Emily R. White Hat, J.D.
Vice President of Programs
Emily R. White Hat, J.D., (Nape Waste Win, “Good Hand Woman”) Sicangu Lakota, Aske Gluwipi Tiospaye, is the Vice President of Programs at the American Indian College Fund where she supports implementation of place-based programming to strengthen educational opportunities for Native students at tribal colleges and universities. Emily earned a juris doctorate and a natural resources law certificate from the University of New Mexico School of Law. She has a bachelor’s degree in forestry with a concentration in fire science and a minor in rangeland ecology from Colorado State University, and is a tribal college graduate with an associate of arts degree in Lakota history and culture from Sinte Gleska University. In 2025, Emily completed the Tribal Leaders Program at the Harvard Business School. Her experiences as a former firefighter, emergency medical technician, policy researcher, and legal background have all been vital to her work in program development and implementation with tribal nations and tribal colleges using a capacity-building approach. In 2015, Emily was recognized by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development as one of the “Native American 40 Under 40” award recipients. Emily is also an artist and enjoys quilting, beading, and riding her motorcycles.
Denver, Colo., August 7, 2025—Emily White Hat, J.D. (Sicangu Lakota), Vice President of Programs at the American Indian College Fund, was one of 76 participants in the Leading Tribal Nations Program at Harvard Business School in June. The six-day program, held in collaboration with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), is designed to equip tribal leaders with the knowledge and skills needed to advance their capacity for strategic governance through collaborative learning and problem-solving through the case-study model facilitated on the Harvard Business School campus.
