Michael Roberts (Tlingit) returned to First Nations Development Institute in 2003 and was appointed president by the board in 2005. He previously had served as chief operating officer for the organization until 1997. In the interim, he spent five years in private equity, including advising angel investors, working for a $500 million telecommunications fund and for an early-stage Midwest venture capital firm. Mike is also chairman of the Board of First Nations Oweesta Corporation. In 2019 Mike was named a 2019-2020 fellow in the “Philanthropy Forward: Leadership for Change Fellowship” program of Neighborhood Funders Group and The Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. And in 2018, he was appointed as a trustee of the new $266 million Native American Agriculture Fund that was created as an outgrowth of the Keepseagle vs. Vilsack case.