Sam McCracken

Sam McCracken, General Manager of Nike’s N7 programs and Chairman of the N7 Fund, is a member of the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes in northeastern Montana on the Ft. Peck Indian Reservation. He became the Manager of Nike’s Native American Business in 2000 and has led the development of the Nike Air Native N7 shoe, the N7 retail collection, and the N7 Fund, which helps to create access to sport for Native American and Aboriginal youth in the United States and Canada. McCracken has pursued a strategy of increasing health and wellness through physical activity in Native American communities.

McCracken has been recognized with several prestigious awards for his passion and work. He was honored in 2004 with Nike’s Bowerman Award and with the George Washington Honor Medal by the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge, for his commitment to Native communities on health promotion programs. More recently, he received the 2010 President’s “Leadership Award” from the National Indian Gaming Association. In June 2010 McCracken was appointed by President Barack Obama to the US Department of Education’s National Advisory Council on Indian Education.