Jim Priest
Jim Priest is the Executive Director of FATE and brings to the position thirty years of experience in the legal, business and non profit sectors.
Jim is a licensed attorney who practiced law with two leading law firms in Oklahoma City, trying nearly one hundred lawsuits and advising public and private clients as well as corporate organizations and individuals on a wide variety of legal matters. He wrote a column on business ethics for many years in the Journal Record newspaper and was a weekly columnist for the Oklahoman newspaper for ten years writing on family related issues. He has also been a regular guest commentator on News 9 in Oklahoma City.
Jim has a long history of service through the non profit sector, having served as President of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma as well as a board member for Habitat for Humanity, the Boy Scouts, Variety Health Center, The Bethany Public School Foundation, Calm Waters as well as Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene.
Jim is an active member of Bethany First Church of the Nazarene where he leads men’s groups and teaches Sunday School. He is a co-founder of Marriage Network Oklahoma (www.marriagenetworkok.net) and was a founding member of the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium (www.okethics.org). He has regularly appeared on television and before groups speaking and writing a wide variety of topics. Jim is also a member of Leadership Oklahoma and Leadership Oklahoma City.
“Like many Oklahomans, I had a general awareness that our state faced a problem with drugs, but in talking with law enforcement and district attorneys across the state I have come to a much deeper understanding about the scope and impact of the problem we face with both alcohol and other substances”, says Priest. “Alcohol and drugs take a terrible toll on individuals and families but also economically cripples our state in many ways. In talking with law enforcement across the state I have learned that approximately 80% of the crime in Oklahoma is either directly or indirectly related to substance abuse. Underage drinking alone costs our state over $900 million per year. It causes our prisons to be overcrowded, rips families apart and hurts our businesses and our economy. I decided to try to do something about it through FATE.”
Jim has been married to his wife Diane for 33 years and they have two adult children Amanda and Spencer. Jim was born in Syracuse, New York and graduated from Houghton College and Syracuse University Law School before moving to Oklahoma in 1980.
Reggie Whitten
Reggie Whitten is a successful Oklahoma attorney and founder of FATE (Fighting Addiction Through Education). FATE is an Oklahoma non-profit organization with a mission to educate the public on substance abuse and addiction issues in Oklahoma and to motivate individuals and groups to work to significantly reduce the incidence of substance abuse in the state. A special focus of FATE is preventing substance abuse among young people.
FATE was created to honor the memory of Reggie’s son Brandon, an “all-American” kid and football player who became addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol. When Brandon died at age 25 in a motorcycle accident caused by substance abuse, Whitten was devastated. “I was a walking dead man,” he explained. “I was just trying to find a reason to live.” Giving back to the community and trying to make a difference in the lives of others became his passion.
Central to the mission of FATE is reducing drug and alcohol abuse among young people like Brandon who often consider themselves “bullet proof” and don’t believe they can ever become an addict. “I think the worst problem this country has is drug and alcohol addiction,” Whitten said. “If we had an act of terrorism that killed as many people, we would be quick to launch a war against our enemy. When we formed FATE, we asked ourselves ‘How can we prevent drug and alcohol abuse?’”
Whitten travels around the state on behalf of FATE speaking to groups about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse – telling and re-telling the story of his son’s too-short life and untimely death. “I intend to devote the rest of my life to helping end substance abuse and addiction,” he said. “I want to motivate and inspire other people to do something. I hope those who see what we’re doing will catch the vision and the passion. Not everyone can make a huge impact, but everyone can be a role model and encourage others to get help.”
