This is the third of a five-part series. Part 1 is here and part 2 is here.
Will Funmaker
Will Funmaker, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, is director of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center (GLITEC) and executive director of the Great Lakes Area Tribal Health Board, both based in Lac du Flambeau. He took on the GLITEC director role in June 2022 after nearly two years as program director for Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country and executive director of the tribal health board. GLITEC serves tribes across Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and produces regional health data reports on American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Before joining GLITEC, he oversaw individual health clinics and multiple federally qualified health centers. His career in the medical field began in the U.S. Navy, where he served five years as a hospital corpsman. He also serves as a director on the Veterans Civic Action Network (VetsCAN) board. He earned an associate degree in medical laboratory technology from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, a bachelor’s degree in applied leadership from UW-Green Bay, and an MBA in management from UW-Whitewater.
Alexx Zawada
Alexx Zawada, an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, is chief marketing officer at Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Milwaukee, where she has worked since she was 18. She started as a guest relations specialist in 2008 and after graduating from college joined the marketing department in 2014, rising through roles in corporate sponsorships, marketing management, and director of marketing before being named CMO in 2023. She oversees marketing for one of the Midwest’s largest entertainment and hospitality destinations, which is owned by the Forest County Potawatomi Community. She serves on the VISIT Milwaukee board of directors and coordinates marketing for the Hunting Moon Pow Wow. She was named a Milwaukee Magazine Woman of Distinction in 2022 and was featured in the magazine’s Faces of Milwaukee in 2024. She also volunteers with the Young Athlete Program at Special Olympics Wisconsin. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies at UW-Milwaukee and an MBA at UW-Whitewater.
Casey Brown
Casey Brown is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and Bear Clan, and a filmmaker, educator, and cultural preservationist based in Wisconsin. He is one of the creators of “Exploring the Artistic Process of Truman Lowe: A Journey Through Native American Art & Education,” a short film produced by the Ho-Chunk Nation that won a Midwest Regional Emmy Award in 2023, the first Emmy for a Ho-Chunk Nation production. The film documents the legacy of sculptor and UW-Madison professor Truman Lowe, who served as a mentor to Brown during his time at the university. Brown is currently producing a documentary on Wisconsin’s effigy mounds from a Ho-Chunk perspective, building on decades of survey work conducted by his father, Ho-Chunk elder Ritchie Brown. The two have traveled across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Canada to identify and mark the mounds, including a rare ghost eagle mound spanning approximately 700 feet in Muscoda. He is a public speaker on Ho-Chunk history and contemporary culture; his 2025 presentation “Shuffling Many Worlds: How Being Ho-Chunk is Modern” at the Crosscurrents Heritage Center in southwest Wisconsin sold out.
Natasha Chevalier
Natasha Chevalier is director of community development and utilities for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in Keshena, where she oversees infrastructure development, construction project management, community planning, solid waste disposal, and tribal utility operations. She also serves as secretary of the Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association. Before taking on the director role in 2022, she was regional director for UMOS in Menominee County for six years, managing workforce development services, and before that directed the Menominee Job Center, where she oversaw delivery of one-stop employment services and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act grants for adults, dislocated workers, and youth. Earlier in her career, she worked as an activity coordinator at the College of Menominee Nation and as a training and performance specialist at Menominee Casino Resort. She earned an associate degree in business from United Tribes Technical College, a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Silver Lake College, and an MBA in management of organizational behavior from Silver Lake College.
Vincent Miresse
Vincent Miresse is a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the 71st District in central Wisconsin since January 2025. He serves on the committees on environment, forestry, parks and outdoor recreation, and sporting heritage. He has sponsored legislation on tribal access to certified copies of vital records and on allowing pupils to wear traditional tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies and school-sponsored events. Before his election to the Assembly, he served on the Portage County Board of Supervisors beginning in 2017, where he chaired the Solid Waste Management Board and the Portage County Health Care Center Committee and served as vice chair of the Human Resources Committee. He also chaired the county’s former Diversity Committee. He is a small business owner specializing in residential energy retrofits, building science, and renewable energy, and is a lifetime member of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association. He previously worked at the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station, teaching environmental education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in social science with emphases in history, anthropology, and music at UW-Stevens Point.
Tracey Cordova
Tracey Cordova, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, is the owner of Universal Consulting Solutions LLC, a business consulting firm based in Oneida. Before starting her own business, she worked for the Oneida Nation for 26 years in a variety of roles across gaming and tribal government, including community events coordinator, accounting assistant, assistant director of profit centers, organizational development for the Oneida Business Committee, personnel services manager, and organizational development for gaming. Her consulting work focuses on strategic planning, organizational development, and emotional intelligence-based leadership. Universal Consulting Solutions was among 32 Indigenous-owned small businesses to receive funding through a 2024 grant program. She earned a bachelor’s degree in management and communication from Concordia University-St. Paul, a master’s degree in management from Cardinal Stritch University, and an education specialist degree in adult education from Walden University.
Part 4 coming tomorrow!
