John Jurrius, CEO

Mr. Jurrius has spent over 35-years developing projects and providing financial solutions exclusively in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada and Tribal Nations in the United States (“Nations”). His vision and determination to assist Indigenous Nations in using their rights and resources to create economies capable of sustaining their socio-economic needs has led to the creation of hundreds of millions of dollars of new long-term commercial revenue for Nations. These assets have provided above sector returns for investors while at the same time creating material wealth for the Nations. 

While serving internally to Indigenous communities in the first 20 years of his career, as a business advisor and investment banker, Mr. Jurrius recognized that accessing equity capital is the most difficult barrier for Nations as they strive for independence and financial sovereignty. With this realization Mr. Jurrius set out to create an exclusive platform that would bridge private investment with Indigenous Communities. In 2008, Mr. Jurrius launched Native American Resource Partners (“NARP”), the first investment firm dedicated to serving the Indigenous space. As a portfolio company of Houston-based Quantum Energy Partners LLC, NARP’s investments, were strictly limited by its sources of capital to non-renewable energy projects. In 2016, with the recognition that Indigenous Nations needed a dedicated capital source that could partner to deploy across all commercial sectors, Mr. Jurrius founded Indigena Capital as the first sector agnostic capital provider in the Indigenous space.

Mr. Jurrius has been the architect in providing and sourcing more than $2.5 billion of capital to Indigenous projects that have spanned the infrastructure, energy, renewable energy, agriculture and real estate sectors. This includes over $200 million since 2012 into Canadian Indigenous partnerships. These activities led to the creation of two, billion-dollar Nation led commercial platforms, and the results included a AAA credit rating by a U.S. Indigenous Nation in 2001 from Moody’s and Fitch which the Nation continues to carry today. 

Mr. Jurrius has received recognition of his unique and innovative ideas on the development rights and capabilities of Indigenous Nations and has been a champion of economic development that benefits both Indigenous and non-Indigenous interests. His advocation in educating both the investment and Indigenous communities in the generating power of working in partnership and the aligning of vision and interests have been instrumental in bridging the gap to equity funding for Nations.   

In recognition of Mr. Jurrius’ work, Mr. Jurrius was conferred the honour of being inducted into the Kainai Chieftainship in 2012. This honour is given by the Blood Tribe of Alberta and is seen as an official bridge between cultures. 

Prior to his work with Nations, Mr. Jurrius attended Angelo State University after serving in the U.S. Military as a military intelligence analyst.

Christine Robertson, President

Ms. Robertson is the President and co-founder of the Indigena Capital platform.  She brings diverse executive experience, having served on several senior management teams in her 30-year career.  Her incomparable technical and business background enables her to seamlessly blend the skills necessary to direct the Indigena partnering model to actively deploy equity capital to empower Indigenous rights and resources, while achieving above sector returns on investments for all partners.  

Prior to forming Indigena, Ms. Robertson was the Chief Operating Officer, of Native American Resource Partners (“NARP”), a portfolio company of Houston-based Quantum Energy Partners LLC that also partnered exclusively with Indigenous Nations to provide capital, expertise, and experience.  Christine was concurrently the COO of two of NARP’s partnerships which were both cited in a 2014 United Nations Report by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples as positive initiatives that encourage Indigenous participation in economic development activities and benefits.

Ms. Robertson holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with distinction from the University of Calgary, and began her career in the energy sector where she was instrumental in planning and implementing the significant growth of several companies.  She excels at creating alignment and partnerships and is an expert in the regulatory processes prevalent to partnering with Indigenous Nations.

In 2019, Ms. Robertson was recognized by WXN as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the category of Trailblazers and Trendsetter – an award recognizing women who are first in their field and have made a great contribution to Canadian society.

Bobby Bowers, Executive Vice President

Mr. Bowers is a finance professional, with a diverse background in the sector.  He possesses a strong financial and operational skillset that has allowed him to spend his 35-year career working in ascending roles in both commercial and investment banking.  He excels at working at any stage within a company’s evolution and adds direct experience in both leading fund raises in the capital markets and helping companies achieve external growth via mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to joining Indigena Capital, Mr. Bowers ran his own financial firm, and was a Managing Director of AMA Capital Partners. Mr. Bowers has a long history of working with the Indigena model, as he was a part of the syndicated bank group that financed Indigena’s predecessor in acquiring Red Cedar Gas Gathering in partnership with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. Mr. Bowers holds a BA in Economics from Brown University and Masters in Business Administration from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Susan Hammer, Vice President, Client Relations

Ms. Hammer has worked exclusively with Indigenous Nations for almost 20 years. She works closely with Indigenous Nations’ Chiefs and Councils, communities and their representatives, and has successfully helped organise and guide Nations through designation and referendum votes. Ms. Hammer has a thorough understanding and appreciation for the many challenges and complexities of endeavoring to create economically sustainable development within a federal regulatory framework.

Ms. Hammer started working with Tribal Nations in 1995 as Finance Director of the Southern Ute Tribe’s housing entity. She went on to work with Southern Ute’s Growth Fund as one of the five founding employees. In 2005, Ms. Hammer became the Director of Tribal Housing for another Tribal Nation. The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recognized her achievement through the granting of the Outstanding Achievement award in recognition of her efforts. She also served on the board of the National Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) representing all Tribes in the US on Housing issues. In 2008 Ms. Hammer joined Native American Resource partners and is well respected in the Indigenous communities with whom Indigena partners.

Michael Stemp, Vice President, Operations

Mr. Stemp is a professional engineer with over 25 years of field operations and technical expertise. Prior to joining Indigena, Mr. Stemp was an energy services Operations Manager and technical subject matter expert predominantly with Schlumberger Oilfield services. He has overseas operational experience in South East Asia, the United States and the Middle East. Mr. Stemp focuses on execution and safety in all of our operations.

Mr. Stemp holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary and is a registered member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta. Upon joining Indigena in 2015, he managed the growth of our Tribal North Energy Services division and since 2019 has been managing our capital expansion at Kainai Forage.

Justin Ferguson, Vice President

Mr. Ferguson has spent his over 15-year career finding innovative ways to build organizations, coalitions and partnerships between diverse stakeholders in the public and private sectors. He excels at finding ways to bridge the gap between parties using mutually beneficial and collaborative solutions.

Mr. Ferguson holds a B.A. in Political Science and History, with honours, from Carleton University.

Frank Opolski, Corporate Controller

Mr. Opolski is the Corporate Controller overseeing Indigena Capital’s finance and accounting team. Prior to joining Indigena, Mr. Opolski worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the asset & wealth management assurance group in Dallas, TX, where he primarily led audit engagements of complex private equity funds.

Mr. Opolski is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.B.A. in Accounting and minor in Finance, as well as a Master’s in Professional Accounting with a concentration on Financial Reporting and Assurance.

Nicola Pomeroy, Canadian Controller

Ms. Pomeroy is Indigena Capital Canada’s Controller, overseeing the financials pertaining to the Canadian operations. Ms. Pomeroy has 18 years' of experience in various financial roles and industries including oil and gas service, construction, and communications. Ms. Pomeroy is actively pursuing an Executive Master of Business Administration Degree at the University of Fredericton specializing in Business Analytics.

Ryan Pool, Associate

Mr. Pool is an associate at Indigena Capital focused on due diligence, deal execution, and project management. Prior to joining Indigena, Ryan worked in the oil and gas sector, most recently as Completions Manager for Capitan Energy, an independent oil and gas company in the Delaware Basin. Ryan also has experience in venture capital and early-stage due diligence, spending time with Seed Round Capital and the Aggie Angel Network.

Ryan holds a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.B.A. with a concentration in Finance from Texas A&M University.