DRS Expands Commission, Adds New Commissioners

Oklahoma City—Four open seats on the commission overseeing the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services have now been filled, bringing the total number of commissioners to seven.   

Noel Tyler, Lance Robertson, Lindsay Hanna and Kevin Wallace joined existing commissioners Theresa Flannery of Mustang, Kelsey Lee of Davis and Janet Barresi of Edmond in serving on the board.

“We are pleased and honored our new commissioners share our core mission of empowering Oklahomans with disabilities, helping them find employment and become self-sufficient,” DRS Executive Director Melinda Fruendt said. “Employment has the power to transform lives, families and entire communities. At DRS, we are proud of the work being done across the agency and remain deeply committed to helping Oklahomans with disabilities achieve independence, purpose and success. We are fortunate to have a dedicated team of commissioners overseeing our efforts.”

Tyler, of Newalla, is a retired executive leader with a distinguished career in public service and health care. Tyler served in the U.S. Air Force before relocating to Oklahoma in 1980. She spent two decades in the medical field before joining DRS in 2000. She served in senior leadership roles, including as the agency’s executive director, until her retirement in 2018.

Tyler was a member of a Leadership Oklahoma class and has received multiple state and federal leadership awards for her community and public service. She was raised in Canton, Ohio, and is an alumnus of John Carroll University and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma.

Robertson, of Edmond, has extensive experience working with programs and services supporting the nation’s most vulnerable and marginalized populations. He was the former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging, and administrator of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living from 2017 to 2021. ACL represents 140 million older adults and people with disabilities through the administration of three dozen programs and a budget of $5 billion dollars.

Robertson served from 2007 to 2017 as Oklahoma’s director of aging services, serving under two governors. That state agency oversees various programs including the Older Americans Act and the ADvantage Waiver - the state’s largest Medicaid waiver serving 20,000 older adults and individuals with physical disabilities.

Robertson has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Central Oklahoma and is a U.S. Army veteran.

Wallace is a former member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, elected for District 32 in 2014. He finished his tenure in the House as the Appropriations and Budget Committee Chair in 2024, and then started Executive Strategy Consultants, a government relations firm.

Wallace also co-founded several businesses and continues to serve as a manager at SWT Construction. He owns Wallahachie, a real estate holding company and a whitetail deer and cattle breeding operation.

Wallace is a Wellston native, and a 1993 graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma.

Hanna, of Edmond, has spent more than two decades advancing health-care operations, clinical innovation and patient experience. She previously served as chief operating officer of Hearts for Hearing, a statewide nonprofit organization that empowers individuals through life-changing hearing health to listen for a lifetime.

Hanna directed major organizational initiatives including the implementation and optimization of a new electronic medical record system, expansion of clinics in Norman and Tulsa, creation of a patient experience manager role, and development of PowerBI dashboards that drive data-informed decision making. She was also instrumental in launching the organization’s Newborn Hearing Screening program and strengthening statewide partnerships enhancing access to care.

Hanna earned both her Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders and her Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

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