Jason will focus on building business relationships and supporting Native Edge Institutes on the East Coast

The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (the National Center) is proud to announce the hiring of Jason Lambert as a Business Development Specialist. Jason was brought on the team as a part of the recent Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) grant that the National Center is using to facilitate Native Edge Institutes (NEIs) to the East Coast. Jason will be responsible for the National Center’s East Coast outreach and providing support for economic development, managing resources, and consulting and building business relationships with small businesses, which started with last week’s NEIs in Orlando, Florida, and Cherokee, North Carolina. He was a 2011 recipient of the National Center’s Native American 40 under 40 award.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jason into the National Center family,” said National Center President and CEO Chris James. “The National Center will use his expertise and skills to broaden business and economic development for tribes and Native American entrepreneurs on the East Coast. A past winner of the Native American 40 under 40 award, Jason’s addition will further emphasize the ‘national’ in the National Center – from the Qualla Boundary in Western North Carolina to the interior of Alaska.”

A member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Jason has over 10 years of experience as a supervisory and personnel manager. He was the Dean of Workforce Innovations and Economic Development at Southwestern Community College, as well as owning his own company, JL Strategic Solutions, LLC. He also served as the Director of Commerce for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians where he led strategies used to increase development for the Cherokee tribe. He currently serves on various boards for several notable Native American tribes and organizations such as the Cherokee Historical Association Board of Trustees, the Tennessee Valley Corridor, as well as previously serving on the USET Economic Development and Entrepreneurship Committee.

Jason has a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a minor in American Indian studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also has a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Jason currently lives in Whittier, North Carolina, just outside the Eastern Cherokee trust lands with his wife and two sons.