Executive Vice President
(Pawnee)

Sarah is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. She joined First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) in 2007 as the Director of Development & Communications. Today, she is the organization’s Executive Vice President and is primarily responsible for the direction and management of grantmaking, communications and development.

Prior to joining First Nations, Sarah was an independent consultant offering training seminars and services to American Indian and nonprofit organizations. As a consultant, she focused primarily in the areas of organizational development, board management and fundraising. From 1997 through 2003, Sarah worked for the American Indian College Fund raising support for tribal colleges. During her tenure with that organization, she served in many areas, including program management, communications, foundation relations and individual giving.

Since 2004, Sarah has served as an adjunct professor of Native American Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver (formerly Metropolitan State College of Denver) and served as the interim Director of the Native American Studies program for the fall 2006 semester. Today, she still finds time to teach at least one class each semester as she believes it is imperative that mainstream Americans have at least a basic understanding of contemporary tribal nations. She primarily teaches "Introduction to Native American Studies" but has also taught "Native American Politics" and "Native Americans & the Law" – a course she co-taught with her father, John Echohawk. In general, all of the classes focus on the historical development of the nation-to-nation relationship between tribal nations and the United States, with special attention paid to instilling in students an understanding of contemporary Indian nations and the importance of tribal sovereignty.

Sarah holds a Master of Nonprofit Management (M.N.M.) degree from Regis University and earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Native American Studies from Metropolitan State College of Denver. She attended law school at the University of Colorado and has completed graduate coursework in applied communication at the University of Denver.