By: McKenna Green, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior
Christina Cartier, an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation and Chief Administrative Officer of the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians, has been attending NAFOA conferences for many years. In 2022, she applied and was selected to attend the Leading People And Investing To Build Sustainable Communities Program (LPIBSC). Cartier explains the program was highly recommended by past attendees, including the Chair of the Tuolumne Band. The LPIBSC program was developed in collaboration with the Harvard Business School (HBS) Executive Education, NAFOA, and AFOA Canada. Its mission is to inspire and support Native finance professionals and leaders, as well as equip them with the tools to lead high-performing, innovative communities or organizations. The program runs for four days on the Harvard Business School campus.
Cartier “experienced an overwhelming sense of gratitude from attending the program for the opportunity to learn with leaders from other communities, like CFOs and accountants, as well as those from New Zealand and Canada.” The connections made with others in the industry who are knowledgeable and are all aspiring to do great things for their communities was inspiring to her. “Sometimes it feels like there is a lack of qualified candidates in Indian Country,” she says, but from the LPIBSC program she saw something different. Learners who are “not only compassionate towards their communities but also knowledgeable coming together with a willingness to learn and grow for their communities” was “a unique and beneficial experience,” says Cartier. Hearing from other tribal leaders about what has or hasn’t worked in their communities was invaluable information and led to meaningful discussions and relationships among the attendees.
Some of Cartier’s key takeaways from the program were learning new ways of understanding and approaching investment opportunities and ensuring that they align with your community’s mission. When tribes align investments with their strategic plan and goals, there becomes a smoother process and greater return because they aren’t spending resources trying to make an investment fit after the fact, says Cartier. Aligning funding goals with tribal priorities helps protect perpetual wealth and longevity of funding for communities and programs.
NAFOA’s community offers long-term relationships with people who attended the LPIBSC program and opportunities to continue learning from each other at each conference. Cartier explains that if someone is having a particular problem with a program, they can connect with other tribes to find a solution. The tools learned at the LPIBSC program, she says, have been helpful in updating their investment policies and diversifying their portfolio.
Overall, it wasn’t just the content of the program that was beneficial, but also “the setting of the program that was inspiring and meaningful” and “made the experience much more impactful.” Cartier is grateful for the opportunity and looks forward to continuing tribal finance education for the betterment of Indian Country.
