Jennifer Gilbertson
Jennifer Gilbertson
Office Manager
Jennifer is the Office Manager for CMA Strategies. In this role, Jennifer coordinates all aspects of a wide range of resources/projects for CMA and staff. Her strong communication and service skills enhance CMA Strategies’ process-driven management philosophy.
​​Jennifer has over 15+ years executive administrative and management experience. Before joining the CMA Strategies team, Jennifer worked closely with a managing partner of a commercial real estate development firm, helping oversee the completion of nine multi-million-dollar commercial projects.
Jennifer is a Texas native but after 13+ years of moving, she’s excited to call Oklahoma home. Jennifer received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma. She’s also a proud retired military wife and Sooner mom. Boomer!
Matt Ball
Partner
Matt Ball
Matt Ball
Partner
Matt Ball wins. Whether at the ballot box or a vote in the Capitol, Matt uses his interpersonal relationships, strategic mindset, and more than 15 years of experience building coalitions to win for CMA clients.
Given Matt’s athletic background at the NCAA D-1 level, it did not take long for him to harness his success as a team-player and competitor and bring it to the political arena. Matt helped lead the grassroots effort of Tom Coburn’s landmark 2004 US Senate victory and later served as a key member of Coburn’s U.S. Senate staff. Matt continued to hone his political acumen and winning record managing campaigns for key legislative leaders in Oklahoma and has organized and overseen hundreds of thousands of dollars in non-coordinated independent expenditure campaigns.
After serving as State Director of Americans for Prosperity in Oklahoma, Matt Ball joined CMA in November 2013 and undertook a new role as lobbyist and Director of Corporate Affairs. He now serves as Senior Director of Government Relations and Political Affairs. While Matt returns to his campaign roots in election season, he is a standout lobbyist and influential voice at the state Capitol who shows members of both parties how CMA clients’ interests align with the interest of the state and their own constituents.
Ball holds a master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Central Oklahoma, a graduate certificate in International Affairs (Intelligence Studies) from the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University in Political Science.
Raising three children in Edmond with his wife Audra, a physician’s assistant at a local family practice clinic, Matt is always on his toes and ready for the unexpected.
Matt Ball is prepared to advocate for your team and is ready to help you win.
Pat McFerron
Pat McFerron
Founding Partner
Insight. Execution. Efficiency. Those are three words used to describe CMA founding partner Pat McFerron. McFerron brings more than 30 years of election, grassroots, lobbying, and voter opinion research experience to help CMA clients win both at the ballot box and in the legislature.​
McFerron cut his campaign teeth in the once reliably Democratic parts of Oklahoma. He was intricately involved, either directly, through the state party, or through an independent expenditure, in every Republican takeover in the Oklahoma State House and State Senate from 1994 through 2008, when both chambers became Republican controlled for the first time in state history. This net change of more than 50 legislative seats has helped usher in a new era of leadership in Oklahoma, and McFerron remains at the forefront. ​
In addition to being CMA’s point person on messaging and strategic planning, McFerron serves as President of Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates, a nationally recognized survey research company that has worked in more than 40 states. ​All totaled, McFerron has worked with multiple Presidential campaigns, including that of Donald Trump, as well as more than 80 successful U.S. Senate, gubernatorial, and congressional campaigns, over 150 winning legislative races, and more than a dozen statewide or major city mayor victories.
In addition, he has been involved in 83 triumphant local ballot initiatives and more than 20 successful state ballot questions and constitutional amendments.​
A William Randolph Hearst Scholar who graduated summa cum laude from Oklahoma City University and attended graduate school at The American University, McFerron has two adult children and has been married to Sharon, a nationally certified teacher, for 27 years.
Sharon Caldwell
Sharon Caldwell
Founding Partner
Sharon Caldwell has always been a change agent. A positive force in politics since 1980, Sharon Hargrave Caldwell has earned respect from both sides of the political aisle, as well as the business community, for her successful efforts to bring about fundamental change.
Caldwell started her political career helping a then unknown State Senator become a U.S. Senator helping usher in the Reagan revolution. Her brief time working on his staff in D.C. revealed her passion was better suited for the fast-paced world of elections rather than bureaucracy. After returning to Oklahoma, Sharon managed a congressional campaign and helped reform and modernize the Republican Party of Oklahoma.
When Caldwell began her work as Political Director of the Oklahoma Republican Party, only 46 of 149 Oklahoma legislative seats were Republican. Today, that number stands at 115. It can be argued that nobody pushed harder for Republican control of the Oklahoma legislature than did Caldwell.
In 1989, Sharon Hargrave Caldwell joined with Tom Cole and Deby Snodgrass to launch Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates, the state’s first successful Republican consulting firm. It did not take long for Sharon to make her impact. By 1994, she had helped lead that firm to be named one of the top 20 Republican consulting firms in the nation by Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill. To this day, Caldwell remains the managing partner of the firm which continues its national presence and has been instrumental in changing not only the state, but the country. CHS and Association is the only polling firm used by President Trump as he secured the Republican nomination for President.
Caldwell has also been a key part of Oklahoma’s City’s nationally acclaimed renaissance. Not only did she work in support of the original 1993 MAPS program, but she has served as the lead consultant on more than a dozen additional central Oklahoma initiatives including the “Big League City” campaign which helped bring the NBA to OKC, MAPS for Kids, and MAPS 3.
CMA clients from political campaigns to advocacy organizations to legislative lobbying clients all benefit from Caldwell’s experience and drive. With Caldwell on the team, there is no time for idling – it is about making change happen. This is one reason Caldwell was recently named to Campaigns & Elections’ “Influencers 500” list as one of the Top 10 Influencers from Oklahoma.
A graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma, Sharon also changed the life of former State Representative Tony Caldwell, her husband with whom she has two children.
Sumer Curry
Sumer Curry
Manager of Gov't Relations
Virtually everyone in Oklahoma State Government knows Sumer Curry. And they like her. Known for her mentoring of young people coming into government, Curry’s personal relationships span state agencies in a remarkable manner.
Curry has more than a decade of experience working in the executive branch at the Oklahoma State Capitol where she has most recently worked as a Senior Administration Officer for Governor J. Kevin Stitt for five years. In this role, Curry engaged in the gubernatorial appointment process for hundreds of boards and commissions, was responsible for reviewing legislation, executive orders, and proclamations, as well as regularly interacting with cabinet officials on issues related to permanent and emergency rules. Of course, her experience and abilities also had Governor Stitt utilizing her expertise on a wide variety of issues ranging as far as being the state’s Extradition Coordinator and the governor’s involvement in the business roundtable.
Curry was one of the few to transition to Stitt’s office from that to the previous administration of Governor Mary Fallin. During her time in the Fallin administration, Curry filled multiple roles, including Deputy Chief of Staff. Earlier in her career she served 3 years in the Oklahoma Office of the Lieutenant Governor and spent time on House staff. She has spent substantive time working in constituent services, administrative rule procedure, and the Oklahoma legislative process.
Sumer lives in Oklahoma City with her husband of 28 years, Scott, and together they have four grown children, and a grandson, Lane.