Robert Singletary

Robert (“Rob”) Singletary is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”), the administrative agency with primary responsible for protecting human health and the environment in the State of Oklahoma. As Executive Director, Rob oversees the general administration of the agency, as well as the development, communication, and implementation of agency policy. The agency has an annual budget of over $220M (FY2025), and is comprised of almost 600 dedicated public servants that implement over 82 different programs. Rob has previously served as: Deputy Executive Director, Chief of Staff, and General Counsel of the DEQ; General Counsel of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board; Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Protection Unit at the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General; Environmental Attorney for the U.S. Army Environmental Command; and in private practice focusing on environmental and natural resource issues at Crowe Dunlevy in Oklahoma City and at a boutique law firm in Cheyenne, Wyoming. While serving as General Counsel at the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Rob represented the agency in the mediation process that led to a historic Tribal Water Settlement with the Chickasaw Nation and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Rob graduated with a B.B.A. in Management from Texas A&M University and graduated, with honor, from the University of Tulsa College of Law, earning certificates in both Public Policy and Resource, Energy, and Environmental Law. While in law school, Rob served as Editor-in-Chief of the ENERGY LAW JOURNAL and was selected to the National Order of Barristers. Rob currently serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL OF STATES (“ECOS”), and serves as Chair of the ECOS Budget & Management Committee and Vice Chair of the ECOS Land & Materials Committee. Rob is a Past Commissioner on the Arkansas River Interstate Compact Commission (Arkansas-Oklahoma), Past Chairperson of the Environmental Law Section of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Past Member of the Advisory Board for the University of Tulsa College of Law’s Sustainable Energy and Resource Law Program, and has served as an Adjunct Professor for the University of Tulsa College of Law (co-teaching Environmental Law courses) and as a guest lecturer at both the Oklahoma City University School of Law and the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Rob also co-authored a portion of the most recent update to the Environmental Law Institutes’ publication entitled “LAW OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (Environmental Law Series)” and is a Fellow of the AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYERS.