NVF's Directors & Advisors

NVF Board of Directors and Staff
(*denotes NVF staff or consultant )

Suzy Chaffee - NVF Co-Chairman/co-Founder with S. Ute Unity leader Alden Naranjo, and Executive Director, Olympic downhiller, World Freestyle Champion, inventor of snowdancing. Besides launching 60 Native Ski Programs, at the request of N. Ute Chairman Roland McCook, she helped ensure, through First Lad y Hillary Clinton, that the First Americans opened the Salt Lake Olympics.  As first woman on the board of the USOC, and with support of Jack Kelly, Bill Bradley and Muhammad Ali, she united world athletes to reform the Olympic Rules to bring back the integrity of the Ancient Games to the Modern Olympics; led successful Washington Title IX March for equal opportunity for women sports in schools; has worked with eight US Presidents, including four Fitness Councils; AKA Suzy "Chapstick,” star of the America’s first “fun fitness” commercials in 1978.

Tex Hall - Hidatsa-Arikara, former President of National Congress of American Indians, NVF Co-chairman 2000-2002; former Chairman of Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, N D, and leader of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association; honored at White House as descendent of chief pivotal to Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery; Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, tried out for Nuggets.

Billy Kidd – Abenaki Tribe of Vermont, Olympic and World Champion ski racer, spokesperson for Steamboat Springs Ski Area; pioneered “Ute Future Olympians program” with his Olympic Coaching staff,which has produced 50 Olympians; inspired SnowSports Industry to donate $.6 million in gear that NVF distributed to over 40 tribes, Captain of the Native American Olympic Ski & Snowboard Team. Steamboat’s Winter Sports Club, which has produced 50 Alpine and Nordic Olympians, is currently coaching three Native American Olympic Hopefuls.

Michael Saftler - a NVF founder in Telluride, Rabbi, ski instructor, guardian of Telluride’s wetlands and beaver pond, first to create with a bridge between ski town ecologists and tribes to solve environmental challenges almost overnight; a founder of "Steps to Awareness," which features Native Americans like John Trudell and NVF supporters like Dr Gabriel Cousins, a modern Essene (Jesus, Moses..) priest, who opened the event with the ancient Hebrew 4 Directions Prayer - the same as Native American’s; invented the town's “Free Box,” where the ski communities share and recycle goods (which nearly eliminates crime), which he dreams of doing for Indian Country.

Mariah Cooper – 14 yr old Lac Courte Oreille-Oneida, Honor The Earth Princess, Native American Olympic X-Country Hopeful, liaison to Indian Country youth, 4.0 student, track star competing in the 2008 North American Indigenous Games in Vancouver, and training at Steamboat’s Winter Sports Club for 2010 Vancouver Olympics, two Governor’s of Wisconsin have had Mariah open event with her awe-inspiring prayer-signing.

* Ken Evans - NVF's Non-profit development consultant, Webmaster for Arizona Non profit fundraisers, pilot, NASA trained.

STAFF
* Rebecca Grandbois – Set up the New Mexico Indian Affairs office, Jemez Pueblo Tribal administrator 2000-2003, stategic comunity development leader, Toursim director, grant writer/Technical writer, gallery manager, Lewis and Clark Bicentennial

* Jana Prewitt -- Executive Director of Healthy Communities Foundation; founder of Seventh Generation Strategies, a tribal support strategies company; former senior assistant to President Bill Clinton; press secretary, speechwriter or director of communications for two cabinet secretaries (U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of the Interior), a deputy secretary (Interior) and Director of the United States Mint. Founder of a leisure attractions development company. Co-author of Lewis and Clark For Dummies.