Our Team

Chief Executive Officer | President

Chrystel Cornelius

Ojibwe | Oneida

Chrystel Cornelius is the President & CEO of the Oweesta Corporation, a national Native CDFI intermediary predominantly serving Native communities across the United States, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Ms. Cornelius has worked with Native communities for most of her professional career, with more than 26 years of experience working in the Native economic development field. She is an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians located in North Dakota. Ms. Cornelius has dedicated her career to capitalizing Native communities upholding tribal sovereignty and self-determination measures through the issuance of capital and organizational capacity building efforts.

Chrystel Cornelius is a founding board member for the Native CDFI Network (NCN). Ms. Cornelius is also a former board member of Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), is a current board member of the Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF) and holds the position of Chairwoman for the Red Feather Development Group. She is a BALLE Fellow and Skoll Fellow. Ms. Cornelius was also the recipient of 27th Heinz Awards for the Economy.

Ms. Chrystel Cornelius attained a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota.

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Chief Financial Officer | Executive Vice President of Finance & Lending

Florence Ludka

Ojibwe

Florence Ludka is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Vice President of Finance and Lending for Oweesta, responsible for the oversight and management of all finance and lending related activities and staff.

Prior to joining the Oweesta team, Ms. Ludka worked for a non-profit organization in Traverse City, Michigan for over 16 years as the Director of Finance and Technology. During her tenure, Florence procured expertise and experience in non-profit accounting, compliance, auditing practices, budget development and management, CRM/database management, administration, and training.

Ms. Ludka obtained a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) with an emphasis in accounting from the University of Michigan. Ms. Ludka completed her undergraduate studies at Lake Superior State University (LSSU) earning a Bachelor of Science in Public Accounting and an Associates of Science in Technical Accounting. After completing her MBA, Florence returned to her alma mater as an adjunct accounting faculty member teaching accounting principles, intermediate accounting, auditing, advanced accounting, and federal taxation. Currently, Ms. Ludka is in her third year of a six-year Ojibwe language pane immersion program.

Ms. Ludka resides in Traverse City, Michigan where she owns a small farm and enjoys spending time and engaging in outdoor activities with her twin daughters and their spouses, granddaughter, and family pets. In her spare time Florence can be found crafting, camping, boating, traveling, or out in the woods viewing and photographing wildlife.

Ms. Ludka is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan.

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Chief Operating Officer

Heather Rademacher Taylor

Heather Rademacher Taylor works as the Chief Operating Officer at Oweesta Corporation, where she manages the programs department, projects and grants, provides training and technical assistance to Native CDFIs, Native nonprofits, and Tribes, and works on development for the organization. She brings a lot of experience with public policy, grant writing, project management, and work with nonprofits to the team. Previously she worked in government and with nonprofits, most recently with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals as a health care policy advisor and at ONABEN – Our Native American Business Network as the Communications and Programs Coordinator. She is a graduate of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, where she earned her M.A. in International Human Rights and Development and a Graduate Certificate in Humanitarian Assistance. Additionally, she earned a B.A. in International Studies (with a minor in Spanish) and a B.A. in Political Science (with a minor in History) from Louisiana State University.

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Shannon Ward CLO
Shannon Ward CLO
Chief Lending Officer

Shannon Ward

Northern Arapaho

Shannon Ward, Northern Arapaho tribal member, serves as Chief Lending Officer at Oweesta Corporation. She brings over 25 years of extensive experience in finance-related fields to her role. Before joining Oweesta, Shannon was Chief Lending Officer and Senior Vice President at Native American Bank.

For the past 15 years, Shannon has focused her expertise on collaborating with and providing lending solutions to sovereign Indian tribes. Her hands-on involvement with diverse Tribal enterprise structures, trust land, and navigating the intricate jurisdictional concerns faced by Tribal nations uniquely position her as a trusted advisor in financing on-reservation projects. Shannon played pivotal roles within the Department of Interior’s Division of Capital Investment. Notably, she held both a regional management role and served as interim division chief for the Indian Loan Guaranty Program, where she spearheaded initiatives to enhance access to capital for Native American Tribes, Tribally owned enterprises and individual Indian-owned businesses.

Shannon earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business management from the University of Wyoming. She furthered her professional development by earning her diploma of graduation from the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado in 2022. Shannon’s dedication to empowering Native American communities through strategic financial solutions underscores her passion for driving sustainable economic growth and prosperity.

CPO Penny Wynn
Chief Programs Officer

Penny Wynn

Chickahominy

Penny Wynn is Chief Programs Officer and comes to Oweesta with over twenty-five years experience in retail bank management and three years Tribal government administration. She has a vast array of knowledge in products, services, lending, Tribal programs and management. With a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a General Management Certification from the University of Phoenix. As a graduate of the School of Bank Management at the University of Virginia, Penny brings a unique perspective and insight to compliment the Programs Department. She is a citizen of the Chickahominy Indian Tribe in Virginia, and is happily married with four grown children and nine grandchildren, whom she loves spending time with whenever possible. Penny is passionate about serving others and advocating for fellow Native Americans.

CPO Penny Wynn
Executive Advisor

Don Sampson

Umatilla

Don has an extensive background in leadership roles with Indigenous organizations. He served as the Executive Director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon for a total of 10 years (2003-2010 and 2021-2024). Additionally, he worked for 7 years as the Climate Change Project Director for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, a consortium representing 57 tribes in the Pacific Northwest. In 2015, Don was one of 15 Indigenous representatives from North America to attend the Paris Climate Accords (COP21). In 2020, he was a top ten national finalist for the American Climate Leadership Award.

Don was also the former Executive Director of the Institute of Tribal Government at Portland State University (2012-2017), part of the Center for Public Service. Earlier in his career, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (1994-1997) for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, overseeing tribal government and business operations with more than 1,500 employees. From 1997-2003, he was the Executive Director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. He also served as President and Board Member of the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society from 1993-1997.

An enrolled citizen of the Umatilla Tribe, Don holds a B.S. in Fisheries Management from the University of Idaho and is the hereditary Chief of the Walla Walla Tribe, a lifetime position.

Louie Rios III
Director of Programs

Louie Rios III

Ojibwe

Louie Rios III is the Director of Programs for Oweesta and part of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa in Minnesota. He began his professional career on the Big Island as a loan associate for a small Native-Hawaiian focused CDFI, where he later became the Executive Director and served the small business sector of the Hawaiian community. His lending experience was mainly in the healthcare and agricultural industry in rural communities where thousands of high-need individuals were able to access healthcare and also healthy, delicious foods. He is passionate about community and economic development, especially for the Indigenous of North America and the Pacific.

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Louie Rios III
Senior Programs Officer

Sayre Savage

Sayre is a Senior Programs Officer at Oweesta Corporation and currently lives in Maine. Sayre graduated from the University of Maine, has worked in the nonprofit sector since 2011, and began working in the CDFI industry in 2019 with a focus on Native American housing programs. She is a HUD Certified Housing Counselor, a certified Pathways Home Homebuyer Education provider and received her NMLS license #2127836 in 2021. Sayre has supported many financial education programs including one-on-one housing and financial counseling, homebuyer education, financial workshops, and VITA programs. During her free time, Sayre can be found exploring all the outdoor activities that Maine has to offer!

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Senior Programs Officer

Monica Wigman

Diné

Monica Wigman is a longstanding advocate for Indigenous leadership and philanthropic transformation, bringing her wealth of experience in mainstream philanthropy and the non-profit sector to the forefront. As a program director for a Northern California community foundation, Monica developed and launched a grant program that mobilized disaster relief and recovery funding for Tribal communities and Tribal-led organizations affected by multiple disasters. This experience shaped her understanding of what reciprocity is and the critical importance of Native Americans leading impact initiatives for Native Americans. Monica also sits on the advisory board and is a facilitator for a community leadership program. Previous to the non-profit and philanthropic sector, Monica spent several years in the legal field. She also has an educational background in legal studies.

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Programs Officer

Vincent J. Grant

Ojibwe

Vincent J. Grant serves as the Programs Officer at Oweesta Corporation, where he brings a strong commitment to advancing financial education within Native communities. A proud member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota, Vincent has cultivated deep expertise in supporting tribal governments and Native-focused non-profit organizations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Leadership and Management from Turtle Mountain Community College.

Growing up on his tribal (ancestral) lands, Vincent found his calling in leadership and advocacy early on. His journey began with an internship at Turtle Mountain CDFI, which sparked a lifelong commitment to empowering Native communities through economic development. As a trailblazer, Vincent became the first Chairperson of his tribal Youth Council, where he honed his skills in community building and governance.

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Programs Officer, Marie Bonville
Programs Officer

Marie Bonville

Marie Bonville is a Programs Officer at Oweesta, residing in Northwest Georgia. She began her professional career in 2007 with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Marie’s experience includes K-12 education program management and tribal housing compliance, having served as Director of Training and Technical Assistance for the Native Learning Center. She has collaborated with Tribal housing authorities and housing coalitions, Native CDFIs and non-profits to enhance financial wellness and homeownership education in Indian Country.

As a small business owner and independent training consultant, Marie specialized in meeting facilitation and training, housing counseling, and housing program compliance. She is passionate about homeownership, believing it to be a beautiful milestone that uplifts both families and communities. She is certified to deliver “Pathways Home: A Native Homeownership Guide,” “Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families,” and “Enterprise Community Partners: Tribal Leaders Handbook on Homeownership.”

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Programs Officer, Marie Bonville
Director of Lending

Jamie Olson

Nez Perce

Jamie Olson is the Director of Lending at Oweesta Corporation. Jamie’s 30-year professional career includes 25 years in banking, including branch management & commercial lending and 5 years leading a tribal enterprise. As Vice-President & Commercial Lender for Wells Fargo, Jamie successfully managed a commercial banking portfolio working closely with business owners, government & educational institutions and non-profit organizations as a financial partner and advisor. Jamie’s commercial lending experience includes; commercial real estate, business start-up, business expansion, business acquisition agriculture, equipment and working capital. Jamie served the Nez Perce Tribe as the Enterprise Executive Officer providing leadership and oversight of the Tribal Enterprises including business related economic development. Jamie is a Nez Perce descendant from Lapwai, Idaho.  Jamie and her husband Zeke (Nez Perce/Kiowa) currently reside in Clarkston, Washington and have four grown children and four grandchildren. Jamie golfs for fun; however, Zeke is a serious golfer and they compete in the Nimiipuu Golf League and participate in some Native golf tournaments held in the Pacific Northwest. Jamie’s educational experience include a B.S. in Business Administration from Lewis-Clark State College and completion of the Northwest Intermediate Banking School and the Pacific Coast Banking School. Jamie is involved with her alma mater as Vice-President of the Alumni Association, Chair of the Native American Alumni Association (NAAC) and a member of the LC Business Advisory Board. NAAC’s most notable event that Jamie is very involved with is the annual golf tournament that raises needed scholarship funds for Native students attending Lewis-Clark State College.

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Lead Lending & Investment Officer

Alexandra Shaughnessy

Alexandra Shaughnessy is the Lead Lending and Investment Officer at Oweesta Corporation. She currently lives in Northern Colorado where she graduated with honors from Colorado State University. With her BA in Cultural Anthropology, she began working with Native CDFIs and non-profits in 2015 during an internship with Sweet Grass Consulting. She lived on both Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations in South Dakota, where she worked with Lakota community members on community development research, impact evaluation, and data analysis.

Alexandra has spent the past four years in the private, financial sector processing and closing residential mortgage loans. Her expertise lies in loan processes and compliance, improving and streamlining internal practices, and emphasizing participatory and equitable practices. She’s received many awards in the mortgage industry pertaining to accuracy, volume, and process improvement. While she enjoyed the impact made from getting people into homes, she’s excited to be back in the Native, non-profit sector about which she is so passionate.

In her free time, she cuddles with her goldendoodle and standard poodle and explores all that Colorado has to offer with her husband. On the weekends, you will usually find her reading or finishing masterpieces in her adult coloring books.

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Investment Officer

Mikeala Purvis

Anishinaabe

Mikeala Purvis, the Lending Assistant for Oweesta, is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. She was born and raised in Traverse City, Michigan. She began her professional career after graduation, working full-time to complete her ASA. She continued her education with MOS Certification, Master Gardener Certification, and she is also a certified trainer in the Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families curriculum. She hopes to further her education and to continue supporting and building economic growth and development within Indigenous communities.

In her spare time, she is an active volunteer through the Master Gardener Extension Program. She is currently educating community members all throughout Northern Michigan about the importance of sustainable agriculture, pollinator importance, and safe agriculture consumption.

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Accountant

Debbie Powers

Debbie Powers is the Accountant at Oweesta Corporation, bringing over 15 years of experience working with Native non-profits. Her professional background also includes accounting in the manufacturing and construction industries. She resides in a close-knit community of 2,000 people on Wrangell Island, Alaska. In her free time, Debbie enjoys fishing, hiking, and walking her dogs.

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Finance Assistant

Michelle Carlson

Michelle is a Licensed Massage Therapist who became interested in the small bookkeeping aspects of her massage practice.  She is now a Financial Assistant for Oweesta Corporation.

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Director of Advancement and Impact

Tawny Wilson

Sicangu/Oglala Lakota

Tawny Wilson, Director of Advancement and Impact at Oweesta, is a proud Sicangu/Oglala Lakota and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Born and raised on the reservation, she embodies the spirit of her people, the Sicangu or “Burnt Thigh Nation” in Lakota.

Tawny began her career in the fast-paced world of finance as a mortgage broker, banker, and sales manager right out of college, and then found her true calling in serving others by working with national Native nonprofit organizations dedicated to uplifting Tribal communities across the country. Committed to empowering her community and advocating for Indigenous causes, Tawny focuses on rematriating resources back to Native people. Before joining Oweesta, she served at NDN Collective as the Director of Lending, where she co-developed the groundbreaking Resilient Finance Model, a decolonized approach to underwriting.

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Advancement and Impact Officer

Mary Deiter

Peepeekisis Cree Nation

Mary Deiter is the Development and Capitalization Officer at Oweesta. Mary is passionate about creating connections between Native communities and resources. Additionally, she is excited to build relationships with Oweesta’s partners and working together to create opportunities to help strengthen sovereignty for all Native communities.

Previously, Mary worked at the ION center, where she implemented Green Dot, a nationally recognized strategy focused on preventing power-based personal violence within high schools and communities. Mary has also worked as an editor in New Mexico.

She holds a B.A. in Indigenous Studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mary is from the Peepeekisis Cree Nation, and currently splits her time between a small river town in Kentucky and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Senior Communications Director

Monique Behrens

Kiowa

Monique Behrens serves as the Senior Communications Director at Oweesta and is based in Oklahoma. A member of the Kiowa Tribe, Monique launched her professional journey in 2013 by gaining comprehensive experience in mortgage lending. Before joining Oweesta, she held several key roles within the Kiowa Tribe, including Interim Executive Director of the Kiowa Gaming Commission, Media and Outreach Director, and Senior Project Manager. She is deeply committed to building strong relationships and advocating for underserved communities, with a focus on enhancing sovereignty for all Native communities. Outside of work, Monique enjoys spending quality time with her family, golfing, and traveling.

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Communications Director

Sandy Thompson

Sandy’s 25-year professional career includes 15 years in financial marketing and communications, with six as Assistant Marketing | Communications Director for a large, regional bank and four years as Marketing Manager for a community credit union. She has assisted Oweesta on a project basis since 2018 and joined the team full-time in the spring of 2023.

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Software Developer

Isaiah Cornelius

Ojibwe

Isaiah served 6 years as a United States Marine. During his service, he had the opportunity to work around the world as a Marine Security Guard in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Bucharest, Romania. After being honorably discharged from the USMC, Isaiah returned to Colorado and used his GI bill to become a Licensed Massage Therapist. After working as an LMT, Isaiah moved back to the front range and started work as Oweesta’s OTIS Specialist, Office Manager, and now Software Developer.

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Executive & Finance Assistant

Peggy Harris

Peggy is a seasoned Executive Assistant with over 25 years in the field. She has experience in strategic planning, organizational planning, business accounting, program development, employee supervision, developing personnel policies and financial procedures, and has developed standard operating procedures for business and accounting positions. She has been responsible for planning and organizing large conferences and conventions (over five hundred people) as well as retreats, meetings, and special events.

Peggy previously served as the Climate Change Project Coordinator for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians – a consortium of over fifty northwest Tribes. Peggy helped develop and build the Climate Change program over seven years with the goal to build tribal capacity and educate and inform elected tribal leaders on climate change issues and impacts. Peggy helped develop proposals, secured grants, and managed over $10M of BIA, EPA, and foundation grants over seven years.

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CONTACT US

Oweesta Corporation
2432 Main Street, 1st Floor
Longmont, CO 80501
303.774.8838
info@oweesta.org

Oweesta is an equal opportunity employer and provider. We do not discriminate, learn more here: Title VI, Section 504.

LAP Policy

ABOUT OWEESTA

Oweesta is the longest standing Native CDFI intermediary offering financial products and development services exclusively to Native CDFIs and Native communities. Specifically, Oweesta provides training, technical assistance, investments, research, and policy advocacy to help Native communities develop an integrated range of asset-building products and services, including financial education and financial products.

Asset-building tools stimulate reservation economies by providing tribal members the opportunity to acquire financial management skills and build and accumulate assets through small business creation, homeownership, education, and much more.

Filing Civil Rights Complaints

If you believe you have been subjected to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, religion, or reprisal for prior civil rights activity, you have the right to file a complaint. Complaints may be filed directly with the Director, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity, at the following address:

Director, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, DC 20220

Alternatively, complaints may be submitted via email to crcomplaints@treasury.gov.

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