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Traci Hanson
Traci Hanson is an Audit Senior Manager with Ketel Thorstenson,
LLP. Traci graduated in 2001 from Black Hills State University in
Spearfish, South Dakota with a Bachelor’s Degree in Professional
Accountancy and Business Administration. She works primarily
on not-for-profit, governmental, and compliance audits. She is a
member of the American Institute of CPAs and the South Dakota
CPA Society.
Veronica Hix
Veronica Hix (Cherokee) is ONABEN’s Executive Director. Previously,
she was the Entrepreneur Development Manager for the Small
Business Assistance Center in Oklahoma. An advocate for small
business creation and economic development, Veronica was named
the Minority Business Advocate of the Year by the Native American
Business Enterprise Center, a facet of the Minority Business
Development Agency. With a background in marketing and public
relations, Veronica works to create opportunities for Indian-owned
businesses to grow and prosper. Over the course of the last year, Veronica
has assisted more than 250 aspiring entrepreneurs and small
business owners in workshop settings, and has created a network
of opportunities designed to enhance business development within
Indian Country.
Karlene Hunter
Karlene Hunter is CEO and co-founder of Native American Natural
Foods. A member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Ms. Hunter has more
than 32 years of experience working on educational and economic
development on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where
Native American Natural Foods is based. The Kyle, South Dakota,
company, founded with her longtime business partner Mark Tilsen,
is the second business Ms. Hunter has started on the reservation.
In 1996, Ms. Hunter and Mr. Tilsen created Lakota Express, a direct
marketing and customer care management company focused primarily
on fundraising for nonprofit organizations. In 2005, Ms. Hunter
and Mr. Tilsen created Native American Natural Foods, a company
devoted to the establishment of the first Native American national
branded line of natural meat and fruit snacks. The company’s line of
Tanka buffalo products has since grown to more than 4,000 retailers
nationwide and has created more than 20 jobs on the reservation.
Tanka Bars, the company’s signature product, is now the number one
selling natural meat snack in the United States, according to SPINS,
the natural food industry’s top retail measurement service.
Well-known throughout the Native American community for her
local and national service record, Ms. Hunter serves on the Board
of Directors of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise
Development. She has also served on the Board of Directors for
the Native American Rights Fund, the National Indian Business Association,
Dakota’s America LLC, and the Pine Ridge Area Chamber
of Commerce.
Ms. Hunter, who holds an MBA from Oglala Lakota College, has
received numerous awards, including the 2011 Social Venture Network
Innovation Award, the Natural Foods Industry’s prestigious
2010 Cliff Adler ‘Heart in Business’ Award, and the 2007 SBA Small
Business Woman of the Year for South Dakota. Recognized in 2003
as one of the 100 Best Minority Suppliers by the Minority Business
Network, Ms. Hunter received the National Director’s Pioneer
Award in 2006.
Marcella Hurley
As Regional Director of the Small Business Development Center in
Pierre, South Dakota, Marcella Hurley serves business clients in a
fourteen-county area in Central South Dakota. She serves as Lead
for the Small Business Development Center of Excellence for Native
Entrepreneurship and is a member of the South Dakota Indian
Business Alliance Leadership Committee. Marcella has also served
as budget analyst for the University of South Dakota School of
Medicine, senior planner for University of Nebraska Medical Center,
manager of the South Dakota Housing Authority Homeownership
Program, partner in a real estate mortgage company, and commercial
banking branch manager. Ms. Hurley graduated from the University
of South Dakota with an MBA. She is a member of the National
Small Business Association and is a Certified Economic Development
Finance Professional.
Sandra K. Isburg
Sandra K. Isburg is an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux
Tribe. She attended the Crow Creek Tribal Schools and graduated
from Chamberlain High School and from Augustana University
in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Since she moved back to the Crow
Creek Reservation in 1993, she has been an advocate for new
Native-owned businesses on her reservation. She has served on the
boards of Harvest Initiative Inc. and Hunkpati Investments, Inc.
since their inception. She currently serves as Board President for
Hunkpati Investments, Inc. She is a co-owner and the CEO of
Shelby’s LLC and General Manager of Shelby’s Minimart in Fort
Thompson, South Dakota.
Mary Beth Jäger
Mary Beth Jäger (Citizen Potawatomi) is a Research Analyst for the
Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy at
the University of Arizona. Mary Beth earned her Bachelor of Arts
at Carroll College and a Master’s of Social Work from Washington
University in St. Louis, with an emphasis on Social and Economic
Development in American Indian Communities. While in school
Mary Beth participated in the Washington Internship program for
Native Students and interned in the Food Distribution Policy Branch
at the USDA. Also, she was a Kathryn M. Buder Center for American
Indian Studies Scholar and research assistant for the Center for
Social Development.
Mary Beth is interested in applied research on institutional change
in Indigenous communities. She has researched policies to promote
saving for post-secondary education in American Indian communities,
reviewed Healthy Eating and Active Living policies in Indian
Country, and conducted empirical legal research on federal Indian
law topics.
12 2013 SOUTH DAKOTA INDIAN BUSINESS CONFERENCE