Mattie is a Grantmaking Officer focusing on the 23 Native nations in the Bush Foundation’s region. She looks for ideas and people that can make our region better for everyone. Mattie and the rest of the team review proposals and manage community relationships to be open and responsive. She is ready to talk with people who have ideas or questions for any of our grant programs.
Mattie is a citizen of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe and previously worked in public history and higher education. She worked for the Office of Governor Walz and Lt. Governor Flanagan as the Assistant Director of Tribal State Relations Systems Implementation just prior to joining the Foundation. While Senior Historian at the Minnesota Historical Society, Mattie coordinated research projects, facilitated the incorporation of new scholarship into interpretive programs, and was a lead exhibit developer for the first permanent gallery on Native American history at the MN History Center. She has a doctorate in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree from Hamline University. She has also served as an assistant professor at UC San Diego in the Ethnic Studies department, where she designed and taught courses in Native American and Indigenous Studies.
In her free time, Mattie loves hiking with her family, traveling through Ojibwe country, and reading. She lives in St. Paul with her husband and two young children.