Gavin S.
Clarkson

Dr. Gavin Clarkson, Esq. is an accomplished, well-rounded attorney whose practice is focused primarily on tribal finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and more. He is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy and Economic Development – Indian Affairs in the United States Department of the Interior, where he managed the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, the Office of Self-Governance, and supervised a multi-billion-dollar oil, gas, and minerals portfolio for all of Indian Country.

Dr. Clarkson has also held the Series 7, 24, and 66 Securities licenses from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He has helped tribes raise nearly $1 billion for tribal governmental and entrepreneurial enterprises using a variety of financial mechanisms including taxable and tax-exempt bonds, bank credit facilities, and New Markets Tax Credits.

An enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Dr. Clarkson earned his undergraduate and MBA degrees from Rice University and his Doctorate in Technology and Operations Management from the Harvard Business School. His doctoral thesis was a series of essays on intellectual property strategy. Dr. Clarkson is also the only doctoral graduate in the history of the Harvard Business School who has placed in a livestock show.

Simultaneously with his doctoral studies, Dr. Clarkson graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and President of the Native American Law Students Association.