President
First Nations Development Institute
Tlingit (enrolled member of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska)
e-mail: mroberts@firstnations.org

Mike Roberts is the President of First Nations Development Institute. Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, with offices in Fredericksburg, Virginia, First Nations 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 as a board member for Native Americans in Philanthropy, is 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.

Ms. Smith is an enrolled Shinnecock, and an attorney, educator, dispute resolution professional (consulting on policies and procedures and serving as a mediator and arbitrator in various types of community, family and workplace disputes), and an advocate for health and justice, especially in the areas of racial/ethnic & gender bias prevention and intervention, and economic and environmental justice. Marguerite maintains her residence on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation on Eastern Long Island, New York, and has been instrumental in advancing various Native rights, economic development, cultural preservation and health promotion efforts of her Native Nation and others. She maintains a law practice based in Suffolk County.

She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the First Nations Development Institute since the mid-1980's and serves as one of its representatives on the Board of First Nations Oweesta Corporation. In addition to work on tribal recognition and resource rights, and supporting health care and Indian family wellness (including ICWA administration and Family Violence controls) and economic development on her reservation, she is active also in other community groups on and off reservation, including SAMP (the Shinnecock Substance Abuse Mobilization Project), Self-Development of People (a grant-making activity of the Long Island Presbytery), the South Fork Community Health Initiative, and is, in 2006, President of the Board of Directors for her county's cooperative extension service, the Cornell University Cooperative Extension Association of Suffolk County. She tries to save time to be a good daughter, sister, wife, "stepmom and grandma", and to many, "auntie"!

EDUCATIONAL/Licensing Particulars: Smith College, B.A. 1969 major Economics New York University School of Law J.D. 1974 Admitted to Practice as a member of the New York State Bar since 1975 and also admitted to practice before several Federal courts.

Native American Bank, N.A
President and CEO
999 18th Street, Denver, CO, 80202
303-988-2727

Mr. Colbert is a Chickasaw/Creek from Oklahoma and has a long and extensive background in banking and Indian finance issues. He is the founder of the North American Native Bankers Association (“NANBA”) and serves as its chairman. Mr. Colbert’s special expertise is as the Chief Executive Officer and Director of independent, community banks. His expertise covers asset quality, bank investments, interest rate risk management, Community Reinvestment Act, bank holding company issues, marketing and tribal/minority banking opportunities. Mr. Colbert has been a speaker on banking issues at conferences sponsored by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Oklahoma Bankers Association, the American Bankers Association and numerous Indian economic development conferences.

Mr. Colbert began his banking career as a bank examiner for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Mr. Colbert has served as a bank president of Bank 2, a community bank owned by a group of individual Indians in eastern Oklahoma, and was also a commercial lending officer for Bank of Oklahoma, the largest bank in Oklahoma. He was head of the credit programs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington DC., and has also served as tribal administrator for a 25,000-member tribe in Oklahoma as well as a board member and chief operating officer of a tribally owned bank. Mr. Colbert received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management and marketing from the University of Oklahoma and earned a Master’s degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University. He also holds the Series 7, 63 and 65 licenses from the National Association of Securities Dealers.

As Executive Director of the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation, Ms. Coker has raised over $7 million dollars to address the lack of access to capital and business development services within Indian Country.

Under Ms. Cokers’ direction the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation has made over $5 million in loans to Native American entrepreneurs which has created over 198 jobs in Indian Country in a timeframe of 3 years.

In October of 2006 the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation led by Kristi Coker received the High Honors Award from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government – Honoring Contributions in the Governance of American Indian Nations Program. Also in October of 2006, Ms. Coker accepted the Circle of Honor Award on behalf of the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation at the first ever Native CDFI Award Ceremony hosted by Oweesta and Opportunity Finance Network.

Ms. Coker has over 10 years of extensive economic and community development experience. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science – Municipal Management from the University of Central Oklahoma and obtained Advance Professional Certification from the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma.