Tribal Advisor

On August 14, 2021 Rebecca J. Richards was sworn in as the first female Chairwoman of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians since the Tribal Nation’s sovereignty was reaffirmed under legislation signed into law by President Clinton on September 21, 1994.

As the elected Chair of the Pokagon Band’s Tribal Government, Chairwoman Richards, along with the Pokagon Band Tribal Council, oversees the Tribe’s ongoing community development initiatives such as housing, education, family services, medical care, and cultural preservation for its more than 6,000 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.

As CEO of the Pokagon Gaming Authority, Chairwoman Richards is also involved in overseeing the Pokagon Band’s gaming operations which includes three Four Winds Casinos in Michigan including New Buffalo, Hartford and Dowagiac, and one Four Winds Casino in South Bend, Indiana.  The Pokagon Band also operates a variety of businesses through Mno-Bmadsen, its non-gaming investment enterprise.

The daughter of Bonnie and Tom Drake, Chairwoman Richards is a third generation member of the Pokagon Band.  She was raised in Hartford, Michigan and is a 1993 graduate of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.  Upon graduation from college, Richards moved to Hawaii and worked as an executive for Geico Insurance, but returned to Michigan when the Pokagon Band was granted federal recognition in 1994.  Since 1995, she served as Assistant Government Manager for the Band, leaving for a short stint as a grant manager at the Kellogg Foundation in Kalamazoo, before being elected Chairwoman.