Board of Directors
Debbie Atuk is an investment strategist focused on economic opportunities for Alaska Native corporations and other Native American clients. She has done this work as a consultant for Skyview Investment Advisors and independently for the Kootznoowoo Corporation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Colville Tribal Federal Corporation.
Dr. Beim has been innovating in women’s health for over 20 years. During her Ph.D. work at Cornell and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the early 2000s, she was on the front lines of precision medicine in oncology, including the transformational impact of genomics on drug target selection, biomarker-based patient stratification on the emergence of targeted therapies, and the corresponding improvement in the standard of care.
In 2014, Jacob founded Digital NEST — a technology workforce development hub providing youth in rural communities with high-demand technology skills, mentoring, and hands-on experience so they can secure well-paying jobs. Prior, he spent nearly 10 years running a successful program funded by the National Science Foundation, encouraging underrepresented Latinos to study computer science. He is a 2020 recipient of the James Irvine Foundation “Leadership Award” and a 2018 Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation “Entrepreneur Fellow.”
Adam grew up in Montana splitting time between his family’s small ranch and the “city.” He became involved in politics at a very young age as a number of family members were state legislators. After college, he helped lead a Democratic resurgence by redistricting the state and leading the Democrats legislative electoral program which resulted in the most Native Americans elected in state history.
Lee has spent 20-plus years with financial services firms and social enterprises at the startup, growth, and established stages. Today, she serves as a strategy and management executive at White Mountains Capital, a publicly traded financial services investment firm.
Jacob Smith is an entrepreneur and investor working primarily in digital infrastructure, sustainability, and open source.
Tom Sperry focuses on launching businesses that create jobs and improve economic opportunity. He co-founded and is managing director of Rogue Venture Partners, a venture capital firm investing in historically under-capitalized regions.
Matt is the founder and executive director of the Center on Rural Innovation, which he launched in 2017 to reverse the nation’s growing rural opportunity gap and create economic prosperity for small town residents across the country.