Here is a round up of business news from around Indian Country.
Real estate
• The partnership between tribal economic development firms Gun Lake Investments and Waséyabek Development Co. LLC to acquire the McKay Tower building in downtown Grand Rapids, Mich., where both firms are based, was honored as the real estate deal of the year by regional business publication MiBiz in its 2021 M&A Deals and Dealmakers Awards. The $17.5 million transaction closed in January 2020. According to the MiBiz report, the firms set up a three-person board to run the building, bringing in an independent third-party member to help provide clarity and perspective to the process. The transaction was the realization of a long-held belief by both firms that tribes should identify ways to do business with other tribes. Headed by CEO Kurt Trevan, Gun Lake Investments is the economic development entity of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi. Waséyabek, led by President and CEO Deidra Mitchell, is the non-gaming economic development company for the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi.
Government
• Glenda Breiler, a Colville Tribal member of the Okanogan Band, joined the Washington State Department of Natural Resources on Feb. 4 to serve as director of tribal relations. In the role, she will be the point of contact between the tribes and the DNR, with a goal of building stronger partnerships and fostering opportunities with the tribal communities, according to a statement. “I am grateful to join an agency with such a large role in protecting and preserving our natural resources,” Breiler stated. “Tribes play an immensely important role in that work and are great partners with generations of wisdom that will guide us in our work for Washington residents today and into the future.”
• Victor Joseph, the former chief/chairman of the Tanana Chiefs Conference in Tanana, Alaska, was named to the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force by the Biden-Harris administration. Joseph served as chief/chairman from March 2014 through October 2020 and has prior experience working as the health director of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, which is made up of 42 member tribes. Joseph is a tribal member of the Native Village of Tanana. The 12-member task force will issue recommendations to help inform the administration’s pandemic response and recovery with the aim of ensuring an “equitable allocation of COVID-19 resources and relief funds, effective outreach and communication to underserved and minority populations, and improving cultural proficiency within the Federal Government.”
Entrepreneurship
• Gainesville, Ga.-based Tribe Transportation, which is owned by Joy Cain-Handte (Eastern Band of Cherokee), expanded its fleet with 111 new trailers set up to serve the life sciences and pharmaceutical sectors, according to a statement. The refrigerated trailers are equipped with solar panels to charge the refrigeration unit batteries. Founded 16 years ago, Tribe Transportation is one of the fastest-growing minority carriers in North America, with a fleet of more than 400 tractors and nearly 900 trailers.
Federal 8(a) contracting
• Akima subsidiary Five Rivers Services LLC, a Herndon, Va.-based enterprise I.T. support services provider, will support Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Vectrus Systems Corp. on its nearly $882.5 million Army communications contract. The program provides operations and maintenance services and support for communications and information systems. For the contract, which is expected to run through 2025, Alaska Native-owned Five Rivers will provide critical infrastructure protection services, engineering, and project manager capabilities throughout the Southwest Asia region, according to a statement. “We value our relationship with Vectrus and look forward to continuing as a dedicated and dependable partner,” said Duncan Greene, president of Akima’s Mission Systems Engineering & Technology Group. Akima is an enterprise of NANA Regional Corporation Inc., which is owned by 14,300 Iñupiat shareholders with roots in a 38,000-square-mile section of northwest Alaska, much of which is located above the Arctic Circle. Akima employs more than 7,500 people across its various subsidiaries.
