The Center for Indian Country Development (CICD) based at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has welcomed four new members to its Leadership Council:

• Secretary/Treasurer Ashley Cornforth (Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community), Secretary/Treasurer, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
• Mike Lettig (Navajo Nation), Senior Managing Director, Group Head of Native American Financial Services, Huntington Bank
• Mary Scott (Osage, Pawnee), Tax Commissioner, Office of the Tax Commission, Muscogee Creek Nation
• Chairman Brian Weeden (Mashpee Wampanoag), Chairman, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe

CICD is a research and policy institute working to advance the economic self-determination and prosperity of Native nations and Indigenous communities through actionable data and research that inform public policy discussions.

“CICD Leadership Council members have their fingers on the pulse of economic conditions and opportunities across Indian Country,” said CICD Director Casey Lozar (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes). “Since our founding, they have contributed vital perspectives that ground our work in emerging levers for economic prosperity.”

Leadership Council members provide input into CICD’s research, data tools, and policy analysis by helping to uncover gaps in the knowledge base and identifying impediments to economic opportunity and growth in Native communities. Their perspectives inform CICD’s work to close Indian Country data gaps and build economic datasets that can empower Native peoples and communities to shape their economic futures. Over the past five years, CICD has developed a suite of data tools that provide high-quality data on a variety of socioeconomic indicators for Native communities and geographies.

In 2025, CICD announced the national launch of the Survey of Native Nations, a collaboration with tribal governments across the United States to equip tribes with high-quality public finance data to inform their economic decision-making. Leadership Council members and other tribal leaders provided input to ground the survey’s design in the principles of tribal data sovereignty.

Newly appointed Leadership Council members join an advisory group that reflects key representatives from national and regional Native organizations, tribal leadership, and tribal economic development and finance practitioners. Members are appointed by Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the Federal Reserve System, the nation’s central bank. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is responsible for the Ninth Federal Reserve District, which includes Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis participates in setting national monetary policy, supervises numerous banking organizations, and provides a variety of payments services to financial institutions and the U.S. government.