November 1, 2005 - Tribal IT company grows among Ho-Chunk's dozen

WINNEBAGO — Some of their employees are half a world away, helping the Iraqi people develop a democratic society and hone a constitution.

Others are building databases of DNA information to aid the Mexican government in solving crimes and identifying victims of natural disasters.

Or posing as terrorists in military training camps so U.S. soldiers can prepare for real attacks.

Not the kind of work you would expect a Nebraska tribe to be doing.

But the Winnebago Tribe isn’t just any tribe. Through more than a decade of smart business practices, this once failing tribe has become a player in information technology, in large part due to defense contracts with the U.S. government.

It all began six years ago, when the tribe’s independent economic development arm — Ho-Chunk Inc. — founded All Native Systems.

“The philosophy of Ho-Chunk Inc. is to fill a need and start companies on the reservation,” said Janice Jessen, marketing director for Blue Earth Marketing, which serves Ho-Chunk Inc. “That’s been a very successful pattern.”

Originally started as a computer manufacturing company, All Native Systems has since abandoned that business and moved into the realm of information technology, professional services, voice and data communication solutions.

Through its work for the U.S. Department of Defense, it has quickly become the fastest growing limb on the many-tentacled Ho-Chunk Inc., which now has 12 subsidiaries.

Besides All Native Systems, those subsidiaries include a construction company, a modular home manufacturing firm and a fuel and cigarette distribution enterprise.

But it is the recent growth of All Native Systems that has surprised those at Ho-Chunk Inc. the most.

All Native Systems now employs nearly 150 people, said Terry Mogensen, CEO of the company.

Bill Metcalf, business manager for the company, credits the defense department with helping All Native Systems find so many profitable opportunities.

“They’ve mentored us, given us the road, shown us where we can focus some of our resources,” he said.

By networking within the defense world, All Native Systems has won contracts to hire lawyers and other legal experts to aid the Iraqi people in drafting their constitution.

The company has offices at Camp Atterbury near Indianapolis — where it provides actors who serve in military training drills — and in Pensacola, Fla., — where it employs specialists responsible for maintaining a U.S. Navy facility’s telecommunications system.

It is also developing a database for the Mexican government to help it analyze DNA and crime data. The country hopes to use the database to solve crimes and identify victims of natural disasters.

“It may help in identifying victims or it may help exonerate those convicted of crimes,” Metcalf said.

Among the defense jobs Metcalf is most proud of is a multimillion- dollar contract All Native Systems won to provide internal computer systems management for the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha.

All Native Systems partnered with four other information technology corporations to win the 10-year, $525 million contract. The largest of its partners on the contract is the massive Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif.

All Native System’s work with STRATCOM holds personal meaning for Metcalf, who retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2004 after 20 years, eight of which spent managing STRATCOM’s administrative functions.

When he left the military, he decided he didn’t want to be a number. He had spent the previous eight years working for a company too large to remember his name.

He wanted to take part in something small, something new and growing.

“They were a small business actually growing,” he said of All Native Systems. “I wanted to be part of something from the ground up.”

So he left the sprawling STRATCOM campus last year for a 500-square-foot office in Bellevue.

He tells his story sitting at a desk at Ho-Chunk Inc.’s corporate headquarters in Winnebago.

Outside a nearby window, construction on a $20 million commercial and residential village could be seen taking place across the road. The village — paid for in part by federal grants and casino and Ho-Chunk Inc. profits — is intended to incorporate tribal design with houses and town homes worth up to $110,000.

The tribe launched Ho-Chunk Inc. in 1995 using $8.8 million of its casino profits over two years from its WinneVegas Casino in nearby Sloan, Iowa.

Just nine years later, the company posted total revenue of $93.5 million for 2004 alone.    Net income was $983,000 for 2004. 

Ho-Chunk has transformed the reservation town of Winnebago into a thriving community, and helped drive unemployment down from 70 percent 11 years ago to less than 15 percent today.

“It’s made a dramatic impact on jobs,” said Janice Jessen of Blue Earth Marketing.

It’s a success story that has earned the tribe praise from organizations like the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, which honored the tribe in 2000 for outstanding tribal governance.

And it has given at least one man a chance to make a difference in the lives of the Winnebago people.

“You can look out at that window and see a community that is being built out there,” Metcalf said. “We’re pretty proud of what we’re doing.”