President
(Tlingit)

Michael E. Roberts has served as the president of First Nations Development Institute since 2006. Mr. Roberts 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.

As president, Mr. Roberts is responsible for First Nations' overall vision, coordination and communication of programmatic, administrative and grantmaking strategies. He 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.

Prior to First Nations, Mr. Roberts spent five years in private equity; most recently he operated his own consulting firm, Camus Consulting in Denver, Colorado. He provided private equity investment advice to high-worth, angel investors. Mr. Roberts' 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 private equity firm with more than $340 million under management.

Mr. Roberts also spent two years with Kansas City Equity Partners (KCEP), a highly respected mid-west venture capital firm. His tenure with KCEP was in conjunction with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's Fellows Program.

Mr. Roberts also serves as a board member for Native Americans in Philanthropy, the National Center for Family Philanthropy, as well the advisory committee for the Lakota Fund, Indian Country's first community development financial institution. He received his master of business administration 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.

Note: The compensation for the president of First Nations Development Institute is determined through a formal annual performance review process undertaken by the organization’s Board of Directors. If the president has been deemed successful in his/her performance, he/she is eligible for a 1% to 5% raise as determined by the Board based upon his/her performance for the prior year. To ensure the compensation provided to the president is fair and reasonable, the Board reviews, on an annual basis, the compensation levels for top executive positions at other similar nonprofit organizations. This information is compiled from Form 990s of like organizations.