Gavin Clarkson
Dr. Gavin Clarkson, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, has resumed his role as Managing Director of Native American Capital, a position he has held since 2007. While on leave, Dr. Clarkson served in the Department of the Interior as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy and Economic Development – Indian Affairs. In that position, he managed the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, the Office of Indian Gaming, and the Office of Self-Governance.
Named the nation’s “leading scholar in tribal finance” by The Financial Times, Dr. Clarkson has been cited by Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today on matters of tribal finance and rural economic development. Dr. Clarkson’s research and Congressional testimony on tribal access to the capital markets helped lead to the inclusion of $2B of Tribal Economic Development Bonds in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. He is a Sequoyah (lifetime) member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) and served as Chairman of the AISES Foundation from 2005 until 2009.
A licensed attorney, Dr. Clarkson has also held the Series 7, 24, and 66 Securities licenses from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He has helped tribes raise nearly $1 billion for tribal governmental and entrepreneurial enterprises using a variety of financial mechanisms including taxable and tax-exempt bonds, bank credit facilities, and New Markets Tax Credits.
Dr. Clarkson earned his undergraduate and MBA degrees from Rice University and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and served as president of the Native American Law Students Association. While at Harvard, Clarkson simultaneously earned a Doctorate in Technology and Operations Management from the Harvard Business School, where he remains the only HBS doctoral graduate who has also placed in a livestock show.
See more of Gavin Clarkson’s published articles here: NAC Management Publications
