Roberta Jamieson is a Mohawk woman from Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario. In November 2004, she was appointed president and CEO of Indspire and executive producer of the Indspire Awards, a nationally broadcast gala honouring Indigenous achievement. Roberta led the development of the K-12 Indspire Institute, a virtual resource centre focused on increasing high school completion rates and K-12 success, and in 2013, under her leadership, Indspire launched a $20 million fundraising campaign to support its Building Brighter Futures scholarship program. Roberta was the first Aboriginal woman to earn a law degree in Canada, the first non-parliamentarian appointed an ex-officio member of a House of Commons committee, the first female ombudsman of Ontario, and in December 2001, she became the first woman elected chief of Six Nations of the Grand River. She has received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award and the Council of Ontario Universities’ David C. Smith Award, and she is an officer of the Order of Canada.
