PRESS RELEASE
Contact:  Heidi Davis, (605) 342-3770; heidi@oweesta.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oweesta Names New CEO to Lead Next Decade of Service to Native Communities

August 3, 2009, Rapid City, SD//  As its ten year anniversary of Native community development and asset building rapidly approaches, First Nations Oweesta Corporation (Oweesta) is looking to the future with a new Chief Executive Officer at the helm, Tracey Fischer.

Fischer, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, is an attorney and previously served as Oweesta’s director of the Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Development Department, providing training and technical assistance to Native communities.  Fischer obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1999.  She also has a B.S. in business administration and accounting.  Fisher takes the helm from Elsie Meeks, who stepped down as CEO of Oweesta to become the USDA Director of Rural Development for South Dakota.  Fischer has acted as interim CEO since Meeks stepped down and officially takes the helm on August 1, 2009.

“It is an honor to accept this position with Oweesta. I stand firmly behind our mission to help build strong Native institutions and programs and promote economic sovereignty in Native communities. I believe that my legal and financial background will assist me in leading the organization into its second decade of service to Native people,” Fischer said.

Fisher also noted how grateful she was to continue on the path struck by Meeks. “Elsie’s dedication and enthusiasm for empowering tribes through economic and community development was an inspiration and we will continue to grow and expand the work that she began.”

Prior to law school Fischer worked as a lender for Norwest Bank (now Wells Fargo) and as an auditor for the South Dakota Department of Labor.  She has also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law on Indian Country economic development and at Oglala Lakota College in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, on tribal governance issues.  In addition to her legal and Native economic development work, Fischer also served as the Executive Director of the South Dakota Equal Justice Commission, which was created by the South Dakota Supreme Court to identify and address the disparate treatment of minorities in the South Dakota Judicial System. 

Fischer’s legal background includes experience representing tribal corporations and tribal governments on such issues as legal and physical infrastructure development, financial and real estate transactions, and tribal/state relations.  She worked with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and other Northern Plains tribes.  She also serves as of-counsel with the law firm of Fredericks, Peebles, and Morgan, L.L.P., a national Indian law firm based in Omaha, Nebraska.

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About Oweesta
Oweesta (http://www.oweesta.org) is a certified Native CDFI intermediary, providing Native communities with loans, investments, technical assistance, training and community development information.  Its mission is to provide opportunities for Native people to develop assets and create wealth by assisting in the establishment
of strong, permanent institutions and programs, leading to economic independence and strengthening sovereignty for all Native communities.