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Native American Capital, LLC's managing directors are leaders in Indian Country economic development, finance, business management and entrepreneurship.
- Dr. Walter Hillabrant, Managing Director
Dr. Hillabrant is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma. He is a co-founder of NAC where he coordinates and networks among Federal economic development programs targeting Indian Country and tribal communities and works with tribal government contractors and other entrepreneurial businesses in order to expand and enhance NAC's deal flow from major tribal communities throughout the United States. He works closely with both tribal communities and Federal, state, and regional governments to create innovative business opportunities in Indian Country. Dr. Hillabrant has worked with tribes and tribal organizations and consortia on projects in such areas as business and economic development, welfare reform, health, and education.Dr. Hillabrant has worked with tribes and tribal organizations and consortia on projects in such areas as business and economic development, welfare reform, health, and education. Dr. Hillabrant received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California.
- Dr. Gavin Clarkson, Managing Director
Dr. Clarkson is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He manages NAC's investment banking operations. He is a leading authority on Indian business development and finance, as well as a specialist in information and data systems development and management. Dr. Clarkson has consulted, written, and published extensively on tribal sovereignty, tribal governance systems, tribal economic development, and was also a contributing author for the most recent edition Felix Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law, providing material on tribal finance, tribal corporations, economic development, and intellectual property.
Dr. Clarkson holds the Series 7, Series 24, and Series 66 Securities licenses from the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). He recently testified before the Senate Finance Committee regarding discriminatory impediments to tribal access of the capital markets, and he was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study tribal finance information systems.
In addition to his position at NAC, Dr. Clarkson is also an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. He also has simultaneous appointments at the Law School and in Native American Studies. Dr. Clarkson holds both a bachelor's degree and an MBA from Rice University, a doctorate from the Harvard Business School in Technology and Operations Management, and is a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School, where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and president of the Native American Law Student Association.
- Dr. Joseph L. Falkson, Senior Managing Director
Dr. Falkson is a co-founder of NAC, manages all aspects of its day-to-day operations, as well as its merchant banking program. He regularly works with tribes and tribal consortia on major, large-scale business ventures. For example, he established Native American Pharmaceuticals (NARx), with PharMerica as an investor and McKesson Corporation as a strategic partner. NARx served as the U.S. Indian Health Service's prime vendor for the IHS southwest region. Dr. Falkson also helped found – as an investor, fund raiser, and manager – four innovative health care technology companies. He served as a consultant to and board of directors' member of PharMerica, Inc., a billion-dollar, publicly traded, institutional prescription drug distributor, acquired by Bergen Brunswig Corporation in 1999. Dr. Falkson earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ; a Ph.D. in political science from The University of Michigan— Ann Arbor; and a B.A. in politics from Brandeis University.
- Marco Rubin, Managing Director
Mr. Rubin manages NAC's venture capital and private equity programs. He is a nationally recognized venture capitalist who previously founded and managed Monumental Venture Partners, LLC, a seed and early stage venture capital firm headquartered in Virginia. Entrepreneur Magazine named the business a Top 100 VC Firm in 2002 and 2003. Before forming MVP in 1999, Mr. Rubin launched and co-managed New Ventures, MCI's first venture capital unit, with a portfolio returning nearly 400 percent to the company. He has also served as a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc. Mr. Rubin began his career as an engineer at the Johnson Space Center Mission Operations Directorate. He holds a B.S. from the University of New Mexico and MBA from The George Washington University.
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NAC's National Advisory Board represents a cross-section of Native American financial and economic development leadership, as well as representation from the national capital markets.
- Ron Andrade, executive director of the Los Angeles City/County American Indian Commission and former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. Mr. Andrade serves as a key liaison with the network of American Indian national and regional consortia and economic development organizations.
- Patrick Borunda, one of the nation's leading American Indian business consultants and financial leaders. He is also founding managing director of The Pathfinder Fund, LLC, and principal of the Navigator Group, LLC, providing strategic management counsel to Fortune 500 firms in diverse industries including banking, energy, health care and high tech manufacturing. In nearly three decades of private sector work, he has consulted regarding startups, new market and new product development, operations enhancements, acquisitions and turn-arounds. His public sector work has included economic development advice to departments and policy bodies of federal, state, and more than thirty tribal governments.
Of Tarahumara and Mescalero descent, he is a nationally recognized expert on the interface between capital markets and the Native American community. He is a sought-after speaker regarding the issues at national professional meetings and has published several articles about developing business in Indian Country. He has provided technical assistance in the startup of 289 Indian-owned, reservation-based businesses and expansion of many more. Mr. Borunda served two terms as a director of the Portland Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco among his other civic contributions. He advises on NAC’s capitalization strategy and development planning. However, his principal role at NAC is ensuring access to Indian Country opportunities and ensuring appropriate due-diligence is performed.
Mr. Borunda earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a BA in International Affairs and Development Economics from Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR. He holds an officer's commission in the United States Army, Infantry (Airborne).
- Linda Capps, vice chair of Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma and plays a critical role in the Tribe’s economic development program. Ms. Capps has devoted her career to Native American economic development. In 1997, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) presented her with a SBA Minority Business Advocate of the Year award. An expert in education and labor force development, Ms. Capps assists in the selection and monitoring of investor projects, with a special focus on the development of job creation ladders.
- J. D. Colbert, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of OK, is an Economic Development/Banking and Finance consulting professional whose practice centers on working with federally recognized Indian tribes, tribal enterprises and native organizations. Mr. Colbert has over 30 years of experience in a variety of capacities in the banking and finance profession.
Prior to forming this consulting firm, Mr. Colbert served as President and CEO of Native American Bank, N.A. where he engineered a turn around and led the bank to profitability and more than doubled the bank’s total assets. In addition, in 2007, under his leadership, the bank’s financial condition was greatly improved to the point where the bank’s regulators lifted the Formal Agreement which had been in place since the bank’s formation in 2001.
Mr. Colbert was founder and Executive Vice President in charge of business development at Bank2 in Oklahoma, owned by the Chickasaw Nation. He is a founder of the North American Native Bankers Association ("NANBA") and serves as the association's President and Executive Director. 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.
During 2006, Mr. Colbert was appointed by the White House to the Community Development Advisory Board of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, a division of the U.S. Treasury. Mr. Colbert also serves on the board of directors of First Nations Oweesta Corporation; the National Advisory Board of Native American Capital, LP; the Denver Indian Family Resource Center; Oaks Indian Mission School and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society Foundation.
Mr. Colbert received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management and marketing from the University of Oklahoma and earned a Masters degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University and a Masters Degree in Organizational Development from Johns Hopkins University.
- Fredric C. Cooper, is president of Community Development Concepts Advisory Services. CDCAS is a consulting firm with offices in Silver Spring, MD and Seattle which focuses on building community assets, improving access to credit and investments for low-wealth communities, and building capacity among those who serve these communities. He is the former Deputy Director for Policy and Programs with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. He was responsible for the Fund’s award selections including the first round of the New Markets Tax Credits Program allocations. At the Fund he designed its capacity building programs including the Technical Assistance component of the CDFI Program, and the Native American training and financial assistance programs, and helped design its portfolio management system. He previously was with The Enterprise Foundation where he managed its technical assistance programming.
- Stephanie Turnbow Harmon, is president of Progress & Associates, and of Navajo and Cherokee heritage. Ms. Harmon is a business and strategy management consultant with hands on experience in emerging market program development, economic development, financial programs, community development and affordable and attainable housing initiatives. Her expertise and accomplishments include: providing direction and management of a $15 billion investment portfolio for Fannie Mae; identification of new lines of business resulting in more than $1.2 billion in new revenues for GMAC Mortgage; and financial program development for various entities throughout the United States. She has been a speaker on economic and community development issues at conferences sponsored by Native American Indian Housing Council and Neighborhood Reinvestment. Ms Harmon received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management and economics from the Georgian Court College and earned a Masters’ certificate degree in Urban and Economic Development Programs from New York University. She holds the first housing management certification given to a private business individual for Professional Housing Management, from the Department of Defense. Additionally, Ms Harmon served on HUD’s National Preparatory Committee for Best Practices during habitat II held in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996.
- Richard Lewis, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Commerce Funding Corporation, has been assisting government contractors; 8a, Native American, woman, veteran, and other minority owned and disadvantaged companies that require financial support. During the 1990's to 2002, Mr. Lewis was a CFO and/or consultant to numerous start up, fast growth, technology companies needing assistance in financing alternatives, strategic planning, marketing, and mergers and acquisitions. He initiated a "business plan only" IPO for his then company, Virtusonics Corporation, a software development company, in 1985, some 10 years ahead of the dot.com trend of the 1990's. After being awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree then a MBA in Finance and International Business from New York University's Stern School of Business, where he was a scholarship student, Mr. Lewis began his career in banking with A. J. Armstrong & Co. (ne: Bank of America Business Credit). He moved to The Chase Manhattan Bank, to start its leverage buyout activities in 1980, then to General Electric Capital Corporation to help start a financing vertical in the Retailer Financing Division.
- Lance Morgan, an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, and the founding president and chief executive officer of HoChunk, Inc., with 2007 revenues in excess of $140 million and over 500 employees. The company is a tribal conglomerate involved in developing as many non-gaming aspects of the Winnebago tribal economy as possible, including retail, hotels, construction, home building, technology, government contracting, Internet (Indianz.com and AllNative.com), and distribution. Ho-Chunk, Inc. subsidiaries include 5 of the top six largest minority owned companies in Nebraska. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Morgan is widely recognized as one of Indian Country’s leading American Indian entrepreneurs.
- Ricard Ohrstrom, Jr., The Ohrstrom Family Foundation. A nationally recognized philanthropist, Mr. Ohrstrom sits on the boards of several foundations and corporations. He is the chairman and founding member of the Committee on Outcome-Based Benefits (COBB) – an organization that seeks to improve the cost efficiency and cost-effectiveness of substance abuse treatment.
- Leonard Smith, executive director of the Native American Development Corporation (NADC), Billings, MT, a foundation supported economic development facilitator, supporting all of the American Indian tribes of Montana and Wyoming, as well as investing in a variety of projects supporting non-reservation based American Indians. Mr. Smith is an enrolled member of the Assiniboine & Sioux tribe of the Ft. Peck Reservation in Montana. He will assist NAC in searching for, screening, and reviewing a variety of tribal and non-tribal American Indian business projects.
- Susan Tave Zelman, Senior Vice President for Education and Children’s Content, Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Dr. Zelman served for 10 years as the State of Ohio’s Superintendent of Public Instruction where she headed the State Department of Education. Dr. Zelman has held executive posts at the Missouri and Massachusetts departments of education and chaired the Department of Education at Emmanuel College in Boston. She held a five-year appointment with the Education Technology Center of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was the recipient of the National Science Foundation Research Opportunity Award for Women through Columbia Teachers College. She holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Michigan and is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees.
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