BOARD MEMBERS

Members of the Public  Employees Relations Board are appointed by the Governor under Oklahoma Statutes 51-101 et seq., specifically 51-104. No confirmation by the legislature is  required, neither are there statutory qualifications. Members serve a five-year  term, or the remainder of an unexpired five-year term.

Craig  W. Hoster, Chair
Appointed to Board August 1999, to serve until June 1, 2004   Appointed as Chair October 2000. Re-appointed to the Board to serve until July 1, 2009.

Mr. Hoster has a BBA and a JD from the University of Oklahoma. He is a member of the Order of the  Coif and Phi Delta Phi and was an Editor of the Oklahoma Law Review, 1971 ¿ 1973. He was admitted to the bar in 1973.

He is a member of the American Inns of Court (Master Emeritus, Hudson-Hall-Wheaton Chapter), Tulsa County, Oklahoma and American Bar associations. He serves on the board of directors of the Tulsa County Bar Association and the Tulsa County Bar Foundation.

Mr. Hoster is a shareholder and director of Crowe & Dunlevy in Tulsa, and focuses his practice in the areas of business and commercial litigation and employment law.

He is married with two adult children.

Larry W. Gooch, Member
Appointed to Board October 2000, to serve until July 1, 2005. Re-appointed to the Board to serve until July 1, 2010.

Mr. Gooch has an Associates Degree from Oklahoma State University in   Municipal Fire Protection, and a Bachelor of Arts from Central State University, where he majored in Psychology with minors in Sociology and Biology.

He was employed for twenty-seven years with the Del City Fire Department,  retiring as a Fire Captain, and served as a State Representative for the IAFF  from 1989 ¿ 2000; as President of the Professional Fire Fighters of  Oklahoma for six years, and as Business Agent for AFSCME # 2406 in Oklahoma City.

Mr. Gooch is President Emeritus of the Professional  Fire Fighters of Oklahoma AFL-CIO/CLC.

Linda Samuel-Jaha, Member
Appointed to Board July 18, 2003 to serve until June 30, 2007. Re-appointed to the Board to serve until July 1, 2012.

Linda Samuel-Jaha is a 1992 graduate of Oklahoma City University, School of Law.  Samuel-Jaha served as an Assistant Attorney for the State of Oklahoma, Litigation Section from 1993 until March 2003.  Linda is presently in private practice.  Her primary areas of practice are domestic, employment, personal injury and workers' compensation law. 

Linda is licensed to practice before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of Oklahoma and the State of Oklahoma.  She is an active member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Oklahoma County Bar Association and the American Bar Association.  Linda is married and has two sons.

Past Members