State Policy Network is pleased to announce that Jonathan Small, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, is this year’s recipient of the Thomas A. Roe Award, which will be presented at our 33rd Annual Meeting in New Orleans on August 27, 2025.
The Roe Award is an honor bestowed upon those leaders whose achievements have greatly advanced the cause of liberty in their state and beyond. It acknowledges leaders who have built strong teams and durable organizations committed to improving lives in their communities through public policy. The award recognizes those who have innovated, sacrificed, and remained courageous in the face of opposition. The award is an extension of SPN’s founder, Thomas Roe, whose hard work, dedication, and resilience helped build the powerhouse 50-state Network we see today.
Big things are happening in Oklahoma thanks to the efforts of the OCPA team under Jonathan’s leadership.
Jonathan’s peers often describe him as a “secret weapon”—an understated leader who gets extraordinary things done. His influence now shapes who runs for office, what issues gain traction, and how the public thinks about freedom in Oklahoma. His work has made OCPA a model for strategic, long-term policy transformation.
“Jonathan has become a transformative leader because of his vision and grit in bringing real reforms to Oklahoma,” said SPN President and CEO Tracie Sharp. “The Durable Freedom Infrastructure he’s helped develop and deploy isn’t just reshaping the state’s policy landscape—it’s creating a scalable blueprint that’s catching the attention of reform-minded leaders nationwide.”
Under his leadership, OCPA has become the most trusted policy voice in Oklahoma, influencing everything from judicial accountability to universal education freedom. He has grown OCPA into a multi-pronged powerhouse that includes a think tank, litigation, advocacy, investigative journalism, and a leadership academy—the popular Fears Fellowship. This “durable freedom infrastructure” has transformed the policy landscape in Oklahoma and inspired similar efforts in other states.
Among his most notable achievements is the historic 2024 removal of a sitting Oklahoma Supreme Court justice—an unprecedented act of long-needed judicial reform in the state. He and his team drove more than 50,000 miles across the state meeting with Oklahomans and reaching them with their message. With a judicial scorecard, public outreach, and campaign coordination through OCPA and People for Opportunity, Small educated voters and mobilized them to hold judges accountable who had legislated from the bench rather than interpreted the law.
OCPA’s years of persistence also led to universal education freedom in Oklahoma in 2023. After years of obstruction, Jonathan and his team strategically targeted lawmakers blocking school choice and cleared a path for reform. The same approach yielded success in literacy reform, tax policy, and direct primary care.
Their success has not come without its challenges. Small stood firm when special interests attempted to sue and bankrupt OCPA for political retaliation. He and his team have been subjected to character attacks and threats, yet through it all, both Jonathan and his team have remained steadfast in their commitment to their mission.
“One of the challenges Jonathan faces in a place like Oklahoma is when there seems to be political ideology that is shared commonly, unlike other states, it actually can be a challenge because it means you have friends who can all of a sudden become an enemy and you can have enemies that suddenly become friends,” said Lawson Bader, SPN’s board chairman. “That requires somebody to be committed, passionate, kind, with a sense of humility and a spine of steel to deal with the arrows that come unexpectedly. And Jonathan has done that graciously and with great passion.”
Jonathan’s leadership is equally rooted in character. A devoted father of five daughters, his commitment to family runs through everything he does. His faith and humility ground him, and his quiet resilience has earned the respect of peers across the movement. He listens more than he speaks, but when he does, it is with clarity and conviction.
“I want to say to my daughters that you can chart a path for yourself and have just as much opportunity to do that here than any other state,” said Jonathan. “That’s why we do what we do, and that’s why I am deeply honored to receive the Thomas Roe Award. It’s for them, above all else.”
“Jonathan’s ability to get back up and go forward has inspired this whole Network,” said Lynn Harsh, Leadership and Federalism Fellow at SPN.
For his vision, courage, and impact, we are proud to present Jonathan Small with the Roe Award.