NCAIED: A Message from Our President – October 2018

Oct 10, 2018

We are preparing for our upcoming 10th Anniversary 40 under 40 celebration, which will take place in conjunction with our next Native Edge Institute at the River Spirit Resort Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma from October 29-30. Over two days, we will both honor past and current Native American 40 under 40 award winners, and provide programming designed by 40 under 40 winners in order to cultivate Indian Country’s future leaders. Our Native Edge Institute Oklahoma will focus on procurement, providing attendees with the latest developments and hands-on training in both federal and small business programs. We’ll cap off the celebration with the 40 under 40 award gala on the evening of Tuesday, October 30th.

There is still time to register for the entire two days, or for individual events. We also have hotel rooms available at the River Spirit. Please click here for our registration page. If you’d like to be a sponsor, please click here. And of course, if you haven’t seen it already, we’ve released our 2018 class of Native American 40 under 40 winners – a truly impressive group of young leaders from across the United States.

While preparing for events at the end of the month, I still found time to share my experiences – and the potential opportunities in – in Indian Country at the Permanens Capital 4th Annual Investment Committee Symposium, which took place earlier this month in New York City. Joining me on the panel were Vince Logan, Senior Advisor at Permanens Capital and the former Special Trustee for American Indians at the Department of the Interior, and Carla Fredericks, the Director of the American Indian Law Clinic and American Indian Law Program at the University of Colorado School of Law.

Vince spoke about his experience from the investment industry side as it relates to tribal committees and boards, while Carla presented a discussion about how she views investments from her position as Chair for a tribal endowment, including her perspectives on the investment industry and best practices for tribal committees and boards. Spreading their message to a broader audience is particularly valuable in encouraging additional investment in Native American and Alaska Native communities.

And, just last weekend, the National Center was received the Nonprofit Partner Service Award from the American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES) during AISES’s national conference in Oklahoma City. The award is a symbol of AISES’s appreciation for the National Centers’ hard work and contributions to the mission of AISES. Fostering partnerships across our community is an important goal of the National Center; such a recognition from AISES is testament to this commitment and its benefit to our community.

I hope to see you in Oklahoma at the end of October!

Sincerely,

Chris James

NT4