Lori Pourier

Lori Lea Pourier, (Oglala Lakota) (elected 2018) has served as the President/CEO, First Peoples Fund (FPF) since 1998. Dedicated to a vision of restoring and strengthening cultural assets within tribal communities for nearly 30 years, she focuses her efforts on bringing philanthropic resources to Native artist entrepreneurs and culture bearers. Through its Indigenous Arts Ecology program, FPF partners with Native CDFI's and community-based nonprofits to strengthen the support for arts and culture in tribal communities.

Her early work began at First Nations Development Institute and the executive director of the International Indigenous Women’s Network (IWN). She is a 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, a 2013 Women’s World Summit Foundation Prize for Creativity in Rural Life, and a 2013 Louis T. Delgado Distinguished Grantmaker Award. Pourier is an alumnus of the American’s for Indian Opportunities (AIO) American Indian Ambassadors Leadership Program where she stands with more than 350 Indigenous leaders.

She has served two terms on the board of directors of the Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) and Native Americans in Philanthropy and currently serves on the Library of Congress American Folklife Center Board of Trustees. She holds a Master of Science degree from New Hampshire College Graduate School of Business.