Tribal Council Chairman, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indiana of Michigan and Indiana

President of the Pokagon Gaming Authority

Matthew Wesaw serves as a Non-Voting Director for the Board of Directors of Four Winds Ventures, LLC. He has more than 20 years of experience in the gaming and hospitality industries.

Matthew Wesaw is also the Tribal Council Chairman of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi of Michigan and Indiana, and President of the Pokagon Gaming Authority, which oversees the management and operations of the Tribe’s Four Winds Casinos gaming enterprises in New Buffalo, Harford and Dowagiac, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana.

The Pokagon Band’s sovereignty was reaffirmed under legislation signed into law by President Clinton on September 21, 1994. The Pokagon Band is dedicated to providing community development initiatives such as healthcare, education, housing, family services, and cultural preservation for its more than 6,300 citizens. The Pokagon Band’s ten-county service area includes four counties in Southwestern Michigan and six in Northern Indiana. Its main administrative offices are located in Dowagiac, Mich., with a satellite office in South Bend, Ind. In 2007, the Pokagon band opened Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, Mich., followed by Four Winds Hartford in 2011, Four Winds Dowagiac in 2013 and Four Winds South Bend in 2018. The Pokagon Band also operates a variety of businesses via Mno-Bmadsen and the Pokagon Development Authority, its non-gaming investment enterprises.

In addition to his leadership roles within the Pokagon Band, Chairman Wesaw is very active within the national Native American community. He is a past Board Member of the Lansing North American Indian Center and the Nokomis Learning Center. In 2009 Chairman Wesaw was elected by the leaders of the Midwest’s 37 federally-recognized Tribes to the position of area vice- president for the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest organization serving Native Americans in the country. In 2011 he was selected by the Native American Financial Officers Association as Tribal Leader of the Year.

Chairman Wesaw has also had a career dedicated to public service. Originally from Bangor, he enlisted with the Michigan State Police in 1975. During his 26-year career as a State Trooper, Chairman Wesaw received extensive departmental training in numerous specialty areas and was twice nominated for the coveted Gerstacker Award, given annually to recognize the Michigan State Police Trooper of the Year. In 1995 he was elected as the Vice President of the Michigan State Police Troopers Association, a post he served in until his retirement in January 2001. Following his retirement, Chairman Wesaw returned to work for the Troopers Association as the Director of Government Relations, where his lobbying and political experience helped represent and protect the interests of the State Police. He held that post until his retirement in March 2008.

Chairman Wesaw is also the recipient of three gubernatorial appointments, serving on the Michigan Community Service Commission, as past Chairman of the Michigan Commission on Indian Affairs, and as only the second Native American to be appointed to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. In 2013 Chairman Wesaw was selected as the Executive Director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. Chairman Wesaw is the first Native American to serve in the cabinet of a sitting Governor in Michigan.