Michael “Keawe” Anderson is the director of advocacy for Nakupuna Companies, where he has served since 2018.

Anderson advocates for the economic advancement of the Native Hawaiian community, developing and executing plans to advance federal contracting policies and legislation that will optimize the Nakupuna Companies’ and Nakupuna Foundation’s growth and efficacy. This includes presenting opportunities for Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs) to increase shared understanding of government contracting opportunities and regulations in order to offer better products and services to NHO clients and communities. Anderson also fosters business development relationships that strengthen the Nakupuna Companies’ pipeline of opportunities and expand their ability to provide services to a growing array of customers.

Anderson served in the U.S. Air Force for 28 years, retiring as a colonel with three command tours, 3,000 flight hours, and extensive experience in the Secretary of the Air Force Legislative Liaison Directorate. Following his retirement, he served as chief of staff to the U.S. representative from Alaska, and then transitioned into the private sector via Chugach Alaska Corporation. There, he was responsible for business development in the Washington, D.C., region and was appointed director of government relations. Prior to Nakupuna, he was the first Native Hawaiian to serve as the Native American Contractors Association executive director. Anderson advocated nationally for Native contracting as an economic development tool and advised Native-owned businesses on small business policy, regulations, and compliance.

Anderson earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Northern Colorado, a master’s degree in strategic military studies from Air University, and a master’s certificate in government contracts from George Washington University. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Jacqui Baldwin-LeClair is a policy analyst for CICD at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. She graduated from the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana with a Juris Doctorate, a Master of Public Administration, and a certificate in federal Indian law. In 2022, Baldwin-LeClair and her partner earned the “2nd Overall Team Advocates” distinction during the Native American Law School Association moot court competition. 

Prior to law school, Baldwin-LeClair served as a disaster program specialist with the American Red Cross of Montana and Idaho helping local communities, tribes, and government officials prepare, respond to, and recover from disasters. She is passionate about the intersection of community-driven policy and law.

Jeremy Berg joined Seven Generations Architecture + Engineering in 2014, serving as both president and managing director, before being promoted to president and chief operations officer of Bodwé, the professional services group of Mno-Bmadsen, the non-gaming business enterprise of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. In this role, he provides strategic leadership for the company, providing and managing long-range goals and policies.

He has been instrumental in expanding the company’s expertise to deliver projects to federal clients, amassing almost $125 million in contracts across multiple agencies. A variety of project types have included planning and design, facility condition assessments, demolition assessments, hazmat assessments, remediation projects, building systems upgrades, and repair and renovation projects.

Berg has decades of experience as an architect and design leader. Before serving in company leadership roles, he was an active leader in all phases of architecture, including master planning, schematic design, design development, construction documents, and construction administration. He has experience leading multi-discipline teams in new construction and renovation. In addition, he has worked as an architectural medical subject matter expert on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Berg earned a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in professional studies in architecture from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, certified with the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ), and is a certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction (LEED AP BD+C).

Jackson S. Brossy is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation with several years’ experience in management, federal advocacy, nonprofits, and private consulting. Having grown up on the Navajo Nation, he knows firsthand the need for access to capital for Native entrepreneurs and has devoted much of his professional life to advancing opportunities for Native American economic development. In his role as assistant administrator for the Office of Native American Affairs at the U.S. Small Business Administration, Brossy provides senior executive oversight, management, and leadership, and is a champion of Native American entrepreneurship.

Brossy previously served as the executive director for both the Native CDFI Network—a 501(c)(3) advocacy group—and the intergovernmental Navajo Nation Washington Office. Brossy has also worked for the National Congress of American Indians and specialized in economic development policy.

An advocate of access to capital and technical assistance for Native entrepreneurs, Brossy serves on the boards of Prosperity Now and Change Labs.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, where he studied economics, statistics, and public policy. He earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he studied business and government policy.

Katherine Carlton is of Inupiat descent from the Bering Strait region, but was born in Cordova, Alaska, and is a shareholder of Chugach Alaska Corporation. Carlton is president and general manager of the education and training business line for Chugach, where she is passionate about the development of young people through her role as business leader in the Department of Labor Job Corps program. She serves on the Operators and Advisors Committee for the National Job Corps Association, as co-chair of the Native American Contractors Association, and as the district board member of the Selective Service System for the State of Alaska.

Carlton holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Alaska and a graduate certificate in Alaska Native executive leadership from the Alaska Pacific University, and she is a recent graduate of the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School.

Carlton and her husband have four beautiful children and live in Eagle River, Alaska.

Chris James is president and CEO of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, the largest Native American economic development organization in the country. Prior to joining the National Center in 2017, James was a Senior Executive Service appointee and associate administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). He was closely involved in White House and interagency coordination with the SBA and had a hand in implementing all SBA programs and services nationwide, including those focused on the Native American community.

James’ first job in the Obama Administration was at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he served as an associate program manager focused on Native American Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). His entry into tribal economic development was as associate director and senior loan officer for the Sequoyah Fund, a Native American CDFI and an enterprise of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

James has a Master of Entrepreneurship from Western Carolina University and a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Casey Lozar is a vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and director of CICD, a research and policy institute that works to advance the economic self-determination and prosperity of Native nations and Indigenous communities. Before assuming leadership of CICD, he was assistant vice president/outreach executive in the Bank’s department of Public Affairs, and the leader of our Helena Branch.

Prior to joining the Minneapolis Fed in 2018, Lozar served in economic development and higher education roles for the State of Montana. Additionally, he held executive leadership positions in national Native American nonprofits, including the American Indian College Fund and the Notah Begay III Foundation.

He received degrees from Dartmouth College and Harvard University and an MBA from the University of Colorado-Denver. He serves on the Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education (past chair).

Lozar is the 2021 recipient of the Janet L. Yellen Award for Excellence in Community Development and a 2022 recipient of the Honorary Leadership Award from the Native American Finance Officers Association.

A Montana native, he was raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation and is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Born and raised in Omak, Wash., Chad Marchand is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and history and his master’s degree in public administration from the University of Arizona, and his master’s in professional studies in applied intelligence with a concentration in homeland security. Marchand is now a Ph.D. student at St. John’s University pursuing a degree in homeland security.

He joined the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in August 2022 and serves as senior outreach manager for tribal and Indigenous communities. He also currently holds the role of chairman of the Colville Tribal Gaming Commission. He previously served as vice president of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development and interim executive director of Native Edge Finance, Inc.

Marchand was the recipient of the Arizona Daily Star 40 Under 40 Award in 2009, the Omicron Delta Kappa Community Service Recognition Award in 2011, the Children and Family Services Champions for Children and Families Award in 2011, the University of Arizona Outstanding Young Alumni Volunteer Award in 2011, and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development Native American 40 Under 40 Award in 2016.

Elijah S. Moreno is a senior research assistant in Community Development and Engagement at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, where he conducts research and analyses to support the work of CICD. Before joining the Bank, Moreno was a research assistant at Education Northwest, where he focused on American Indian and Alaska Native education projects.

He is enrolled in the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation and received a bachelor’s in economics from Dartmouth College. In fall 2023, Moreno will begin a doctorate program at Cornell University’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.

A member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Lillian Sparks Robinson is the interim director of the Native American Contractors Association. She has worked in Washington, D.C., for nearly 20 years, devoting her career to supporting the educational pursuits of Native American students, protecting the rights of Indigenous people, and empowering tribal communities.

In 2010 Sparks Robinson was appointed by President Obama, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to serve as the Commissioner for the Administration for Native Americans (ANA). In that role she worked on programs and policies impacting Native languages and education, social development, and economic development for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

Prior to her service at ANA, Sparks Robinson served as the executive director of the National Indian Education Association, where she worked extensively on education policy and appropriations impacting American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students.

A former staff attorney at the National Congress of American Indians, Sparks Robinson has received numerous awards and recognition, including being recognized as one of seven young Native American leaders by USA Today Magazine, honored as one of “40 Under 40” by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, and named American Indian Woman of the Year.

Alene Tchourumoff, senior vice president of Community Development and CICD, leads the Bank’s engagement with communities throughout the Ninth District to promote economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income people and those living in Indian Country. Key focus areas include early childhood development and affordable housing.

Prior to joining the Bank in December 2018, Tchourumoff served as chair of Minnesota’s Metropolitan Council, where she built strong partnerships with local governments and community groups to advance transit, housing, and other critical infrastructure. Previously, she served as Minnesota’s first state rail director, led Hennepin County Public Works’ Planning Department, and worked extensively in China and Southeast Asia on public policy and public health initiatives—including combating HIV/AIDS in China and Vietnam.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Washington University School of Business and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Tchourumoff was named a 2020 Women in Business honoree by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal and is a member of the Minnesota State Attorney General’s task force dedicated to improving women’s economic security.