ONAC Leadership The ONAC Board and Advisory Committee, comprised of Native asset-building practitioners, provide coalition leadership as members of ONAC’s grassroots constituency. They work with the ONAC Executive Director and advise and guide the work of the coalition. Their involvement is crucial to ONAC’s asset-building efforts. ONAC thanks the Board and Advisory Committee members for their time and support! ONAC Board Christy Finsel, Ph.D., (ONAC President)
Christy Finsel is the ONAC Executive Director. She is also an independent consultant and researcher focused on asset building in American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities. Beginning in 2003, she conducted research with the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies and then with the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. She has continued Native asset- building research since that time. From 2006 to present, Dr. Finsel has provided training and/or technical assistance (TA) to over seventy-five Native communities who were designing and implementing Individual Development Accounts (IDA) or financial education programs.
Dr. Finsel's past consultant work prepared her for her role directing ONAC. In 2010, she facilitated a First Nations Development Institute Native Asset-Building Partnership Project between Four Bands Community Fund, Inc. and the Entrepreneurial Centers, a collaborative effort of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Sitting Bull College. Also in 2010, Dr. Finsel prepared the Native-specific training content for the Assets for Independence (AFI) Native Initiative Project Design and Application Development Workshops, a collaboration between the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) and the U.S. Office of Community Services. She conducted eleven of those workshops for Native communities. In late 2010, Dr. Finsel was contracted to be the Region VII AFI Regional Consultant to assist the Administration for Children and Families with their AFI outreach under the ASSET Initiative. In this role, she worked with ACF Regional Program Managers, serving Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa, to embed asset building into their programs. She provided technical assistance to those designing the Child Support Children's Savings Account (CSA) program launched by the state of Kansas. She has also conducted Native-specific outreach with ACF staff in various regions through the ASSET Initiative. In May 2013, she prepared and presented webinars about the Native Asset Building Initiative for AFI and ANA. More recently, as a consultant working with First Nations Development Institute, she completed managing a pilot Native Youth Savings Account Program in McKinley County, New Mexico, and provided technical assistance to Chief Dull Knife College as they implemented a CSA program. She also provided technical assistance to the Meskwaki Nation and Wai’anae Community Redevelopment Corporation related to their Individual Development Account (IDA) programs. From December 2011 to December 2015, she coordinated the Missouri Asset Builder calls. In October 2014, she was named a National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development "40 under 40" award recipient. In February 2023, she was invited to serve on the Oklahoma Broadband Office Digital Inclusion Working Group.
Since 2011, Dr. Finsel has directed the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition (ONAC), created to work with tribes on asset-building efforts.
She holds a Master of Theology from St. Louis University, a Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, a Master of Philosophy and a Ph.D. from the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America. Dr. Finsel is a Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies Faculty Associate. She is tribal citizen of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma.
Anna Knight (ONAC Board Vice President) With more than 23 years of operational and management experience, Anna Knight is the Cherokee Nation’s Executive Director of Commerce. Her concentration is on strong financial management, advancing rural communities, managing nonprofits, and building entrepreneurs. In recognition of her contributions to the community development financial institution, CDFI, industry, Anna received the National CDFI Visionary Leader award. Also, her impact on the northeastern Oklahoma region garnered Anna the Northeastern State University Centurion award. Mrs. Knight has been involved with the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition (ONAC) since its inception. She also co-founded the Northeast Oklahoma Regional Alliance, a 14-county regional economic collaborative. In addition to serving on the ONAC board, Anna Knight serves as a director on a regional council of government, community action agency, chamber of commerce, industrial authority, and collegiate association. Mrs. Knight holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Masters of Business Administration. Cindy Logsdon (ONAC Secretary)
Cindy Logsdon is the CEO of the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation, where she manages the loan portfolio and oversees the commercial loan program and team. Ms. Logsdon came to the Citizen Potawatomi Nation after a 15-year career in banking. She attended Oklahoma State University, majoring in Business Administration.
At the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation she implemented the Citizen Potawatomi Asset Builders IDA Adult and Youth Programs and has assisted in making over $22 million in loans to Native American entrepreneurs. She has laid the groundwork for introducing multiple products to enhance the financial futures of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal community, such as an Employee Loan program, Financial Education Initiatives, Credit Builder Loan, Jumpstart Auto Loan, Potawatomi Business Network, Micro Business Loan, and IDA programs. Christy Estes (ONAC Treasurer)Christy Estes is the Executive Officer of HQ Finance of the Chickasaw Nation. Kelly Brame (ONAC Board Director) Coming Soon ONAC Advisory Committee
Sarah Dewees, Associate Director of The Center for Community Engagement at the University of Mary Washington Sarah Dewees, Ph.D., is currently the Associate Director of The Center for Community Engagement at the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Previously, Sarah was the Director of Programs: Research, Policy, and Asset-Building at First Nations Development Institute where she managed a wide range of programs related to financial empowerment within Indian Country. Ed Shaw, Director, Osage Financial Resources, Inc.
Coming Soon
Shay Stanfill, Housing Management Director, Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, Cherokee Nation Shay Stanfill was named the Housing Management Director of the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation in December 2020. Previously, Shay directed the Cherokee Nation Small Business Assistance Center. In that role, Shay was instrumental in designing and implementing Cherokee Nation’s self-sufficiency and asset building programs. She provided programmatic development and general oversight to the Mortgage Assistance Program, Self-Sufficiency Counseling, IDA, and lending programs. Shay was intensely involved in program budget management, grant compliance, strategic planning, and personnel management. She serves on the Advisory Committee of the Oklahoma Native Asset Coalition, is the vice-president of Tahlequah Main Street Association, and is a member of the Tahlequah Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee and the FDIC’s Oklahoma Alliance for Economic Inclusion. Shay holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Northeastern State University. Lahoma Davidson, Program Development and Training Specialist, ONABEN Coming Soon |
