Lakota VogelClass B Director

Lakota Vogel is the executive director at Four Bands Community Fund, an organization that serves the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation and the greater state of South Dakota in the areas of small business development, business lending, financial literacy, and youth entrepreneurship. Vogel has led Four Bands through a myriad of accomplishments. Most recently, she played a key leadership role in the Mountain | Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition that led to a $45 million Build Back Better Award from the Economic Development Administration. It has been the largest single investment into the Native CDFI field to date.

In recognition of her leadership, initiative, and dedication, the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development named Vogel as part of its 2018 “Native American 40 under 40” class. She was the first-ever recipient of Oweesta’s Wičháhpi (Star) Award for her exemplary leadership at Four Bands, spearheading new initiatives, fostering strategic partnerships, and driving the organization toward its ambitious goals. Currently, Vogel serves on several boards, including for the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition, the Great Plains Housing Initiative, Akiptan, Change Labs, and Augustana University’s board of trustees.

Vogel holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in social work from the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Lakota is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and was born and raised on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.