Jill Van Horne is the owner and managing partner of Optek Solutions, an IT solutions and consulting firm located in Columbus, OH. Her Cherokee heritage is a proud and defining part of her identity with family lineage tracing back to her great-great-grandfather, George “Buckskin” Waters, born in 1824 in the Skin Bayou District of the Cherokee Nation. A respected leader and council member at the time of Oklahoma statehood, he served as interpreter during Joe Mayes’ term as Chief, assisting full-blood Cherokee with business dealings and community matters. Selected by Chief Rogers to serve as vice chief, George Waters was also a skilled blacksmith, operating his shop in Vian, OK with supplies arriving via steamboat along the Arkansas River. Jill’s connection to her Cherokee roots continued through her mother, who worked as a social worker for the Cherokee Nation in the 1990s, moving from Missouri to be closer to the Nation and their family’s heritage.

Jill was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma and spent much of her childhood summers in Tulsa and Tahlequah with family. She went on to earn her Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri–Rolla and her Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Jill began her career as a design engineer at IBM in Rochester, Minnesota, where she worked on the AS/400 banking computer platform with a focus on VLSI semiconductor clock tree design and signal integrity analysis. Her career then took her to the Dallas–Fort Worth area, where she served as a field applications engineer for National Semiconductor, supporting wireless, military, and telecommunications markets across a four-state territory. Later, as a sales engineer for TMI, Inc., she specialized in both analog and digital components, contributing to advancements in fiber technologies. In 2013, after relocating to Ohio to raise her three children, Jill and her husband created Optek Solutions, providing IT consulting services in Ohio, while also operating a restaurant for several years.​
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At Optek Solutions, Jill’s leadership reflects a mission rooted in both innovation and heritage: to deliver innovative, secure, and sustainable technology solutions that empower our clients and uplift our communities — guided by Cherokee values of stewardship, trust, and a commitment to the generations to come. This mission drives every engagement, ensuring that each project not only meets technical objectives but also supports a vision for long-term community and client success.