Sherry Salway Black has worked for more than 40 years on American Indian issues including with the American Indian Policy Review Commission, the Indian Health Service, First Nations Development Institute, and the National Congress of American Indians. She currently serves on the boards of the Johnson Scholarship Foundation, the Native American Agriculture Foundation, Prosperity Now, National Indian Child Welfare Association, and as chairperson for First Peoples Fund. In 2016, Salway Black received a Special Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Congress of American Indians. She is the 2019 recipient of the John W. Gardner Leadership Award from the Independent Sector. She is Oglala Lakota and is originally from South Dakota.