This is the second of a five-part series. Part one is here.
Addie Caldwell is director of the Menominee Indian Nation of Wisconsin’s Maehnowesekiyah Wellness Center in Gresham, where she and her team work to provide culturally specific alcohol, drug, mental health, adolescent, domestic violence treatment, education and support services for Native Americans and their families. Before taking the helm in 2016, Addie managed the family and domestic violence program at the center. Prior to that she worked as a crime victim specialist, a psychiatric technician and a care advocate specialist. She earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree at Lakeland College.
Daniel Guzman King is serving his second term as a Councilman of the Oneida Nation. Daniel serves as a member of the Legislative Operating Committee, responsible for developing and amending new laws, codes and policy for the Oneida Nation. In 2019, Daniel was selected to serve on the Great Lakes Area Tribal Health Board, which is a regional board advocating for health care system improvements on behalf of tribal communities in the Midwest. In 2021, he was also selected to serve on EPA’s Small Communities Advisory Committee and the Board of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. In 2015, Daniel earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University. Daniel is a graduate of the Latino Nonprofit Leadership Program and also the Philanthropy Incubator Project – Legacy Building in Communities of Color. Daniel stood on the front lines at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to fight for tribal land and water rights that would impact all of Indian Country and understands the importance of exercising the Oneida Nation’s sovereignty.
Kip Ritchie is Chief Operations Officer of the Potawatomi Business Development Corporation. Prior to being promoted to COO, Kip served as President of Greenfire Management Services, a subsidiary of the PBCDC, since 2014. Ritchie joined PBDC full time in 2006 as Senior Vice President and served on its founding Board of Directors from 2002-2007. During his tenure as President, the company has received dozens of awards including Fastest Growing Firm, Diversity in Business, Top Construction Company, Newsmaker of the Year, Largest Minority-Owned Company, and a Cream of the Cream City Award, among others. Throughout his career with the Forest County Potawatomi, Ritchie promotes the importance of investing in the tribe’s future by diversifying resources beyond gaming. Ritchie’s career in Indian Country began in 1997 when he joined Potawatomi Hotel & Casino as Director of Marketing. He was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 2002. Ritchie is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in Communication. Ritchie serves on the Boards of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, Froedtert Hospital & Medical College Foundation, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce—Council of Small Business Executives, New Mexico Community Capital, NUMU, Inc. (the economic development arm of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) and Gun Lake Investments (the economic development arm of the Gun Lake Potawatomi Tribe). Since 1999, Kip has served as the Chairman of the Forest County Potawatomi Community Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Richard Monette is a professor of law and director of the Great Lakes Indian Law Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he’s been since 1992. He took leave from UW to serve as chairman and CEO of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota from 2000-2003. He worked as a staff attorney with the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in the late 1980s. He served as president of the National Native American Bar Association and sat on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s Indigenous Peoples’ Subcommittee. He has served as Chief Judge for Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Special Judge for HoChunk Nation, Special Judge for the Trial Court of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He is a 1988 graduate of the University of Oregon Law School.
Tracie Sparks is Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Manager and ManpowerGroup – North America, a role she’s held since 2022. She joined the staffing firm in 2021 as a recruiter after several years in similar roles at Walbec Group, Enterforce and Experis. She serves on the board of directors of ArtWorks of Milwaukee and The Community, an organization dedicated to fostering and showcasing the successes, humanity, and agency of people with criminal records. She is also a member of the Oneida Nation’s advisory board and the Council on Native American Affairs at Marquette University, where she earned a degree in criminal justice and political science in 2005.
Melissa Metoxen serves as Assistant Director of the Native American Center for Health Professions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been working with NACHP since 2013. She grew up in the military because her father served in the Air Force for 20 years, but her family is from Wisconsin and she calls the Oneida/Green Bay area home. She is a member of the Oneida Nation. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from UW-Madison. She also holds a master of science degree in educational leadership & policy analysis from UW-Madison. She has worked on campus since 2010, supporting Native American students, providing pre-college outreach across the state in tribal communities, building partnerships with Tribes, and ensuring students who are first-generation and Native American have access to higher education.
Part Three coming tomorrow!
