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//ABOUT/STAFF/BIOGRAPHIES |
Saturday
5/17/2008 7:03:16 PM |
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Mike Roberts (Tlingit) 
President
Mike Roberts is the President of First Nations Development Institute. Mike is of the Tlingit Nation: Gooch/Ch'aak' naa (Wolf/Eagle Tribe), Kóon Hít (Flicker House), Kooyu Kwáan (Kuiu Island People). His Tlingit name is T'eix Sháach Tsín.
First Nations, headquartered in Longmont, Colorado with offices in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is working to restore Native control and culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets they own - be they land, human potential, cultural heritage, or natural resources - and to establish new assets for ensuring the long-term vitality of Native communities. First Nations does its work through a three-pronged strategy of educating grassroots practitioners, advocating systematic change, and capitalizing Indian communities.
As President, Mike is responsible for First Nations’ overall vision and coordination for First Nations’ programmatic, administrative, and grantmaking strategies. Mike also serves as the lead spokesman for communicating information about First Nations’ projects, programs and models throughout Indian country and the philanthropic community.
Prior to returning to First Nations in 2002, Mike spent five years in private equity; most recently he operated his own consulting firm, Camus Consulting in Denver, Colorado where he provided private equity investment advice to high-worth, angel investors. Mike’s private equity experience includes providing 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 more than $340 million under management.
Mike also spent two years with Kansas City Equity Partners (KCEP), a highly respected Midwest venture capital firm with an emphasis in early-stage investing in information technology and specialty retail, as well as later stage investing in manufacturing businesses. Mike’s tenure with KCEP was in conjunction with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's Fellows Program. Concurrent with his role at KCEP, Mike participated in this highly selective program designed to build skills for investing in and managing high potential early stage companies.
Prior to becoming a Kauffman Fellow, Mike was Chief Operating Officer of First Nations Development Institute where he directed the organization’s day-to-day operations, finance and personnel activities, as well as developed policies for and directed investment of the organization’s endowment. In addition to his administrative and finance duties, Mike coordinated the organization’s research and policy administration functions, and provided technical assistance to tribes and community groups on issues of business, financial and investment management, economic development and policy formation.
Mike currently is a member of First Nations’ board of directors, is a founding board member and Chairman of First Nations Oweesta Corporation, and serves on the grants review committee of First Nations’ Eagle Staff Fund.
Mike also serves on the Advisory Council of the Center for Native American Public Radio (CNAPR), is on the National Advisory Committee for the National Center for Family Philanthropy, as well as on an Advisory Committee for the Lakota Fund, Indian Country’s first community development financial institution. In addition, Mike is a past board member and treasurer of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO).
Mike background includes serving in the accounting and finance departments for various for-profit subsidiaries of Alaska Native corporations, and for local IRA councils.
Mike has taught a graduate business course on venture capital at the MBA program of the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri Kansas City, and an undergraduate business course on entrepreneurship at Haskell Indian Nations University.
Mike has an MBA from the University of Washington with an emphasis in finance and operations management and a Bachelor’s of Environmental Design Degree in Architecture from the University of Colorado.
[First Nations' Vision]
[Potlatch Remarks]
[ONABEN Remarks]
[What's In A Name?]
Sarah EchoHawk Vermillion, M.N.M. (Pawnee)
Acting Vice President - Grantmaking & Development
Sarah joined the First Nations team in March of 2007 as the Director of Development & Communications. In the development aspect of her position, Sarah is responsible for the direction and management of fundraising, grant writing, database administration, prospect management and planned giving. From the communications aspect of her position, she is responsible for developing and maintaining public and media relations and communications that promote First Nations and its mission. Prior to joining First Nations, Sarah worked for the American Indian College Fund (the Fund) in Denver, Colorado. The Fund’s primary mission is to raise support for the nation’s thirty-two (Native American) tribal colleges. During her five cumulative years with the Fund, Sarah served in many areas within the organization including program management, communications, foundation relations and individual giving. Over the last three years, Sarah has also served as an adjunct professor of Native American studies at Metro State College and served as the interim Director of the Native American Studies program for the fall 2006 semester. Additionally, Sarah has worked as an independent consultant offering training seminars and services to American Indian and nonprofit organizations since 2003. As a consultant, she focused primarily in the areas of organizational development, board management and fundraising. Sarah holds a Master of Nonprofit Management (M.N.M.) from Regis University and earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Native American Studies from Metro State College. She also attended law school at the University of Colorado and has most recently been pursuing another graduate degree in applied communication at the University of Denver. Sarah is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and resides in Longmont, Colorado with her husband Brian and their three children.
Alice Botkin
Development Assistant
Jerilyn DeCoteau (Turtle Mountain Chippewa)
Director of Policy
Jerilyn is the Director of Policy (hired August 1, 2007). She will lead First Nation’s policy and advocacy work at the tribal, state and federal levels developing policy, with emphasis on articulating a strategy for asset building in Indian Country.
Jerilyn has more than 25 years of experience working with Indian tribes as a lawyer and an educator. As a lawyer, she has held positions as clerk for the Federal District Court in Portland Oregon, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund for nearly 10 years, trial attorney in the Indian Resources Section at the U.S. Department of Justice for more than 4 years, Director of the Indian Law Clinic at the University of Colorado for 2 years and counsel to her tribe for 2 years. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Denver law school where she teaches Indian law related courses. She is also an appellate judge for the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court. Before law school Jerilyn was academic dean at the Turtle Mountain Community College where she worked for 6 years.
Jerilyn has litigated and negotiated a breadth of issues concerning to tribal sovereignty and tribal government, including water rights, a land claim, treaty fishing rights, taxation, sovereign immunity and education matters. Her work has addressed tribal infrastructure, including policy and code development and serving as day to day legal counsel to her tribe.
Jerilyn has experience with reservation citizens on a grass root level as well. She was elected to the all Indian public school board for the Turtle Mountain Community School, one of the largest Indian schools, where she developed and wrote a school philosophy, which the board adopted. More recently, she assisted a grass roots committee which mounted a year long effort to revise the Tribe’s constitution to provide accountability and stability to tribal government. She represented them in tribal court and documented their efforts in a template, which is available through the Turtle Mountain Community College.
Jerilyn’s other publications include legal essays on the access of urban Indians’ access to health care, and the effects of development and the Endangered Species Act on Indian Water Rights, and analyses of Supreme Court cases on tribal tax authority and tribal criminal jurisdiction.
Jerilyn also conducts anti-racism training as a volunteer for the grassroots organization Reading to End Racism, which operates in the Boulder Valley School District.
Jerilyn holds a B. A. ed. in English from Mayville State University in North Dakota, a M.A. in Educational Counseling from the University of North Dakota and J.D. from the University of Oregon.
Sarah Dewees
Director of Research
As Director of the Native Assets Research Center, Sarah Dewees is responsible for the coordination of all research and evaluation activities at First Nations in order to further our understanding of asset-based community development in Native American communities. Sarah joined the staff in 2002 from a position as a research project manager at the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She worked previously at the Rural Policy Research Institute on issues related to rural development and welfare reform. She has worked in both applied and academic research settings and has conducted research on a range of issues including rural community economic development, rural education, rural transportation, local economic development policy, and welfare reform. Her publications have appeared in the Journal of the Community Development Society and Sociological Practice, and she has taught at the University of Kentucky and Towson University. Sarah received her Ph.D. in Rural Sociology from the University of Kentucky in 1998, an M.A. in Sociology from Ohio University in 1992, and a B.A. in Government from Oberlin College in 1990.
Tina M. Farrenkopf, J.D. (Passamaquoddy)
Program Officer-Grant Making
She serves as a Grants Officer with First Nations Development Institute. Prior to joining the First Nations, Tina was the associate director for the National Tribal Justice Resource Center, a training and technical assistance provider for tribal justice systems, located in Boulder, CO. She has over 25 years of experience working with various tribes and tribal organizations in a number of different areas. In the past, she has been employed as a tribal court administrator and clerk of courts, a planner and economic developer, a health planner, a legal analyst, a Job Training and Partnership Act program director, and a grant writer. She continues to serve as a grant reviewer for a number of federal programs. She is a licensed attorney in the State of Maine and with several tribal courts. Tina also has an MBA from the University Of Maine at Orono and a BA from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.
Raymond Foxworth (Navajo)
Research Officer
Raymond serves as the Research Officer for the First Nations’ policy department. As Research Officer, he participates in a range of research projects involving Native asset valuation, including Indian land, financial assets, and natural resources. Raymond’s primary responsibilities include conducting field research and the gathering and analyses of primary and secondary data from interviews, surveys, statistical sources, academic research and other resources. His duties also involve the management and administration of research related convenings, meetings, focus groups, and other events. Prior to joining First Nations, Raymond served as a Project Officer for the American Indian College Fund (the Fund) in Denver, Colorado. At the Fund, Raymond was responsible for the implementation and management of project grants, totaling over $19 million dollars, which supported the nation’s thirty-two tribally controlled colleges and universities. Raymond holds a B.A. in political science and plans to enter a doctoral program in political science at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the fall of 2008. His personal, professional and academic interest surround the study of colonization as it relates to contemporary political and economic development of Native nations. Raymond is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, originally from Tuba City, Arizona.
Helen Knoll
Finance Officer
Helen Knoll joined First Nations as Finance Director in March 2005. She is responsible for all internal and external financial reporting, including periodic reports on grants, monthly reports to management, annual consolidated financial statements and special reports and analyses as needed. Helen coordinates preparation of the organization’s budget and annual audit. She manages accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, employee benefits, banking and all related functions.
During her 12 years in CPA firms she specialized in services to exempt organizations, including audits of financial statements, audits of organizations receiving Federal funds and preparation of annual reports and applications for exemption for not-for-profits.
Upon relocating to Colorado in 1997 she joined Resource Data International, a provider of economic information to the energy industry. As Controller she adapted the financial systems and procedures to accommodate three acquisitions and a tripling of revenues in a two-year period. In 2001 she became Controller of Family Tree, Inc., a community-based not-for-profit, where she implemented systems and procedures to better track grant-related spending.
Helen received her MBA in Accountancy from Golden Gate University, San Francisco in 1984. She was licensed as a CPA in New York in 1979 and in Colorado in 1997. She is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Colorado Society of CPAs.
Marissa Nuvayestewa (Hopi, Tewa)
Program Officer - Strengthening Native American Philanthropy
Marissa received her Master degree in Social Work with emphasis in Social and Economic Development in Native American communities in 2005. She is currently holds the position of a research officer under the Strengthening Native American Philanthropy with First Nations Development Institute. She has previous experience in assisting with the development of an earned-income strategy for a non-profit organization located on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, utilizing social entrepreneurship strategies, community assessments, and research. In addition, she also has gained extensive knowledge in regards to Native asset building initiatives on a national scale while coordinating collaborating efforts, research, and evaluation of asset convenings co- sponsored by the Center for Social Development and First Nations Development Institute. She also worked for the Hopi Tribal Social Services as a case manager which has exposed her to the needs specific to the relevance of promoting social and economic development.
Desirae Sarabia
FNDI’s Finance and Administrative Assistant
General Office Administration
Desirae Sarabia has joined us in dual roles as FNDI’s Finance and Administrative Assistant. She is responsible for various duties in basic Accounting procedures, Payroll, Benefits, Human Resources, as well as in General Office Administration.
Desirae comes to us with a background in Accounting and is currently a junior at Metro State College of Denver working on her BA in Chicano Studies and Social Work with a focus on the Preservation of Family. Cultural Studies has given her an appreciation of history in addition to respect for the sacred traditions of our ancestors. She possesses the aspiration to promote cultural awareness by advocating a change of perception attainable through education and practice.
While keeping close ties with family, Desirae is also an active member in her community. She has passionately been able to commit her time and skills to various charitable organizations. It is through volunteering that she has learned to recognize the value of “the individual”. She is devoted to the empowerment of others and through her quest for knowledge, is determined to share her light to all those in need.
Laura Smith
Office Manager
Laura received her Bachelor Of Arts In General Studies with an Area of Concentration in Social Sciences from the University of Louisiana – Shreveport in 1992. She brings to First Nations a very diverse professional background including Long Term Care, Customer Service Associate for a major auto insurance company, and program planning and management in a higher education institution.
Montoya A. Whiteman, (Cheyenne-Arapaho)
Associate Director of Training & Technical Assistance
Montoya Whiteman is the Associate Director of Training and Technical Assistance at FNDI. Montoya has worked in the nonprofit sector for over 10 years, with responsibility for various aspects of communications, resource development, event planning, board development, database management, and external affairs.
She will provide technical services to over 70 FNDI grantees in organizational and community development, program planning, and leadership development as well designing, coordinating, and facilitating conferences and classroom learning. She will coordinate First Nations Leadership Entrepreneurial Apprenticeship Development Program.
Before joining FNDI, she served in the Westminster Police Department Administration managing an $8.4 million budget. Prior to this she served as the Development and Public Relations Administrator at the Native American Rights Fund.
She is enrolled with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. She is a member of the Native American Journalists Association, National Notary Association, and the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She has been a participant in the Americans for Indian Opportunity Ambassador’s Program, a Sequoyah Fellow of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and a past chair of the Gill Foundation’s Community Funding Panel.
Ms. Whiteman is completing a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with emphasis in human resource management at Regis University. She is a graduate of the Central New Mexico Community College and Pima Medical Institute.
Whiteman is a freelance journalist for the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribal Tribune. She is serving her second year as a board member and treasurer of the Denver Indian Family Resource Center. She resides in Arvada, Colorado.
Andrea D. Wieland
Communications Specialist
Andrea D. Wieland, has a Masters of Science in Counseling from California State University, as well, she has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado in Psychology and Women’s Studies. A native of Colorado, and Boulder, she grew up in a dedicated community to social justice and has her self always been an advocate for human rights. Her last two jobs were with Aims Community College where she was the Director of Activity I for a Title Five Grant (for Latino providing institutions) for retention of students. Her other job was working as the Coordinator of Tutoring and Mentoring for a TRiO grant for first generation, low-income and students with disabilities. Occasionally she also was an adjunct professor teaching Psychology courses to students primarily in Career Development. As a Career Counselor and Marketing Coordinator at the University of Northern Colorado she was in charge of the creative side of marketing the services to the students which included marketing items, flyers, posters, brochures etc. Currently she serves on the Colorado Career Development Board of Colorado as their web-master. She has also held roles as the Northern Connections Chair, and Treasurer before taking on her role in developing and managing the website for the organization. Andrea and her husband and their dog live in Greeley Colorado.
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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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