Behind the scenes, the former Tulsa Community College Board of Regents member Sam Combs III likes the kind of work most students never notice.
“If we’re doing our job right,” he said during a recent interview with the TCC Connection, “you feel our impact, but you don’t necessarily see us.”
Over nine years as a member of the Board of Regents, Combs helped steer decisions that shape daily campus life – renovations students walk through, security systems that protect them, and the “nuts and bolts” investments that make learning possible.
Combs joined the governing body for TCC operations in 2016, and in his last year of service, he was Board chair. He also became a familiar voice at milestone moments, including the 2019 grand openings of the new chemistry and biology labs at TCC Metro Campus and the Student Success and Career Center at the Southeast Campus.
But Combs believes the story of his service extends well beyond ribbon cuttings. For him, buildings are not “just buildings.” They are part of a strategy: create spaces that invite students in, support community, and make it easier to stay, study, and finish.
Asked about his proudest initiative at TCC, Combs pointed first to the board’s facilities work. Early in his tenure, he was assigned to the Facilities Committee and later became its chair.
He advocated expanding the committee’s focus – renaming it to emphasize safety and security alongside facilities – because in today’s environment, a college cannot separate student success from student well-being. In his view, a campus should feel welcoming at noon or at night. Students should be able to focus on learning without worrying about whether the environment is secure.
That philosophy showed major renovations and upgrades across multiple campuses. At Southeast, TCC’s most heavily used campus, Combs described a push to modernize and refresh.
Specifically, projects were not only cosmetic but intentionally designed to strengthen belonging and daily student life. From there, the board also took a closer look at the needs of TCC West Campus.
He saw a need for newer additions, but with less traffic – asking strategic questions about “use cases,” program offerings, and how to better utilize a valuable campus asset.
COVID-19, he said, created a second major chapter. Like many colleges, TCC received federal relief resources, and Combs said the board treated that moment as a rare chance to accelerate projects that are often delayed for years – deferred maintenance, upgraded ventilation and air-handling capacity, expanded camera systems, and modernized door-lock and access mechanisms.
The work was often “not sexy,” he joked, but it mattered: better air quality, safer facilities, and fewer maintenance risks over time.
His second standout initiative was not bricks-and-mortar, but student outcomes.
Combs highlighted the board’s adoption of the Pathways initiative, a national student-success approach supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In his opinion, facilities and security create the environment, but Pathways is the “main course”—using clearer program maps, advising structures, and data-driven tools to help students complete credentials on time and move forward, whether into the workforce or a four-year university.
The focus on access also shaped a newer investment that Combs and his family hope will remove one more barrier: the Sam and Rita Combs Family Scholarship.
According to the scholarship listing, the award is designed for students from rural communities outside Tulsa County pursuing majors in business, computer information systems, cybersecurity, engineering, environmental science, or veterinary technology. The scholarship will help with tuition, fees, and cost-of-living expenses.
In the interview, Combs emphasized that scholarships are about more than dollars. They send a message of belief – proof that someone is willing to invest in a student’s future.
Combs’ approach to leadership is rooted in a long career outside higher education. He is president and CEO of COMSTAR Advisors, LLC, and previously held senior leadership roles at ONEOK, Inc., where he led its natural gas distribution segment and help lay the groundwork for ONE Gas, Inc. after earlier management roles with AT&T and the former Southwestern Bell Telephone Company…”.
He also serves in civic and business leadership roles, including First Fidelity Bank, NA, the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, and the Tulsa Flyer news organization.
In 2024, Combs was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame through the Tulsa Historical Society & Museum. He mentioned it almost as an afterthought – another waypoint in a long journey defined more by purpose than applause.
When asked what he hopes young leaders carry forward, Combs returned to a simple theme: mission first. Be the kind of leader who does what is required to take care of people and accomplish the mission – especially when things get hard. And above all, he said, be courageous: “Go sometimes where others won’t necessarily go, and do sometimes what others won’t necessarily do.”
