Joe Nayquonabe | Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures

Joe Nayquonabe Joe Nayquonabe is the CEO of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures. This company is the economic arm of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Joe rocketed to this position at a young age after serving as the VP of Marketing for the tribe's casino at the age of 27. Joe Nayquonabe, CEO Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures Joe Nayquonabe's story is a great story of how his tribe has consisntently encouraged educational opportunities, and also for those that receive an education to come back home. Once back, the tribe fosters and creates opportunities for these individuals to grow into professional careers. Joe has certainly capitalized upon those opportunities.  And his work has been recognized nationally. Earlier this year he received the CEO of the Year award from the Native American Finance Officers Association. Joe Nayquonabe has some ambitious goals-he wants revenue from the company to match the revenue earned through gaming. He is thinking ahead about how can the tribe diversify its holdings to continue to thrive. The last item I will highlight is Joe's recognition that the work he does for Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures has a big impact in the community beyond providing revenue to the tribe. Joe recognizes that a stronger economy in his community will impact the social measures of the community, too. I think it is important for tribes and tribal organizations to connect to a greater degree the role that building strong economies has on health, housing, education, etc. and that those issues also impact the ability to grow a strong economy. ### Subscribe to the Podcast iTunes-Please also rate and review the podcast with honest feedback! Stitcher RSS ### Show Notes St. Cloud State University University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management University of Minnesota Duluth Masters of Tribal Administration and Governance Bulletproof coffee [NOTE: I discuss some physiological stuff on the podcast. I am not a doctor and I do not play one on the Internet. This is based on my reading and understanding of how the concoction works. There is some disagreement on the efficacy of bulletproof coffee. It tastes good, maybe I should leave it at that :).] Joe watches a lot of HBO