Fawn Wasin Zi’s (pronounced Washee Zee) Lakota name is Shun Hizi Ota Agli Win, which means She Brings Many Buckskin Horses. She spent 10 years in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST) Land Management Department, Office of Land Operations and Energy Resources as the Energy and Mineral Manager. She currently serves as an educator in the STEM field with the intention to inspire future generations about the possibilities and hope for their future. With a background in biology, she firmly believes it is her duty to speak for those, Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth) that cannot speak for themselves. She hopes one day we all live in a more sustainable way that is beneficial to mankind and Grandmother Earth.
Phyllis Young is a tribal elder and co-founder of Women of All Red Nations in 1978. She has been actively involved for 15 years on the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. and served one term as Chair of the Board. She is a former Council Member for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Her community organizing skills were integral to her successful coordination of the Oceti Sakowin Camp (#nodapl protests) and she has been a major leader in the international Indigenous rights movement at the United Nations. In 2018 Young was awarded the inaugural MIT Oceti Sakowin Fellows for Tribal Community Innovation.
Warren Hawk currently serves on the SRST Tribal Council. He holds a degree in business administration and political science. He has close to 30 years experience in Community Development work through working with and for numerous community organizations, non-profits, and tribal governments. He specializes in community organizing, organization development, and tribal management. He currently serves on several boards, is a member of the Oceti Sakowin Power Authority, business owner, as well as a social and environmental activist. Before being elected to the Tribal Council, he worked for the SRST at the Grants Management Specialist for SRST.
Chad Harrison is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Harrison has been an educator at Sitting Bull College, tribal planner for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and has served on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council prior to his current position as the executive director for the Standing Rock Housing Authority. He serves on numerous community boards including the Oyate CDFI board, the Standing Rock Development Corporation Board as well as the Mor-Gran-Sou Electric board of Commissioners. He is a Bush Foundation Native Nation Rebuilder. Mr. Harrison resides in Fort Yates, ND where he and his wife Becca raise their three children.
Wilberta Red Tomahawk, of Porcupine ND., is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST), and has worked at various positions with SRST: as an SRST Tribal Court clerk, Women Infant and Children Administration Assistant, Land Buy-Back Program Assistant, and Standing Rock Land Management office manager. Wilberta serves as the Porcupine District Representative for Standing Rock Tribal Council, and – as an active member of the community – has served both on the SRST Housing Authority Board of Directors and as the Secretary for the SRST Gaming Commission. Daughter to Karen Duboise (Fort Peck Sioux tribe) & Wilbur (Ava) Red Tomahawk (SRST), Wilberta lives in Porcupine ND, and has two sons, four daughters, and one grandson (Siree Red Tomahawk). Wilberta has an associates degree in IT from Sitting Bull College in Ft Yates ND.
David Archambault II (Lakota: Tokala Ohitika) is the former tribal Chairman of the SRST. He’s a father of two and a husband of over 20 years. He holds a Business Administration Degree and a Master’s degree in Management. In 2014, Archambault hosted the historic visit of President Obama and the First Lady to the Standing Rock Reservation. In his role as Chairman, Dave was appointed to the US Sentencing Commission’s Tribal Issues Advisory Group, the Department of Justices Tribal Nations Leadership Council, and the US Department of Labor, Native American Employment and Training Council.
In 2016, Chairman Archambault emerged as a global leader for Indigenous Peoples’ rights as he led the opposition to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Archambault testified before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, led the Washington, D.C. “Native Nations Rise” march, and published editorials in The New York Times. Among many awards and honors Chairman Archambault was recently named a “Leading Global Thinker of 2016” by Foreign Policy Magazine, was given the “Native American Leadership Award” by the National Congress of American Indians, and received a “Doctorate of Law Honoris Causa” from the Vermont Law School.
Joe McNeil is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the president of Standing Rock Development Corporation and manager for Rock Industries Corp. in Ft. Yates, N.D. He is married and has four children. He was recently awarded the Bush Foundation Fellowship for leadership, as well at the MIT Oceti Sakowin Fellows Tribal Community Innovation. He is an activist for Indigenous rights and community economic development. He earned his B.S. in Business Administration from Sitting Bull College. He is a former member of the Tribal Council for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He has also served as Vice Chair of Sitting Bull College Board and as a member of the Wind Energy Tribes United. He currently serves as the Chair of the Oyate Community Development Finance Institute.