Joel Smith has spent his career providing access to capital for Tribal communities nationwide through his work at Native American Bank (NAB) and non-profits serving Indian Country. NAB is a multi-Tribally owned mission-focused, certified CDFI. It specializes in lending on reservation and to Tribal governments, enterprises and housing authorities.
Smith has worked 15 years at NAB, including 11 as chief credit officer. In January of 2024 he was also named president of community development. Previously, he was a credit officer and asset and credit operations examiner for CoBank focusing on rural infrastructure finance. Smith is a Tribal member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and a board member of the Caddo Nation Economic Development Agency. He serves on the board of the Denver Indian Center, as well as the loan committees for the NDN Fund and the Oweesta Corporation.
Smith has a BBA in finance/accounting from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA in finance from University of Colorado at Denver.