Brett grew up in nearby Miami, OK, and graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1991 with a Hotel Restaurant Administration Degree. After graduating, Brett worked in many different areas of the hospitality industry including Club Management in the United States Air Force. He was also General Manager of Miami Country Club. Brett’s Hotel Management career has taken him to Cheyenne, WY, Tulsa, OK, and Miami, OK, and he has worked for all the major hotel chains such as IHG (Holiday Inn), Marriott, and Hilton. Brett also served as Hotel Director at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, OK. Since Brett grew up in northeast Oklahoma, he is very familiar with Shangri-La and its history and will always consider this to be his dream job.
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Dana Able
Shangri-La’s Director of Sales Dana Able is a native of nearby Welch, Oklahoma. After graduating from Welch High School and Oklahoma State University, Dana moved to the Washington, D.C area, where she worked briefly for real estate development/investment giant Trammell Crow Company. After a year, she joined Bell Atlantic Telephone in a joint venture project with GTE. Dana’s career spanned 26 years from Bell Atlantic through multiple acquisitions which resulted in what is now known as Verizon. During her tenure, Dana held multiple titles and was asked to relocate a few times to facilitate start up organizations, acquisitions or corporate re-organizations. Dana had responsibility for leading top producing sales organizations while in her role as Area Vice President of Enterprise Sales in the Pennsylvania/New York market before retiring in February 2014 as Area Vice President, Regional Strategy and Development for the northern region of the United States.
She returned home to Grand Lake in March, 2014 and spent a couple of years enjoying relaxation and well-deserved time with many members of her family who live in the area. With the development of Shangri-La’s new resort hotel well underway, Dana joined the Shangri-La team as Director of Sales in October, 2016. She lives in the nearby “Vintage” community on the shores of Grand Lake.
Brent Beyers
Brent Beyers is a Grand Lake area native and Ketchum High School alum. If it breaks, cracks, stops up, burns out, or just doesn’t work properly, the calls go to Brent. He and his staff take care of all resort facilities.
Brent comes to Shangri-La from Buffalo Run Casino and Resort in Miami, Oklahoma where he served as Director of Maintenance/Engineering. He has also worked in the Joplin, Missouri area as Maintenance Specialist responsible for daily supervision and maintenance of all Freeman Hospital buildings.
Brent has a variety of certifications including Hunter Irrigation Specialist Certification, certifications for pool & spa operations, fire containment certification, OSHA safety certification – he is even certified as a Personal Trainer.
Sarah Roper
Sarah joined the Shangri-La team as the Director of People & Culture in February 2024. Originally from the NW Arkansas area, Sarah moved to Jay in 2012 with her husband and son. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas in 2019 and her Professional Human Resources certification in 2021.
Sarah worked for Tyson Foods for 16 years, starting as an Accounting Manager before transitioning to HR. She spearheaded UKG Dimensions integrations across 17 sites, impacting over 30K team members. Sarah was the HR Business Partner for 33 locations where she was responsible for aligning site policy and operations, prioritizing retention efforts, and long-term planning. She has a passion for payroll, spreadsheets, and crafting analytics dashboards.
In her down time Sarah likes to spend time with her family and friends, attend NASCAR races, and vacation somewhere with a beach and beautiful sunsets.
Michael Williams
Mike Williams is both a longtime Grand Laker, a Shangri-La historical authority, and a recognized advertising, communications, public relations, and government relations expert. He has a broad base of radio, television, and newspaper experience, having served during his career as Assistant News Director for KTOK Radio and the Oklahoma Radio News Network, Managing Editor of KWTV News 9 in Oklahoma City, and Managing Editor of The Chronicle of Grand Lake.
Mike and his wife, Cari, owned an advertising, public relations, government relations, and political consulting firm in Oklahoma City for many years before moving to Grand Lake full-time in 1993. Mike and Cari were Grand Lake enthusiasts long before moving to the lake full-time. They have owned boats and weekend Grand Lake residences since the 1970s and were members of the original Shangri-La Resort.
Mike supervises all communications, public relations, and government relations efforts for the entire Shangri-La operation. He serves as Vice-President of the Oklahoma Marinas Association. He serves on the Board of Directors for that association, the Lake O’ The Cherokees Watershed Association, the South Grand Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Grove Area Chamber of Commerce, where he has also served as Chairman.
In 2022, Mike was honored as “Grand Laker of the Year.”
Mike and Cari live in the midst of Shangri-La Golf Club’s course in Vista Tower. They are well-known Monkey Islanders, having raised their four grown children, all graduates of Grove High School on the Island.