This is the first of a five-part series.
Just months after we published our first news stories in August 2015, we tried something new: we listed and published brief biographies of the state’s 28 Most Influential Black Leaders. People responded immediately. They shared it widely, added their perspectives, and told us who else should have been included. Many asked if we would do it again the next year. I said yes, we probably would.
We did more than that. The following year, we published another list of the state’s most influential Black leaders, along with a list of the state’s most influential Latino leaders. Almost immediately, we began hearing an important and reasonable question: what about the state’s Asian American and Indigenous leaders?
We wanted to do those lists, but we wanted to do them the right way. It took time to build authentic relationships within those communities and to earn trust. I’m glad we took that time. That work made it possible for us to publish those lists for the first time in 2020.
This week, we are proud to present the sixth annual edition of Wisconsin’s Most Influential Native American leaders.
Each year, with every list, the goal has been consistent: to highlight the depth, strength and diversity of leadership across our state. We want young people in Wisconsin to see what is possible. To see people who look like them leading, building and shaping communities. To understand that impact is not limited by background.
This week, we shine a statewide spotlight on the leaders of Wisconsin’s Indigenous communities. The individuals highlighted here are elected officials, business leaders and community leaders doing meaningful, often complex work. They are navigating responsibility, making difficult decisions and helping move their communities forward in ways that require both strength and clarity.
We also recognize that no list like this can ever be complete. The number of nominations alone makes that clear. There are far more than 26 influential Indigenous leaders across Wisconsin doing important work every day. We hope you will continue to share those names with us so we can highlight even more leaders in the future.
For now, we simply want to introduce you to some of the individuals doing this work, often without recognition, across our state.
You may recognize a few of these names, but many will likely be new to you. Take the time to learn about them. Connect with those in your communities. Learn from them. Build relationships. Create partnerships. And share their stories.
Wisconsin is stronger when leadership is seen, supported and connected across communities.
Henry Sanders
CEO, 365 Media Foundation
Publisher, Madison365
Nathan King
Nathan King, an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation, is vice president of Bay Bank in Green Bay, where he oversees retail banking and administration, including the branch network, consumer products, strategic planning, human resources, and marketing. Bay Bank, owned by the Oneida Nation, is the only tribally owned bank in Wisconsin. King led the establishment of the bank’s Keshena branch on the Menominee Reservation, which opened in 2021 and is the only bank in Menominee County, providing full-service banking directly on tribal lands. He works with multiple Wisconsin tribal communities to secure financing for infrastructure and economic development. Prior to joining Bay Bank, he worked for the Oneida Nation for nearly 20 years in various roles, including community planner and director of legislative affairs, where he advocated for the nation’s interests at the federal, state, and local levels. He serves on the board of directors of First Nations Financial, a Native community development financial institution, and on the UW-Green Bay Council of Trustees. He earned a bachelor’s degree in urban regional studies at UW-Green Bay and an MBA at Baker University.
Elizabeth Arbuckle
Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Arbuckle is chairwoman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, a position she took on in November 2025. Since becoming chair, she has focused on improving communication with tribal members, increasing transparency and accountability within the tribal government, supporting Bad River’s cultural revitalization, creating programming for elders’ enrichment, and exploring new economic opportunities for the tribe. She previously served as a Senior Councilwoman on the Bad River Tribal Council for two years, and has also served on the Bad River Housing Authority, Education Committee, Indian Health Board, and was a founding member of the tribe’s Police Commission. She spent more than 10 years in academia as an assistant professor of political science at UW-Stevens Point and Northern Arizona University, and then in Native American studies at Northland College. Most recently, she did tribal liaison work for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She is the founder of Rezberries, Bad River’s 4-H club. She was raised on the Bad River Reservation and graduated from Ashland High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree at UW-Madison and a PhD in political science at the University of Michigan, specializing in tribal government, treaty rights, and ethnic group identity.
Nicole Boyd
Nicole Boyd is chair of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Council, a position she was first elected to in 2023 and won again in 2025. In February 2026, she delivered the State of the Tribes Address at the Wisconsin State Capitol, where she called on lawmakers to protect natural resources, expand mobile sports betting for tribal nations, address mental health and substance abuse in tribal communities, and legalize cannabis. Before becoming chair, she spent more than 15 years in direct service and planning roles for the tribe. She worked at the Red Cliff Early Childhood Center from 2008 to 2018, serving as director beginning in 2014, and then became administrator of the tribe’s planning department. As chair, she oversees inter-governmental relations, policy development, and day-to-day government operations, with stated priorities in education, land use, Ojibwe language and culture preservation, economic development, housing, and health services. She earned an associate degree in human services from Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University, a bachelor’s degree in social work from UW-Superior, and a master’s degree in tribal administration and governance from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Gimiwan Dustin Burnette
Gimiwan Dustin Burnette, a descendant of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, is president and executive director of the Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network (MIIN), a nonprofit he founded in 2020 that promotes collaboration and curriculum development among Ojibwe language immersion educators across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The network connects 11 participating communities and maintains an online repository of Ojibwe language materials organized by grade level, from pre-K through adult learners. He launched MIIN with the support of a 2021 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellowship from the First Nations Development Institute. Before that, he spent more than a decade as an Ojibwe language immersion teacher, first at the Niigaane Ojibwemowin Immersion Program at Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School on the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota, where he taught kindergarten and first grade, and then for nine years at the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute in Lac Courte Oreilles, where he taught third through fifth grade. He also serves as a subject matter expert for Rosetta Stone Ojibwe.
Geraldine Sanapaw
Geraldine Sanapaw is chief academic officer of the College of Menominee Nation, the tribal land grant college with campuses in Keshena and Green Bay. She oversees educational policy, academic programs, accreditation, assessment of student learning, and student success initiatives. She was named to the role permanently in April 2022 after serving as interim CAO since May 2020. Under her leadership, CMN received a ten-year reaffirmation of accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission in 2023 and a $10 million gift from the MacKenzie Scott Foundation in 2025. She has also led the establishment of new partnerships, including a GIS pilot program with Fort Peck Community College in Montana and a renewed transfer agreement with UW-Madison. Sanapaw is a CMN alumna who began her academic career there, earning an associate degree in business. She started at the college in 2005 as associate administrator in academic affairs and has also worked in institutional research and as registrar. Before joining CMN, she served as business manager at Menominee Tribal School from 1991 to 2005. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Silver Lake College and an MBA from Lakeland College, and is pursuing a doctorate in education at Concordia University.
Waawaakeyaash Keller Paap
Waawaakeyaash Keller Paap, a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, is indigenous knowledge development coordinator at the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation near Hayward. He co-founded the school in 2000 with Lisa LaRonge, starting with six kindergarteners in a conference room and guidance from Ojibwe elder first-language speakers. Over 25 years, Waadookodaading has grown into a K-8 immersion program with more than 70 students and over 10 teachers and trainees, modeled on successful language immersion efforts in Hawaii and New Zealand. Paap learned Ojibwe as an adult while studying at the University of Minnesota, where he worked with elders and first-language speakers. He and linguist Anton Treuer conducted a 2009 census that documented approximately 1,000 Ojibwe speakers remaining in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He is a 2007 Bush Fellow and a co-author of Awesiinyensag, a collection of Ojibwe-language stories for language learners. He was featured in the PBS documentary First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language and has been a keynote speaker at the Ojibwe Language Symposium at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. He also serves as a veteran mentor to other immersion educators across the region.
Part 2 coming tomorrow!
