NAFOA Awards
Contact
VaRene Martin
Director of Tribal
& Corporate Relations
varene@nafoa.org
Timeline
Nomination Deadline: January 17, 2025
Award Winners Notified: January 29, 2025
17th Annual Leadership Awards Eligibility Criteria & Nomination
NAFOA presented its first Leadership Awards in 2008 and honored a number of innovative tribal leaders, tribal nations, and financial education directors for positively impacting tribal economies. The tradition continues and in 2025, NAFOA will honor a select number of individuals with NAFOA Leadership Awards during NAFOA’s 43rd Annual Conference. The NAFOA Leadership Award categories include:
To effectively lead a tribal nation, tribal leaders are tasked with the responsibility of making major financial decisions. This award honors a tribal leader who has displayed significant foresight and resolve in the financial advancement of his or her tribal nation.
Eligibility Criteria: The tribal leader must be the primary and official leader of the tribe (Chairman/Chairwoman, Governor, Principal Chief, or President). They must have served in this office for a minimum of one year by December 31, 2024.
Financially healthy tribal nations have excellent staff at the helm. This award honors an Executive, Finance Director, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, or other senior financial leader of a tribe or tribal subsidiary enterprise, who has demonstrated: cutting-edge thinking in developing the financial plans of the tribe, leadership in effectively sharing suggestions with the tribe, and success in implementing ideas for the overall betterment of the tribe.
Eligibility Criteria: To be eligible, the nominee must be an Executive, Finance Director, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, or other senior financial leader of a tribe or tribal enterprise for at least one year by December 31, 2024.
This award honors a creative and effective education program that furthers knowledge and understanding of business, economic development, or related fields. The award is open to programs developed by tribes, non-profits, universities, schools, and other institutions. The program should enrich the lives of Native people and empower them to make sound financial decisions.
Eligibility Criteria: To be eligible, the education program needs to have been in place for at least one year by December 31, 2024.
This award recognizes a tribal deal or financial venture completed during 2024. The deal should be original in structure and its terms should be innovative for the tribe. The deal should have a lasting positive effect on the overall economic status of the tribe and its members, and be beneficial to Indian Country as a whole.
Eligibility Criteria: To be eligible, the deal must have been completed by December 31, 2024.
