Here is a roundup of business news from around Indian Country.
Federal 8(a) contracting
• A division of the U.S. Navy has awarded Alaska Native-owned Aperture Federal LLC a $113.8 million contract to support the North Charleston, S.C.-based Naval Information Warfare Center-Atlantic. Under the five-year defense contract, Herndon, Va.-based Aperture Federal will provide program management, systems engineering and other technical support services via a command-wide 8(a) programmatic engineering logistics support incubator program, according to a statement. “This award reinforces our ability to deliver mission critical results for our maritime customers,” Duncan Greene, president of Akima’s Mission Systems, Engineering & Technology Group, said in a statement. Aperture Federal, which is being rebranded as Akima Systems Engineering, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Akima, an enterprise of NANA Regional Corporation Inc. NANA 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.
• Milwaukee, Wis.-based Potawatomi Training LLC was awarded a General Services Administration Human Capital and Training Solutions (HCaTS) 8(a) pool 2 contract from the Office of Personnel Management. Under the contract vehicle, the GSA and Office of Personnel Management can access custom training and development, “human capital strategy” services, and performance improvement solutions, according to a statement. Potawatomi Training is part of the Potawatomi Business Development Corporation’s Federal Group, the economic development arm of the Forest County Potawatomi Community.
Gaming
• Jeannie Hovland (Flandreau Santee Sioux) was appointed to a three-year term as associate commissioner of the National Indian Gaming Commission. Hovland most recently served as Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans, where she oversaw a $57 million budget. “I am honored by my appointment to the Commission, a wonderfully hardworking and dedicated team,” Hovland said in a statement, noting the role of the commission “to serve and protect the integrity of Indian gaming.” Previously, Hovland was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs at the Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, and served for 13 years as tribal affairs adviser to South Dakota Sen. John Thune.
• The Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi-Yokut Tribe’s Tachi Palace Casino Resort in Lemoore, Calif. plans to add 24,000 square feet of space as part of a year-long expansion and renovation project aimed at creating a more cohesive campus. The project will connect the Coyote Entertainment Center with the casino and hotel, as well as add a sports bar with indoor and outdoor dining and updated hotel rooms. “These improvements will give Tachi Palace even more of a resort feel, allowing guests to have more fluid movement between our amenities including Coyote Entertainment Center, the hotel, casino, gas station and new offerings,” General Manager Michael Olujic said in a statement. Las Vegas, Nev.-based Cuningham Group Architecture Inc. served as architect on the project.
Entrepreneurship
• Brooke Montgomery has joined the Arrowhead Center at New Mexico State University as the director of its Studio G, a student business accelerator program, and the American Indian Business Enterprise Center, a business accelerator for Native American-owned businesses in New Mexico, according to a statement. Previously, Montgomery worked with Studio G to develop and patent a medical device and launch a business, Pivotal Biotech LLC, that also went on to develop and patent a second device. She’s also served as deputy director of Studio G since 2019.
Real estate
• Hard Rock International, which is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, announced plans last week to develop a hotel under its new Reverb brand at the 103-year-old former Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co. building in Kalamazoo, Mich. The new construction and renovation of the original building is expected to wrap up by fall of 2023, regional business publication MiBiz reported. Before it relocated production to Tennessee, Gibson Guitar Corp. manufactured instruments in Kalamazoo from 1917 to 1984. The new Reverb brand first debuted in Atlanta in December and features a “modern, urban design” with an “open, spacious floor plan that encourages conversations, collaboration and creativity,” as Tribal Business News previously reported.
