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//ABOUT/BOARD |
Friday
5/9/2008 11:41:53 AM |
Board of Directors
First Nations has a seven-member board of directors, six of whom are Native American. The board recommends and appoints new members. The board is a cross-section representative of Indian Country, including different tribes, geographic areas, community and tribal leaders, and business and professional people. First Nations does not have an advisory board, but has advisory committees with Board participation, which provide input into different programs. The Executive Committee consists of the Chairman, President, Treasurer, Secretary and heads of the various Committees.
B. Thomas Vigil, Chairman of the Board of First Nations Development Institute, has extensive experience in economic development issues and twenty successful years in the business sector, particularly in the hotel and hospitality industry. To date, he has been an owner, a developer and a business consultant. He is acutely knowledgeable of what it takes to get a business started and how to make it successful in Native communities.
Mr. Vigil currently sits on numerous boards. For two terms he was the Chairman of the New Mexico Lodgers Association, is a member of the Association of Commerce & Industry of New Mexico and the Northern Arizona University School of Hotel and Restaurant Management. He is the Founder and past President of the Apache Indian Development, Inc. He served as the Governor for Region 1-5, Best Western International, Inc for five years. In addition, he was appointed to the New Mexico Economic Development and Tourism Commission and the Los Angeles County Overall Economic Development Committee.
Mr. Vigil has received numerous awards for his work at the federal level as well as throughout his business career. One prestigious award was presented by the US Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency “For Outstanding Success in Indian Business Community.”
Other experience includes: Policy Advisor to two Assistant Secretaries for Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of Interior; Staff member for President’s Reorganization Project, President Jimmy Carter, (OMB); Associate Commissioner for the Administration for Native Americans, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Coordinator of Planning, Office of the Mayor, City of Los Angeles, CA.
Chairman Vigil is a Jicarilla Apache/Jemez Pueblo.
Mike Roberts, Tlingit, is the President of First Nations Development Institute. Prior to his return to First Nations, Mike operated his own consulting firm, Camus Consulting in Denver, Colorado that provided private equity investment advice to angel investors. Mike’s past includes 5 years in venture capital. Most recently, Mike provided due diligence, financial analysis, strategic planning and monitoring, and investment recommendations to the Principals and Investment Directors of Meritage Private Equity Fund, a telecommunications-focused, private equity firm with $340 million under management. Mike currently serves on the grants review committee of First Nations’ Eagle Staff Fund, is an immediate past member of First Nations’ board of directors, and is a founding board member of First Nations Oweesta Corporation. In addition, Mike is a past board member and treasurer of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO). Mike has an MBA from the University of Washington and a Bachelor’s of Environmental Design Degree in Architecture from the University of Colorado.
Gelvin Stevenson, Treasurer of First Nations Board of Directors, is a Cherokee from Oklahoma. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. He is now a private consultant working in the area of socially responsible investments and financial management with tribes and others.
Siobhan Oppenheimer-Nicolau is the Secretary of First Nations' Board of Directors. She is the President of the Hispanic Policy Development Project, a New York-based national organization devoted to policy analysis of employment and education issues dealing with Hispanics in the United States. She serves as a consultant to corporations and foundations, and is a member of the Board of the Museum of the American Indian.
Marguerite Smith is a member of the Shinnecock Tribe of Long Island, New York and currently resides on her home reservation. She
is an attorney, admitted to the bar in New York State, an arbitrator and a consultant in dispute resolution with special interests in
human resources and Native American, multicultural, environmental and social justice issues.
W. Ron Allen is Tribal Chairman and Executive Director of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. As Tribal Chairman, Ron is responsible for representing the Tribe as the elected leader and for addressing political and policy issues and/or positions at the national, state and local levels. As the Executive Director, Ron is responsible for the administration of all the Tribe's programs including education, career development, social services, housing, health, economic development, natural resource management, and cultural/traditional affairs.
Donald G. Sampson, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, is the Executive Director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) located in northeastern Oregon. The CTUIR is the government of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Tribes — a confederation formed by Treaty in 1855. Prior to becoming CTUIR's top staff person, Mr. Sampson was Executive Director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission for 4 years and served as Watershed Manager at CRITFC for 2 years. Before joining the CRITFC staff, Mr. Sampson was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, an elected position he held from 1993 to 1997. He is an enrolled member of the CTUIR with Walla Walla tribal heritage.
Mr. Sampson graduated from the University of Idaho with a Bachelors degree in Fisheries Resource Management. He has held numerous advisory and elected board positions including the Earth Conservation Corps Board, Spirit of the Salmon Fund, Oregon Chapter of the American Leadership Forum, Bonneville Environmental Fund, American Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory Committee, and Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Chair. In 2002, the Ford Foundation named Mr. Sampson as a recipient of the Leadership for a Changing World award (2002-04), a program that recognizes up to 20 community leaders throughout the nation.
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We believe, that when armed with appropriate resources, Native peoples hold the capacity and ingenuity to ensure the sustainable economic, spiritual, and cultural well being of their communities.
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