tinker's needs. Gillenwater said the value is being able "to just put everyone in a room, whether it's state legislative changes that are needed, whether it's … talent pipeline initiatives that need to be tweaked."

Life sciences is the part of the story Gillenwater thinks outsiders miss.

"Sometimes in the middle of the country … people will kind of box in thinking, you know, okay, sure, energy, or maybe they've heard about us from aerospace and aviation, but I think life sciences, biotech is something different," she said.

The foundation is research. The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has been working in the city for decades. In April, OU introduced Project 200, a plan to recruit about 200 researchers over five years in health, extreme weather, national security and defense, and energy. Gillenwater said about 150 of them will work in health fields including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's. OU projects the program could bring in nearly $100 million a year in new federal research funding by 2032 and support more than 2,000 jobs over the following decade, though those are projections, not results.

Then came Harold Hamm. On Sept. 22, the Continental Resources founder committed $150 million to OU, the largest single gift in the university's history. Of that, $50 million goes to the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and $100 million to the Oklahoma City Health Campus, which now carries his name.

It's a clean example of the region's old economy paying for its new one. Hamm made his fortune in oil.

Life sciences is also a long game. Labs don't automatically turn into companies, and commercializing research takes capital, lab space and experienced management that the region will still have to build. Gillenwater said companies in the sector want to be near universities and research, and "we're starting to see … companies come to market in a stronger sense."

Diversifying never meant leaving oil and gas behind. Gillenwater called the sector "a really strong suit" for the region and said energy job postings in Oklahoma City have grown quickly over the past year. She pointed to Flywheel as one company expanding in the market.

Asked what holds the region back, Gillenwater went straight to how outsiders see it.

"There's a misconception about our economy, misconception about the depth of diversity of our industrial base, also a misconception around the … depth of our workforce," she said.

Her second concern is keeping workers current as AI and automation change jobs. Through Talent OKC, the Chamber is trying to get K–12 schools, CareerTech and higher education on what she called "the same worksheet" as employers, so workers are ready for "sustainable jobs for them and their family of today, but also of tomorrow."

Gillenwater said 70% to 80% of the region's job and capital investment announcements in a typical year come from companies that are already there and want to grow.

"If your existing companies don't want to expand, you really … have some challenges," she said. "But that has not been a problem for us."

Beyond the industry clusters, her pitch rests on cost of doing business and geography. Oklahoma City sits on the Interstate 35 corridor between San Antonio and Kansas City, which she described as the fastest-growing corridor in the country by population and GDP.

In 2028, Oklahoma City will host Olympic softball and canoe slalom as part of the Los Angeles Games, using existing venues. Gillenwater sees it as a shot at the perception problem in front of a global audience.

"The global stage will be … coming to Oklahoma City," she said. Her hope is that visitors leave understanding "our secret sauce, which really is our people."