G.T. Bynum currently serves as the Vice President for Community & Government Affairs in the Saint Francis Health System. G.T. served on the Tulsa City Council (2008-2016) and as Mayor of Tulsa (2016-2024). As mayor, G.T. guided Tulsa through its greatest public health crisis and major natural disasters while never losing an election, for office or in support of public improvements.
He led the physical transformation of Tulsa – Zink Lake, Gilcrease Museum, the Gathering Place, and other major public projects – while fostering a historic boom in private sector investment ranging from Amazon to American Airlines. As mayor, G.T. recruited the two largest new employers in Tulsa history while outpacing the state and nation in job growth. He initiated the search for unmarked graves of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims, created the Tulsa Police Real Time Information Center, and paved more miles of road than any mayor in Tulsa history.
Because of his leadership and vision for Tulsa, Mayor Bynum was selected for the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative in 2018 and was presented the International Cities of Service Engaged Cities Award. His TED Talk on replacing partisanship with policy has been viewed nearly one million times by people all around the world.
Mayor Bynum’s leadership has been featured on 60 Minutes, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Meet the Press Daily, the Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and all major national news networks. Before leaving office, he was named by Governing Magazine as Public Official of the Year for 2024.
Bynum is a proud graduate of two institutions operated by the Augustinian Order of the Catholic Church: Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa and Villanova University, where he served as Student Body President. He earned the Eagle Scout rank from the Boy Scouts of America while in high school.
G.T. is married to Susan Bynum, Vice President of the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa. They are the proud parents of Robert and Annabel – the sixth generation of Bynums to call Tulsa home.
G.T. began making news in Tulsa on the day he was born, as the Tulsa World reported with a headline: “Mayor Gets a Grandson.” He was the fourth member of his family to serve Tulsa as mayor, following his great-great-grandfather Robert Newton Bynum, his grandfather Robert LaFortune, and his cousin Bill LaFortune.
