Valerie Red-Horse

Valerie Red-Horse, of Cherokee heritage, graduated cum laude from UCLA’s Theater Arts Department and further studied at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. She began her entertainment career with extensive television and film work as a leading actress. Valerie turned to writing, developing and producing in 1993.  Her original screenplay, LOZEN, based on the life story of an Apache woman warrior, was selected for the prestigious Sundance Institute’s Writers Lab in 1995. That same year, Ms. Red-Horse created the story for the Emmy-winning CBS Special, MY INDIAN SUMMER.

In 1996, she produced an American Film Institute project, LOOKS INTO THE NIGHT, (Winner: Best Live Action Short-American Indian Film Festival, 1996), on which she also served as screenwriter and lead actress. Dedicated to accurate portrayals and quality material, Ms. Red-Horse formed her own production company: RED-HORSE NATIVE PRODUCTIONS, INC. The premiere project, the independent film, NATURALLY NATIVE, is a contemporary Indian women’s story which Red-Horse wrote, produced, co-directed, starred in, and distributed. NATURALLY NATIVE was funded entirely by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut, premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, received multiple festival awards and a U.S. theatrical release. In 2002, Red-Horse Native Productions produced, in association with Gale Anne Hurd’s Valhalla Motion Pictures, TRUE WHISPERS, a documentary about the Navajo Code Talkers, written, directed and produced by Ms. Red-Horse, which aired in a PBS national TV broadcast in 2002/2003.  Ms. Red-Horse also produced, wrote and directed POP HUNTER’S DEW DROP INN for NAPT/PBS and was competitively selected to participate in the FOX Network Diversity Writers Program. Previous projects include WINDOWS ON MARS (NEA), BEAUTY (NBC/Overbrook) and LIVING VOICES (NMAI).  She is currently producing/directing a film for the Choctaw Nation regarding their involvement in WWI.

Ms. Red-Horse is the founder of the non-profit organization H.A.P.N. (Hollywood Access Program for Natives) which provides internships and career opportunities for Native Americans. Ms. Red-Horse was awarded the “Eagle Spirit Award” and “Producer of the Year” by the American Indian Film festival, was a Girls, Inc. honoree, a Changing Images in America Honoree, a Cherokee Medal of Honor Awardee and the Women’s Leadership Exchange 2004 Compass Award recipient. She is a current member of the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

Additionally, Ms. Red-Horse currently heads the Tribal Finance Division and the Tribal Finance Asset Management Division of Western International Securities. Under Ms. Red-Horse’s leadership Western’s banking division closed three major tribal financings in 2005, the most recent a $200 million-dollar bond/credit facility for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana (co-managed with Deutsche Bank Securities). Previously Ms. Red-Horse was the founder and majority shareholder of Red-Horse Securities, LLC, and Native Nations Securities where she served as Chairman and CEO. She began her securities industry career in 1978 in the Investment Banking and High Yield Bond departments of Drexel Burnham Lambert.   Ms. Red-Horse has been engaged on over fifty tribal financings including debt, equity and advisory transactions. She works with large and small tribes throughout North America providing them with financial solutions to a wide range of complex economic issues including early stage development funding to later stage refinancing.

She has assisted tribal clients with bond structuring and placement (both taxable and tax exempt), bank debt (both single lender and syndicate financing) as well as financial advisory and consulting services. Specializations include gaming and gaming related enterprises, municipal finance, private placements, infrastructure development, power generation and distribution, housing, and land acquisition. Ms. Red-Horse has been requested to testify as a professional expert regarding tribal finance for both State and Federal Legislative bodies, is a Presidential Appointee to the National Small Business Advisory Council, is an active speaker on the National Speaker Circuit, and was profiled by Fortune Small Business Magazine as one of eight minority entrepreneurs to watch. She was featured on the cover of MINORITY BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR in the Nov/Dec 2004 issue, received the Business Woman of the Year Honors by the CA Women’s Referral Service for 2004, and was featured in the May 2005 issue of WORKING MOTHER.

Ms. Red-Horse earned a B.A. with Cum Laude honors from UCLA and holds six NASD registrations: Registered General Securities Representative (Series 7), Uniform State Law Securities Agent (Series 63), Registered General Securities Principal (Series 24), Registered Equity Trader Representative (Series 55), Registered Municipal Principal (Series 53) and Registered Investment Advisor (Series 65).  Ms. Red-Horse is an elected Tribal Council Member of the Texas Cherokee and has been married to former NFL football player, Curt Mohl for 24 years; they have three children, ages 21, 16 and 8.