GENERAL COUNSEL

Blake Trueblood is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and has over a sixteen-year track record of success as an advocate, litigator, counselor, and entrepreneur. Blake previously served as General Counsel for a family of litigation finance and claims management companies assisting plaintiffs and law firms in personal injury, product liability, disaster recovery and mass tort practices. Blake was also previously the co-founder and Managing Partner of a Florida-based law firm that represented claimants in personal injury, sexual harassment, discrimination, and commercial claims. Blake has represented both individuals and businesses as claimants, and is a trusted counselor to entrepreneurs, Native American tribes, and media and entertainment personalities. Blake has been a regular commentator on the topics of Tribal economic development.

LEADERSHIP

In addition to his in-house and law firm leadership, Blake served as the Director of Business Development for the National Center for American Indian Economic Development, where he was instrumental in leading numerous programs on innovative opportunities for enterprise development in underserved Native American communities. Blake was also appointed Chief of Staff and General Counsel of a leading national trade association for tribal economic development.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Blake has made significant contributions to his local community and the larger Native American community nationally with pro bono work on behalf of minority-owned start-up businesses and tribal economic development organizations. Blake also mentors young entrepreneurs and lawyers in navigating the path to the next level of success.

PERSONAL

Blake was born in the midwest but raised most of his life by a single mom in Lakeland, Florida. He now splits his time between Los Angeles, CA, Washington, DC and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he has a home with his significant other Maria, their daughter Amber, and his dog Bella, a chihuahua-beagle mix.

Blake is an avid hiker and runner, and a widely respected practitioner and instructor of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Blake attained the rank of black belt in 2015 , earning his second degree in 2021.

EDCUATION

Washington University School of Law, Juris Doctor

H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University, Master’s in Business Administration, with Concentration in Entrepreneurship

Florida State University, Bachelor’s in Business Management

HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT

Thomas Lee Wright is an Academy Award and Emmy-nominated filmmaker known for his feature films and documentaries. As a screenwriter, he has worked for every major studio and wrote the original story and screenplay for the Warner Brothers hit "New Jack City" (Wesley Snipes, Chris Rock, Ice-T) which the New York Times called "an urban classic" upon the 25th anniversary of its premiere.

He began his career as a story editor at Walt Disney and Columbia Pictures and as a creative executive at Paramount where he worked on such films as "48 Hours", "Trading Places" and "Flashdance" before writing a draft of "The Godfather, Part Three" - his first studio writing assignment.

Wright developed the book and screenplay for Amazon Studio's "Last Flag Flying" (Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne), and executive produced this sequel to "The Last Detail" from a novel by Darryl Ponicsan. Directed by Richard Linklater, the film was chosen to be the opening night selection of the New York Film Festival and earned Laurence Fishburne an NAACP Image Award nod.

As a director, he made the prize-winning Discovery Channel documentary "Eight-Tray Gangster: The Making of a Crip", exploring L.A.'s 1992 Uprising from a gang member's perspective. He wrote and produced "Trade Off", an activist's chronicle of the turn-of-the-century WTO 'Battle in Seattle' protests, which won SIFF's Golden Space Needle Award and toured internationally with Human Rights Watch. He directed "The Long Ride Home" which follows an Iraq War veteran on a grueling 90-day cross-country bike trip to honor a fallen friend, arriving at Ground Zero on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Wright received an Academy Award nomination for producing "Edith+Eddie", a love story about America's oldest interracial newlyweds, directed by Laura Checkoway. The film was awarded Best Short of the year by the International Documentary Association, and also earned an Emmy nod after airing in NBC's 'Meet the Press' film festival, among other honors.

As an author, Wright co-wrote a pair of books about filmmaking - "Working in Hollywood", an oral history of the movie business that traces the making of a motion picture through jobs performed by workers behind-the-scenes, and "American Screenwriters", a collection of interviews with top writers discussing the art and business of their craft.

He is an honors graduate of Harvard University and studied Irish theater at Trinity College, Dublin.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Wright has served on the Board of Trustees of the Seattle Repertory Theater, the Stanley Ann Dunham Scholarship Fund and the Seattle International Film Festival.

EDUCATION

Harvard University, Bachelor of Arts

Trinity College - Dublin, Rotary Fellow

DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS AFFAIRS

Ed Gehres has over 25 years of experience as an advocate, trial lawyer, and organizational leader. Ed began his career as a political organizer and strategist for civil liberties and education organizations, and was drawn to trial practice and litigation strategy because of a desire to affect change on multiple levels – in the courts, in the legislature, and in public affairs strategy. Ed has also advocated on economic development, food sovereignty, and community development needs for Native American communities throughout the United States.

LEADERSHIP

Throughout his career, Ed has been recognized as a leader and an innovator in building firms and organizations. Most recently, Ed led the development of the legal department at a Miami-based investment platform as it grew from a handful of start-ups to over 50 portfolio companies in a dozen countries. Ed has been a partner and practice group leader at an American Lawyer 100 firm and led the practice group at a nationally-known boutique firm that was named Law Firm of the Year in its specialty by US News & World Report. Ed also has experience as General Counsel of organizations from their start-up phase through full-diversification and later-stage equity raises.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Ed has devoted time, energy, and advocacy to issues and organizations serving those who need a voice in law and policy. He co-founded the Maryland Down Syndrome Advocacy Coalition, helped the Down Syndrome Network of Montgomery County achieve 501(c)(3) status, and served on the Board of Directors of the ARC of Montgomery County.

PERSONAL

Ed grew up in the Midwest and is proud to call Detroit his home town. Ed is the grandson of coal miners and assembly line workers, and brings this work ethic along with the empathy of his father’s ministry in the Presbyterian Church and the curiosity of his mother’s work as an educator and non-profit leader to his client representations today. Ed moved to Washington, DC to work on civil rights, civil liberties, and education issues, and was inspired to study law after being told his draft of a new bill on education equality wouldn’t be shown to a potential sponsoring Congressman because he was not a lawyer. A version of the bill was eventually made law, but by then Ed was off ensuring that no barriers remained to his work as an advocate.

EDUCATION

University of Virginia School of Law, Juris Doctor

George Washington University, Graduate School of Political Management, Master of Arts

University of Michigan, Bachelor of Arts