MEET OUR FEATURED SPEAKERS 

Chris James

Chris James is the President and CEO of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, the largest business development and technical assistance training organization in the country for  American Indian and Alaska Native-owned businesses. A former Associate Administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration and U.S. Treasury official, Mr. James has doubled the National Center’s revenue during his tenure, expanding procurement and training programs throughout the country while boosting attendance to the annual Reservation Economic Summit by nearly 30% in the last five years.

Mr. James manages a team of nearly 30 staff and contractors based in seven offices across the country, all focused on enhancing the resilience of small and medium enterprises, promoting holistic community planning, and supporting tribal governments and small business owners in developing a strategic approach to economic development.

Fostering strong relationships with supplier diversity offices at Fortune 500 companies such as Lockheed Martin, Nike, Google, Square Inc; Northup Grumman, Alaska Airlines, Microsoft and IBM, the National Center has grown the number of businesses it supports from 200 per year, to more than 1,000.

Mr. James also leads the National Center’s advocacy work, coordinating with allies and tribal governments to hold local, state, and federal government officials accountable and constructively promoting policy changes that support access to capital and resources for small business incubation and growth. Under his leadership, the National Center has launched a Native Edge Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), and the National Center now boasts over $4 billion in procurement it has helped National Center clients secure.

From 2011 – 2016, Mr. James was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Associate Administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), where he led the Office of Field Operations, and the Office of Native American Affairs, and where he established the SBA’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Managing a workforce of over 800 people with an annual operating budget of more than $200 million, Mr. James oversaw programs and services that affected all 50 states and every U.S. territory, and served as a liaison to domestic and international corporate partners and stakeholders. Mr. James was also the officer on record for Tribal Consultation.

Among his accomplishments at SBA was the creation of Startup in a Day, which worked with cities and Native American communities to create streamlined platforms to allow entrepreneurs to apply for all relevant business permits in an expedited manner. Mr. James was also the agency lead on the SupplierPay program, which worked with nearly 50 Fortune 500 companies to speed up payments to suppliers.

Prior to SBA, Mr. James was an Associate Program Manager at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2009-2011, serving as a liaison between the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, Native American tribal governments, and other federal government agencies. During his tenure at Treasury, he approved over $120 million dollars in funding to deserving applicants, and helped grow the number of certified Native CDFIs by 30%.

Crystal Pierce

Crystal (Cris) Pierce is a Procurement Specialist with the American Indian Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) hosted by the National Center. The American Indian PTAC assists American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian owned small businesses to effectively compete in government contracting on the federal, state, and local government levels. Cris works with businesses in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Eastern Region.

Cris has a long-standing relationship with the National Center and its predecessor, the United Indian Development Association (UIDA) that dates to the Decade Dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of UIDA. She was part of the first Indian Progress in Business (INPRO) Awards Dinner, the first Reservation Economic Summit (RES), and so many other firsts for the organization. She served the organization in many capacities including Project Director for the California Indian Business Development Center and for the North Carolina Native American Business Enterprise Center funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency. Cris returned in 2019 to the position of Procurement Specialist with the National Center American Indian PTAC. On hiatus from the National Center, Cris was Program Manager for the regional PTAC hosted by the Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission in Oil City.

Cris is a member of the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) and is a Certified Procurement Professional (CPP). Cris is a graduate of Niagara University. She pursued a career in government and public relations until she was introduced to the organization now known as the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development.

Jackson Brossy 

Mr. Brossy has been selected to serve as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Native American Affairs, at the U.S. Small Business Administration. In this role, Mr. Brossy serves as a senior executive providing executive oversight, management, leadership, and championship of Native American entrepreneurship.

Before SBA, Mr. Brossy served as executive director for both the Native CDFI Network, a 501(C)(3) advocacy group, and the Navajo Nation Washington Office, the official intergovernmental affairs office for the largest tribe in the nation. An advocate of access to capital and technical assistance for Native entrepreneurs, Mr. Brossy also serves on the board of Prosperity Now, Change Labs, and the Federal Reserve Bank’s Center for the Indian Country Development Leadership Council.

He is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and attended Stanford University and Harvard University. 

John Shoraka

John Shoraka currently serves as the Managing Director of GovContractPros. As Managing Director, he assists small business government contractors in all phases of their business lifecycle including navigation of the federal marketplace, business development, certification for and compliance with small business set-aside programs, teaming and mentor-protégé arrangements, and financing and acquisition.

Previously, Shoraka served as former Associate Administrator of Government Contracting and Business Development at the U.S. Small Business Administration. His knowledge of the government contracting marketplace derives from decades of both infield private sector and public sector practice. As outgoing Associate Administrator of SBA, Shoraka was responsible for overseeing the federal government’s small business set-aside programs including 8(a) Business Development, HUBZone, WOSB and SDVOSB programs. He was also responsible for the Office of Size Standards, the federal government’s small business goaling program, as well as the federal government’s small business prime and subcontracting programs. Shoraka worked closely with the White House, Office of Federal Procurement Policy and Senior Administration officials in crafting best practices for accomplishing small business procurement goals and expanding opportunities in the marketplace.

Shoraka has deep understanding of the federal government contracting legislative and regulatory landscape. He was responsible for implementing procurement provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act (including the All Small Mentor Protégé Program), as well as the National Defense Authorization Acts of FY13-16 (including sole source authority for the WOSB program). He represented the SBA and the Obama Administration in hearings before Congress, including hearings with the House Small Business Committee, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He was also a voting member of the Strategic Sourcing Leadership Council and its successor, the Category Management Leadership Council.

Shoraka also served as Regional Administrator for the SBA. As Regional Administrator for Region 3, he was responsible for the delivery and management of SBA’s small business programs, financial assistance, and business development program initiatives throughout the region.

Shoraka previously served as vice president at The Aries Group in Silver Spring, Md., a business and financial consulting firm where he was responsible for implementing multi-year projects throughout the world.

Prior to accepting the appointment as Regional Administrator at the SBA, he served as chair of the Small Business Association for International Contractors, where he represented 26 small business contractors that provide services to the United States Agency for International Development.

In addition, Mr. Shoraka served as adjunct faculty at Catholic University of America where he taught courses in international business and management science. Mr. Shoraka holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MBA from George Washington University.

Kyia Jackson

Kyia Jackson is the Export Business Specialist for the Arizona Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Export Center at The National Center. Kyia is an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in American Indian Studies and Minor in Sustainability from Arizona State University.

Ms. Jackson previously worked for the Economic Development Program of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. During her time there, she assisted Tribal members with economic planning, establishing or expanding their businesses, hosting business workshops with community partnerships and created tourism activities.
In her free time, she enjoys drawing, sewing and spending time with her dogs which led her to co-found a nonprofit focused on rescuing abandoned animals within her home community.

Russ Seagle

Russ Seagle is the CEO of The Sequoyah Fund, Inc., a Native CDFI serving the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and surrounding rural communities in Western North Carolina. The Sequoyah Fund provides small business start-up and expansion capital, housing rehab loans, credit builder loans, and training and consulting services to small businesses, nonprofits, and tribal departments.

Prior to joining The Sequoyah Fund in 2009, owned several businesses. He has been a small business consultant, trainer, and professional speaker since 1999. He holds a BSBA in Marketing from Appalachian State University and an MBA from Western Carolina University.