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WISCONSIN NATIVE LOAN FUND, INC.

Staff

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Cheryl Cloud

Chair/Director

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Ms. Cloud has worked in the Indian Housing and Community Development Industry for 10 years, Tribal Transportation Industry for 15 years and has over 25 years of contract/grant management experience.  She’s been a Housing Director, Tribal Operations Manager and a Small Business Development & Technical Assistance Specialist, as well as having served on her Tribal Business Development Corporation and worked at HUD (Native American Programs).  She has a B.S. in Business, Management and Leadership and is an enrolled Bad River Tribal Member.  

 

In her tenure as a Housing Director, she successfully acquired an ICDBG grant (competitive) from HUD to develop new housing stock in partnership with her State USDA office, leveraging grant and mortgage lending funds to achieve a shared mission and has administered oversight to over half a dozen LIHTC projects.

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David Gouwens

Chief Operating Officer

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David Gouwens has been in Operations Management roles for over 10 years and working with WINLF for 12 years, first as an IT consultant and as COO for the last 5 years.  Prior to joining WINLF, David owned an IT consulting company and had worked for 9 years as the IT Director for a multi-state finance company.  As such, he developed the majority of the software used by the company and currently oversees all client and portfolio management software programs at WINLF.  While not official in title, David has also operated as WINLF’s CFO and is relied upon in the NCDFI 

 

Industry for his expert finance & accounting advice.  David has bachelor’s degrees in both Physics and Theater, and he is a USDA certified 502 loan packager.

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Janice St. Germaine

Director of Lending

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Janice St. Germaine is a Lac du Flambeau Tribal member with 15 years of lending and loan servicing experience in housing, business and consumer lines of credit. The training she has received through NeighborWorks between 2015 and 2021 includes Intermediate Underwriting for Micro & Small Business Lenders, Managing Lending Operations, Loan Servicing and Collections, Housing Affordability: Building Competency in Housing Counseling, and Helping Clients Understand New Manufactured Homes.  In addition, she attained an NMLS Pre-License Education Course Completion Certificate in 2022 (scheduled to test in 2023) and has served on the Board of a Wisconsin NCDFI.

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Jeannie Felix

Director of Client Development

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Jeannie Felix has been certified in multiple curriculums to deliver training, technical assistance and provide coaching/counseling to clients including Financial Skills for Families, Building Financial Confidence, Pathways Homebuyer Education, Pre-Homebuyers Education and Native CDFI Practitioner Certification Program - Development Services Specialization.  She is a certified HUD Housing Counselor.  She also has multiple years of office management experience with a focus on computer software programs with main principles in accounting and data tractability.  She oversees client outcome reporting for multiple federal grants/programs.  She earned an A.D in Human Services with a Psychology certificate and is also an entrepreneur in small agricultural development and businesses.

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Ross Davis

Grant Manager

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Ross Davis joined the WINLF team in 2021 as Grant Manager, where he assists in securing grants and other funding opportunities to support WINLF's mission and ensuring those opportunities are successful. Prior to joining WINLF, Ross worked for nearly 20 years in roles that largely involved successful fundraising in Indian country, such as a grant consultant for nonprofits and federal/local government agencies involved in Indian programs and as a community development specialist for an Indian-based nonprofit whose mission was to reduce poverty among Indian tribes in the Wisconsin Northwoods. Ross has also periodically served as an adjunct lecturer of sociology, in which he has a doctorate. He is originally from Indianapolis, Indiana.

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Christine Haling

Loan & Collections Clerk

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Christine Haling has a bachelor & master degree in Business Administration and Associate Degrees in Accounting and Small Business Management – all from Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa University.  She has previous work experience in managing multi-million dollar budgets, contract management and office management.  She maintains involvement with the American Indian Science & Engineering Society, American Indian Indigenous Business Leaders and American Indian Higher Education Consortium.  She is a descendant of the Lac du Flambeau Tribe.

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Kristy Carlson

Housing Client Development Counselor

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Kristy has previous mortgage experience as a loan processor.  She has owned multiple businesses over the last 20-plus years, such as co-owner of a cattle/horse ranch and short-term rental property with her husband in northern Wisconsin.  She has years of experience teaching and working with youth, such as homeschooling her older children and advocating for the special needs department for her local school.  Also, she has always been involved with her community, such as spending the last 10 years serving her county’s fair in connection with event planning, fundraising, advertising, and judging exhibits.  She is a freelance photographer and spends her free time enjoying the outdoors through hiking, rockhounding, paddle boarding, and traveling.

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Krysanda Bissonette

Accounting Assistant

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Krysanda has experience in online/e-banking services, underwriting, consumer lending, and financial education in part through working at a credit union.  With her background in tax preparation, she now helps advocate tax advice to tribal members.  In her spare time, she volunteers to show up as an emerging leader to help direct group initiatives like The Young Professionals to be able to help give back to indigenous schools, peoples, and their communities.

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Lisa Schuman

Executive Assistant

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Lisa previously served as an administrative assistant for the child support office at the Lac du Flambeau Tribe.  She has an associate degree in Casino/Hotel Management and is finishing up her MBA at LCO Ojibwe University.  She has been a member of the Lac du Flambeau Ambulance service for 20 years as well as a director for suicide prevention for youth in Lac du Flambeau, where she has lived for the past 30 years.

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