Raycen Raines

Raycen AmericanHorse Raines: Navy Veteran, Entrepreneur and Businessman. Enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and advocate for local grass roots Tribal and community economic development.

Professional Background

After serving in the US Navy as a young man, Raines has settled into his grandfather’s footsteps as a Native businessman and advocate for Native American social issues. Raines has been in the financial and insurance industry since 2000 and has been working towards economic development specific to Indian Country since 2005.

Early in his career Raines focused on personal finance for individual Native Americans. Specifically, on programs which focus on Native American health care, insurance, retirement, and long term care with Retirement Protection Strategies, Inc. The company provided financial planning for in Native American communities, with the goal of bringing self-reliance to Native American communities through a combination of traditional strategies and modern business concepts.

Under the mentorship of many well-known leaders in Tribal economic development and finance, such as financier Valerie Red Horse and attorney Dennis Ickes, Raines transitioned away from personal finance to tribal finance and economic development. Developing expertise in a variety of tribal economic development vehicles such as Tribal Section 17 corporations, Tribal Economic Development Bonds, and federal 8(a) contracting preferences.

Raines served a Project Director for Nations Business Group, a business development firm located in Washington, DC lead then by tribal business leader Pete Homer. Raines was an advocate of the firm’s regional development model that worked with local tribal businesses to identify new revenue streams, and to obtain federal contracts though the SBA 8(a) program, backed with partnerships from major corporations.

In 2012 Raines decided to take his unique set of Tribal economic development skills back to his father’s reservation, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and work more directly on tribal community economic development. Raines lives in the Wakpamni Lake Community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and serves as an economic development consultant to the local tribal municipal government.

Personal Background

Born on October 23, 1975 in Salem, Oregon and raised primarily in Juneau, Alaska where his mother worked for the Indian Health Service. All four of Raines’s grandparents were teachers at the Chemewa Indian School in Oregon, where his parents subsequently met. Raines’s mother, Elizabeth Coburn, was born to Blackfeet (Margaret Pepion) and Klamath (Joseph Francis Coburn) parents, and is now with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Raines’s father, William Clifford Ballard, was born to Oglala Sioux (Evelyn Clifford) and Cherokee (John K. Ballard) parents, and currently with the Indian Health Service (IHS).

Raines was greatly influenced by his grandparents and elders who served as tribal chairmen, council members, and Native entrepreneurs and business leaders. His grandmother’s sister, Eloise Cobell, (of the $3.4 billion Cobell settlement) helped encourage and guide him towards his efforts in economic development. His maternal grandfather Joseph Coburn was a Klamath tribal chairman and helped lead the restoration of the Klamath tribe.

Raines was predominately raised by his mother, step-father Chris Rummell, and maternal grandparents. A strained relationship with his birth father eventually led to Raines changing his surname. Raines’ is also a member of the Blue Bird family of the Wakpamni Lake Community.