Biography

Twila Martin Kekahbah is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and has served in a variety of distinguished roles throughout her career. Most notably, Twila was the first female to be seated as the head of Tribal Government for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, serving three terms and leading the effort to recode Turtle Mountain Tribal Laws. She served as Director of Turtle Mountain Community College and was involved in the development of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, later she served as project director in a capital construction campaign to construct a new campus for the college. Twila has also served as the Policy Analyst for the National Indian Health Board, Director of Tribal Analytic Institute at United Tribes Technical College, and Community Laison for the Northwest Area Foundation working to help communities reduce poverty across eight states. She was also a partner in Kashpaw Enterprises, an American Indian female-owned company which provided technical assistance to Tribes on project and business development, policy and procedures, fiscal accountability and management practices. A few of the board positions and appointments she has held include: Office of Women’s Health - Minority Women’s Health Panel of Experts; Housing Assistance Council, President of Board; UND Indians Into Medicine; Rural Development Leadership Network; Native People Cancer Control; Native Elders Research Committee. She has visited over 34 countries with the majority of the visits sponsored by: the W.K. Kellogg Leadership Award; the U.S. State Department; the Phelps-Stokes Fund; the Ford Foundation Fellowship; the Rural Development Leadership Network; and Oxfam. Currently Twila is an independent contractor where she writes proposals, reviews proposals specific to grant application requirements, conducts focus groups, and addresses research studies.