CEO, Comanche Nation Entertainment
Mia Tahdooahnippah is CEO of Comanche Nation Entertainment. She is Comanche Nation Entertainment’s first female CEO and the only female CEO in all of Oklahoma gaming. She leads the company’s 750 team members in six casinos, a hotel, a travel plaza and multiple smoke shops throughout Southwest Oklahoma. A firm believer that hospitality is the cornerstone for success in the gaming industry, Mia brings her lifelong Comanche Nation values and history into the future of entertainment.
As CEO, Mia is responsible for overall operations at all Comanche Nation Entertainment properties. This includes creating and implementing the company’s first ever training and development program to create a service and purpose-oriented culture throughout the company.
She has worked with Comanche Nation Entertainment since 2014, first serving as Director of Training and Development, then moving to General Manager of Comanche Spur Casino in Elgin, OK. She assumed the role of CEO in 2019.
Prior to joining Comanche Nation Entertainment, Mia was the Comanche Nation Gaming Commission’s Compliance Director. Her work in gaming regulations has helped her develop her passion for hospitality, and her vision that gaming resources not only address immediate needs of tribal members but also the future of the community as a whole.
Mia works with the Comanche Nation and each property to regularly give back to their communities. She formalized the company’s giving initiatives to create the Comanche Cares program, with a purpose of providing support to the community in many ways. In the past two years alone, volunteers with Comanche Cares have distributed food, provided holiday gifts, paid for road improvements and invested in water supply systems throughout Southwest Oklahoma. The initiative has provided nearly $1.5 million in resources to Oklahoma communities and families.
Most recently, Mia has led Comanche Nation Entertainment through one of the most challenging times in its history. During the Coronavirus pandemic, she directed a complete evaluation of health and safety protocols at each property and invested more than $1 million in upgrades to improve air quality, social distancing and overall sanitization at each property. Through a temporary closure she ensured all 750 employees received their pay and benefits, provided food to employees and their families and completely remodeled operations at her properties. Through her leadership, operations have fully resumed with no additional closures and she continues strategize and implement new procedures due to virus related directives.
Mia has also been involved in federal funding initiatives in her community and has been the Johnson O’Malley chairperson for the Elgin School District in Oklahoma. She worked with parents and the school’s superintendent to incorporate and apply for the funding, which was a 3-5 year process. The school now receives $25,000 per year to provide students with school supplies, books, sporting equipment and music equipment and has been nationally recognized as having a model program.
Mia has been recognized many times for her leadership in the gaming industry. In 2015, she was recognized with a "Native American 40 Under 40" award from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED). In 2012, the National Indian Gaming Commission appointed her to its Tribal Advisory Committee to assist in the review of proposed federal gaming laws. In 2019, she received the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association’s Chairman’s Award for her contributions to the success of Indian Gaming.
Mia holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from the University of Oklahoma, and a master’s degree in Hospitality Administration from the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Mia is a member of the Comanche Nation. She is married with five children.
