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Valerie Red-Horse (born 1959, in California) is an investment banker, business owner, filmmaker and philanthropist of Cherokee heritage. She is a former CEO of two Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) broker/dealers, Native Nations Securities and Red-Horse Securities believed to be the first Native American female owned broker-dealers.
In 1981, Red-Horse graduated cum laude from UCLA's Theater Arts Department and further studied at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. Before she finished college, she started work at Drexel Burnham Lambert as office manager from 1978 to 1985 for John Kissick in the Corporate Finance Department. She is married to Curt Mohl, whom she met when she was a cheerleader and he was a UCLA football player. They have three children. [1]
Later, Red-Horse became the founder, president, and principal owner of Red-Horse Native Productions, Inc., a company specializing in motion picture and television production and Native American herbal skincare and hair care products. Naturally Native (1998) was filmed by Red-Horse Native Productions, and Red-Horse was writer, producer, co-director and lead actress for the film. The movie was funded by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut with financing from its Foxwoods Casino and premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Naturally Native received multiple festival awards and in 2007 Red-Horse Native Productions nationally distributed the film in Wal-Mart. Red-Horse followed with the World War II PBS/ITVS award winning documentary “TRUE WHISPERS: THE STORY OF THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS”, produced with Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Entertainment. Red-Horse also produced/directed the “prequel” follow up program, again with Hurd, CHOCTAW CODE TALKERS regarding the Code Talkers’ involvement in World War I (Vision Maker Media/PBS). Over her career Red-Horse has produced/directed multiple Native American themed programs for public television including DIVERSITY IN THE DELTA, POP HUNTER’S DEW DROP INN, WINDOWS ON MARS, LIVING VOICES and a 2012 cutting edge Native American cooking show featuring master chef Loretta Oden for FNX/PBS. As a writer Red-Horse penned the Emmy award winning MY INDIAN SUMMER (CBS) and AFI’s LOOKS INTO THE NIGHT in which she also starred as lead actress. Red-Horse is currently producing/directing (again in collaboration with Hurd for Vision Maker Media/PBS) the biographical documentary of Wilma Mankiller who served as the first female elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Red-Horse recently served as a co-curator for a comprehensive 100 year Native American film retrospective and national tour sponsored by the UCLA Film and Archive which toured the nation during 2014-2016. [2]
In 1998 Red-Horse started a FINRA licensed securities Jersey City, New Jersey-based firm, Native Nations Securities, believed to be the first Native American owned investment banks. The firm provided financial services geared specifically to tribal finance, tribal economic development, and youth training programs. In 1999, in a desire to expand, Native Nations Securities identified for possible acquisition, a 96 year old New Jersey bond firm, Freeman Securities. In 2001 after nearly two years of due diligence, Ms. Red-Horse learned that a long-time employee of Freeman Securities had engaged in a series of fraudulent stock loan transactions prior to the acquisition, which were hidden on Freeman’s books and had been undisclosed to Red-Horse and the NASD auditors. Ms. Red-Horse and the other original directors of Native Nations Securities immediately reported these transactions to the U.S. Attorneys’ Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission and NASD (now FINRA). With NASD approval, Red-Horse reversed the purchase agreement of Freeman Securities, then already known as Native Nations Securities. The purchase was reversed but some press continued to incorrectly associate Ms. Red-Horse with the subsequent SIPC payout and bankruptcy simply due to the premature name change from Freeman Securities. Red-Horse was never the target of any investigation relating to this matter.
In 2004 Ms. Red-Horse moved her office to California and formed her own advisory corporation, Red-Horse Financial Group, Inc. clearing securities through Western International Securities. Since 2004 Red-Horse Financial Group, with Ms. Red-Horse at the helm, has closed several financing and advisory transactions for tribal clients establishing Red-Horse as a leading expert in the tribal finance space. In the course of her financial career, Red-Horse has structured, advised for and/or raised over $3 billion in capital for American Indian Tribal Nations.
Red-Horse is the founder of both H.A.P.N. (the Hollywood Access Program for Natives) a non-profit training organization providing on the job mentorship to Native Americans in the film and television industry and “Jesusize” a dance/exercise ministry serving urban women in rehabilitation residence at the Anne Douglas Center in downtown Los Angeles. In 2006, she and her family witnessed the severe living conditions of certain tribal members (mostly elders and children) located on a remote reservation in Northern Minnesota where unemployment exceeds 60%, the winter temperatures are extremely harsh and there is a general lack of basic services. As a response, Red-Horse and her family founded the White Earth Cass Lake Annual Short Term Mission Trip whereby mission teams repair and weatherproof trailers and homes, lead activities for the community children, host a family evening event and distribute elder gift bags every summer.
Diane Edith Watson is a former American politician who served as US Representative for California's 33rd congressional district, serving from 2003 until 2011, after first being elected in the 32nd District in a 2001 special election. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is located entirely in Los Angeles County and includes much of Central Los Angeles, as well as such wealthy neighborhoods as Los Feliz.
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was a Native American activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, she lived on her family's allotment in Adair County, Oklahoma, until the age of 11, when her family relocated to San Francisco as part of a federal government program to urbanize Native Americans. After high school, she married a well-to-do Ecuadorian and raised two daughters. Inspired by the social and political movements of the 1960s, Mankiller became involved in the Occupation of Alcatraz and later participated in the land and compensation struggles with the Pit River Tribe. For five years in the early 1970s, she was employed as a social worker, focusing mainly on children's issues.
Lighthorse was the name given by the Five Civilized Tribes of the United States to their mounted police force. The Lighthorse were generally organized into companies and assigned to different districts. Perhaps the most famous were the Cherokee Lighthorsemen which had their origins in Georgia. Although the mounted police were disbanded when the Five Civilized Tribes lost their tribal lands in the late 19th century, some tribes still use the Lighthorse name for elements of their police forces.One unrecognized native lineage clan in Idaho, the Klamawah, has a small security force called Lighthorsemen as security for their gatherings and facilities. These security agents are required to be retired tribal/local police officers.
Gary Paul Davis, better known professionally as Litefoot, is an American business professional, actor, musician, and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He is the Executive Director of the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA), CEO of Davis Strategy Group and a member of the Forbes Finance Council. As an actor, he is known for his roles as Little Bear in the movie The Indian in the Cupboard, and Nightwolf in Mortal Kombat Annihilation.
The Cherokee Nation, also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century and includes people descended from members of the Old Cherokee Nation who relocated, due to increasing pressure, from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokee who were forced to relocate on the Trail of Tears. The tribe also includes descendants of Cherokee Freedmen, Absentee Shawnee, and Natchez Nation. As of 2021, over 400,000 people were enrolled in the Cherokee Nation.
Joe Byrd was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1995 to 1999. Byrd is bilingual, with an ability to communicate in both Cherokee and English. He ran for re-election in 1999, but lost to Chad "Corntassel" Smith. He ran again in 2003, but again lost to the incumbent Smith.
Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University, is a private tribal college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by missionary Almon C. Bacone, it was originally affiliated with the mission arm of what is now American Baptist Churches USA. Renamed as Bacone College in the early 20th century, it is the oldest continuously operated institution of higher education in Oklahoma. The liberal arts college has had strong historic ties to several tribal nations, including the Muscogee and Cherokee. The Bacone College Historic District has been on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Muskogee County, Oklahoma since 2014.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD) as well as the member regulation, enforcement, and arbitration operations of the New York Stock Exchange. The U.S. government agency that acts as the ultimate regulator of the U.S. securities industry, including FINRA, is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The National Market System (NMS) is a regulatory mechanism that governs the operations of securities trading in the United States. Its primary focus is ensuring transparency and full disclosure regarding stock price quotations and trade executions. It was initiated in 1975, when, in the Securities Acts Amendments of 1975, Congress directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to use its authority to facilitate the establishment of a national market system. The system has been updated periodically, for example with the Regulation NMS in 2005 which took into account technological innovations and other market changes.
Mary Lovelace Schapiro served as the 29th Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She was appointed by President Barack Obama, unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and assumed the Chairship on January 27, 2009. She is the first woman to be the permanent Chair of the SEC. In 2009, Forbes ranked her the 56th most powerful woman in the world.
Elisse B. Walter was the 30th Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from December 14, 2012 – April 10, 2013. She was appointed Chair by President Barack Obama on November 26, 2012, and sworn in on December 14, 2012. She was originally appointed as one of five SEC Commissioners by President George W. Bush and sworn in on July 9, 2008. Under designation by President Obama, she later served as Acting Chair during January 2009. She served as a Commissioner of the SEC until August 9, 2013.
Selling away in the U.S. securities brokerage industry is the inappropriat practice of an investment professional who sells, or solicits the sale of, securities not held or offered by the brokerage firm with which he is associated (affiliated). An example of the term expressed in a sentence is, "The broker was selling investments away from the firm." Brokers marketing securities must have obtained the appropriate securities licenses for various types of investments. Brokers in the U.S. may be "associated" with one or more Brokerage firms and must obtain licenses by passing standardized Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) exams such as the Series 6 or Series 7 exam. See List of Securities Examinations for types of securities licenses in the U.S.
Mary Kathryn Nagle is a playwright and an attorney specializing in tribal sovereignty of Native nations and peoples. She was born in Oklahoma City, OK, and is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She previously served as the executive director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program (YIPAP) from 2015 to 2019.
Mankiller is a 2017 documentary film directed by Valerie Red-Horse Mohl and executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd, concerning the life of Wilma Mankiller. The film had its US premiere on June 19, 2017, at the Los Angeles Film Festival. It was produced by Red-Horse Native Productions and Valhalla Entertainment and is a presentation of Vision Maker Media for PBS.
Martin P. Russo is an American trial lawyer of Sicilian and Cuban heritage from New York. He handles complex business litigation in state and federal courts throughout the United States, and other matters pending in administrative and alternative dispute resolution forums. He has handled bet-the-company litigations, complicated commercial disputes, financial services litigation, regulatory defense, white collar defense, corporate compliance and internal investigations for publicly held and private companies in the United States and abroad.
Naturally Native is a 1998 American drama film directed by Valerie Red-Horse. It is the first feature film created by and about Native American women, and the first entirely financed by a tribe.
Kimberly Norris Guerrero, is an American actress in film, TV, and stage; and a screenwriter. She has over two dozen screen appearances, generally playing roles of Indigenous women. Norris played Gen. Custer's Indian wife in the movie Son of the Morning Star, and guest starred in TV shows such as Walker, Texas Ranger, Longmire, Grey's Anatomy, and Seinfeld. She appeared in the well received mini-series, 500 Nations, and twice played Cherokee chief Wilma Mankiller. Norris-Guerrero is also a college professor, motivational speaker, Native American activist, and co-founder of two non-profit organizations aimed at aiding youth in Native American communities.
A pretendian is a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous identity by claiming to be a citizen of a Native American or Indigenous Canadian tribal nation, or to be descended from Native ancestors. The term is a pejorative colloquialism, and if used without evidence could be considered defamatory. As a practice, being a pretendian is considered an extreme form of cultural appropriation, especially if that individual then asserts that they can represent, and speak for, communities they do not belong to. It is sometimes also referred to as a form of fraud, ethnic fraud or race shifting.