Employee Highlight: Phannette Gray

With 2026 moving at a quick pace and as we celebrate the International Year of Women Farmer, we’re excited to showcase our next blog with an Employee Highlight featuring one of our seven Loan Officers, Phannette Gray. As a team of 15 here at Akiptan, we are proud to highlight the team members who stand firmly behind the belief that patient capital is the way to do financing in Native agriculture across Indian Country. Phannette joined the Akiptan team in 2023 after graduating from Chadron State College, putting her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration knowledge and passion straight to work making changes in the Native agriculture finance industry. She is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and is excited to support producers across Indian country. 

How did you start in the Native Ag Lending Industry? 

I grew up on my family's ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. I was involved in the day to day activities that included: branding, vaccinating, moving cattle and all of the duties to run a successful operation. I went to college for a Business Administration degree and when I graduated I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Then through mutual friends I heard that Akiptan was hiring, so I did some research and I really liked what Akiptan was doing. I thought to myself that this was a great opportunity, so I applied. I originally applied for the Administrative Officer position and was then asked if I was interested in being a Loan Officer instead and I said yes!  

What is your favorite part of working at Akiptan? 

My favorite part of working at Akiptan is definitely our team, we all work together in a joint effort, everyone is hard working, we have fun and we get stuff done; we can also joke around. I also like that we all want to help the producers because their success is our success, and being able to see the numbers first hand helps us to support the producers. Seeing Akiptan grow year by year is also my favorite part of working with the team.  

What would you say about the Akiptan team you work with? 

This goes for everyone on the team, we're all so passionate about our work, we take the extra steps for clients and for us the clients come first. Most of us are producers ourselves and we are able to bring that expertise to the lending table. 

What do you think makes Akiptan Unique? 

As producers, we've seen first hand the void within accessing Native agriculture financing. So being able to provide technical assistance and our trust based lending model with producers means that this is not just numbers for us, we want to celebrate the clients accomplishments and to be there through the struggles. I've been able to help a lot of beginning farmers and ranchers by providing Akiptan’s investment repayment option which means that the producers won’t be bombarded with debt at the beginning of the loan.

How has your passion for assisting those in Native Agriculture financing developed since working at Akiptan? 

Agriculture has been around for generations and growing up on a ranch I saw first hand the hard work to success and the barriers that most Native producers face. When I first joined Akiptan, I knew the importance of financial access and since then my understanding has deepened to support and empower sustainable growth for generational success. 

“When a producer reaches out with either struggles or successes, it fills me with gratitude knowing that they trust me and that they can come to me with anything that is happening within their operation.” - Phannette Gray, Loan Officer

To support them, I let them know how proud I am of them with their success. If they are having a struggle, I brainstorm with them and come up with solutions, and we talk through it. I appreciate that we can assist them and that we never want to say no, we want to find a way to say yes.

What are some of the successes that have happened while in your role as a loan officer at Akiptan? 

During my time at Akiptan as a Loan Officer, I’ve built strong client relationships and clients know that they can trust me. They know that they can reach out if they have a struggle, a big win or when they want to tell me about their operation. I appreciate that our producers are able to open up to me, it brings me joy knowing I'm helping. I’m constantly learning in my role as a Loan Officer and in the past two years my knowledge has grown and this encourages me to keep learning and growing to support producers. 

What are your goals for the next few months or years as a loan officer? 

My goals are to diversify my loan portfolio, my portfolio is heavy in the cattle industry and I know that if I want to grow, I’ll need to learn more about other productions like value added products, fisheries and anything non cattle related. I also really want to close my first land mortgage loan. The process is completely different from production lending and I know I can help more producers when I reach that goal. While with Akiptan I’ve been able to participate in our strategic planning process and this has really got my brain going. This planning shows that we want to help the entire agriculture industry as a whole and it inspires me to think about the future. 

What is one thing you would like people to know about your job? 

I would like people to know that we are constantly learning and growing here at Akiptan: as individuals, as a whole, and as an organization. We work with other CDFI’s and we collaborate on training so that others can bring their knowledge to the table.We want people to know that we are always available to ask for guidance and clarification. I’d like people to know that Akiptan is a safe space, it’s been great to see how others in the industry handle situations so we can improve together. It's also great to hear from other organizations, for example the collaboration with the Mountain Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition where members of our Loan team were mentors in the peer to peer space and shared our best practices to help other Native CDFI’s grow. I like that there are many opportunities for training to grow our development and it's great to know that Skya Ducheneaux our Executive Director and Melissa Curley our Director of Lending push us to be better as employees.

To learn more about how Akiptan’s Loan Officers can support your operation, visit us at www.akiptan.org or email us at info@akiptan.org.