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ivian McCutchen, age 45, from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, never expected to be CEO of anything. She was more comfortable behind the scenes. Efficiency, operations, and compliance was where she thrived. But a er 20 years behind the scenes, she was asked to step out of the background and into the leading role as the first female CEO of Muscogee Nation Businesses, LLC, or MNB. "You put your head down and you keep working and someone will notice," said McCutchen, who served as chief operating officer and facility security officer at MNB before accepting her current role as CEO. "I was fortunate that the board saw potential in me." Created in 2015, Muscogee Nation Businesses is a holding company that was a restructure CREATING DIVERSE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR PEOPLE HOW MUSCOGEE NATION BUSINESSES AND FIRST FEMALE CEO VIVIAN MCCUTCHEN ARE CREATING A NETWORK OF EMPOWERMENT— FROM OKLAHOMA TO RIGHT HERE IN MACON STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY HARMONY APEL of Muscogee Nation Business Enterprise, a company formed by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in 1999. With six subsidiaries, the goal is to diversify the revenue streams of the Nation through economic development while promoting the social, physical, and economic advancement of tribal citizens by creating employment opportunities. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation is the fourth largest tribal nation in the country, spanning 11 counties in Oklahoma with ancestral ties to Macon. The tribe provides crucial benefits to its approximately 97,000 citizens such as veteran services, housing assistance, nutrition programs, higher education assistance, and emergency disaster funding, to name a few. The tribe is able to provide these services to its citizens with funding from gaming revenue and other businesses created through the Muscogee Nation Businesses subsidiaries. "It's two fold," McCutchen explained. "Turning a profit with these businesses helps the Nation to provide essential services to our citizens, but these businesses also employ V VIVIAN MCCUTCHEN WITH HER MUSCOGEE NATION BUSINESSES TEAM APRIL/MAY 2023 | maconmagazine.com 69