Janie Simms Hipp Named 2025 Chickasaw Nation Dynamic Woman of the Year

Details

By Chickasaw Nation Media

June 16, 2025

THACKERVILLE, Okla. – Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby named Janie Simms Hipp, J.D., LL.M., as the 2025 Chickasaw Nation Dynamic Woman of the Year during the annual Dynamic Women of the Chickasaw Nation Conference conducted May 29-30 at WinStar Resort and Convention Center.

“The Chickasaw Nation has been blessed with numerous talented and selfless women whose contributions have shaped and strengthened the course of our tribe and our country,” Governor Anoatubby said. “From the earliest pioneers to the trailblazers of today, we are thankful for the many dynamic women of the great unconquered Chickasaw Nation.

“This esteemed award pays tribute to a Chickasaw woman who has inspired, given hope, or opened new possibilities or opportunities for others through her example,” he said.

Hipp, a Chickasaw citizen from Fayetteville, Arkansas, has dedicated her almost 40-year career to protecting food sovereignty through work in agricultural law. She is a recognized expert in agricultural law and in the agricultural law and Indian law intersection.

As a First American, Hipp was the first enrolled tribal citizen to serve as general counsel for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). She is also one of only four women to occupy that position since 1905.

“Her dedication and service encapsulate the beauty of the Chickasaw spirit, fighting for and standing by her people in a valiant effort to invest in and advocate for the American agriculture community. We appreciate her dedication and service, and we honor Janie Simms Hipp as the 2025 Chickasaw Nation Dynamic Woman of the Year,” Governor Anoatubby said.

Full of emotion, Hipp humbly accepted the award, saying, “This is the most profound honor I have ever received, equaled only by being inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame.”

Hipp began her work in agriculture and food law during the 1980s farm financial crisis.

She was the founding CEO of the Native American Agriculture Fund, the largest philanthropic institution focused on First American agriculture, founding director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative and a national program leader at the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture. She served as the senior adviser for tribal relations to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and the founding director of the USDA Office of Tribal Relations.

Hipp said growing up in Idabel, Oklahoma, she and her sister were not raised in a traditional Chickasaw home. She began reconnecting with her Chickasaw heritage when she was a young adult.

“To not be familiar with the beauty of being Chickasaw but to understand it as you grow older, you understand how important that is and how many things that you didn't understand about yourself reveal themselves over time,” Hipp said.

She said one of the revelations upon discovery of her Chickasaw roots was understanding where certain traits originated. “All of a sudden it dawns on you that it is attributable to your Chickasaw roots. I feel like I'm on a perpetual life journey to try to live up to being Chickasaw, and I'm never going to stop,” she said.

Hipp said she has worked with the Chickasaw Nation to support and bolster programs such as the USDA’s Food Distribution on Indian Reservations Program. “It feeds literally the most vulnerable tribal citizens of every tribe. We have got to do whatever we can to save that program and to make it as strong as possible and have the food that passes through that program into our elders’ and our children’s homes be as healthy as possible.”

Farmers and ranchers across the U.S., she said, are driven by the land and by feeding people.
“I know our Chickasaw farmers and ranchers are driven in that way,” she said.

Hipp said everyone needs to think deliberately about how their family and community within the Chickasaw Nation cannot want for food.

“To me, that is food sovereignty, to be able to sleep at night knowing that the weakest and most vulnerable amongst us have food and that we have enough. Then we can go out and start to take care of others.”

Hipp has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumni by the University of Arkansas and the Oklahoma City School of Law. She received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Agricultural Law Association, the President’s Volunteer Service Award for Lifetime Achievement from U.S. President Barack Obama, the 2021 Congressional Hunger Center Trailblazer Hunger Leadership Award and the Tim Wapato Public Advocate of the Year Award from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. Hipp was also recognized as “The Honored One” at the Sovereignty Symposium, hosted by Oklahoma City University School of Law and Oklahoma City University.

Hipp served on numerous boards throughout her career, including the Oklahoma Association of Women Lawyers, the Arkansas Women in Agriculture, the American Indian Center of Arkansas, the Farmers’ Legal Action Group and the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Administrative Council. She is also a member of the American Bar Association and Oklahoma Bar Association.

Hipp currently serves as CEO and president of Native Agriculture Financial Services (NAFS), a national organization assisting First American farmers and ranchers with specialized lending and enhanced capital access. The organization is seeking approval as a financing institution within the Farm Credit system of lenders, the nation’s largest agriculture and rural lender. The NAFS also works with other investors and organizations seeking ways to bolster agriculture capital access and strengthen the financial picture for the nation’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in social work from the University of Oklahoma, a Juris Doctorate from Oklahoma City University School of Law and a Master of Laws in agricultural and food law from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Hipp  said she is planning to come home to the Chickasaw Nation, and her work to help secure the future of food sovereignty will never stop.

“I just need to do it in a place where I'm surrounded by the love that I see in this room and the support that all of you give each other and all of the other people in our tribe. It just endlessly pours out through servant leadership and through the core principles that the Chickasaw Nation embodies.”

Dynamic Woman of the Year Award

The Chickasaw Nation Dynamic Woman of the Year Award honors Chickasaw women who have made significant contributions to the tribe, serve as role models to other Chickasaw women and have made a difference in the lives of Chickasaws and other citizens, enriching their communities and society at large.

The Dynamic Woman of the Year Award was established in 2006. Hipp is the 20th Chickasaw woman to be honored with this special designation.

More Stories Like This